Poolside chat - new year, new racing!

[Glittertwins]

Hope this works, am rubbish at this!

Having had DD(16) trash one racesuit with her pointy fingers (Allens of Kingsbury can do repairs, BTW), I've always bought DD less tight racesuits.

For all day meets, a lot of girls wear cropped swim tops (see Funkita) and pull their racesuits down to their waists.

Others pop a training suit over the top.

Soooo much easier with boys!

Welcome.

And all welcome.

We all started the journey at some point.

Lovely to have new posters

Also the thing to remember is all counties and regions run things differently. If you're happy to say what region you're in we will know where to direct you!

I'm south east region.

Yes the way things are run, even normal galas never mind counties and regionals can be very different. I'm Northumberland and Durham County (North East Region) and even down the road in Yorkshire it's like entering another world where you can get speeding tickets and some meets have swimmers graded into A, B and C categories where you can get promoted through the grades. Mind boggling.

South East Region here too. DDs very excited about second week of counties coming up !!!

I cant believe counties are still going on, ours finished a month ago 😊!

We’ve had a quiet few weeks, dd2 has a junior gala on Saturday that in truth she’s only going cos it’s easier for DH. It’s a nightmare to find team managers/ officials for it and he’s using her as an excuse. There are some events she must be able to swim pbs for (her split time in 100 breast for example is faster than her 50 time, her 100 IM and 50 fly are slow) but who knows she’s a law unto herself.

There are some events she must be able to swim pbs for (her split time in 100 breast for example is faster than her 50 time @Teateaandmoretea my DS is proof that honestly for some kids this means nothing. My sons first 400m of the 800 free is faster than his 400 time. His first 800m of the 1500 free is faster than his 1500 time and he swims in open water significantly faster than in the pool.

Like you say some of them are an absolute law unto themselves 🙈

Well absolutely 😂🤷🏻‍♀️

Our last weekend has just finished.

Ds didn't race but did go and help with the AOE and I marshalled a session!

My ds is a complete law on to himself!!!

He can't even walk after a 400m free yet can go back a few hours later and swim it again 🤷‍♀️

I'll have had a whole month competition free by Sunday...then it goes bonkers after that with summer champs qualifying window opening

Somerset Counties is happening for the next month because the pool room at Millfield school (a few metres above Somerset Levels), flooded in early December.

You don't want to drown a pool room, particularly one set up to manage a 50m pool.

It must have been a miserable month or two managing the swim-kids at the school.

I had wondered about this, but they were super strict about it in the info pack at Counties and I assumed it was quite likely a general no-no as a result. We were told that any children changing/putting on race suits on poolside would be asked to leave the session.

Yes, I have seen the older girls wearing bikini tops and training costumes over their rolled down kneesuits for warm ups too, which looks like a great idea once they're more confident getting it up and down.
I have a nail biter, which hopefully reduces some risk of tears, but it's still good to learn Allens do repairs. I'm sure there will come a day where that will be very useful to remember...!

Agreed, it does often feel like it would be more straightforward with boys. Just fitting long very curly hair into a cap requires years of training (particularly when I have poker straight hair that hasn't touched my shoulders in 30 years, so no experience to draw from!). And we haven't even arrived anywhere near the stage of having to juggle it all with periods yet - what a joy that will be!

DD2 is, but DD1's poor spacial reasoning, lack of reactive coordination, lack of weight, and hypermobility rule her out of many other sports. Anything with running in particular is guaranteed to see an injury after she turns an ankle (she doesn't even need to move for this to happen sometimes, it just gives out!). It's a shame as she's fearless, very fit and strong, and loves being active. Cycling and rock climbing are the only other sports she has shown any aptitude in.

Hi all, hope you're all well on this rainy Thursday - I was wondering if anyone had any tips/camps/recommendations for helping with dives. DD had a school gala yesterday and it went well except that she cannot dive! She knows the theory but doesn't seem to be able to coordinate it? Help

How often do they work on dives in training? DS only really clicked with dives when the coach put a hula hoop flat on the surface of the water at the distance he wanted DS to aim for and he dived through it. Before that he was mostly painful looking belly flops.

She hasn't started swim club yet (this weekend) - they have worked on them a bit with school. According to her she can do it when she has to dive over a pool noodle but otherwise she can't. DD doesn't belly flop - I don't really know how to explain it - she sort of doesn't push with her legs so basically plops into the water like a dead weight

Ah in that case the swim club will sort her dives out dont worry. That's what they are there for. The fact she gets on the blocks in the first place is a bonus some kids need a lot of work just to get to that point.

Thanks @Hellocatshome - that's a relief! Fingers crossed it clicks soon

She'll need to do her SE Competitive Start badge to dive in comps (assuming this isn't a quirk of our county!), so the club should go through the stages to progress her to a decent (and safe!) dive off the blocks.

There are also short ~2hr courses run by various famous swimmers. The one our club pushes is Swim Swift Elite in Loughborough at about £65 a session, but the minimum entry requirements are 11yo and County level times so that is more something to bear in mind for the future if it continues to be a weak point.

@SkankingWombat think that's a your County thing. We are Northumberland and Durham and I have never heard of any swimmer doing the competitive start award.

I've heard of the award. I've never heard of a child actually needing it officially although I've seen it mentioned.

I guess they assume if a coach is starting a child off the blocks at a gala they can do it?!

In other news here ds has been invited to Europeans at end of April. Had an email today. He's slightly excited 😂

@itsgettingweird thats amazing, where are Europeans being held?