My daughter is 9. She's been swimming as part of a competitive swimming club since she was around 7 and is now training twice per week (1.75 hrs in total, spread over two sessions, going up to 2 hours next term finishing at 8.15 pm, so home by 8.45, bed at 9 pm). She swims because she enjoys it and because it allows her to take part in school swimming galas (she is also a member of the school swim squad which trains for 1hr per week, but their teaching is nowhere near as good). No other ambitions in swimming beyond this.
We are finding it difficult to fit in the club training on top of her long school days and her gymnastics which is itself time-consuming. It is costly and also takes up family time. However, I'm reluctant for her to give up swimming because it is a valuable life skill, it keeps her fit, and she wants to continue. She also has ADHD and exercise is beneficial. I wish I could find some kind of middle ground for her. Perhaps 45 minutes to 1 hour of high-quality swimming training per week outside of school, but it doesn't seem to exist.
For those with children who are maybe a bit older now - are you glad they continued with their swimming or glad they gave it up? Is it worth persevering perhaps until they are a bit older? I know these are very low hours of training, there just isn't a lot of spare time to play with. Thank you!
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Club swimming - give it up?
Limtim · 10/03/2024 20:57
Limtim · 11/03/2024 06:50
In terms of cost, we pay just over £300 I think per term for 1.75 hours training per week. Does that sound reasonable?
WaterBottlePurple · 12/03/2024 08:25
How much gymnastics is she doing? I think you can really only do gymnastics or swimming seriously after a certain age.
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