Poolside chat- continues here 😁

[Glittertwins]

Did I get this done right??

I had my ranked club down correctly but had to chase down original club to remove theirs (the lapse bit) as I simply did not want to be associated with them

Thank you everyone. He has his old club and new club on swimmingresults but wanted his new club to be the one that appeared next to his name. We have managed to change the ranked club on OMS so he's a happy swimmer now.

That’s good. Is he still enjoying his new club?

glitter I think many swimmers don’t perform to their “best” at summers this year. I think with so many making champs in April they peak earlier.

DS pb’d on his fly (by a lot!) but his freestyles weren’t pbs - in fact I don’t think any of the paras did!

@itsgettingweird yes he is although not training enough to remain competitive at least he is still in the pool. He is in a lane with masters swimmers which is a very chilled and level headed environment so I think it will be good for him.

He was certainly posting PBs in March and early April on all events then added a heck of a lot last week.

Ds was consistent about being out of his pbs but only by a little (at least I think it’s a small amount!)

50m 0.2
100m 0.4
400m 1.5.
Literally seemed to be out about 0.2 secs per 50m on every freestyle race 😂

100m fly was a 3.2 sec pb!!!

We are consistently getting PBs in events here. But does anyone else find it frustrating/confusing that we are trying to get county qualifying times for two age groups ahead at this stage, as our child is autumn-born?

We are looking at the 14 year old qualifying times to be considered for county in January 2026, when she's still 12 now until late autumn. Whereas her friend born in spring who is also 12 now is looking at the 13 year old qualifying times, so will definitely be going to county in January (they are both hitting those times).

I know there has to be a cut off, I just feel sorry for my child that it is harder. That's the way it is, I guess!

I’ve never understood why they don’t just use ‘year of birth’ rather than age for counties it would stop a lot of confusion. One thing though is autumn borns are usually the oldest in everything else so it mixes it up a bit at least and the cut off has to be somewhere. But yes it deffo doesn’t help them because even if they are good enough to swim them they will be less likely to medal. There is also the issue of when they go through puberty - those who are earlier will also find it easier to swim county times when younger.

Although saying that the age group above dd1’s for counties is weak. DD’s friend last year got bronze for a time she wouldn’t have even got in the final in the one below. But maybe that’s a weird Covid after effect.

It’s swings and roundabouts.

DS is a para swimmer - they only have open age group and multi class by points.

You swim against the adults from age 10!

But like anything you need a cut off and a set of qualifying conditions (August borns get a raw deal at school and autumn borns don’t)

it evens out eventually as at national level it’s double ages and then open age group in meets from 15 onwards dependent on meet. Level 3’s it’s often 15 and then regional 16/17 and national level 18+ (varies but that’s a ball park).

out swimmers are always encouraged to focus on process and getting pbs is great and going in the right direction.

I have heard plenty of moaning about it from my eldest with a late autumn birthday! I do think it would be clearer if it was expressed as year of birth rather than age as it does cause a lot of confusion with newer swimmers.

@Teateaandmoretea out of interest which age group is it is weak in your county? My younger one is 14s and I’ve always felt that age group is one that was very Covid affected as they were 8/9 when it started and I suspect lots never started club swimming or came to it later because of that, and those that did missed a chunk of development time compared to the age group down.

It’s the current 17 year old girls and it’s always been the case it isn’t just the last couple of years - obviously they will be 18+ next year so it will no longer be noticeable.

I guess they hit puberty during lock down? Or it maybe just a random thing.

There is a huge difference between the cohorts in our county. This year DD1 finished Counties 10th overall for her age, but her score would have landed her a very comfortable 3rd place within that age category the previous year. Some of it is believed to be post-Covid bounce back (to the extend that rumour is CQTs for the youngest girls will be tightened significantly for 2026), but it can't just be that as the year below DD1 isn't particularly strong either, although 2 years below (DD2's cohort) already have a large number of pretty quick swimmers hence, I suspect, the tightening of CQTs! The 16yos are also an unusually strong field, to the extent the 17+ are moaning about having to compete against them next year - that can't be anything to do with Covid. And then there are the boys, who don't seem to be following the same general trend of Covid bounce back as the girls in terms of needing to tighten up their QTs, despite theirs being already significantly slower at the younger end, eg 59 secs difference on a 200 free, 40 secs on 100 breast (there is, interestingly, much greater parity for younger-age RQTs, with the boys generally needing to be a bit quicker than the girls even at 11/12yo, which makes the argument for it being due to girls maturing so much faster as the reasoning behind the CQTs not stand up well).

This is it, in any county there is a statistically-speaking low number of fast swimmers so it would fluctuate, just like exam results do in a small school. The age group above DD’s being weak is probably just completely random.

Nationally DS age group is stronger than the one above and the one below.

Speaking as a parent with an older swimmer, it honestly matters very little about strong / weak year groups.

If your child continues swimming, they will eventually swim in an open age group.

I have seen very fast young swimmers drop out and young swimmers who didn’t make junior international teams make senior international teams.

It’s important to remember to have fun, make friends, surround yourself with good team mates, learn new skills. These will determine longetivity in the sport.

In the grand scheme of things no - but Dd1 has never been in a final at counties which is a nice thing.

Open age is quite the challenge coming up!
But yes, bodies mature at different rates and I’ve seen first hand superb 10-12 yr olds who developed young and none of them are in the pool anymore.

I’ve seen that too. I think because fs didn’t start club swimming u til he was 12. All those swimmer who were the “names” then had left before he started coming through.

Anyone watching the WJ champs? It’s a shame Filip wasn’t picked for the senior event in Singapore as his time was faster than Qin Haiyang’s who won it!

Been following it. He’s an absolute superstar. I remember him from counties at 14yo and he was a talent back then but he’s really come to the fore the past few years.

Millfield has been really good for him this past season (not that Tigers weren’t before that!)

First day back for us today so DS will be setting his new seasons goals. He tends to do a real mixture from PBing x event to making a final at nationals. What types of goals do your swimmers set? Anyone happy to share examples?

Haven’t asked mine yet, he did badly at nationals which wasn’t helped by our regional scheduling.

Ours set process goals rather than outcomes.

examples of ds goals from previous years have been about stroke rate, lengthening his dive, speeding up his time to first 25m by looking at his underwater. He’s also improved his turns by changing it.

We are still in skeleton programme after 2 week shutdown. We did 2/3 mornings last week and he has 3 this week if he does them all! We don't swim BH’s!