Any mums of swimmers?

[KathyBeale]

My son is 9 (y4) and swims for a local club and his school. At the moment he swims twice a week for the club and once for school. He's just been moved up a squad and will now swim three times for the club and once for school. He LOVES swimming - he only started at the club in September and has been moved up twice already. He seems to be very good and he enjoys it so much - it's had a very positive effect on his confidence too. He is often selected to swim for the club at galas and I love seeing him being part of the group, cheering on the others.

But it's very hard work. I have asked him if he wants to do it and he's so keen. He cheered when I told him he's been moved up a level. But I'm worried it's too much for him though. He'll be in y5 in September so schoolwork will ramp up too.

I just wondered if there are any other mums of swimmers who can give me the benefit of their wisdom. How do you juggle it all? Are your children too tired? Is there anything you'd do differently?

It is great that he loves the swimming as that is the most important thing. My DD swam competitively from aged 8 until she "retired" at 16 last year, but she still trains four times a week for fitness and has a well paying part time job as a swim teacher passing on her skills and enthusiasm to the little ones. It is hard work not just for them but for the whole family as it will inevitably involve getting up for early morning training in the not too distant future, long weekends spent at galas and significant cost if they get to county level or above. However, I don't regret any of it! My daughter has learned fantastic skills in time management, team work, resilience, learning how to fail and get back up again, challenging yourself beyond what you think is possible, independence and responsibility for getting kit together and travelling with the team at a young age. Not to mention the fitness, health and nutrition advice, positive attitude and friends for life. Oh and she won a few medals along the way too.
You and they have to be committed and well organised to fit it in with school and family life and along the way other sports will have to drop away as it becomes all consuming very young compared to other sports.

Not a mum of a swine but was a swimmer myself. I think they are stricter about morning training now but by that age my brother and I were doing 4-5 sessions per week including early morning training plus galas at the weekend.

We had a whole 2nd social group away from school and we saw it as that really...hanging out with friends. admittedly there were times when we didn't want to do it but never felt we could stop. Not sure why as my parents didn't put lots of pressure on us it's just that swimming is a fairly intense sport and it just becomes your life. We both stopped at around 16yrs old but it has given us a great grounding in health and fitness and undoubtedly has social/confidence benefits too.

We eventually drifted apart from swimming friend but my parents close friends are still parents met through swimming so we by association still keep in contact with their kids.

I never had an issue with school work although my brother did have s tendency to fall asleep at school but I think that's more to do with him than swimming!

Hope this helps.

My sister was a professional swimmer and started club swimming at age 7. From age 9 she trained 5 afternoons a week for 2 hours. This increased to 9 sessions a week from age 12.

This demanding schedule made her very focused at school and she did well academically.

Not a mum of a swimmer but I swam two hours before school an hour after school and occasional land training after school too. Weekends two hours and off Sunday.

Loved it. Kept me focused. Biggest regret was me giving up. Encourage him. Get him doing as much as possible :)