Why You Should Be Glad Your Kid Picked Swimming

(Borrowed from a SwimUSA pamphlet and LSC/Canadianized)

Sports are supposed to be good for kids. In theory, a sport should build strong bodies, not tear them down. It should promote sportsmanship, self-discipline, and perseverance. Unfortunately, not all sports live up to these ideals. Swimming, however, does quite well.

According to many authors of articles on sports for children, the fact that swimming uniquely develops the cardiovascular systems to the maximum makes it an ideal sport for children, since an efficient cardiovascular system is the key to life-long health. This is in addition to the fact that children run so little risk of injury in swimming. (Swimming is rated as a "most desirable" sport on insurance company premiums.)

Swimming is a sport in the true sense of the word. It is a pursuit of a striving for excellence. Its very nature demands self-discipline and great strength of purpose. This striving for excellence is what the ancient Greeks revered as being that which brings out the finest qualities in mankind. And, supposedly, the development of these qualities is the reason for a sports curriculum in the schools. Swimmers learn early the relationship between hard work and results.

SWIMMING MAKES SENSE!

Organization

Lakeshore Swim Club is one of 40 teams in Central Region and 130 teams in Ontario.

There are over 140 swim clubs, over 10,000 registered swimmers, about 400 coaches, 20,000 officials and other volunteers throughout Ontario. Swim Ontario divides the province into six regions. Swim Ontario is in turn one of 10 provincial organizations and members of Swimming Canada.

Competition-Where Do We Start and Where Do We Go?

Let's try to prepare you for meets. While it might seem complicated at first, after you have done it once or twice, it will become routine--honestly!

1. Competition--Preparation

The swimmer is ready for their first meet as soon as they can swim the distance required and feel confident enough to compete. The sooner the swimmer begins to compete, the sooner they will see improving times. Please think of meets as a test or exam.

Everyone is encouraged to improve their skills in preparation for the next meet (.. classroom work). The weeks of practice before a meet and between meets are very important ones. It is during these practices that a swimmer perfects new skills and techniques and prepares for the next competition (exam).

Each meet has a "warm-up time" which precedes the "start time". The swimmers should be on deck and ready to get in the water when warm-ups begins. The quality of each warm-up decides the quality of the performances in the meet. Arriving late for warm-ups starts your child off on the wrong foot before the meet even begins. Your child should be on deck 10 minutes before warm-up begins .. they need to find a spot to down their gear, put on cap and goggles and get set.

While it is not required that you to attend all of the meets, making an effort to do so when possible will be appreciated by your child. Many lasting friendships have been established by parents at swim meets.

You should bring drinks and snacks to the meet. Suggested items are Gator Aid, fruit juices, fruits, muffins, and vegetables. We usually bring in a sport nutritionist for the club in the fall. Be aware that concessions are not available at all meets (and when they are the quality of selection is suspect). Food and drinks can make a real difference in your swimmer's performance. Always have your swimmer bring plenty of towels, warm clothes, and some sort of deck shoes or flip flops.

Areas adjacent to pools are almost always very warm and moist for the comfort of the swimmers. You will enjoy the meets much more if you dress with that in mind.

2. Competition--Events included in a meet.

The events included in each meet are varying distances of the four competitive strokes: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle as well as the Individual Medley, which is a combination of these four strokes. Relays, consisting of four swimmers, highlight many meets.

Every member of Lakeshore Swim Club will have an opportunity to swim in all open meets. Generally 13 and Over swimmers compete in morning sessions while 12 and Under swimmers compete in the afternoon. However, meets change (all-the-time) so you'll need to stay on top of what your child is swimming by visiting the meet information section of the website.

Meets are allowed to compile their own age group categories. The 'typical' age group structure is

10 and Under
11-12
13-14
15 and Over

However the Province of Ontario, through its Long Term Athlete Development Strategy (LTADS) recognizes

Female
10 and Under
11
12
13
14
15 and Over

Male
11 and Under
12
13
14
15
16 and Over

3. At the Meet--

There are several things the coaches at Lakeshore ask. Please help and encourage your child to abide by the wishes of the coaches.

1) Each swimmer needs to report to one of the coaches immediately before and after finishing a race. The swimmer should be prepared to report his/her time to the coach and listen to any comments the coach may have. Only after speaking with the coach, may the swimmer then talk to parents and teammates. Coaches attend meets for a purpose, let them do their jobs and coach! Parents should be there for love and support.

2) While at the meets, the coaches would like for the swimmers to sit together as a team. Team unity it a very important motivator on the road to success.

3) Last but not least, the coaches ask that the coaching be left up to them. Remember that these coaches are the ones who work with your child day in and day out. Once again, let them do their jobs!

4. Competition--Types of meets

Everyone on the team is asked to compete in as many meets as possible.

Invitational/OPEN Meets
Swimmers should plan on attending about 10 meets per season. Coaches will select events with swimmer (not parent) input. These open meets allow a swimmer to achieve time standards and allow them to move further in the competitive stream. At invitationals there are usually medals or ribbons for placing. As well we might go to some meets where team points are tallied and high point teams are awarded trophies. Winning a team trophy is a great way to boost team spirit.

Qualifying Meets
Meets can also be qualified by the level of competition. There are a couple of methods for doing this including,
- achieving a particular (regional, provincial or national) time standard
- NOT achieving a particular standard
- arbitrary (judgement) values

These meets may or may not be associated with bonus events.

Whenever your child is going to miss a meet for any reason, be sure to inform the coach immediately (meetentries@lakeshoreswimclub.com). Meet line-ups take a considerable amount of time, and last minute changes can be a lot of work to change. Because changes have to be made at the last minute, this usually takes the coach away from coaching the warm-ups. Please note too that costs for the meet, once entered will not be refunded.

Expenses

For the most part, swimming is not an expensive sport when you consider what all you are getting for the money you pay. Please see the parent handbook for a full explaination of the club costs.

APPROXIMATE EXPENSES~

1. Bathing suits
- all team members must own an LSC (Nike) suit (approx $30-$35 depending on style)
- team members may then ask their coach for permission to purchase a BLACK performance suit (upwards of $120)
- team members must ask the head coach for permission to purchase a BLACK High Performance suit ($300)

2. Goggles
- whatever you like. However coaches do recommend tinted goggles to help with reflections in the water.
- cost can be $15-$25 depending on make

3. Team Bag
- Nike Bag. Approx. $65. Has wet compartments and lots of room for .. stuff.

The team attire is simple .. jacket, pants and t-shirt. Put your name in them.

The Season

The swimming season is a long one, especially for those who are more advanced in the sport and are moving into the higher levels of competition.

The general schedule of the season is as follows:

SHORT COURSE SEASON BEGINS

• SEPTEMBER Team Practice .. no meets
• OCTOBER Have one open meet for each swimmer
  
• NOVEMBER Moving into a couple of open meets and one away-meet
  
• DECEMBER Another away-meet hosting a meet
  - plan on a one week Christmas break -
  
• JANUARY Practice gears up again and perhaps one meet
  
• FEBRUARY Busy month! All the qualifying meets hit .. regionals and provincials
  

MARCH Provincial black-out period. No racing .. just practice

LONG COURSE SEASON BEGINS

• APRIL Team Champs .. big meet .. only 40 swimmers
  
• MAY LC open meets, getting times
  
• JUNE Busy month! All the qualifying meets hit .. regionals and provincials
  
• JULY Plan on this month only if you have national times
  

Nutrition Notes (brief):

"Swimmer's ear" is a common and very painful experience, which can normally be avoided by dropping a mixture of white vinegar and alcohol into the swimmer's ears immediately after practice. Wearing a rubber cap also decreases the chance of getting swimmer's ear.

The incidence of cramps can be kept to a minimum by giving your swimmer fresh fruit, especially bananas. Do not over-salt food to prevent cramps, simply salt to taste.

Now a special word about processed sugar--NO! That's the best word we can think of. Processed sugars not only cause tooth decay, they impede a swimmer's performance both at practice and at swim meets! When you first eat something that contains a great deal of processed sugar, especially first thing in the morning, i.e. sugary breakfast foods, candy, soft drinks, etc. the blood sugar quickly rises to a very high level then plunges drastically and stays there. This causes dizziness, weakness, general irritability, and inability to concentrate. You can well imagine what kind of performance a child will be capable of under these conditions. Instead of giving your child candy and soft drinks at swim meets, give him/her fruit, raisins, or granola.

The night before a meet should be handled as if it were a regular school night. Put your child to bed at about the same time you would on a school night. The evening meal need not be anything special, just some favorite dish. Breakfast the morning of the meet should be on the light side, but do not send your swimmer away from the table hungry. The meal should be high in carbs and extremely low in processed sugars. Please, no sugary breakfast foods. Also do the coach a favor and do not let your child load up on sugary foods before coming to practice. Just allow him/her enough food to satisfy his/her hunger. No full stomachs, please!

Also ..

Children learn from parents, sometimes whether we want them to or not. You have probably heard a disgruntled parent say something like, "I don't know where that kid learned to be so irresponsible. She never finishes anything she starts." Very often these attitudes were taught to the child by their parents through the parents' own poor example. Take care to teach your children responsibility by getting them to practice and swim meets ON TIME!, even when it's tough. And on those cold, dark days when sitting in front of the television is much more appealing than going to practice, nudge your child down the road to self-discipline by explaining the necessity of finishing what one begins while you are helping them on with their swim suits. We all need a little shove now and again to do what we really wanted to do anyhow, deep down.

As mentioned way back in the introduction, when you allow your child to join Lakeshore Swim Club, you take on some responsibility too. We all must dedicate some of our time and talent to running swim meets (usually 2-3 a year) which are a part of our responsibility to our sport and promotion of swimming. Home meets are also one of our sources of income. Even though it might be tough to spare the time, set a good example and plan to work in some capacity. Don't make the same people do all of the work all of the time.

If you would really like to contribute to the maintenance of a strong club, donate some of your time and ideas by serving as a Board Member. We need and encourage everyone's participation.

Our use of the pool is a privilege extended to us by the City of Toronto, so please remind your child to treat the facility with respect.

Give the Kid a Break

There is a trap that many parents fall into. It works like this: A swimmer receives serious coaching/training for the first time and many defects begin to be corrected. Naturally the swimmer will show great amounts of improvement the first and second year of competition. This is great as long as it is kept in perspective because, sooner or later, every swimmer will level off and the long normal process of working for every tenth of a second will begin. The problem, or trap, is that many parents fix their expectations based on these early performances so that when their swimmer does level off, they think that something has gone wrong. They begin to accuse their children of slacking off in practice, not trying, or even worse, of not being able to do it. Some parents take the protective route of "that's alright, darling, your legs are too short to kick as fast as the other kids. Don't worry about it."

Instead of decreasing the anxiety that their swimmer already feels at slowing down, and helping him/her to understand the reality of the situation, the parents actually increase the anxiety by pressuring their children to perform. Soon their swimmers are so racked with anxiety, trying to avoid doing poorly in meets, that they are totally unable to perform well. It has been said that the difference between a winner and a loser is that a winner sees what he/she hopes to achieve, but a loser sees only what he/she hopes to avoid. In this situation the swimmer becomes preoccupied with avoiding slow times as to avoid rebuke from his/her parents. Thus the trap is sprung. Instead of making their swimmer improve, the parents in this case have actually only increased his/her anxiety, making it impossible to do well. Encourage your child to be a winner in that he/she sees what he/she hopes to achieve, not what he/she hopes to avoid.

The way for you to avoid this trap is to always find something to praise in your child's performance. Your children are subjected to many negative influences today that tend to make them feel that they are less than others. It is your job to continually praise, to put them UP, to let them know that they are unique the way they are and that they are doing a fine job, in a great sport.

Your swimmer's career will have high and low points. It would be a mistake to expect children who are constantly undergoing changes both physically and emotionally to consistently perform well. So do not come unglued when your child does not do as well as you had expected. Each failure is a step towards success, and a learning experience. If he/she has given good effort, sincerely praise it. It will not only be good for him/her as a swimmer, but also as a person.

Give the Coach a Break

Good swimming coaches do not grow on trees, bushes, or anywhere else. A good coach is a virtual compendium of organization, knowledge, dedication, and caring. Here at LSC money is obviously not the main reason that they coach since almost all coaches are underpaid, if they are paid at all, and put in many more hours than just when they are on the deck. They coach from a sense of doing something worthwhile. They like kids and they feel that swimming is a super sport in which to be involved. Many coaches even take jobs that allow them time to coach, even though they are lesser paying jobs. In this day and age, good swim coaches are certainly strange animals.

First of all, it is important that you not only trust your coach's ability and judgment, but that you exhibit that trust and support in front of your children. Don't sit around the dinner table tearing them down. We all make mistakes, so give your coaches the benefit of the doubt when he/she miscalculates from time to time. Remember--you don't pay them enough to be perfect. If your swimmer keeps hearing what a rotten coach they have, they are going to start believing it.If you should feel that your swimmer is not receiving all that they should in practice, or that they are having some sort of difficulty that is not being resolved, talk to the coach privately about it. But, please, avoid being accusatory when you talk to him/her. Chances are that the problem is simply a matter of different perceptions.

Finally, take the time every once in a while to show your coaches that they are appreciated. Coaches respond to kindness just like puppy dogs. And when your coach is having one of those "what am I doing standing out here" days, your attention could make all the difference.

Success!

Finally, a discussion of the expectations and goals that you, as a parent, have for your children in a swimming program. In other words, what criteria will you use to judge your child's involvements--either failure or success?

The criterion most often used is very simply, how much a swimmer wins. There is, of course, validity to this criterion, considering the competitive society in which we live. In fact, a certain amount of success is necessary for maximum motivation of a swimmer. This is the reason for the existence of the various levels of organization in the sport. But remember, there can only be one "winner" in each event.

But "winning" is not, and should not be the only criterion for judging success, for very often a time that will win one meet will finish low in another. Thus, winning is often reduced to only a matter of circumstance. However, the quality of the individual effort that went into each swimmer's race can be judged on its own merits. To achieve personal bests are the greatest successes.

As already discussed, if one believes that kids should be involved in sports in order to develop them as people, then it would seem valuable that your should judge your child's career by this criterion--the quality of the effort rather than the amount of winning.

There remains one final criterion which is valid for judging your child's involvement in competitive swimming, especially during the inevitable "dry spells" that all swimmers go through for one reason or another. Consider--for a minimal sum per month, your child, instead of sitting home glued to the television or out roaming around looking for something to do, is enjoying a constructive program that not only fills much of his/her spare time, but is also exceptionally healthy, both physically and emotionally. In the face of this, "winning" becomes far less important, and your child's swimming career will definitely be a SUCCESS!!!