What is practice like?

Tom: I have never been to a swim team practice and neither has my boy Marvin. What can I expect?

Answerman: First thing Tom, always have Marvin in his suit when he leaves the house whether you are going to a meet or practice. This will save you a lot of trouble. Nothing is more irritating than getting to an away meet and finding no suit in the swim bag. We once went to meet at Penn State, arriving at 9:00 PM; discovered no suit(we took our daughter's guarantee that there was a suit in the bag. "What could we possibly be thinking to even ask her such a question. What did we think she was? A slacker idiot?") for a 7:00 AM warm up. We went in mad pursuit of suit. Parents were not thrilled. Save yourself potential irritation. Have your kid wear his suit when he leaves your property. I would also check his bag until he is about 14 for goggles etc. This is irritating but has saved us much greater annoyance later. This is the practice of all experienced swim parents and thoughtful teenagers.

Tom: How will the coaches train my son?

Answerman: Since your son is new to swimming, the coaches will use their best initial estimate of his ability and assign him to a practice lane. Practice lanes are assigned by a combination of age and ability level. If you are standing at the deep end of our pool, the newest kids are generally assigned to the rightmost lanes with the experience level increasing as you move right to left. The coaches move kids as they improve, to a more demanding lane. New swimmers do a lot of work with kick boards. This helps give them confidence and support in the water, as they learn the parts of each stroke. Young children spend most of their time learning freestyle and backstroke. As they gain strength, stamina and coordination, breast stroke and butterfly will be introduced. I believe that it is more important to encourage your young swimmer before and after practice, than it is at meets. Swim practice is tough in ways that other sports are not. Water is not humans natural element. Your kid will spend a lot of time looking at the bottom of the pool or the sky while trying not to breath water. There is not much talking or standing around like there is in soccer, baseball, basketball etc. I have always found the will of swimmers to practice hard, far more impressive than their performance in a meet. I am more gratified by my daughters' willingness to keep slogging along than I am by the result of a 30 second race. Try to find some area of his performance to praise. "Hey, your dive is really improving! Your kick is getting really strong and tight! The water was cold today; that was tough of you to stick it out"

Tom: That's sooo Mother Theresa of you.

Answerman: Thanks

Monique: I have always tried to determine the direction and purpose of my life and my place in eternity by embracing the philosophy of life taught by exercise gurus marketing equipment on television infomercials. Can you give me one that I can apply to my child's swim training?

Answerman: Of course. Tony Little marketer of the Gazelle glider:" Passion, patience and persistence lead to perfection"

Monique: That will be my thought for the week!

Answerman: Happy to help, Monique.

Getting started

Myrna: I just signed my Timmy up for the swim team and practice starts next week and I just don't know what to expect. What is swim training like? What should we bring? What should we not bring? What if he gets wet? What if he gets cold? What sort of suit should I buy? Does he need to wear goggles and a swim cap? I am just all a flutter!

Answerman: Be at peace Myrna. You have come to the right place and the right sport. The swim team environment is an encouraging experience here at Chantilly Highlands. (OR INSERT YOUR OWN LOCAL TEAM NAME HERE)

Bob: You mean I can copy what you write and publish it in my own community paper to encourage parents in my community to sign their children up for our local team?

Answerman: Yes I guess so Bob. Since this is my first blog attempt I haven't thought that far ahead. I am having trouble just mastering the bold and italics function in this editing session.
At least give me some credit in the article and mention the blog so that parents everywhere will be signing up their children for swim team training in droves and enjoying the swim team life. Also I have put one of those blog screening functions on this site so that I can keep out low life degenerate comments. We'll see how that works.

Myrna: What can I expect of this blog? Will your wife have input?

Answerman: Yes of course. You may ask questions of my wife (The Answerwoman) in your comments to this blog. She has done almost all the jobs associated with running a swim team and she may be able to give you some tips for improving and streamlining the running of your meets and the parents committees needed to support a successful season.

Myrna: Back to swimming; what is the first week of practice like? My Timmy is 7 years old and has never swum before. (Is it swum or swam I've never been sure).

Answerman: First of all Myrna when you watch children's sports you must take the long view. The first few seasons of swimming are like the first few seasons of art, music and education. They are messy and can be ugly. Just have patience, be supportive and all will be well. That's it for today. I am a slow typer. Maybe more tomorrow.