A Parent's guide to Swimming...

A Parent’s guide to Swimming…
We all learned in school, “a triangle has 3 sides”.  Every side is equally important to the formation of the triangle.  I believe your child’s swimming experience is a triangle.  Three crucial sides: coaches, swimmers, and parents.  Your swimmer's experience is a team effort also with all the players supporting each other. 

Dr. Alan Goldberg, Michael A. Taylor, and Rose Snyder have all written some very insightful stuff on the guidelines for successful parenting in the sport of swimming. Below I have highlighted 4 key strategies, that from a coaching perspective, will have the most positive impact on a family's swim team experience.

1. “Be your swimmers' BIGGEST fan” – It really is simple.  Support them through the good times and the bad times.  Understand what they are feeling.  Help and guide them by keeping things in perspective for them at every stage of their career.

2.   “Leave the coaching to the coaches” – There is nothing that drives coaches crazy more than parents giving coaching instructions.  More important, there is nothing more embarrassing to a swimmer than seeing their parent single them out and try to coach.  It is both distracting and disruptive to the entire swimming routine.  The role of the coach gets undermined and your role of a loving and supportive parent gets confused in your child's mind. They see you as much as you see them.  Please try to support your swimmers coaches.  Your child will learn to trust when they see a united front. Coaches are not, however, perfect.  When you have concerns, share them with the coaches and agree on a plan that they can execute with your swimmer at the pool while you continue supporting them at home.

3.   “Reinforce what the coaches are asking your swimmers to do outside of the pool” – There are so many things that the coaches need to have swimmers do outside of the pool to insure success.  Proper nutrition is a big one.  We all know that children have varying foods which they prefer to eat.  Providing them with, and encouraging  them to get the right “fuel” is an important key to long term success. Sufficient sleep is another huge factor in a swimmer's success.  Coaches only have pool time to influence swimmers, and we give all we have.  Your job as parents is much bigger and much more influential.   Your children need you on their team.

4.   “Help create realistic goals” – I have read that a swimmer's odds of becoming an Olympian are .0002%.  We all need to be realistic.  As I have said before, what more can we ask, than for your swimmer to become the best possible swimmer and person they can be?  Setting goals and working toward them is a team effort.  If a child wants to dream, let him dream.  But by focusing on small obtainable steps, your swimmer will stay excited and engaged. 

Coaches, swimmers, and parents can be a powerful force.   Together we are united in making a great swim experience, and ultimately a great life experience for our swimmers.

"Making dreams come true, one swim at a time!" - Coach Scott 11/13/11

Thanks for all you do!

Coach Scott