Q: I just left ABC Swim Club, how does that affect me?
A: When a swimmer changes teams, the swimmer's registration
status with PVS is changed to "unattached". An unattached athlete is
insured and may enter competitions but may not participate in relays. The
unattached status ends 90 days after a swimmer's last competition with his/her
previous team. The Blue Wave Swim Team must comply with strict rules about
unattached swimmers; therefore, a swimmer's last competition date with his/her
former team is critical. Q: What happens in inclement weather, do we still have
practice?How do I find out if practice
has been cancelled?
A: We will have practice as long as the facility is open, so
it does not matter if school is cancelled.If practice is cancelled we will send out an e-mail update and have it
posted on the team’s website as soon as we can. Q: On which days will
there not be practice (holidays)?
A: We will not hold practice on the following days:
Labor Day (Sept 1 2008) Columbus Day (Oct 13 2008) Veterans Day (Nov 11 2008) Thanksgiving Day (Nov 27 2008) Day after Thanksgiving (Nov 28 2008) Christmas (Dec 25 2008) New Year’s Day (Jan 1 2009) Martin Luther King Day (Jan 19 2009) President’s Day (Feb 16 2009) Memorial Day (May 25 2009) Independence Day (July 4 2009) Q: How early should
we arrive for practices?
A: It depends on the coach, but in general swimmers should
be on deck, dressed and ready to go, 15 minutes before practice is scheduled to
start. Q: Do I have to wear
a Blue Wave Swim Team suit at meets?
A: Team suits should be worn at all team meets as they are
part of the team uniform. Q: Where can I buy
the team suit as well as other team apparel and equipment they may need?
A: All of our team apparel and equipment can be purchased
through Cassel’s. We will have an outfitting with Cassels at 9am on Sat Sept 20 where apparel and suits can be purchased. Q: How do I know
which group is best for my child to swim in?
A: The decision to which group is best for your swimmer is
made by the coaching staff. All new swimmers to the team need to be evaluated by Coach Mike or Coach Kira before they can be placed in a group and join the team.
Q: When can I talk to
my child’s coach?
A: During practice coaches are focused on the swimmers, so
check with them either before or after practice as to what would be the best
time to talk.
Q: When are the swim meets?
A: The swim meet
schedule is posted via the website and the coaches will also inform the
swimmers during practice.Information regarding
swim meets will also be included in newsletters/email updates and will be
posted in the pool hallway.
Q: How do I know what meets my child should attend?
A: You should check
with you child’s coach.
Q: How do I enter a competition?
A: We will be using
Direct Athletic this year, it is an online program that lets us enter swimmers
into meets.Parents will be given
usernames and passwords, and they will be able to sign their swimmer up for the
meet.Coaches will choose what events
the swimmers participate in.
Q: Do I have to volunteer at meets?
A: Yes, it is the
best seats in the house are down on the deck.Timers and officials are a necessity to the success or a meet.You can help the meet run smoother by
volunteering.
Q: Can we leave the meet as soon as my child’s events are
over?
A: Do not leave the
meet until you have checked with the coach.
Q: Do I need any training to volunteer as a timer during
the meet?
A: No, if you can
push a button, we can teach you how to use a stopwatch.Timing is a great first step in getting
involved at swim meets.
Q: What will happen to my child's meet results if he only
makes half of the offered workouts because he is participating in other sports?
A: Children involved in other activities can benefit in the areas of
coordination and balance, as well as improved social and intellectual
development. Specialized training in one activity does not necessarily need to
take place at this stage of development. Will your son's teammate who makes all
practices have better results? Probably, because his teammate is working solely
on developing swimming skills. It is up to you to explain to your child that
making the choice to participate in other activities can have its consequences.
Tell your son that he should not compare his results to that of his teammate,
but to focus on the fact that he is benefiting from and enjoying both sports.
Q: Shouldn't my child be swimming more laps instead of doing
all those drills?
A: Your child needs to develop a solid foundation in stroke mechanics.
Drills and drill sets serve the specific purpose of teaching skills and
fundamentals. Drills develop motor coordination, motor skills, and balance. In
fact, your child's coach may prescribe a particular drill, just for your child,
in order to improve a part of her stroke. In addition, they may actually be
experiencing a “training” benefit from drills. Drills require concentration and
aerobic energy to do them correctly.
Q: My son/daughter was just invited to move up to the Pre-Senior
1, 2 or Senior group. The coach wants them to start coming to morning workouts.
Is this really necessary?
A: Your child has established proper stroke technique and swimming
fundamentals by progressing through the levels of the team. It is appropriate
at this stage of your son/daughter's career development to increase the
training loads. This includes adding the two mornings per week. Although
morning practices come extra early, this level of commitment is necessary for
your daughter to reach the next level of her swimming career.
Training for competitive swimming is demanding on young athletes. As
swimmers develop in the sport, they need to understand the upcoming time
demands. One specific principle of training that applies is the progressive
overload principle. A person must be stressed slightly more each day over time
to continue to improve. In order to do that, the coach must plan additional
time. The addition of morning workouts often becomes necessary for the coach to
develop young athletes to their maximum potential.
Q: What type of commitment is needed for this level of
swimming?
A: While a swimmer's performance is influenced by numerous factors, there
are three that exert the greatest influence: physical, technical and mental. As
athletes progress, a greater commitment, of both time and energy, is needed to
enable an athlete to address all of these factors.
Additionally, the athlete is asked to take more responsibility for and
ownership of his practice and competition performance. One way of doing this is
by accepting responsibility for leading a lifestyle conducive to swimming well,
i.e., proper nutrition, adequate sleep, time management, managing
extra-curricular activities.
Q: I think my child is sacrificing too much to train. Is this
okay?
A: What you may consider a sacrifice, i.e. missing a school dance,
football game, or simply going out with friends, your child many not consider a
sacrifice at all! Instead, your child has chosen to commit to swimming. By
doing so, he realizes that a certain level of training is necessary for him to
achieve greater goals and does not look at these activities as missed
opportunities. Keep in mind that your child realizes missing a workout is like
missing sleep, it cannot be made up. If, however, your child is expressing
sentiments that he is missing these chances, then it is time to re-evaluate the
balance in his activities.
Q: My child was a successful age group swimmer. How can I help
them reach the next level? (I.e. Sectionals, Juniors, Nationals, National Team)
A: When your son/daughter is making the transition, they need to realize
that they are participating at a higher level. Improvements are in tenths and
hundredths, rather than seconds, due to biological and physiological factors.
Throughout their career, you have been very supportive. This support is
still needed but it may have to be a little different than in the past. It is a
good time to discuss with your swimmer what they need from you. Do not be
afraid to ask them “How can I support you in your swimming?” While you are an
important part of her support network, realize your swimmer, at this level,
should be taking on more ownership of their swimming career.
Q: What are "Process" goals?
A: There are two types of goals that swimmers can set:
Outcome Goals: focus on the
end result of performance. “Win, make finals.” Process Goals: relate to
process of performance. “Breathe every 3rd stroke, streamline.”
Swimmers have much more control over Process Goals. Outcome Goals are
uncontrollable since they also involve the performance of other competitors.
Swimmers and coaches, especially at the Age Group level, should concentrate on
Process Goals.
Q: Should my child begin setting goals?
A: Of course! Everyone should set goals. In fact, most kids have already
set goals. As adults, however, we must remember that kids are not simply little
versions of us and are not going to set the same types of goals as adults. One
developmental difference is that children lack the cognitive ability to
distinguish time and are also very concrete thinkers. Therefore, setting
long-term goals often doesn't provide the motivation for kids that it does for
adults. Kids want results today. With younger swimmers, it is appropriate to
talk about short-term goals - - what they need to work on today. Most coaches
will emphasize goals that reinforce skill development and the process of swim
performance. Additionally, based on cognitive development research, we know
that around the age of 6 or 7, kids enter the stage of social comparison. In
this stage, they begin to evaluate their own performance by comparing it to
others. So as the parent, reinforce what the coach has emphasized and help her
focus on individual improvement. Encourage your child's goal to be “SMART”.
S pecific: tells the athlete
what to do M easurable: able to measure
and record progress A ttainable: athlete can
experience success R ealistic: challenging but
“do-able” T rackable: short-term goals
build into long-term goals
Q: All my swimmer talks about is being an Olympic swimmer.
Should I discourage this since it may not be realistic?
A: Most kids will have long-term or “dream” goals of making the Olympic
team or winning Nationals. Dream goals can be beneficial by helping motivate
your athlete to go to practice and to train hard (and there is no way of
knowing if it is realistic or not). While it is okay to have dream goals, there
are several problems with athletes only having dream goals. These problems
include not knowing if they are making progress towards their goal, not
experiencing little “successes” along the way, and losing motivation when the
goal seems so distant. To combat this, it is important to also talk to your
child about setting short-term or even daily goals. Ask him what he is working
on in practice this week (just as you ask him what is going on in school), get
him to identify skills he needs to improve on, and follow up with him to help
him recognize successes along the way. Be sure to ask your son to speak to his
coach if he needs help seeking some practice or short-term goals.
Q: My child gets so nervous before a competition. Is this
natural? What can I do to help her to reduce this competitive pressure/stress?
A: To a degree, nervousness is part of the competitive experience and can
be used as an opportunity to teach the young athlete specific strategies or
skills to help her manage this arousal or nervousness. A simple skill that
young athletes can learn to help manage the “butterflies in their stomachs” is
belly breathing. The athlete is taught to take slow, deep breaths into her
belly, hold it briefly, and then exhale slowly. Words can be included to help
the athlete focus her thoughts on something besides worry. This is a quick
strategy that helps calm the body and mind and only takes a few seconds to do.
Another skill to help the athlete deal with muscular tightness brought on by
nervousness is progressive muscle relaxation. In this procedure, the athlete
goes through the major muscles in her body and first tenses and then relaxes
each muscle. This teaches athletes to learn the difference between a tense and
relaxed muscle, to learn where different muscles are located, and to eventually
be able to relax specific muscles as necessary. Remember that these skills must
be taught and practiced before the athlete will be able to use them
effectively.
We also know that excessive anxiety can be damaging to both performance and
to the athlete's desire to enter such situations in the future. Two factors
which have been found to play a role in the level of anxiety experienced are
the importance of the event and the uncertainly of the outcome. Greater
importance and greater uncertainty lead to increased anxiety. Parents, this
suggests that you can play an active role in reducing competition anxiety by
de-valuing the outcome of the event and by focusing on the individual
performance over which the swimmers have control.
Deep belly breathing positive self-talk relaxation exercises think of successes stretching visualize race listen to music focus on goals light massage distract by talking with friends,
family
Q: When is my child ready for competition?
A: That is a difficult question, as research on athlete development
provides no clear-cut answer. In an article by Passer (1988) addressing this
question, he reviewed several areas of development in attempting to provide
guidelines on determining readiness for competition:
Motivational readiness:
Because competition is a social comparison process, the young athlete is
motivated to compete when he or she possesses a social comparison
orientation. Research suggests that around the age of 5-7 kids have the
desire for and ability to use social comparison information. Cognitive readiness:
Competition requires numerous cognitive and reasoning skills (i.e.,
perspective taking, differentiating between effort and ability) that take
some time to develop in youngsters. Researchers suggest that kids do not
develop the cognitive abilities to have an understanding of the
competitive process until approximately age 12. Physical growth,
physiological capacity, and development: These factors must also be
considered when trying to decide readiness for competition.
Q: What should I tell my child when he or she says it's not
fair that I have to swim against Suzy, she is so much bigger than I am?
A: Look at a classroom full of school children. The diversity in size and
shape is remarkable. Even though these children are similar in chronological
age (calendar age) they may be very different in biological age
(physical/sexual maturity). Puberty is a critical point in the developmental
process. It is well known that girls mature more rapidly than boys do. In fact,
the average girl matures 2-2.5 years earlier than the average boy (see sidebar
on next page). However, these values are merely averages and the range can be
several years within each gender.
It is important to remember that “early bloomers”-children who move through
biological maturation more rapidly than average- tend to be more physically
developed. This can sometimes be an advantage for them in the swimming pool.
“Late bloomers” tend to catch-up over time and will often become even more
proficient at the sport. Regardless of the maturational pace of your child, she
needs to focus on her personal improvements over time.
Ashburn Village Community Association | 44025 Courtland Drive, Ashburn, Virginia, 20147 | (703) 723-7910 | avca@ashburnvillage.org
