2ppaamm:Competitive swimming is not for everybody. It is about you against yourself. There is no opponent in the pool. Your aim is to move your body faster and faster with every practise or competition. Your opponent? The clock.
What I like about Singapore competitive swimming:
1. It is an established sport, and the funding is good. So if your kid becomes really good and has a chance the represent Singapore, he gets a lot of goodies and support.
2. There are abundant good coaches all over Singapore, you can pick and choose who you want.
3. Singapore promotes Swimming, and therefore, there are many competitions for swimmers to hone their skills.
4. Disciplines the mind. At the highest level in Singapore, swimmers train 11 to 13 times a week, including Upper Primary kids.
no one trains so much. 10 is the usual maximum
5. The sport that will cause the least injury. Well, looks like it to me!
false again. competitive swimming brings about lots of muscle/joint-related injuries which may last for very long time
6. Many good IP secondary schools take good swimmers for DSA, but you have to be really good, just like any other sports.
7. With a good competitive swimming background, you can excel in many other sports, like water polo, synchronized swimming, triathlon, biathlon. Many ex-swimmers go on and become state representatives in these sports.
What I do not like:
1. There's no team. Your kid will not get to learn how synergy works.
there is a team. just lesser teamwork involved.
a relay is a team. dependent on the combined effort of 4 people. effort is not put in on the spot, but during daily trainings. any mistakes, misjudgments could lead to a DQ.
2. Very competitive parents. Who like to compare and compare their kids. Like any sport, you win some and lose some. If you are the kind of parent who want to win all the time.... er you will not like swimming. Also, please don't brag. Tak boleh tahan!
that may be purely because of your small perspective that lacks scope?
comparisons = active involvement in sport with child
winning = which parent actually wins? the child is the one. besides, who goes into a competition, not wanting to win? winning may not be important, but wanting to win, is.
3. The long, long hours. Kids get very tired. I believe our swimmers burn out too early. In overseas competitions, our Under12 shine. After than, it's a downhill.
sweeping statement. fallacious.
4. Over pushy training. If your kid is below 10, please don't push them to do 7 km a day. It will cause injury. Unfortunately, many parents push their kids to join the older kids in the hope of reaching a faster time. Coaches have told me that they are causing injuries to their own kids. But the coaches will always oblige, because they know that if they don't another coach in another club will. So let your head be on your shoulders, and not your pride.
first, tell me where do you get your ideas from? dont you think your list is contradicting? first you say theres many good coach around. now you say many coach act against the good of the swimmer's welfare.
sweeping/contradicting statements all over.
swimming 7km is a lot of distance. but then you claim that swimmers train 11-13 times a week. that will be about 2 sessions a day. 3.5km each session.
if you do not realise,
3.5km per session will not hurt your kid.
3.5km of wrong techniques/methods will.
goes to show how you relate distance = injury, when in actual fact, there's a more predominant factor.
5. Your child will grow at least 7 shades darker, and have broader shoulders and become really sporty.
what is bad about being sporty?
another sweeping statement. \"will grow at least 7 shades darker\", false.
\"will\" suggest definite, yet, this statement is largely untrue.
6. Good swimmers are mostly wimps on land. But you will likely see this only after the kid is well into his/her teens.
another sweeping statement.
7. They retire too early. As early as 18, they will want to retire. Seems to be the trend in Singapore, and I think it is strange.
this is true.
So, not only must you hone your skills, in swimming, you have to make sure the body is in good shape as well. If you allow it to slag, you will be dragging a burden across the pool. Discipline, diet, sleep and habit becomes part and parcel of the game.
Hope this helps you make a informed decision. :celebrate:
I wouldn't pay much attention to his/her list, where sweeping statements are rampant, downplaying on the actual benefits of competitive swimming, providing a skin-deep opinion on the topic. The content is judged mostly with his/her eyes rather than mind.
If i were to decide where to swim competitively, I would choose to neglect most of his views and focus more on the things I need to know, that the things that he/she thinks he/she knows.