All About Competitive Swimming

[Miaor]

lovinglife:

Miaor:

Hi, I need some advice for my DS's swimming lessons. He is K2 and currently having swimming lessons once a week in swimfast learn to swim program. He was recently chosen to join the swimfast team to train competitive swimming for the coming midget meet. My husband started to take DS to ACS for the 3 hours training in late afternoon, four days every week. Although DS is really interested and doing great, this is imposible to sustain as it takes too much time to send the kid to the training. Could anyone share how you cope with this problem? and please give me some recommendations on competitive swimming training program in west north area (jurong west/east, bukit butok, chua chu kang or bukit panjang).

3 hours per training, 4x per week! :yikes:
This definitely sound too much for a K2. At this rate, won't the kid get burnout easily? My K2 DS not into competitive training but each session 10 laps 50m already tired the hell out of him.

According to daddy, each training session is including warm up, practice of four styles and a competition of 25m with time recorded. Every time DS is back from the training, I can see that he is really exhausted. However he is very excited and enthusiastic about each training as well. And I found he's got a big appetite and recovered faster from flu attack after he started this training. I think overall, he is getting stronger and healthier because of the intensive training. BTW, he got taller by 1 cm within a month, although this maybe not fully due to the training.

[TravelMummy]

lovinglife:

Miaor:

Hi, I need some advice for my DS's swimming lessons. He is K2 and currently having swimming lessons once a week in swimfast learn to swim program. He was recently chosen to join the swimfast team to train competitive swimming for the coming midget meet. My husband started to take DS to ACS for the 3 hours training in late afternoon, four days every week. Although DS is really interested and doing great, this is imposible to sustain as it takes too much time to send the kid to the training. Could anyone share how you cope with this problem? and please give me some recommendations on competitive swimming training program in west north area (jurong west/east, bukit butok, chua chu kang or bukit panjang).

3 hours per training, 4x per week! :yikes:
This definitely sound too much for a K2. At this rate, won't the kid get burnout easily? My K2 DS not into competitive training but each session 10 laps 50m already tired the hell out of him.

Think Swimfast is driving him this hard because the Midget meet is happening this sat. You can ease off and give him a short break after the meet. For K2, this is the most important meet for the year. I know of other k2 kids participating in the meet training as hard too. Hope your kid is rewarded for his effort. The important thing is to sustain his interest. Glad to hear he is doing this on his own accord rather than you driving him to
train. Good luck!

[Miaor]

TravelMummy:

lovinglife:

[quote=\"Miaor\"]Hi, I need some advice for my DS's swimming lessons. He is K2 and currently having swimming lessons once a week in swimfast learn to swim program. He was recently chosen to join the swimfast team to train competitive swimming for the coming midget meet. My husband started to take DS to ACS for the 3 hours training in late afternoon, four days every week. Although DS is really interested and doing great, this is imposible to sustain as it takes too much time to send the kid to the training. Could anyone share how you cope with this problem? and please give me some recommendations on competitive swimming training program in west north area (jurong west/east, bukit butok, chua chu kang or bukit panjang).

3 hours per training, 4x per week! :yikes:
This definitely sound too much for a K2. At this rate, won't the kid get burnout easily? My K2 DS not into competitive training but each session 10 laps 50m already tired the hell out of him.

Think Swimfast is driving him this hard because the Midget meet is happening this sat. You can ease off and give him a short break after the meet. For K2, this is the most important meet for the year. I know of other k2 kids participating in the meet training as hard too. Hope your kid is rewarded for his effort. The important thing is to sustain his interest. Glad to hear he is doing this on his own accord rather than you driving him to
train. Good luck![/quote]Thanks a lot for your encouraging post. With 10 months old DD, I don't think we can manage to keep the training that intensive. If we keep him in weekly lesson after the meet, will it be too late for him to engage in competitive swimming training, say 2 to 3 years later when he is in primary 2 or 3?

[TravelMummy]

Miaor:

Thanks a lot for your encouraging post. With 10 months old DD, I don't think we can manage to keep the training that intensive. If we keep him in weekly lesson after the meet, will it be too late for him to engage in competitive swimming training, say 2 to 3 years later when he is in primary 2 or 3?

I don't see why not, as long as he is willing to work super hard to catch up with those who train more. Key is to sustain his interest. Winning competitions and being chosen to represent his club are usually primary motivations for kids that age to endure the tough training. My advice is to try and swim at least twice a week so he improves sufficiently every year to get chosen, at least for the relay events, if not the individual. It really is worth every bit of time spent, because you save so much more on medical bills and time at the docs. My kids now choose to go swimming whenever they feel slightly unwell cos they literally swim their flu and aches away! Your dd can also start to splash around as well! Good luck for upcoming meet!

[lovinglife]

Miaor:

lovinglife:

[quote=\"Miaor\"]Hi, I need some advice for my DS's swimming lessons. He is K2 and currently having swimming lessons once a week in swimfast learn to swim program. He was recently chosen to join the swimfast team to train competitive swimming for the coming midget meet. My husband started to take DS to ACS for the 3 hours training in late afternoon, four days every week. Although DS is really interested and doing great, this is imposible to sustain as it takes too much time to send the kid to the training. Could anyone share how you cope with this problem? and please give me some recommendations on competitive swimming training program in west north area (jurong west/east, bukit butok, chua chu kang or bukit panjang).

3 hours per training, 4x per week! :yikes:
This definitely sound too much for a K2. At this rate, won't the kid get burnout easily? My K2 DS not into competitive training but each session 10 laps 50m already tired the hell out of him.

According to daddy, each training session is including warm up, practice of four styles and a competition of 25m with time recorded. Every time DS is back from the training, I can see that he is really exhausted. However he is very excited and enthusiastic about each training as well. And I found he's got a big appetite and recovered faster from flu attack after he started this training. I think overall, he is getting stronger and healthier because of the intensive training. BTW, he got taller by 1 cm within a month, although this maybe not fully due to the training.[/quote]Your DS is doing really well. :rahrah: Sounds like competitive training is tough and I wouldn't want to put my DS through it. His coach is training his stamina rather than speed. And I agree swimming is really helping to build up their immune system. :xedfingers:

[emgladys]

Hi Miaor, K2 is the right age to start competitive swimming before he gets overwhelmed by school work, CCA or other enrichment classes. My gal started competitive swimming in K2, training 4x/wk and have since joined several national/club competitions. She’s in P2 now and this sport has certainly make her very disciplined as she knows that she needs to complete her school work before her training. Training can be intensified near compeititions but you can ease to 2x/wk after that just to keep their momentum going.

[Miaor]

:thankyou:

for all the suggestions, nice comments and encouragement!

... how could it possible to get the time to send him to the training 4 times a week for the long run? Maybe I should consider hiring a maid to take care of the baby so I can run off for a while and take DS to the training. And how do you manage dinner on training days? we usually end up with having dinner on 9pm on training days and DS goes to bed on 10pm, sometimes even later. And he doesn't have enough time to practice piano so his piano teacher is not happy about that...err...so many problems.

[emgladys]

Usually I will prepare just 2 dishes-1 fish/meat + veg before we leave for DD’s training and heat it up for dinner once we reached home. Else, I would just cook pasta which is good source of carbs for energy booster…our kids need that. Diet is important for our growing and active kids, so I would recommend homecook meals whenever possible.


Start a daily routine with time allocated for each activities while your DS is still in K2 eg. 15-30min piano practice, 30min homework or play and bed time by 9pm, cultivate it into a habit and he will breeze through the long journey ahead.

[TravelMummy]

Miaor:

:thankyou:

for all the suggestions, nice comments and encouragement!

... how could it possible to get the time to send him to the training 4 times a week for the long run? Maybe I should consider hiring a maid to take care of the baby so I can run off for a while and take DS to the training. And how do you manage dinner on training days? we usually end up with having dinner on 9pm on training days and DS goes to bed on 10pm, sometimes even later. And he doesn't have enough time to practice piano so his piano teacher is not happy about that...err...so many problems.

You learn to do everything quickly - eat quickly, bathe quickly, study and practise piano efficiently - no time to day dream! Kids have amazing capacity to learn as long as they are doing something they enjoy and really want. It is totally possible. Of course such discipline does not come instantly but is developed over time. But they can keep up with piano and school work if they really want to. My kids do. Swimming trains them to focus much better and a healthy mind comes with a healthy body. Now, I don't even have to waste money on tuition for them to keep up with their school work, because they know they have to focus and do their work properly and use their time efficiently. If they don't thrive in school, they will lose their opportunity to train, and they dont want that. They have developed an active social circle amongst their swimmates and want to keep that up. Many swimmers do well in their studies in fact. In my club last year, 2 swimmers scored 270+ for their PSLE. These guys train 7x a week. Competition doesnt extend to just the pool, but they encourage each other academically too. As they swim together over the years, camaraderie is developed. Foodwise, we pack nutritious meals with hot milo and eat at the pool or give them tuna mayo sandwiches to munch in the car. No need to eat at 9pm. In fact, athletes should always refuel within 30 mins of exercise....but as I have been stressing, take your time to find a balance that works for your family. At k2, he is young and it's ok to train 2x a week regularly, and stepping up before the competitions.

[catpang]

Hi like to get feedback her. My 9 yr old daughter started competitive swim 1+ year ago and I was told she is quite good with her timing. Shes swimming with a small swim club, ppassionate young coach and small group. Will moving her to a big club like Sac develop her full potential or she can do as well in a small club. She is vrry comfortable with her current coach and very committed to the trainingso dun want to upset the setup now unnecessarily but want her potential to be fully developed.

As a parent I’m in a dilemna what’s best the best envrionment for her to develop? Any experience to share?