I know from personal experience how daunting and confusing it can be when your child first joins a swimming club. Everything’s new and it can be a bit of a steep learning curve initially – mainly for the parents. I therefore thought it would be a good idea to write a few pointers based on my own and my daughter’s experiences since becoming involved with the club and hopefully alleviate any concerns - plus answer any of those nagging questions that you’ve always wanted to ask.
Firstly let me say that Maldon Sharks is a very friendly, community run club and as such has none of the elite ‘big-club’ syndrome that can afflict some of the larger clubs. All of the officials are also parents of swimmers at the club and all are willing to lend an ear and answer any questions from parents. Because of the small size of the club swimmers from all ages and abilities mix freely and your child will soon make new friendships or strengthen existing ones.
At the time of writing my daughter has been a member of Maldon Sharks for around 18 months, so I can still remember clearly how confusing everything was to start with. My initial pre-conception was that kids who took up competitive swimming spent many hours training at some unearthly hour first thing in the morning. Thankfully at Maldon Sharks the swimming times are far more accommodating!
Training
Training times and location can be found on the website here. The Sunday session is split, with the earlier session being applicable for most swimmers whilst the later session catering for the stronger swimmers working on improving their fitness. It’s worth remembering how relatively little pool time swimmers get, therefore swimmers are encouraged to be ready and changed so that they can get in the pool as soon as the session starts. During training swimmers are split by lane, so that swimmers of roughly equal ability/speed are in the same lanes. This is so that faster swimmers are not constantly overtaking the slower ones. The lanes closest to the cafe seating area at Blackwater will have the beginners or younger swimmers and the furthest 2 lanes will have the generally older and quicker swimmers. I remember my daughter coming home one evening, chuffed she’d been put up a lane, so children can soon progress with hard work and dedication.
Swim Training Aids
Although not compulsory, your child may be encouraged to get some swimming aids for use in training to help improve strength, stamina and certain areas of their technique. These can include some or all of the following....
Pull Buoy: Typically a high density foam float that goes between the legs, allowing swimmers to work on their upper-body technique and strength. Price range £4-£12
Kick board: Typically made from high-density foam, kick boards allow swimmers to use only their legs as they swim. Prices range £5-£15.
Fins: Used to help perfect your body position and strengthen your leg muscles. Prices range £8-£20.
Hand paddles: Used to help perfect the hand position on entry into the water and strengthen the arm and shoulder muscles. Price range £5-£15
Different Types of Swimming Galas
Maldon Sharks basically compete in 2 types of swimming gala:-
· Team galas where the club competes as a team against other clubs
· Galas where the swimmer competes individually.
Team Galas
Maldon Sharks compete in the Essex Mini league. The Essex Mini League runs from about February to October on Saturday evenings. The main purpose of these galas is to give novice swimmers a taste of competition. A meet will consist of individual sprint races and team relays against other clubs in the league. The club tries to give everyone at least one race throughout the evening – sometimes more. One of the characteristics of these galas is that if a swimmer swims faster than a designated time for a particular event then the swimmer is time faulted and no points are scored for the team – although the times are still recorded. This discourages stronger swimmers competing in what is, essentially a gala for novice swimmers. Points are scored throughout the evening to give an overall team total. This type of gala has a good atmosphere and generates real team spirit, with swimmers cheering their fellow club members on and offering support.
In addition we sometimes receive invitations to compete one or more annual events or trophy galas. One of these is the James Gibson Gala usually held in October where the Maldon Sharks and other clubs are invited to come and compete against a Witham Dolphins team. Another gala is the Colchester ‘Jingle Bells’ gala in December where swimmers and spectators are encouraged to wear festive outfits to add to the Christmas spirit.
Open Galas
Open galas are those galas where the competitor is swimming for themselves – although the entry for these is still made via the club. They come in various standards and often have qualifying times for each individual event. Details of open galas are distributed via e-mail and flyers are given out by Carly suggesting the events that the swimmer would do well in. It is then up to the individual (with the parent's knowledge) to tell the club to enter them, if they wish. The club secretary then collects the names and puts the entry in. It is important that parent's know about gala entries because there is a cost involved (approx £3 to £5 per event) which made must be paid once the club has submitted they entries.
Open galas can be all day events or sometimes span all weekend. At most open galas each event is ranked in the order of the swimmer’s entry time. If it’s your first gala then Carly would have recorded your swimmers time during a training session and given them an appropriate entry time. The event is then swum in heats starting with the slowest, irrespective of age. As a result swimmers of similar ability will swim in each heat - it is unlikely that a swimmer will be completely outclassed (or completely outclass the other swimmers) in their particular heat. Once the event is complete the recorded times and swimmers are sorted into their age groups and the results posted – at which point you find out where your child came in their age group and whether you may have a medal winner. (Medals are usually given to the top 6 swimmers in each age group).
The club try to give notice of gala dates as early as possible via club newsletters or on the website. To help Carly with the planning of the team please let her know as soon as possible if your child is unavailable for a particular gala date.
What to take to a gala (swimmers)
Well obviously your swimmer needs a costume, goggles etc. Spares of each are advisable in case of any last minute hitches. Also bring a towel and don’t forget the Maldon sharks top to wear between races! The swimmers also need plenty to drink (non-fizzy is best) and for the longer meets possibly food – they are going to be stuck poolside for about 2-3 hours. Some sugary, not too stodgy sweets also help to keep the energy levels and enthusiasm up whilst waiting to swim.
What to take to a gala (parents)
You (the parent) will need something to drink – it is usually very warm and humid at a swimming pool. Dress in such a way that you can cope with the hot conditions. Make sure you have a few layers to peel off as it can be uncomfortable if under-prepared! Something to read can come in handy, if you can’t get seated next to a familiar face and possibly come prepared with a small cushion, in case the seating is a bit on the basic side. There’s usually a small charge for spectators and don’t forget the raffle (it’s how clubs try to raise funds).
At the Gala
Once at the gala the swimmers have to go off and change (after signing in first for the open meets). They usually go poolside by themselves – parents aren’t allowed poolside unless they are one of the volunteers helping to manage the team. This can be a bit daunting especially for younger swimmers in the first couple of galas, but there’s usually lots of familiar faces to help them out. Usually a more experienced Shark can be relied upon to look after a little one and once poolside the friendly faces of coaches Carly or Gavin will be there to greet them.
First will be a warm-up – this usually takes about half an hour to an hour depending on the size of the gala, with the children split into either club groups or age groups. Then it is into the races. Once the gala gets going the races happen very quickly and what looks like a daunting list of around 50 races can take around 2 hours. The first gala I went to there seemed to be a collection of parents with stopwatches at the ready to record their childs/teams times. This all seemed a bit serious to me, but you soon get bitten by the bug to see how fast your particular swimmer went and whether they got a PB (what’s a PB I hear you ask?).
For those that don’t know, PB means Personal Best. No matter their ability, each child soon becomes obsessed with beating their PB for each event and stroke. When my daughter first started at Maldon Sharks it didn’t seem important, but the obsession with getting a PB soon takes hold if your child is keen. PBs can be recorded at any galas and the club keep record of all the swimmer’s best times. The ASA also holds a database of all official times recorded at licensed open galas. (When the details of the galas are posted they say whether or not it is licensed).
Well I think I've now covered most things - for more definitive answers, obviously the best people to ask are the club coaches and officials – but in the mean time, I hope these notes have been able to answer a few of the more obvious questions…
