So, I have 2 boys (12, 9) who were on a year-round swim club last year. They are decent enough and swim BB times on most short course events. The problem is neither of them want to swim for the club this year. They say they don't mind training, but found it too much of a time committment. Basically, they would like to swim a couple of hours a week, which I have a hard time justifying at a cost of $450 per month.
I asked them if they wanted to come to the gym with me and swim in the lap pool a couple times per week. They thought that was a great idea. But herein lies the problem -- I am not a swimmer. I have tried to educate myself over last few years, but I'm no pro. On the other hand, my kids are both really good listeners and it shows in their excellent technique. I could see coaching them being a really good experience for all of us. Or a really bad experience.
So, my question is has anyone here ever done this before? What are the pro/cons? Can anyone recommend a good DIY training program? Any insight would be appreciated.
Thanks,
Hmmmm, this is a very interesting question.
Well, it's hard to answer this. I guess that the first thing that could be said about it is that it wouldn't harm giving it a try and see.
My feeling though would be that it could be best to simply find another formula involving group based activities, but that wouldn't require as much commitment to what is asked by this Club. Euh well, I understood that it could be possible to swim in this club, but that 495$ per month for 8 sessions (2x per week x 4 weeks) would be a bit too much.
As adults we tend to learn and work on swimming in accordance to our feelings as adult, ie I will do this warmup that technical set, that main set, as it will get me to improve my fitness.
Kids don't learn/think this way. The ideal learning/training conditions for kids *should* include a lot of plays, interactions with other kids, etc...
Also, you mention not being a swimmer yourself, which implies that you couldn't contribute to their technical development. So in the end, I'm thinking that 12/9yo kids could, sooner or later, loose their motivation to train alone using an approach designed to work best with adults.
If I saw some parents posting the same question about diving in a diving forums, I'd say forget it immediately. If you don't know about the specifics of diving, you'd better rely on some experts. Swimming is far less technical than diving and requires less feed back from a coach, but still. There's a technical component to swimming. Gym as a comparison does require very little if no feedback at all.
Not trying to be difficult here but if you think that swimming is 'far less technical' than diving, then perhaps your knowledge of what is required to swim efficiently might be lacking. And yes, I understand that diving is technical, I am not saying that swiming is any more or any less technical than diving. Swimming is technical in terms of requiring efficient technique to be able to move thru the water as quickly as possible while using the least energy possible. Proper technique is also needed to help reduce the chance of repetitive motion injuries.
If you are using the word technical in the sense that diving has a specific structure for how dives are performed while swimming does not have that same rigid structure then I will give you that but that is not how your statement reads.
As for feedback from a coach, again, I disagree with you here. Without feedback, there can be no correction of technique. The same proprioceptive challenges exist in both sports. The smallest change in form feels huge to a swimmer or diver so without constant feedback, the athlete will not receive confirmation that the proper form is being executed.
Hmmmm, this is a very interesting question.
Well, it's hard to answer this. I guess that the first thing that could be said about it is that it wouldn't harm giving it a try and see.
My feeling though would be that it could be best to simply find another formula involving group based activities, but that wouldn't require as much commitment to what is asked by this Club. Euh well, I understood that it could be possible to swim in this club, but that 495$ per month for 8 sessions (2x per week x 4 weeks) would be a bit too much.
As adults we tend to learn and work on swimming in accordance to our feelings as adult, ie I will do this warmup that technical set, that main set, as it will get me to improve my fitness.
Kids don't learn/think this way. The ideal learning/training conditions for kids *should* include a lot of plays, interactions with other kids, etc...
Also, you mention not being a swimmer yourself, which implies that you couldn't contribute to their technical development. So in the end, I'm thinking that 12/9yo kids could, sooner or later, loose their motivation to train alone using an approach designed to work best with adults.
If I saw some parents posting the same question about diving in a diving forums, I'd say forget it immediately. If you don't know about the specifics of diving, you'd better rely on some experts. Swimming is far less technical than diving and requires less feed back from a coach, but still. There's a technical component to swimming. Gym as a comparison does require very little if no feedback at all.
Not trying to be difficult here but if you think that swimming is 'far less technical' than diving, then perhaps your knowledge of what is required to swim efficiently might be lacking. And yes, I understand that diving is technical, I am not saying that swiming is any more or any less technical than diving. Swimming is technical in terms of requiring efficient technique to be able to move thru the water as quickly as possible while using the least energy possible. Proper technique is also needed to help reduce the chance of repetitive motion injuries.
If you are using the word technical in the sense that diving has a specific structure for how dives are performed while swimming does not have that same rigid structure then I will give you that but that is not how your statement reads.
As for feedback from a coach, again, I disagree with you here. Without feedback, there can be no correction of technique. The same proprioceptive challenges exist in both sports. The smallest change in form feels huge to a swimmer or diver so without constant feedback, the athlete will not receive confirmation that the proper form is being executed.
