I just became the coach of my first swim team, and I, being a male, am having a hard time with the whole period thing. My girls are middle school level, and a little shy about the subject, as am I. Now, I know that you can swim on your period by using a tampon, but they cringed at the idea. However, on a 20 girl team, I've got as many as 6-7 girls sitting out daily because of it. I know that's far FAR too high. I'm about this close to going out and buying a box of tampons to shove in their face if they don't dress.
So my questions are:
How necessary is it that you wear a tampon? Is it an every day thing? are there times when it's worse than others?
And, how can I easily make the lives of the swimmers who don't swim (and keep in mind it has to be for a group of 6-7 people) a living hell. I need a dry land work out that can be done on the pool deck that takes little effort to watch (so I can coach the other girls) and something they can't really slack off - I keep giving them push ups and they barely go down.
I really can't think of anything outside of making the actual swim session fun, so if you guys have ideas on how to do that too it might work, too. It need to work on something important though.
These girls just want to get out of practice. I can remember that when I was that age, the girls all wanted to start using tampons as SOON as possible. (As one of my friends put it, "Wearing pads feels like someone is following you around all day with their hand between your legs.") In fact, as I recall, the girls who were still using pads were "looked down on" by their peers.
So it's hard for me to believe that none of the girls on the team uses tampons.
I knew a swimmer who was cognitively disabled. She had grown up swimming. She was in her 30s and for whatever reason couldn't or wouldn't use tampons. So you know what she did? She safety-pinned a pad to the inside of her swimsuit.
These girls just want to get out of practice. I can remember that when I was that age, the girls all wanted to start using tampons as SOON as possible. (As one of my friends put it, "Wearing pads feels like someone is following you around all day with their hand between your legs.") In fact, as I recall, the girls who were still using pads were "looked down on" by their peers.
So it's hard for me to believe that none of the girls on the team uses tampons.
I knew a swimmer who was cognitively disabled. She had grown up swimming. She was in her 30s and for whatever reason couldn't or wouldn't use tampons. So you know what she did? She safety-pinned a pad to the inside of her swimsuit.
