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.
It sounds like some girls aren't lying, and are embarrassed. It sounds like some girls are taking advantage of the situation. The difficult thing is, the embarrassed ones are going to get hurt by the ones taking advantage.
BTW, tampons are not for everyone. My daughter tried and tried, and just does not like them....so she sits out a couple of days a month. When she was 12 until she was about 13.5 she had her periods every 20-21 days, which was really bad and she was not a heavy person, she started when she weighed 90 pounds and is about 110 now at 15. This is not a thing a mother forces on a daughter, this is about her body and it is her decision how to handle it.
If it is a school team and there are no try-outs to be on the team, then your job is to get the most out of the ones who want to participate fully, and the most(which will not be as much) on the ones who are slackers. Then the ones who paticipate fully get to prime swim spots on relays, and events, because they earned it.
It sounds like some girls aren't lying, and are embarrassed. It sounds like some girls are taking advantage of the situation. The difficult thing is, the embarrassed ones are going to get hurt by the ones taking advantage.
BTW, tampons are not for everyone. My daughter tried and tried, and just does not like them....so she sits out a couple of days a month. When she was 12 until she was about 13.5 she had her periods every 20-21 days, which was really bad and she was not a heavy person, she started when she weighed 90 pounds and is about 110 now at 15. This is not a thing a mother forces on a daughter, this is about her body and it is her decision how to handle it.
If it is a school team and there are no try-outs to be on the team, then your job is to get the most out of the ones who want to participate fully, and the most(which will not be as much) on the ones who are slackers. Then the ones who paticipate fully get to prime swim spots on relays, and events, because they earned it.
