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.
My point is that this is a dangerous area, so the coach simply needs to tread carefully. I have no doubt that some are using it as an excuse, but there may be a few that are not. I'd rather err on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt rather than approaching the group with the idea in my head that they are all sitting out because they just don't feel like following the rules.
I think enough women on here have made the point that girls need to be the ones to make a decision regarding how they want to handle dealing with their period. There should be allowances for girls to sit out for the reasons discussed above (not wanting to wear tampons or having difficulty with period).
Imagine a rule or policy stating the following: "In order to remain on the team, girls are expected to swim through their periods. Girls are expected to wear tampons so that they can swim through their period."
In a public school setting, do you think such a rule would be allowed to stand? I'm sure if I did my legal research, I could find some legal problems with such a rule. My theory is that if it can't be done in a public school, then even in a private club where it can be done, better tread very carefully.
I know some USA teams would never tolerate this situation. As I said before, the girls that are going to want to excel will find a way to minimize the impact their period has on their swimming. Those are the types of girls that will swim in a top level practice in a USA group. I have a problem, though, with the idea that age-group swimming is only for the elite. There are young ladies that desire to compete in swimming that may just want to be low-key about it and not swim when they are having their periods or want to miss a practice to go to a dance. This should be o.k. for a teenager to do.
Basically, I think there is probably a way to reasonably accomodate the situation without having to have harsh rules or demands. Generally, I think kids under 14, males and females, are pushed way too hard in our society. We seem to live in a truly mixed up society containing overachieving/burned-out kids and kids who get to run the show. As a society we seem to either expect too much or bend over backwards to make sure everybody and everything is accomodated.
My point is that this is a dangerous area, so the coach simply needs to tread carefully. I have no doubt that some are using it as an excuse, but there may be a few that are not. I'd rather err on the side of giving the benefit of the doubt rather than approaching the group with the idea in my head that they are all sitting out because they just don't feel like following the rules.
I think enough women on here have made the point that girls need to be the ones to make a decision regarding how they want to handle dealing with their period. There should be allowances for girls to sit out for the reasons discussed above (not wanting to wear tampons or having difficulty with period).
Imagine a rule or policy stating the following: "In order to remain on the team, girls are expected to swim through their periods. Girls are expected to wear tampons so that they can swim through their period."
In a public school setting, do you think such a rule would be allowed to stand? I'm sure if I did my legal research, I could find some legal problems with such a rule. My theory is that if it can't be done in a public school, then even in a private club where it can be done, better tread very carefully.
I know some USA teams would never tolerate this situation. As I said before, the girls that are going to want to excel will find a way to minimize the impact their period has on their swimming. Those are the types of girls that will swim in a top level practice in a USA group. I have a problem, though, with the idea that age-group swimming is only for the elite. There are young ladies that desire to compete in swimming that may just want to be low-key about it and not swim when they are having their periods or want to miss a practice to go to a dance. This should be o.k. for a teenager to do.
Basically, I think there is probably a way to reasonably accomodate the situation without having to have harsh rules or demands. Generally, I think kids under 14, males and females, are pushed way too hard in our society. We seem to live in a truly mixed up society containing overachieving/burned-out kids and kids who get to run the show. As a society we seem to either expect too much or bend over backwards to make sure everybody and everything is accomodated.
