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HS Swim Team - any experience?

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iambrutus

iambrutus

Screw Blue
    • My son (freshman) just finished football yesterday (Senior send off) - he starts swim today - He's never done swim before, and we've never been around this sport - anyone have any tips/insight as to what it looks like on a meet day? Daughter did XC, Tennis and Track - my guess is that swim will be a little like track in the format of how things go?

    He doesn't like basketball (doesn't want to get stood up) - but wanted a winter sport to condition before baseball in the spring, so he figured why not swim
     
    iambrutus said:
    My son (freshman) just finished football yesterday (Senior send off) - he starts swim today - He's never done swim before, and we've never been around this sport - anyone have any tips/insight as to what it looks like on a meet day? Daughter did XC, Tennis and Track - my guess is that swim will be a little like track in the format of how things go?

    He doesn't like basketball (doesn't want to get stood up) - but wanted a winter sport to condition before baseball in the spring, so he figured why not swim
    Click to expand...
    Better than wrestling. Imagine rolling around half naked on a mat with another sweating, smelly dude.
     
    Upvote 0
    DubCoffman62 said:
    Better than wrestling. Imagine rolling around half naked on a mat with another sweating, smelly dude.
    Click to expand...
    I wrestled in Jr High - wasn't really my thing, but then again i was also very lazy. I wouldn't let him wrestle in our town, its a very crappy environment and the coaches do nothing about it.

    I'm excited to see what swim holds - he is in great cardio shape and has a swimmers build - plus he's very unlike i was, not fat and easily gains muscle, so i fully expect him to look like Phelps as soon as he gets home tonight :slappy:
     
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    iambrutus said:
    My son (freshman) just finished football yesterday (Senior send off) - he starts swim today - He's never done swim before, and we've never been around this sport - anyone have any tips/insight as to what it looks like on a meet day? Daughter did XC, Tennis and Track - my guess is that swim will be a little like track in the format of how things go?

    He doesn't like basketball (doesn't want to get stood up) - but wanted a winter sport to condition before baseball in the spring, so he figured why not swim
    Click to expand...
    Meets are hectic. Swimmers write their heat #'s on their arms in Sharpie and someone writes their last name on their back for easy identification.
     
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    iambrutus said:
    I wrestled in Jr High - wasn't really my thing, but then again i was also very lazy. I wouldn't let him wrestle in our town, its a very crappy environment and the coaches do nothing about it.

    I'm excited to see what swim holds - he is in great cardio shape and has a swimmers build - plus he's very unlike i was, not fat and easily gains muscle, so i fully expect him to look like Phelps as soon as he gets home tonight :slappy:
    Click to expand...
    Swimming is FANTASTIC for cardio and endurance!

    Great choice by your son!
     
    Upvote 0
    My two swam for years. Some thoughts:

    Have him give it a good two weeks before he makes a decision. There were always football players who showed up the first week of swim practice and only one made it past a week, but he swam in grade school.

    It is a different sort of sport. Lots of focus on technique and mental strength.

    Technique is huge, so pay attention to the coaches.

    Lots of early mornings and late night practices.

    Be ready for your grocery bill to jump.

    Also, get some good shampoo and conditioner. His hair will get destroyed from the chemicals.

    Buy jammers for practice (he will learn quickly what these are). Stock up on towels too. Also, grab a few pairs of goggles and a good swimmers backpack, even if the school gives him a backpack.

    Your kid, car and house will soon smell like chlorine.

    You shouldn't have to buy a tech suit (built for speed) for end of season as older swimmers usually pass those down.

    Any body modesty he may have will be gone.

    Swimmers have a different mentality. In addition to the above, there may not be the crowds at meets he is used to from football.

    Make sure he supports teammates swimming, especially for the longer events like 500s.

    Some meets can last forever and others go quickly. Depends on the number of teams competing and their sizes.

    You will never be cold or wet at a meet. Except maybe if you get splashed timing.

    Bring a book to read as he may have two events to swim over a long meet and one may be at the start and the other at the end.

    I always liked volunteering to time during meets. If you are new, grab an end lane. They are a little less intense as the fastest swimmers are in the middle lanes and if it is a small meet (two smaller teams) you may have events where you do not have to time anything and can just watch. Plus, the meet goes a lot faster.

    Odds are your kid will NOT hear you screaming for him during his event. Unless they are in a breast event.

    Don't be that parent who paces along the railing while your kid is swimming. We all know you want the attention;-)

    He is truly only swimming against himself. Try to keep improving on his own time for every meet.

    My kids enjoyed it. Be sure he pays attention to his body as he can injure himself swimming. My older blew out his shoulder junior year during an IM (Individual Medley) but kept swimming through senior year without telling anyone. It still bothers him today as an adult.

    I am sure there is a ton more to share, but this seems like plenty.

    Tell him good luck and hopefully he enjoys it!
     
    Upvote 1
    Remember that poster we had for a minute... we called him TeddySwimTeam. He got teased a lot here and then probably never came back.
    I have no experience with this, except I hear that the swim meets are brutal. You'll sit around for 6 hours for a 2-minute race your kid will be in. Those were the numbers I was told by a buddy whose kids were on the swim team, so they may be exaggerations.
     
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    BuckBackHome said:
    Any body modesty he may have will be gone.
    Click to expand...

    First thank you for the info, greatly appreciated

    He already has very little modesty, LOL.

    He said the first practice was tough, but he loves a challenge so he loved it. He said he did really good on the backstroke, but struggled with free style, because he couldn't get the coordination of having his head go opposite of his arm to get breath.

    He likes the jammers, but is trying to talk my wife into letting him wear the classic speedo - she's firmly against it :slappy:
     
    Upvote 0
    Zurp said:
    Remember that poster we had for a minute... we called him TeddySwimTeam. He got teased a lot here and then probably never came back.
    I have no experience with this, except I hear that the swim meets are brutal. You'll sit around for 6 hours for a 2-minute race your kid will be in. Those were the numbers I was told by a buddy whose kids were on the swim team, so they may be exaggerations.
    Click to expand...
    At the high school level those are usually events like sectionals or districts where there are just a shit ton of swimmers. Although state can be bad because you have the qualifiers and then if you make the cut you come back for the finals.

    Grade school/club meets can easily be 4-6 hours. Hence, bring a book or download movies to watch. Or time because it helps pass the time (no pun intended).

    Again, at the high school level the big meets can take forever just due to the sheer number of swimmers. Depending on how good your coach is they will pick the big meets that are better run/go faster. The coach for my kids would usually have them do one big meet a season just to experience it. But he was always good selecting ones that went faster, like one at OSU where they had a ton of teams but two pools running the whole time.

    Oh, if your kid sticks with it you will hear him say things like "the water was fast or slow."

    One funny memory. My kids were swimming at a dual against another high school. The meet was at some small college with an old ass pool. They had a new swimmer who ended up swimming under the lane lines during his backstroke and finished in the wrong lane. I never even saw a kid do that in grade school rec swimming. It was hysterical. He did DQ.
     
    Upvote 0
    iambrutus said:
    First thank you for the info, greatly appreciated

    He already has very little modesty, LOL.

    He said the first practice was tough, but he loves a challenge so he loved it. He said he did really good on the backstroke, but struggled with free style, because he couldn't get the coordination of having his head go opposite of his arm to get breath.

    He likes the jammers, but is trying to talk my wife into letting him wear the classic speedo - she's firmly against it :slappy:
    Click to expand...
    You may want to grab a nose clip for the backstroke. My younger one was a backstroker but would always get water in his nose. He borrowed a clip from a teammate and just not worrying about getting water in his nose dropped his time quite a bit.

    Buy the speedos for the meet. Actually, he may not have a choice depending on what the team requires. My kids could do either, but they liked speedos better.
     
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    BuckBackHome said:
    You may want to grab a nose clip for the backstroke. My younger one was a backstroker but would always get water in his nose. He borrowed a clip from a teammate and just not worrying about getting water in his nose dropped his time quite a bit.

    Buy the speedos for the meet. Actually, he may not have a choice depending on what the team requires. My kids could do either, but they liked speedos better.
    Click to expand...

    School provides either Jammers or the brief style - yesterday they gave him a cap and a pair of googles, we already had gotten him 2 caps and a pair of googles and a nice mesh swim bag.

    The swim team is small, but from the looks of the schedule they are going to some bigger schools/meets to compete - most meets are Friday evenings or Saturday - I think he has maybe 2 that are during the week - since we are a small team, the school does not provide transportation and apparently the coach doesn't have his "bus" license to be able to use the 15 passenger van, so we have to haul the kids ourselves
     
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