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Training & Competing |
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Parental support is as important as coaching and facilities for developing swimmers. Attend all the sessions you can. Remember not all swimmers can make the Olympics – Talent counts but be the best you can be. Entering galas is vital!! - Up to 12 years you should swim at least two competitive galas per year as, although you cannot make any mistakes, you cannot learn! However note that up to the age of 12, training is more important than attending lots of galas (See the Long Term Athlete Development Plan below) Older swimmers in heavy training (14 hours plus per week) need to restrict competition. Understand that children will grow and improve at different rates. Be very careful of reward systems for performances. A large proportion of competition improvement in adolescent swimmers is achieved through growth not training or coaching! When children grow it can negatively affect competition performance. There will be occasions when times plateau, keep persevering. After swimming a race ensure your child reports directly to the coaches. Have a tight costume for racing (racing v training). Have extra set of goggles set up for racing.
For additional information, download our “How galas are run” document and also read the ASA Long Term Athlete Development Plan by clicking on the underlined links.
At the end of a race, or after any training session it is important to “warm down” correctly. The biological explanation for this can be found in the ASA document that can be downloaded HERE
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Success in competition is the only way into the Olympic squad! |
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Click on picture above for link |
