The Novice swimmer and Swim Meets

The question comes up many times, "When do I know my child is ready for a swim meet?" First of all this question can be answered fairly easily; if they're on the swim team they are ready. Many teams make sure that the swimmer can swim without the assistance of a coach in the water, so then they are ready.

Is it a good idea to wait? Yes, but not too long. I believe the swimmer should have a foundation that will allow them to be ready for a race. This should be from 3 weeks to 6 months. The first meet should be selected by the coach. There are some meets that aren't great for new swimmers. When I began coaching we had the Olympic League in Central California which was designed for new swimmers, now in Southern California Coastal Section we have Novice Meets. These may have a few ringers, but for the most part they are new swimmers.

I feel like my swimmer is going to feel bad about themselves because they get beat. This is a common feeling from parents. It is important that all around them realize that the swimmer wins just by doing the race. They have accomplished their first swim race and their first swim meet. This is a victory. The young swimmer went up to the block, went into the water, and did their best in front of hundreds of people. They did great. Don't mention anything else. Nothing about their time, nothing about winning, nothing about losing, and nothing about what they did wrong. Allow the coach to talk to them about what they need to work on at practice. This will make it a good experience and establish good experiences at later meets.

Don't be afraid of your child competing. We live in a competitive world, they need to learn some competitiveness. The first meets are looking for improvement, and hopefully they will later develop the desire to race their heat, and then even later down the road; compete against all in the event. Competition in swimming is a development process that begins with the competition against oneself for self improvement, and then progressively to compete against their peers. This process takes years, so that is why I promote even new young swimmers to compete at meets. They learn self improvement through work and practice; perfecting skills. This is pretty much the process for all age-group swimming. Sure we like to see some desire to beat someone in their heat, but winning the event for an award is far from what should excite the young swimmer.

There are some very competitive parents out there. I recommend to you to be a timer for the whole meet, or get trained to be an official. This will force you not to impose your competitiveness on your child while they are in the developing stage of their swimming. There are some parents who don't want their child to be put in a competitive environment because of what it will do to the child's psyche. These are the kids who probably need to go to a swim meet the most. Go in with the right mentality and it will normally be a good experience. If you fall in the middle of these two that's great, and take what is in this article to think about your swimmer competing.

Age-Group swimming is all about development. There is very little to being a great 10 and under swimmer if you aren't great at 17 and 18 as well. It is a process, don't try to rush it, and definitely don't try to postpone it.