ADVICE TO PARENTS AND SWIMMERS ON DEVELOPING AND SUSTAINING

A COMPETITIVE SWIMMING CAREER

A paper on the physical components of a competitive swimmer. Success depends on these variants being in balance when the swimmer competes.

GROWTH

The energy required to build bones, muscles, etc. in the growing child is enormous. Therefore we do not at Harrow and Wealdstone demand too much of our younger members. Growth is not necessarily a gradual progression but occurs in bursts. Can we expect a child to perform well whilst a growing phase is in progress?

WEIGHT

Obviously weight is gained with growth and therefore is also not necessarily a gradual process. A child's physique may not appear to change but as muscle is developed to replace fat, weight will be increased. The girls in particular have a problem for sometime between the age of 12 & 16 they will develop into women and between seven and twenty-one pounds in weight will be gained rapidly. Dieting and various methods of losing weight quickly is not the answer as it can lead to ill health and general weakness. So it becomes a time for education, explanation and support as iliis is the period when most girls stop competitive swimming as their times get slower uecause the variants have become negative.

FLOTATION (BUOYANCY)

A useful natural asset to a competitive swimmer. It is a hereditary fact that the weight of a persons skeleton varies a great deal depending on the density of the bone. Two apparently similar persons, same height etc. may have a difference in weight of as much as fourteen pounds. So the natural buoyancy of a person can also vary a great deal and will be affected by growth and weight.

TECHNIQUE

There are basic rules governing tile four competitive swimming strokes but within quite broad parameters a swimmer through good basic instruction plus the use of stoke drills etc. will develop their own technique which will change continuously with the. other variants. So if a girl breaststroke for example increases in weight by fourteen pounds her body position in tile water will be much lower, the natural buoyancy has been reduced and instead of swimming over the surface as she did, she now ploughs a much lower path. Therefore compensating changes in technique will be necessary to combat this problem. She will have to develop a much stronger arm ­action to maintain a higher body position.

STRENGTH AND FLEXIBILITY

We work in swimming on a POWER/WEIGHT RATIO, in other words the more you weigh the stronger, particularly in the upper body,  you need to be. So if you gain weight you have just altered your POWER/WEIGHT RATIO. Either you must lose the weight or increase your strength or a combination of both; otherwise you cannot expect to improve your performance. As nowadays most schools do not do sufficient basic P.E. our average child is a pretty stiff individual. It is therefore very important that the young developing swimmer carries out a daily flexibility programme to develop increased range of movement in ~e shoulders, etc. Without this the ability to swim fly, for example becomes much more difficult. .

TAPER

A very important period for the serious competitive swimmer preparing for a major competition. During the last few weeks or days depending on the swimmer there is a gradual reduction in the number of sessions swum and the intensity of the work. During this time a reduction in food intake should match a reduction in calorie requirement so a constant check on your weight must be maintained. It is very easy especially with extra time on your hands, to put-on an extra pound or two which will ruin your POWER/WEIGHT RATIO at a critical time.

CONCLUSIONS

Our competitive programme means that at Age-Group level there can be as much as eleven months in age difference between two simmers. From all ';:he above information it should be clear that. comparisons of time8 during the development of an Age-Group swimmer are enormous. Because with all the variables mentioned' above you are not comparing like with like, here again education, explanation and support are what is required. Until the growth and weight patterns have stabilised over a period, then of course a comparison of times is legitimate.

PLANS FOR THE FUTURE

I intend in the near future in my group to develop a regular weekly programme of measurement of weight and height. This will be carried out continuously over a long period of time, and gives me the ability to advice swimmers when their variables. are positive and Open competition should be entered. There is no other sport that provides competition for twelve months of the year, most of the problems appear when swimmers compete when their variables are against good performance. We would suggest that this swimmer continues to swim in Inter-Club/ League type meets until the POWER/WEIGHT RATIO becomes better balanced.

The measurement of weight and height will be done in a discreet manner and the information will be for the coaches' use only. Please feel free to speak to either Bill or Gill if you have any concerns on this matter.

Head Coach

 Bill Stokes