News For
SWIM PARENTS
Published
by The American Swimming Coaches Association
5101 NW 21
Ave.,
___________________________________________________________________
Why is Swimming a Year Around Sport
for Age Group Swimmers?
First, at the competitive level a swimming athlete must
train year around just to stay competitive with all the other athletes.
Swimming is both conditioning intensive and skill intensive. Strength and
endurance conditioning for swimming are not readily transferable from other
sports or activities so they must be developed in the pool and in swimming
specific dryland exercises. Swimming skills are constantly being
developed and refined throughout the swimmer�s career.
Not all swimmers are at competitive levels so what is the
point in training year around for them? The simple answer is that a good
swimming program provides far more than swimming skill development and
improvements in strength and endurance � it provides active development of life
skills. By �active development� we mean planned �
not by accident and not by coincidence. Coaches regularly stop
practice to take advantage of teaching moments to demonstrate or discuss a life
skill and we plan short 10 minute discussions on a variety of topics.
Life skills that are actively promoted by this team include responsibility,
self-discipline, work ethic, coping with peer pressure to use drugs, time
management, team commitment and loyalty, lifetime fitness, nutrition, setting
and meeting goals, learning to extend themselves, challenges, cooperation, and
goal setting.
We know through research that sport in and of itself does not build character or life skills. These skills
are developed by the influence of role models, the environment, and through a
systematic, planned process. Our staff does this all year around and it
is a very compelling reason to keep your child in the water all year around.