Being a Swim Parent is not an easy role!!! It involves early mornings, hours at the pool, trying to get food into your swimmer at the right time!!!!

At CoL we know that the role of parents is important and we want to do all we can to enable an effect Coach - Swimmer - Parent relationship where all are working together.

Below is some information you may find helpful:

You might find it helpful to look at British Swimmings Training and Sports Science page to help you understand more about key areas that are important for swimming, including nutrition. 

COLSC Parents Charter

COLSC Code of Conduct

Supportive Parents

Competitive swimming provides lots of benefits to young athletes such as self-discipline, sportsmanship, & time management skills. Competition allows a swimmer to experience success and to learn how to deal with the joy of winning as well as the disappointment of not reaching personal goals.

As a parent of a swimmer, one of the key things you can do is provide a stable, loving and supportive environment. A positive environment will encourage your swimmer to train and compete well.

To help you create that environment take a look at Swim England's top ten do’s and don’t for Swim Parents.

Pressure Parents

 

A few years ago the ASA used the survey below to help people discover if they were a ‘pressure parent’   If you answer yes to one or more of these questions, you may be in danger of pressuring your child. 

  • Is winning more important to you than it is to your child?

  • When your child has a poor swim, is your disappointment through body language or tones, obvious?

  • Do you feel that you are the one to have to "psyche" your child up before competition?

  • Do you feel that winning is the only way your child can enjoy the sport?

  • Do you conduct "post mortems" immediately after competition or practice?

  • Do you feel that you have to force your child to go to practice?

  • Do you find yourself wanting to interfere with coaching and instructions during practice or competition thinking that you could do better?

  • Do you find yourself disliking your child's opponents?

  • Are your child's goals more important to you than they are to your child?

  • Do you provide material rewards for performance?