Swimming for Parents

The number one question asked by swimming parents around the world is: How can I help my child be the best swimmer they can possibly be? The answer is now available! You can go from being the new parent on the block, to knowing exactly what to say and do in a way that supports your child and helps them to excel in the sport of swimming in just a few hours. Swimming for Parents will help parents of new swimmers, junior swimmers and age group swimmers to 18 years. It provides valuable information for parents of Club, District, State and National level swimmers.

The number one question asked by swimming parents around the world is: How can I help my child be the best swimmer they can possibly be? The answer is now available! You can go from being the new parent on the block, to knowing exactly what to say and do in a way that supports your child and helps them to excel in the sport of swimming in just a few hours. Swimming for Parents will help parents of new swimmers, junior swimmers and age group swimmers to 18 years. It provides valuable information for parents of Club, District, State and National level swimmers. Swimming for Parents will reveal the answers to the questions below: How many times each week should my child train? What is the most important aspect of swimming at a young age? What will my child learn in Advanced Lessons and early Junior Squads? How many competitions should my child take part in? What competitions should my child compete in? Is technique more important than laps swum? Should my child play other sports or focus on swimming? Why is that other child beating my child? What strokes or events should my child focus on? What will my child learn in a Junior Squad program? When should we take our holidays? It won’t affect performance if we take 2 weeks off, 10 weeks before Nationals will it? Should my child give up other sports? Why has my child stopped improving? Why has my daughter put on weight when she is training so much? What is the most important thing I can do to support my daughter during a time of plateauing? When will my child swim well again? Should my child be doing dryland or gym workouts? What is the benefit of continuing swimming if they are not improving? ... and Much More! Swimming for Parents is a vital resource for all swimming parents. You will refer to it over and over again as your child progresses through the swimming world. This book has everything to enable you to assist your child to excel in the sport of swimming and in life. There is so much more to swimming than winning medals and doing PB’s. Discover the many wonderful ways that swimming will assist your child to develop physically and mentally, as well as the many life skills they will enjoy for ever. By reading Swimming for Parents you will also learn: • How swimming benefits the development of all participants in a variety of ways both in the pool and throughout life. You will be amazed at the large variety of life skills learnt by an active participation in the sport of swimming. • Why attending training on a regular basis is so important for children aged 10 to 13 years and how many sessions should they be doing. • How to manage your child through the age competitive level of 13 to 18 years and what they will focus on at this stage of their development. • Why teaching independence to your children is critical to their development and can also help them perform in the pool over the long-term. • That within a defeat in a competition, there is often a victory and how you can support your child to embrace and learn from these situations. • Why swimming successfully is as much about time management as it is about training hard. The skills your child learns in time management when juggling all their training, school and social activities will assist them for the rest of their lives. • What the key responsibilities of a parent who has a child who is participating in swimming and there are many. Parenting is one of the most difficult and challenging jobs in the world and being a parent of a swimmer can provide additional challenges. Swimming for Parents is a resource that parents of competitive swimmers will read over and over again.

Gary Barclay is a leader in aquatic education in Australia and around the world. As a former National level swimmer, swimming teacher, swimming coach, athlete manager, and one of the leading Swimming Club managers in the sport of swimming in Australia, Gary has brought together all his experiences, and those shared with him by parents and coaches, into this wonderful resource. For many parents having a “swimmer” in the family is not something they planned. Gary will guide you through how children get involved in swimming and how you can assist them as they progress from one session a week to multiple sessions and participating in competitions. ‘Swimming for Parents’ is a lifelong project that draws on many of Gary’s experiences as a swimmer, coach, swimming administrator and now as a parent of young children who enjoy swimming. Gary has been involved in the sport of swimming for the last 35 years and worked actively as a coach and manager for the past 20 years. You will thoroughly enjoy reading this book and once you start, you will not be able to put it down.