When is your Child Ready for Swim Competitions?
Waterworks Aquatics Swim School offers Swim Competitions to swimmers at Level 5. At Level 5, swimmers should be able to swim Freestyle across the pool in less than 5 second breathes, with fingers closed. Swimmers must also be able to side breathe and should begin learning backstroke arms and kicks. Your child may be ready to learn to swim by age 5, the average age for reaching this milestone, according to the Mayo Clinic, but even if he can swim a lap of the pool, he may not be ready to join a swim team. Some rules, even simple ones, could be too complicated for some 4- and 5-year-old children, KidsHealth explains, making competitive team sports too much to handle. Click here to see Waterworks Aquatics new Level System.
Emotional and Mental Readiness for Swim Competitions
Competitive swimming levels are determined by age, but your little one’s emotional and mental readiness are equally, if not more, important when they begin swimming competitively. Should their swimming abilities be on par with their teammates but not their cognitive skills, they could have a harder time with drills, following a posted workout or using the pace clock without constant cues from their coach. Kids need to be emotionally ready for the stresses that come with coaching critiques, winning and losing, and the self-discipline needed to stay on course during a team workout. If your child starts swimming competitively before she’s emotionally and mentally ready, they may soon decide that they do not like swimming; that it’s too much work and not enough fun.
Basic Swimming Skills for Swim Competitions
Before they are ready to compete on a swim team, children should learn to be safe in the water. Water safety education should follow established skill upon skill development taught in a loving, fun and positively reinforced environment. Taking swim lessons from a qualified provider such as the American Red Cross, YMCA of the USA, Starfish Aquatics Institute or Swim America can lay the foundation for your child’s progression through lifelong aquatic activity, USA Swimming explains.
Transitioning from Lessons to Teams for Swim Competitions
A child who is not quite ready for swim team after successfully completing a learn-to-swim program can continue learning and developing their skills and endurance in a bridge program. Whether the class is called pre-team or stroke school, bridge programs, according to USA Swimming, help prepare swimmers by teaching competitive strokes and drills. An advantage to learning this way, rather than as part of a team, is that the swimmer will get a higher level of individual instruction while becoming stronger and safer in the water.
Ready for Swim Competitiions
If a child has a basic command of the four competitive swim strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly), is ready mentally and emotionally, and expresses a clear desire to join a swim team, they are most likely ready to try out. The coaches will try to place her with other swimmers in her age group and ability. Because the type of meet a swimmer competes in depends on their achievement level and their age on the first day of the meet, explains USA Swimming, swim practices are also usually divided into groups based on age and achievement level.
