The money reason for the new swim league

I wondered what is driving this new swim league movement.

One remark of Sarah Sjostrom in an article published by the BBC explains that performance swimmers often suffer from poverty problems. They sometimes cannot pay their rent, even if they are Olympic swimmers.

Well, the sport is extremely time-consuming and the rewards are little or

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non-existent if swimmers do not get major sponsorship money.

This ISL discussion is now letting the cat out of the bag. Often we just read about the glory of the sport.

The competitions, the medals, the achievements.

We hardly ever hear about the pitfalls and problems that swimmers suffer. I aim to make a difference to this by discussing what is actually happening to swimmers doing the sport.

If that ISL system is poverty driven and swimmers see no other way to make money, but to swim for it, then that is what they need to do.

There is hardly any point in gaining the skill through years of training, which is initally financed through parents paying, and then just stop doing it because of a lack of money.

It is hard to get used to the performance swimmers lifestyle just to find that there is nowhere to go.

I’ve pointed out in previous articles how training is set up to peak swimmers at yearly national, european and international competitions and then again at Olympic games but those extra money earning competitions could put a lot of extra strain onto the swimmers.

I am sceptical.

Especially, as already said, the skills of swimmers are often earned from sponsored training and if swimmers then earn money from it the training providers could ask for their money back.

Perhaps the whole system needs an overhaul. In our society, sport is seen as a voluntary and amateur activity, yet sport stars are expected to win the medals and put in the work, that takes more than just doing some side-line training; it is a full-time activity.

When 5% of people in the world own 95% of all the wealth, then those in between are always either working very hard to make ends meet or end up begging those having all the cash.

Now FINA wants to counter-act the legal action taken against them by Katinka Hosszu in the USA by launching a new innovative Champtions swim series in 2019.

Whilst the ISL has announced Swim League teams and international venues.

I am still around

Still going to training regularly with the performance squad but haven’t been competing since the end of last season, e.g. August 2018.

Have already obtained 8 County times for this season during last season.

Don’t be put off by injury. Even though swimming is a very active sport with constant competitions, having an injury is no reason at all to drop out of the sport.

You can continue training and keep fit, even if you can’t enter every competition for a while.

Don’t let your coach tell you otherwise because if you love swimming you will want to stick with it.

Just thought, that swimming is the ideal sport for hyper active kids. Stick anybody into a swimming club and even the most lively kid will be tired by the end of the day, with little time left for being hyper-active.

Think about it if your child attends morning training before school, by the time they get into the benches, they will already have spent all excess energy during the AM session and if they get active again the after-school training session will take care of that.

Doctors should prescribe more sport less pills.

I think the key is to get parents involved as much as the children to develop the healthy life-style for the whole family.

London Sport Strategy

London Swimming has published details that the Mayor of London has launched a consultation on the London Sport Strategy.

I think that every dedicated swimmer parent can take part and express what improvements they want to see for competitive swimming in Greater London.

The consultation is open until 12 October 2018, please take part. 

Rother Valley Open Water Festival 2018

Brilliant! To all you parents, if you look for something refreshing, therapeutic and rejuvenating activity that doesn’t cost you any money and is extremely good for you, consider becoming an Open Water Swimming Official.

Rother Valley is near Sheffield but very rural. It’s like so many Open Water locations a lake or part of a managed inland water area in various locations around the country.

Swans near the lake where the British Open Water Championships 2018 are held

Wildlife occupy the wonderful lake, the water is very clear and the atmosphere is tranquil despite the fierce competing and swimmers racing around the 1km course as many times as they need to complete their distance. the birds are not phased in the slightest by the swimmers, I saw a group of ducks swimming through without any fear or stress.

All helpers are the friendliest people you can imagine and the team spirit and camaraderie is excellent. A thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

Even the journey home is nice, through a wonderfully tranquil area in the middle of England.

You simply feel a totally wonderful new you after a weekend working in the great team with eager young people in the great English countryside.

 

A new chapter

Looking ahead to the new season 2019 and the challenges this bring. So many new things and routines are going to happen:

• school GCSE studies begin
• swimming, join the youth performance squad with more AM training and gym.

Till the end of this season, Madison diverted away from the usual pool competition focus and spent a lot of energy on the 3km open water races. That puts a lot of demand on the body and having all those pool competitions on top of tough long-distance meets puts any athlete to the test.

One reason why Madison’s shoulder gave way with the 400 IM in the Barking & Dagenham summer meet was the participation in a long-distance Open Water meet and we just shelved the rest of this B&D gala. 2 silver medals won this weekend.

It doesn’t matter if an athlete has to pull out of a meet. There are many more to come.

We are now focussing on more intellectual and athletic challenges for next season.

Pool training will soon stop but the summer swim camp is still to come.

School term is nearly complete and with the last week of school term an academic award is still waiting.

The summer holiday will be filled with regular gym sessions, some climbing, canoeing and biking and nature walks. It is very important to relax.

Obviously ultimately the challenge is to get national qualifying times but we don’t want to restrict the variety to just one or two events. The swimmers with the biggest longevity also have the most variety of stroke performance.

Whilst still in the pre-GCSE stage, there is no national training scheme available other than getting a place at a boarding school like Millfield for example. We keep in touch with national swimming by regularly attending the Melanie Marshall swim camps. At age 14 it is progress to keep on getting personal best times and achieving regional qualifying times.