First Short Course Season

Registration for the 2015-2016 swim season began in August at our club.  Our club has a new head coach and he has made some changes in the structure of the club.  As parents we were anxiously waiting to find out what that meant.  In mid-August I found that the club was slightly restructured by age instead of named groups.  My daughter falls in the 10&U group.  I also found out that my daughter had been moved to a new squad called "black."  The new squad would meet about 6 days a week.  The practices would be longer and the demand would be higher.  My daughter was elated.  I was not.

We started the short course season on the new squad.  These girls swim faster and at higher volume.  My daughter wanted to keep up with the girls in the new squad.  She started to swim faster and after each practice she was exhausted.  I noticed that her technique has started to suffer.  Because my daughter wanted to swim at the same speed as others on the new squad she started to move her arms faster.  She increased her stroke rate which meant the stroke length decreased.  The ultimate goal is to increase one and maintain the other.  The new squad also uses different swim aids like snorkels in their training.  My daughter cannot figure out how to breath and is constantly lifting her head.  It is frustrating to watch my daughter struggle and I just felt totally helpless.

The only way to channel my frustration was to do something for myself.  I decided to sign up for Masters Swim in Oregon.  I have been an open water freestyle swimmer (in a wet suit) which is totally different than swimming in a pool. I do not know how to do flip turns, butterfly, or breast stroke. I have a lot to learn.  Masters Swimming offers so much for adults as their motto is "Encouraging Adults to Swim,"  They send helpful articles in a newsletter if you sign up.  https://www.usms.org/  I read an article about setting goals for the season.  I made some goals of my own.  My goals are to take lessons to learn how to do flip turns, butterfly and breast stroke.  I would also like to swim with the masters swim group at the local community center.

Time Standards

My daughter competed in a total of six swim meets during the Long Course season from April, 2015 ending on July 31, 2015.  I was not informed by the coaches about championship meets or A and B times when we started nor did I did know to ask.   This is the email that was sent to the team right before the championship meet in late May 2015.  **For the Mt Hood meets in June: all 8&unders will swim in the C meet (6/13-14 Sat&Sun only-indoor SCY).  9&10 year olds will swim in the Age Group Meet (6/12-14 Fri thru Sun-outdoor LCM) IF they have 4 or more qualifying times for the meet (OSI 9 year old B times).  When I found out that my daughter did not make the qualifying B times for the long course championship meet, I quickly realized that there is something more than just swimming on a team.  She was at a "C" meet that was going on inside in a small pool with a small group of girls while many of her friends were swimming in the outside pool in the sunshine that was olympic size, really nice and packed full of people.  Luckily my daughter was with a great group of girls who all had so much fun teasing the coach, laughing and playing together.  At the meets to follow, I started to talk to other parents and they were discussing A times.  I also heard the term State.  After the long course championships at the beginning of summer a few of my daughters' teammates were moved into another squad called "Storm."  My daughter really wanted to get onto Storm.  I was not that excited about this idea because I heard that the workouts are six days a week.  I told her that she would probably need to get "A" times to get moved.  Although many of the girls who were moved did not have "A" times.  I'm not exactly sure of the criteria to get moved to another squad.  I looked up Oregon Swimming and found the 9 year old "A" times.  There is a lot of information to sort through because much of it does not apply to your child until they are ready and need it. 

Here's what I think I've learned so far:

A common misconception is that the championship meets are called "state" championships.  These meets are open to registered Oregon Swimming Swimmers and Oregon Swimming does not only encompass the State of Oregon.  Oregon swimming includes SW Washington and excludes Eastern Oregon counties. 

Oregon Swimming hosts several championship meets a year during short course and long course seasons. During the short course season, the 10 and Under Championships are usually held the second weekend of February, open to all swimmers who meet the qualifying standard (during the qualifying period of February 1 of the previous year until the entry deadline) . During the Long Course season, Oregon holds the 10 and Under Championships during the second weekend of July for swimmers who meet the qualifying standard during the qualifying period July 1 of the previous year until the entry deadline.  Oregon swimming publishes a list of time standards can be found at:  http://www.oregonswimming.org/standards.  If your child has a birthday, than they need to meet the qualifying time standard for the age that they will be on the day of the championship meet. 

After the "C" meet, I printed out the 9 year old "A" times for my daughter.  During the summer, the workouts were 90 minutes on Tuesdays in an outdoor pool.  The other workouts were about an hour instead of the usual 45 minutes.  Because of these extra workouts, and my daughter's determination, she did get an "A" time in the butterfly.  She ended the long course season in a really positive way.  

2015 Long Course Season

My daughter was brought onto the competitive swimming squad in April 2015.  This is considered long course season.  I, of course, had no idea there was any type of distinction between swim races (25 meter vs. 50 meter).  Usually the pool is set up with 25 meters during practices and that is the distance that my daughter was racing at CYO.  During long course season the pools are set up with a 50 meter length of the swimming pool.  This is long course.  The Olympic Games and the World Championships are held in 50 meter pools.  This distance can be challenging for any eight year old.  There are less turns and the time used in gliding off the wall after a turn takes less effort compared to stroking.  Swimming 50 meters takes longer than in short course.  Since the team never practiced a 50 meter swim prior to the first race, the first meet was going to be about trying to get used to racing at that distance.  

These were the results:  

Cadence	Female (8 & Under) 50 Free			45.59L	5		8 9	5/3/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope
Cadence	Female (8 & Under) 50 Back			53.19L	7		8 9	5/3/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope
Cadence	Female (10 & Under) 100 Breast			2:24.26L	45		8 9	5/3/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope
Cadence	Female (8 & Under) 50 Breast			1:05.68L	5		8 9	5/2/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope
Cadence	Female (8 & Under) 50 Fly			53.04L	3		8 9	5/2/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope
Cadence	Female (10 & Under) 100 Free			1:46.47L	44		8 9	5/2/15	2015 OR Thunderbolt Spring Ope

After this race I found out that this was the only opportunity to qualify for the Long Course Championships.  Swimmers needed 4 "B" qualifying times from the Oregon Swimming time standards.  My daughter did not get 4 "B" times.  This was my first introduction to time standards.