Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

YES, you do. You tap them on the foot.

No, you don’t. My kid got kicked regularly from another kid. It was really obnoxious and made my kid not want to swim. No reason to touch another child. Just wait and give yourself enough space. I had enough and coach would not help so I told my kid to kick harder back. Only then did the coach care. Don’t start a war you are not prepared to finish.

The foot tap is universally accepted swimming etiquette. If your kid wants to keep swimming, they should learn it.

My kid is a teen and it’s never been practiced with us. It’s rude. Just wait a bit to start so you don’t need to pass.

Anonymous wrote:

I had enough and coach would not help so I told my kid to kick harder back.

Great parenting there. Why not tell DC to use their words and switch it up at the next set?

I did. But the kids were about equal in speed and the kid was competitive. He told the kid to stop, kid would not. He went to the coach who ignored him. I pulled him out for a week because he refuse to go and emailed the coach and organization with no response. I walked him into to the practice and coach refused to talk to us. So, he refused to swim and we went into the regular lap lane to swim. I finally convinced him to go back and told him he had to stand up for himself and kick back. Finally the coach cared and then had the nerve to email me about him and I reminded the coach what we did to stop it first.

Stop letting your kid hit other kids in practice or they may get hit back.

My swimmer was taught to touch the foot of the swimmer ahead of them if they needed to pass. They were also taught that if someone is up on their feet like that to let them pass. The 10U set is the worst with this because they all want to lead and don’t want to be passed but by 11-12 it was much better and the kids knew how to order themselves in a lane.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

YES, you do. You tap them on the foot.

No, you don’t. My kid got kicked regularly from another kid. It was really obnoxious and made my kid not want to swim. No reason to touch another child. Just wait and give yourself enough space. I had enough and coach would not help so I told my kid to kick harder back. Only then did the coach care. Don’t start a war you are not prepared to finish.

The foot tap is universally accepted swimming etiquette. If your kid wants to keep swimming, they should learn it.

I had enough and coach would not help so I told my kid to kick harder back.

Great parenting there. Why not tell DC to use their words and switch it up at the next set?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

YES, you do. You tap them on the foot.

No, you don’t. My kid got kicked regularly from another kid. It was really obnoxious and made my kid not want to swim. No reason to touch another child. Just wait and give yourself enough space. I had enough and coach would not help so I told my kid to kick harder back. Only then did the coach care. Don’t start a war you are not prepared to finish.

Anonymous wrote:Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

YES, you do. You tap them on the foot.

Anonymous wrote:Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

Agree. Typically the swimmers work it out. They don’t need to touch/tickle/pass, but if they’re on someone’s feet, at the conclusion of the set, they should tell the person in front of them that they’re going in front of them for that reason. If that swimmer consistently blocks that from happening, then the swimmer should engage the coach to help order the lane. But managing lane position in a workout is also a part of competitive swimming that kids need to learn.

Yes that's normal and NO you don't touch the other swimmer.

Anonymous wrote:This is DC’s first time on a club team. I’ve noticed that the coaches don’t really do anything about swimmers colliding in the lanes. For example, if DC is faster than the swimmer before them, rather than re-order the line, the coaches just leave them to constantly run into each other throughout the practice. Is this normal? Seems silly not to just change the sequence rather than have two swimmers constantly fighting with each other for the space.

I see this in the stroke and turn clinics and summer leagues. I don't understand why the instructors and coaches don't step in and order the lanes. I get it the younger kids are all over sometimes slower sometimes faster, however there are some clear speed differences. The kids don't work it out. Usually, the bullies just push to the front of the line, or the buddies keep cutting line.

There is a theory that swimming behind slower swimmers improves technique, but in practice all I have seen is kids develop head up defensive swimming technique by swimming behind slower swimmers. Many of the SSL coaches seem to encourage this and insist that kids do kick boards with their heads up so they can see who is in front of them. I had that discussion with one of the coaches, "But if she has good technique, she'll just be faster..." I think they fixed one lesson maybe.

News flash swim coaches and instructors don't care...

So your swimmer needed to tickle their feet to pass and if their feet are tickled they let the swimmer pass them.

Generally kids learn to sort and reorder themselves as necessary. I know my youngest will occasionally get mad if there is a kid not following the rules of the lane. Occasionally a reckless non rule follower is put on their place by the other swimmers.

Does your kid know the heel tap etiquette?

Anonymous wrote:This is DC’s first time on a club team. I’ve noticed that the coaches don’t really do anything about swimmers colliding in the lanes. For example, if DC is faster than the swimmer before them, rather than re-order the line, the coaches just leave them to constantly run into each other throughout the practice. Is this normal? Seems silly not to just change the sequence rather than have two swimmers constantly fighting with each other for the space.

How old? It makes a difference.

Younger kids are a hot mess and it's just part of the learning process.

Older kids might have the order assigned or may just need to sort it out amongst themselves.

Do the coaches set the order? If not, I’d expect swimmers to work it out themselves. No one wants to be run over all the time.

This is DC’s first time on a club team. I’ve noticed that the coaches don’t really do anything about swimmers colliding in the lanes. For example, if DC is faster than the swimmer before them, rather than re-order the line, the coaches just leave them to constantly run into each other throughout the practice. Is this normal? Seems silly not to just change the sequence rather than have two swimmers constantly fighting with each other for the space.