The Coaching Team are dedicated to providing our members with the best possible experience and the opportunity to work in a safe & supportive environment where each member is enabled to be the best that they can be.
Consequently, we have prepared the following additional guidance for parents and swimmers that should be read in conjunction with the Code of Conduct.
Guidance for swimmers with minor injuries or fighting minor sickness
The Code of Conduct requires that all relevant medical condition are disclosed to the club and that any changes in these conditions are reported to the coach prior to the start of the session.
In addition it should be remembered that swimming training is designed to be physically & mentally challenging and swimmers bodies are deliberately stressed so as to enable adaptation to occur. You may believe that if your swimmer has a minor injury or is fighting sickness that “there is something they can do” and you may still want to send them to training. However, in many cases, they will not be able to fully participate and typically this (a) causes considerable distraction for the coach, (b) causes interruptions to other swimmers in the lane (c) is of very little benefit to the swimmer as there is a minimum level of stress required to trigger the necessary physical adaptations needed to progress and these are unlikely to be reached if a swimmer is not fit and working at a strong level and (d) can cause the underlying condition to deteriorate.
Consequently if you child is particularly tired, fighting a sickness or has a minor physical injury then the general advice is to keep your swimmer at home so that they can recover quickly.
All the swimmers at our swimming club are sufficiently fit that missing a small number of sessions to recover from an injury or minor sickness will (a) not impact their overall level of fitness and (b) enable them to recover more quickly.
Guidance for swimmers and parents during swim training
- The importance of being ready to swim at the start of a session:
As noted in the section above swimming training is designed to be physically and mentally challenging and, consequently, it’s important that swimmers are properly mentally and physically prepared and warmed up at the start of each session. Failure to do this mean that swimmers can be more prone to injury. The warm-up is specifically designed for this purpose and it’s important that all swimmers fully participate in this.
Consequently, (a) parents should ensure that swimmers arrive prior to the start of the session and (b) swimmers change in the changing rooms provided and are pool-ready, including wearing swim caps, so they can enter the pool at the session start time and be immediately ready for the warm-up.
Swimmers who are not pool-ready at the session start time will not be allowed poolside, will be warned and sent back into the changing rooms to change. Repeat occurrences will be dealt with in line with our existing policies.
- What to expect during the session:
Despite some perceptions that swimming is a “solo” sport, the reality is that there is a strong social element to swimming and swimmers can gain great support and encouragement from their peers in what we have previous mentioned can be a physically and mentally challenging environment. Consequently the coaching team are very supportive of swimmers interacting and talking to each other in a positive and constructive manner during training sessions.
It is very important to also appreciate coaching conversation with swimmers are continually occurring and when these happen the focus may be on a particular swimmer or group of swimmers rather than on the overall cohort. Disruptive behaviour is not acceptable in this environment as it prevents the effective coaching of the other swimmers, can cause upset to other swimmers and is demotivating for our coaching team who are there to support and help all our swimmers progress.
Consequently, when a swimmer is disruptive or does not follow a coaches instruction they will be given a verbal warning by the coach. A repeat of this within the same session will mean the swimmer sits out of the pool for a 5 minute period. This is important as it provides the swimmer an opportunity to reflect and is also an unambiguous signal that the behaviour is not acceptable. If that swimmer is involved in a third incident then they will be asked to get changed and wait on poolside until the end of the session.
When a swimmer is asked to sit out for 5 minutes the coach concerned will notify the head coach who will contact the parents. Repeated incidents will be treated in accordance with our disciplinary policy which is in line with the Swim England policies and procedures.
We hope this information will be helpful to swimmers and parents and will enable everyone to gain the most from their time at the Brentwood Swimming Club.
Please also see attached a copy of the Brentwood Swimming Club Disciplinary Procedure:
Brentwood Swimming Club Disciplinary Procedure
