As a swim parent you probably realize that there is much more involved than swimming up and down the pool or counting the medals won by our Olympians. Swimming does not exist in a vacuum. Many of the controversial topics in our society also affect our sport. Items in this section touch on many of these issues, including Title IX, high school swimming, boys in the sport, minority participation, and disordered eating. Here you can also find articles on college swimming, recruiting, year round swimming and foreign athletes. The articles included are selected from the archives of Splash magazine.

Learning about oneself while enjoying the sport is one of the most important aspects of swimming. The swimming environment encourages learning and fun, helping your child to develop a positive self-image. Athletes who find their self-worth through winning will go through tough times when they lose, and everyone, even Michael Phelps, will lose sometime!

It is not healthy for your child to compete only in those events where he can “win.” When the coach enters your child in new events, encourage him. He needs the experience of trying (and perhaps failing) so that he can learn how to handle defeat and develop improvement goals. He will learn that losing does not make him a failure as a person, a big step in building self-esteem.

Some children become so involved in athletics that they neglect studies, families and social responsibilities. Both you and your child need to remember that swimming is only part of life. Sometimes children overemphasize sport because their parents do. Ask yourself if you’re giving unbalanced attention to your child’s “swimming career.” If so, slack off and show interest in other areas of your child’s life. Otherwise you risk giving your child the impression that swimming is the most important thing in life.

BE SUPPORTIVE.Both your swimmer and his coach are likely to have a list of criticisms for his performance, no matter how good it might have been, so what he needs from you is love and support. On the other hand, don’t try to provide excuses for poor performances. As mentioned above, most athletes try to give their best performances in every competition, but sometimes the results are disappointing. When that happens, the less said, the better.

Goal setting, especially with older swimmers, is mainly the domain of the coach and swimmer. This is another example of the need to “let go” and trust the coach! Younger swimmers may want your guidance is setting goals. (Then again, they may not!) First make sure that the goals are the swimmer’s goals, not your personal goals. Avoid statements like “I want you to do this,” or “I think you can do that.”