New club swimmers

Once your children become club swimmers and are in the water more than twice a week you need to think about what they are wearing in the water.

They will probably have worn a LYCRA suit for swimming lessons which will have lasted perhaps 9 to 12 months. LYCRA is very comfortable to wear, nice and stretchy and, for the girls, usually has very pretty patterns printed on it - the trouble is it degrades in chlorine so the more they swim the quicker the fabric will become see through.

For swimming training they need a good chlorine resistant suit or trunks, either Speedo ENDURANCE or Maru PACER. This material will not degrade at all in chlorine, your children will probably grow out of it before it becomes worn. Leaving a chlorine resistant suit or trunks in the bottom of a swimming bag soaking wet for days on end will not harm the fabric, and you'll probably find this happens occassionally!

But do take note - chlorine resistant fabric doesn't stretch so it can't be worn tight, it must be comfortable. Go up a size from the existing suit/trunks and ensure the child is comfortable in it, particularly the girls, making sure they can put their arms up vertically and not feel the straps cutting their shoulders.

So they come to their first competition - this is when they will need something LYCRA to wear as it is faster in the water. They don't need to go into the top of the range racing suits that cost a hundred pounds and upwards, all they need is something tight fitting to keep the water out and make them feel they can go faster - for the boys, a £12 pair of lycra jammers, for the girls a £16 or £17 lycra suit. If these are kept solely for competitions they should last a year. Lycra stretches so if they go down a size it will still be tight after it has stretched. If they start with a basic suit, as they progress through to obtaining County times, Regional times and National times they can have better, faster suits that will give them that extra confidence boost.

Goggles - we have always found a pair of Speedo Futura Junior with split headstrap are the best goggles to start with as they have good suction and will hopefully stay in place as they learn to dive competitively. As they progress and will probably want mirror goggles (like the top swimmers in the club!) Maru Pulse mirror and Speedo Opals are the best to go on to as they are still quite large and sit comfortably on the bone around the eye rather than in the eye socket (and they look good!) Proper racing goggles are much smaller and many young swimmers will find them very uncomfortable until they have been wearing goggles for 3 or 4 years.

For the rest of the equipment advice should be sought from the club coach as to which kickboard/pull buoy/hand paddles/fins etc. are generally used by the club. Once they start collecting the necessary equipment a mesh sack to keep it all in is a good investment - this will stop the equipment going mouldy as it allows it to dry after each session.

If we can offfer any more advice we are on the end of the phone - 02392 264196, or complete the form below.