This unidentified woman very well could be a swim parent. She certainly shows all of the symptoms. (The Washington Post)
Dick Franklin, the father of 14-year-old swimming phenom Melissa Franklin, talked with amazement recently about his daughter’s remarkable progress through the sport — and another aspect of her journey that did not make its way into a story published on this site Tuesday and in Wednesday’s Washington Post.
A former collegiate football star but not a competitive swimmer, Dick Franklin said he was floored by the time commitment the sport requires.
For children and their parents.
For every child shuttled to a 4:30 a.m. practice, and perhaps back for an afternoon one, there is a parent at the wheel, probably guzzling a 16-ounce coffee. For every athlete that qualifies for the finals of a local weekend meet, there is a parent, or perhaps two, planted on a plastic bleacher seat from morning until night.
“Swim parents, I had no idea what they go through,” Franklin said with a laugh. “Parents whose children play soccer — I’d kill for it.”
He is in good company.
During a recent pre-dawn workout in Chantilly, the mother of Potomac Marlins star swimmer Anna Johannes watched from the stands with a smattering of other bleary-eyed adults, but Diana Johannes confessed she usually sleeps in her car.
And just over a week ago, local coach Rick Curl talked with pride about a 14-and-under meet between his Curl-Burke Swim Club team and the North Baltimore Aquatic Club. Interestingly, Curl didn’t boast about the fact Curl-Burke beat the acclaimed NBAC — why, he almost forgot to mention it.
Rather, he bragged that his athletes assembled for the meet at 6 a.m., traveled to Baltimore, competed and returned to northern Virginia by noon.
That was a true achievement: A mere six hours for an event, a more “family friendly” proposition, he noted, than all-weekend, all-day events.
Which brings us to this week’s question, which actually is a trio of questions:
Is there a more sleep-deprived species than a swim parent? Are the sport’s demands on entire families discouraging more broad participation? Is there a solution, or is this all part of what makes the sport great?
As usual, we want to know what you think. Please tell us below.
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Ha ha. I’m reading this at 5am after dropping my son off for practice. I swam and I have gained great respect and appreciation for my mother, who endured the early and late practices and endless three-day meets for years and years. Swimming, especially swimming at a high level, demands an extraordinary commitment from the swimmer AND the family. I enjoy the whole scene (but it’s a sport close to my heart.) I do know families with multiple children, however, who stop swimming b/c it becomes unmanageable. The competition for pool time means a certain lack of flexibility in practice times. We’ve been lucky to benefit from great carpool help.
I was reading this at 4 am as I was getting ready to wake my son up to drive him to swim practice! Yes, this sport requires parents that are night owls to become early birds against their will! Why do they have to swim so early? Why do meets have to last 3 days?
I was reading this at 7am.
My child is at University.
As usual, at least part of the problem is money. Pool time costs real dollars. If you have rented the pool for a meet, you need to maximize the number of swims, and thus the number of entry and splash fees to make sure you pay for the meet. And quite frankly most clubs rely on those fees, along with the free labor from their parents to make a good portion of the yearly budget. That’s why meets last all weekend, at least partly.
Same goes for practices. You need a certain number of hours and a certain number of lanes to get effective training in. Very few clubs own their own pools, or can devote 100% of the prime hours to training. Early morning is when the pools are available to rent.
I never realized how easy my parents had it since my brothers and I could walk to the local high school at 5 am for practice.
Twelve years ago I was a swim parent, off to RMSC for 5am practice 4 or 5 days a week. I got used to bringing work related “busy work” that could be completed without interruption in a short time. There were a number of parents that would sit in the conference room doing the same thing. It wasn’t a problem once you got into the routine. Soccer/football, other sport parents would comment about the early morning hours and I could always say that with this kind of schedule I always knew where my daughter was at 9pm every night, sound asleep!
There are some weeks I simply dread my 14-year-old daughter’s 4:30 a.m. wake-up call for swimming. But who am I to truly complain? She’s the one that has to not only get up, but put in a good 3,000 or plus of hard yards. I’m merely the taxi driver. I figure if she has the drive and energy to get up AND do the workout, surely I can sacrifice and get her there.
That said, there are weeks when I’m feeling quite sleep deprived and tired of having to go to bed by 9:30 p.m.
As a coach of the kids that were expected to “double” I remember at a parent meeting trying to name all the nearby 24 hour grocery stores nearby so parents could get something of their regular day accomplished while the kids trained. A few times I went out to the parking lot to get the Moms inside rather than sleep in the cars in an unlighted park.
Parents are what make this sport work. Without them the results from world class meets would not be dominated by the USA.
Car pool, car pool, car pool. Reach out to other parents in your child’s group. You might be surprised at what can be arranged.
Carpool added another 30 minutes each way to our commute. Yes, it cut down on the number of times I had to do it, but also took an extra hour away from homework time! It is easier and faster for us just to do it ourselves. So, I take extra blankets and nap in the car! When school is out, I do wish they’d run later morning practices for kids who don’t have a summer job. Now with meets, I like the trend of splitting the meets by age group or level to make them smaller and faster. I know it’s hard on families with kids in more than one group though.