7: Parent Resources

Parents: The high school program can be confusing for those new to it, and even for those coming from a club background. I have access to pamphlet sized resources for anyone interested.

Three that are very good are:

The Role of Parents in Athletics by Bruce E. Brown

The Sport Parent's Manual by Tom Doyle (A True Colors perspective)

Parent's Handbook by USA Swimming, part of their Club Development Series

And the Longview School District has published a pamphlet summarizing good practices for maintaining an appropriate parent athlete relationship.

Attached also is a recent article from the website of Dr. Rob Bell, a noted sports psychology coach.

11/16/16: China Cultural Exchange.

I have been getting several calls/emails/questions about this program, looking for feedback.

Summary:

I- I have never gone on the trip, so have no first-hand knowledge

2- I know 1-2 coaches who have gone with their or other teams/groups and have spoken very highly of the trip

3- I have heard, second-hand, from a number of students who have gone and felt it was highly worthwhile.

Longer story: Don, coach at Sehome, has gone on the trip more than once in the past few years, felt it was a great experience both for himself and for the swimmers who went. He reports that the trip is well organized, well chaperoned, gives kids a good swimming experience so well as a good experience of China, at least for the areas they plan to visit. He has become a big proponent of the program and several swimmers from his teams have gone and have organized both long and short term fund raising efforts to help cover the costs. His swimmers who have gone have reported it to be a life experience for them, one they will never forget and one they would happily go on again. Reports from Don and another coach who also made the trip were that the organizers were very good at spelling out all the costs with no surprises, like getting over to China and finding out they had only paid for one-way and now needed more money to get home. They said the program organizers were also good at suggesting what other costs might be incurred, incidentals like souveniers, keepsakes, snacks;

What I have heard about the swimming portion: they ask for times not because there are time standards but rather they are looking to be able to provide appropriate training coaches and swimming experiences. As I understand it, the swim meets you participate in, and there may be more than one, are organized to be at your level and with competition at your level...but still so the Chinese team wins.

One of the values to a trip like this, compared to a random tourist trip, is that you are travelling with other swimmers roughly in your age group so you all have some common and sometimes shared backgrounds and experiences, are more likely to be able to get along and appreciate similar experiences. I have not heard from any swimmers who made the trip that they felt either over-whelmed by the training or competition nor did they feel it was "too easy" or at too low a level for them. All reported feeling challenged but not overly so. Most reported it was very easy to make friends on the trip since they were all swimmers, so as one said, "It felt like we were all on the same swim team even before we left."

Both swimmers and coaches I heard from felt the time period was appropriate, long enough to get a good experience of a part of China and the Chinese people, short enough to leave them wanting a little more and not feel homesick.

On the other hand: it is expensive, and you are essentially bearing all the costs yourself. It is probably less expensive than going to a travel agent and hiring them to organize a trip or trying to go on your own and trying to include similar experiences. I have not seen current costs, and the last I recall seeing a few years back were in the neighborhood of about $3500. I assume your letters have suggested costs. If you would like to consider the trip you should begin to seriously consider, with your parents and family, how you will raise the funds, what your sources might be, and whether you will have time to accomplish this. I assume also you will need a passport and those can take time, sometimes months, so you should look into that very early. Often you will have to present some documents for the passport that you may not have right at hand, like a birth certificate, and you will need to allow time to obtain those and present them to a passport office. Passports cost, as does luggage, and I would be shocked to find a teen girl who does not "need" a new wardrobe for a trip like this. Consider these as part of overall expenses.

There is very little that can match the broadening and depth of experience that actual foreign travel, as opposed to watching the travel channel on TV, can provide. You may be surprised to visit a family that does not have running water, so uses an outhouse outside, but has cellphones more advanced and powerful than your own.