Published 31 January 2022, updated February 2024
It’s the start of the school year and that means it’s swim carnival season! The holidays are finished and now it’s time to put the swimming skills into first gear to get prepared.
Here’s some tips for everyone to enjoy their school swimming carnival.
Practice starts and finishes
Races may be won by a great start and a sizzling finish so it’s a good idea to practice before the swim carnival. Head down to your local pool a few times in the lead up to carnival day. Parents can act as the race starter, so children are familiar with the steps e.g., on the blocks, take your marks, go! This helps to settle their nerves and practise their reaction time off the blocks. When they dive in, encourage them to maintain a streamlined position by keeping their hands together with arms extended and head down. This will increase the dive distance. After entering the water as soon as momentum beings to slow, start kicking until surfacing when arm strokes commence. For a sizzling finish sprint to the wall with head down and no breathing for the last 5 to 10 metres. If your child is swimming in different stroke races, make sure you practice the starts, turns, and finishes relevant to each stroke.
Carnival day preparation
For the more serious competitor, it’s important to prepare for the swim carnival. Preparation starts the night before with a good healthy meal for dinner and getting a good night’s sleep. A healthy sustaining breakfast is vital to start the day and keeping hydrated throughout the day is a must. Take plenty of water and quick healthy snacks that will provide energy throughout the day. The night before pack spare goggles, swim caps, a couple of towels and warm protective clothing as you never know when you might need them. Being prepared avoids the last-minute scramble and reduces the nerves. Warm up before the carnival starts as this helps to prevent injuries, loosen the muscles, and get the blood flowing throughout the body. This includes stretches like arm and leg swings, and if allowed in the water, swim for about 5-10 minutes at an easy effort. Try to do a few practise dives too.
Have a go!
It doesn’t matter what level your child is at; swim carnivals are about diving in and having a go. For the less confident, there are usually some novelty races such as kickboard or noodle races across the pool, wading across to the other side or ping pong ball scrambles. Novelty races can increase participation and raise the team spirit. It’s all about enjoyment and fun!
Last tips for a great carnival experience
- Cheer on your friends and fellow teammates
- Participate and have a go
- Concentrate on your own race – don’t look to see where others are
- Be a good sport and congratulate others
- Set personal goals, be proud of your achievements and have fun!
Tips for schools and parents when preparing for a carnival
- Schools should encourage all kids to participate safely, and better still, find ways to support kids who miss out on private swimming and water safety lessons
- Parents and teachers should encourage children to participate in the school swim carnival no matter what their swimming ability is – it’s all about fun and team spirit
- For kids who are not strong swimmers, adjusting events to include flotation aids, such as lifejackets and/or providing extra adult supervision are all reasonable adjustments which can provide all kids with the opportunity to get active and have fun at the pool in a safe and supportive environment
Why carnivals are important
Royal Life Saving has been concerned for years about the 40 per cent of kids who leave primary school not being able to swim 50m, the length of the Olympic swimming pool
Swimming carnivals are a great day for all children to have fun at their local pool, and provide an opportunity for benchmarking children’s swimming and water safety skills against the national swimming and water safety benchmarks (swim for 50m unassisted and float for 2 minutes unassisted).
