As many of you know, being a swim parent is both a demanding and challenging role. The days can be long, filled with hours spent poolside during training sessions and competitions, all while providing unwavering support to your swimmer.

Our journey began after my daughter had been swimming for about 18 months. We were curious about her progress since she started, and initially, I used spreadsheets to track and analyse her performance. However, maintaining these spreadsheets proved cumbersome. As a programmer, I realised it was time to develop a more efficient solution.

Thus, the idea for ‘Track a Swim‘ was born. Over time, I transitioned from using spreadsheets and scraps of paper to creating a real system that could provide analysis at the touch of a button. This system allowed me to track my daughter’s times over a specific period and visualise her progress through graphs. The addition of pie charts illustrating her stroke preferences offered a deeper understanding of her improvements and stroke choices.

While we may not be coaches, we share a significant responsibility for our children’s development alongside the coaches. When your child approaches you after a race, eager to know how they performed, or during the car ride home when they ask for a detailed breakdown of their race, it’s important to provide constructive feedback. As much as we want to always say, “Excellent, well done!” there are times when a bit more detail is needed, leaving the technical aspects to the coaches.

It was then I realised that the system I had created could be invaluable to other parents in the same situation.

So, here it is! I sincerely hope you find ‘Track a Swim‘ as useful as our family has. With the feedback and opinions of other parents, we can continually improve this system to better support both swimmers and their families. If you have any suggestions that you think would help swimmers and parents then please contact us and we will see if we are able to help.