‘Sea swimming can get intense and lonely’

Aren’t the children today coping with it all?
The stress is huge, and long-distance swimming can get very intense and lonely. A child would be at school from 7.30 am to 5pm, and then there is homework. Just to put in those many hours of training can be a big pressure. And then sustaining the training load is another matter altogether.

They might be splashing around in the big oceans today, will they make it big in the shorter pools tomorrow?
You need to specialise. It’s very tough to switch, and even more to alternate between the short course and long distance.

Surely, a swimmer can work on the switch?
The switch is close to impossible. In most sports-advanced countries, they do a biopsy to determine the fast-twitch (considered suitable for sprint events) or the slow-twitch (endurance) muscle fibres.

Is parental pressure kicking in — and scarily early?
That’s the controversy. All parents are ambitious. From age 5-8 it’s a matter of encouraging a child to play various sports to inculcate the sporting habit early. You are looking out to see what sport the child has the talent for, and how his body and muscles develop.

They say it’s lonely out there — like the road-marathons?
When you go through the motions of swimming you are usually training very early in the morning when the whole city is sleeping. As a child you might not know why you are being pushed. Besides, in channel-crossing, your only horizon is water and more water. That’s the environment you are working in, and it can get dreary for a child.

Is there a correct age to throw them into the cage then?
A child should be allowed to enjoy a sport —- any sport — initially. Sport selection should happen only at 12 years, not before. By 14 you are mature enough to compete.

But…?
But having said that, there are early maturity sports like gymnastics and swimming which deprive you of the fun-stage of ‘enjoying’ a sport. That’s the problem with swimming. I hope these children are managing to cram in some fun hours while training. I really do.