Open Water Training for Juniors

[Stevie Adams]

Our Branch has just voted to accept junior members 14+.
As the DO and an OWI I have reservations training youngsters
as young as 14 in Open Water using the sites and guidelines that we currently use for adults. Any advice appreciated, as i need to draw up a set of training rules/guidelines that we can use Any experiences/advice from other Branches would be appreciated.
Thanks

Stevie Adams
South Queensferry SAC

[PeteM]

Our Branch has just voted to accept junior members 14+.
As the DO and an OWI I have reservations training youngsters
as young as 14 in Open Water using the sites and guidelines that we currently use for adults. Any advice appreciated, as i need to draw up a set of training rules/guidelines that we can use Any experiences/advice from other Branches would be appreciated.

A good place to start would be the Child welfare guide which is excellent

[Mike Halligan]

Our Branch has just voted to accept junior members 14+.
As the DO and an OWI I have reservations training youngsters
as young as 14 in Open Water using the sites and guidelines that we currently use for adults. Any advice appreciated, as i need to draw up a set of training rules/guidelines that we can use Any experiences/advice from other Branches would be appreciated.

Stevie,

Our Branch took a similar decision, restricting 14-16s to children of members only, and we have embraced the excellent guidance mentioned by Pete.

I understand your reservation and agree there is a different set of needs to be addressed. I believe one should not drive children into emulating adults, but allow them to uncover the joys of our sport in their own way. As Disability Coordinator, I am always advising "Ask the person, they know their own condition best". I apply the same to children, they know what fires their motivation better than anyone else. Interpret their expressed wish and negotiate a path through interest, experience (good & bad) and prejudice, just as you do with an adult, only it pays to have more humility and patience.

We do tend to be fairly blunt with parents in pointing up that for practical instruction we expect their presence on-site, though not necessarily in-water. We also point up at the outset that we do not envisage taking their offspring away overnight whilst they are minors.

Dispensations may be negotiated as and when, to meet a specific case, but the broad underlying principles are there for all to see and no criticism of anyone who chooses to apply them rigorously. I can recall instances when an individual member agreed the role of 'loco-parentis' in order that a child could join a trip. It did no harm. My (purely personal) view is that so long as children are allowed to remain childres (i.e. treated as potential adults rather than as diminutive adults) then everything tends to go well.

Thus, I would select training sites to suit their different interests and abilities (I'm not saying anything about those differences, mind). Your general and site-specific risk assessments will probably be different. One thing you definitely need to get straight is the number of times you're willing to stop at McDonalds, each way.

HTH

Mike
Southport 0278 (TO)