As the parent of a child involved in swimming, you'll discover an entirely new world of coaches, swim meets, kit, teammates and training. Here's the nitty gritty you really need to know.

Coaches

They'll become important figures in you child's life. Support them by telling them about any issues which are affecting your child, and show interest in your child's progress. But leave the coaching up to them.

Equipment

To begin swimming in a club your child will need very little - swimming costume, goggles, swim hat. There'll be equipment available during the club training sessions, including various floats (kickboards and pull buoys). Speak to the coaches in the club about whether your child needs his/her own training kit. Most clubs sell items branded with their logo. It's important to encourage you child to take responsibility for his/her kit.

Four strokes

Club swimmers are usually confident in all four swimming strokes but tend to specialise in one or two:

• front crawl, also known as free style
• backstroke
• breast stroke
• butterfly, sometimes shortened to fly

Giving up

Swimming must be something that your child wants to do. While you can provide guidance when your child feels like giving up (which most people do from time to time), you must not pressurise him/her into participating. Do not live out your dreams through your child. Be happy that your child gets fit, makes friends and develops transferable life skills like co-operation and self-discipline. Perhaps it's time to encourage your child to try a different aquatic activity, like diving or water polo.

Individual medley

Called IM for short, this event combines all four strokes, usually in the order butterfly-backstroke-breaststroke-frontcrawl. Classic distances are 200m (50m of each stroke) and 400m (100m of each stroke). Designed to find the best all- round swimmer, medley swimming is physically hard due to the fast transitions between strokes. It is commonly used in training swim sets.

Personal best

Called PB for short, this is the fastest time that a swimmer has achieved so far in a given event.

Parents

Like you, other parents will be drawn into this world of swimming through their children. Volunteering to help in the club or at swim meets is a great way to make friends with them. In fact parents are the lifeblood of youth swimming, investing time and energy in their local clubs. As a role model for children it's important that parents show good sportsmanship towards teammates, opponents, coaches and officials.

Swim meet or meet

This is the name given to a swimming competition. Your club will take teams to compete in swim meets and may also host a meet. At club level, meets usually last a whole weekend. There are endless opportunities for parents to help out at swim meets, and some undertake training to play a specific role in the competitions.

Winning and losing

Show interest in the effort your child puts into his/her swimming, rather than the outcome of the competition. Swimming can help children learn discipline and goal setting, and teaches the important lesson of how to deal with winning and losing.  Overall it's important that children achieve a high level of self-esteem, regardless of their performance in the pool.