The Movement Scores were added to The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck to help young swimmers understand more about the exercises they are doing. Each movement is looked at across five areas: Coordination, Flexibility, Impact, Strength, Intensity. The scores are not scientific measurements and they are not there to tell a swimmer that one exercise is better than another. They are comparative.

A good pre-pool warm-up should have a purpose. It is not simply a collection of exercises completed before getting in the water. There should be some progression in what the swimmer is doing and why they are doing it. Warm-up frameworks used across sport often follow a similar progression, although the terminology can differ. The original RAMP model uses Raise, Activate and Mobilise, then Potentiate. Within swimming, Prime is the recognised term used within the RMAP sequence.

Parents play a big part in a young swimmer’s experience of the sport. They get them to training, help with kit, travel to competitions and provide a huge amount of support around everything that happens away from the pool. As swimmers begin to take more responsibility for their own preparation, that role starts to change slightly. Pre-pool preparation is a good example. A parent can help by making sure there is enough time before the session, encouraging the swimmer to get or

As swimmers move through the pathway, more responsibility gradually starts to sit with them. In the early years, parents may pack the bag, check the kit and make sure everything is ready. Coaches provide most of the structure once the swimmer arrives. Over time, that begins to change. Packing their own bag, remembering goggles and a drink bottle, arriving on time and knowing what is expected before a session are all small parts of learning to take more ownership.

Coaching swimmers is rarely about finding one instruction that works for everyone. In the pool, we use different ways to help swimmers understand and refine their technique. One swimmer might respond immediately to a short coaching cue. Another may need to see the movement demonstrated. Sometimes you change the language, use a comparison, ask a question or let the swimmer try something a few times before it starts to make sense.

The Swimmer’s Warm Up Deck began with a recurring problem I kept seeing. A swimmer may have spent a couple of years in early development squads arriving at the pool, getting changed and getting straight into the water. Then, as they progress further into competitive swimming, we start asking them to arrive earlier and complete a pre-pool warm-up before the session begins. That can be quite a change.