Guest Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 To be fair Paul, Brits are always going to be less likely to be great competitive swimmers like the Aussies as the climate is far worse for that particular activity. Look at the last couple of olympic medal tables and us Brits are above Australia, so to paint British kids as way less active than their Aussie counterparts is a bit false. Hey we have the best couple of triathletes in the world and the Aussie climate is probably better suited to producing them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 (edited) To be fair Paul, Brits are always going to be less likely to be great competitive swimmers like the Aussies as the climate is far worse for that particular activity. Look at the last couple of olympic medal tables and us Brits are above Australia, so to paint British kids as way less active than their Aussie counterparts is a bit false. Hey we have the best couple of triathletes in the world and the Aussie climate is probably better suited to producing them. I know. Those Brownlee brothers are in the top 10 of my favourite athletes. I love the way they race. There are some great athletes in both countries in just about every sport. Just that's what I've witnessed when I've seen kids come here. My nieces were a bit better. They've always been into sport and are good tennis players. I think it's got a lot to do with living close to the beach though and the kids have been exposed to that culture since they were little. They are used to people who like to keep fit and train a lot and they do it naturally. Obviously the weather helps a lot. Also a lot to do with where the kids come from . My nephews are in a pretty "rough" area near Manchester, one set of nieces in Melton Mowbray, much more upper class and the other set of nieces from Tolpuddle. There is nothing at all round Tolpuddle sports wise. Dorchester is the nearest big town. They are not into sport of any kind but are very acaedemic. Youngest one is very musical, loves a protest and has been arrested protesting about something already. Met them last year and she is very opinionated about a lot of things. Both her parents are teachers though. What I'm saying is that it's a mixture of things. Where you're from, what your peers are up to, what you get into yourself, what your surroundings and opportunites are like. :cool: Edited February 18, 2014 by Paul1Perth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 Yeah Paul the fact you are by the beach is likely why you meet all these fit folks. When I went to Sydney's western suburbs I was in total shock at the size of the folk. Thought I was in Texas or something! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 They were only interested in soccer, good at it though. Within a year of having the soccer academy they had won some Asian cup where they had to go to Malaysia (I think it was) to play the final. I went to watch them a couple of times and they used to thrash all the other school teams from around the area. Maybe soccer academies attract chavs? Wouldn't be surprised. My son was friendly with a couple of the soccer players though and they seemed nice kids. I guess there's swimming and swimming. I thought I could swim until I came here. Bit like my wife when she moved to Canada as a youngster. She was swimming for the county and joined the school swim squad when they emigrated. School had it's own pool. She rolled up thinking she would be among the best and said she almost died when they coach said "right 1500m warm up".:laugh: My son used to swim at Beatty Park at 5:30am 3 mornings a week. They would do about 5km in 1.5 hours. We used to have to get up at 4:30am to get there. Looking back I don't know how we kept it up. Big difference between that and going for a splash around. Funny how things have changed. When I grew up in Perth only 'poofters' or 'wogs' played soccer. It was all aussie rules. Coming from Sydney where it was all soccer and rugby I was at a disadvantage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newjez Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 To be fair Paul, Brits are always going to be less likely to be great competitive swimmers like the Aussies as the climate is far worse for that particular activity. Look at the last couple of olympic medal tables and us Brits are above Australia, so to paint British kids as way less active than their Aussie counterparts is a bit false. Hey we have the best couple of triathletes in the world and the Aussie climate is probably better suited to producing them. It is hard to believe that there are places in the UK not serviced by good pools. We have five to choose from within a half hour drive, the k2 is even Olympic size, although it is usually sectioned off. The cost is higher than oz, 10 pounds for me and my three kids, but it doesn't break the bank. The pools are very popular too. Maybe it's a north south divide thing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted February 18, 2014 Share Posted February 18, 2014 It is hard to believe that there are places in the UK not serviced by good pools. We have five to choose from within a half hour drive, the k2 is even Olympic size, although it is usually sectioned off. The cost is higher than oz, 10 pounds for me and my three kids, but it doesn't break the bank. The pools are very popular too. Maybe it's a north south divide thing? I'm from the midlands so not sure where that fits me. I had swimming lessons with school and lessons outside of school from a young age so I'm a pretty handy swimmer. Never bothered to do it competitively though. I now swim all the time over in oz where I only did it in summer holidays back home, You can swim at the beach, and outdoor pools which make it way more appealing than having to go to a leisure centre type place. I have 2 50m pools within 5 minutes and not to mention the coast whenever I like Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 Yeah Paul the fact you are by the beach is likely why you meet all these fit folks. When I went to Sydney's western suburbs I was in total shock at the size of the folk. Thought I was in Texas or something! Last year I was working at Holsworthy army base with an Aussie born and bred workmate. We went into Liverpool for something to eat at lunchtime and were wondering round a big shopping centre there. We couldn't find one place that would take out Amex cards, we have to use amex as that's what the company gives us. After a while my friend said I don't even feel like I'm in Australia, I couldn't live here, could you? I agreed with him. Nothing was further from my picture of what Australia is like than those Western suburbs. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul1Perth Posted February 19, 2014 Share Posted February 19, 2014 It is hard to believe that there are places in the UK not serviced by good pools. We have five to choose from within a half hour drive, the k2 is even Olympic size, although it is usually sectioned off. The cost is higher than oz, 10 pounds for me and my three kids, but it doesn't break the bank. The pools are very popular too. Maybe it's a north south divide thing? 10 pounds for you and 3 kids is cheap for the UK. It cost 5 quid each for me and the youngest in Stockport. It could be a North, South divide but when I worked in London I didn't manage to find a decent pool where you could get a swim. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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