A question from a swim parent

I have a 12 year old son who has been swimming USA-s for 5 years. He loves swimming. He just came home from an intensive swim camp(overnite) that lasted 5 days. He also attended this camp last year. Last year when he returned from camp he was hesitant to return to his team. He loved the training at camp. I brushed it off. This year he's upset about returning to his usa-s team again and quite disgusted. After 5 days of learn new drills and almost revamping mosts of his races he just regrets training with his team. He says he loves the people but hates the sets. He says they have been doing the same drills for the past 5 years. Now as a parent I have observed the coach writing a workout on the white board and then just spacing off but since I'm a new swimmer..i figured..what did I know? What do I do...change teams???? We are saturated here in western pa. He's not a diva but a technically beautiful swimmer. And he loves his sport. Would it hurt to drop a year around club and he would just swim middle school?? Or find him another USA-s team? Thanks for reading and any opinions would be greatly appreciated.
Parents
  • Tough issues for sure. Before changing teams, consider talking with the coach. Changing teams is always an option, but resist the urge to 'team hop' too much. I've seen parents 'chase the dream' always looking for the greener grass and they seem to be on an endless search. No team is ever perfect. Does your kid have friends on the team? Emphasize the social and fun aspects of this. Can he stop for some period and come back to the sport? For sure. He's 12.
Reply
  • Tough issues for sure. Before changing teams, consider talking with the coach. Changing teams is always an option, but resist the urge to 'team hop' too much. I've seen parents 'chase the dream' always looking for the greener grass and they seem to be on an endless search. No team is ever perfect. Does your kid have friends on the team? Emphasize the social and fun aspects of this. Can he stop for some period and come back to the sport? For sure. He's 12.
Children
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