I have three kids swimming.
Two girls (8 & 10) and a son 12.
All the kids started together (private lessons) about three years ago. Today they are involved in age-group swimming. The girls are seeing great results (best/fourth in our country), ds is still busy "catching-up". He is incredibly dedicated and ambitious, his dream being to come home with medals...
He does enjoy swimming...but, we can turn it any way we want, he is after measurable performance! Ds is good, and has come a long way. Still, I am wondering whether he will ever excel...
He is athletically built and will likely be tall. These past months he has trained five times per week (2h), and will step it up to 6/7 times per week in the fall. I am wondering whether this "will do", or whether we should gently steer ds towards a sport where he can truly succeed (by his standards!!).
I don't know a thing about swimming, so am in no position to judge this situation. Most of all, I am not a "pool-mom", and my only concern is, that my sun might be chasing a shadow....
Thank you for any insights!
I really am not the one pushing him (and no one else is either!). He wants to be on that podium so badly, that it is heartbreaking to see him invest so much without getting significantly closer to his dream...
He IS constantly getting better, but so is everybody else...
Why is this heart breaking? Maybe a review of goals with his coach is in order. If your goal is getting medals you will pretty much always be disappointed. And, there is always someone who is going to train less or train more and still be faster than you. For a very select few podiums and medals are obtainable. For the rest, there has to be something else. In my case, it is Cheetos.
I'm not really sure what you are asking us to comment on here. I think I would just tell you to relax about the whole thing. Desire, motivation, enthusiasm are all great things if applied towards obtainable goals. I don't know any 12 year olds who daily pine for podiums. I was just happy when mine would hang up her wet swim towel once weekly. His schedule now seems reasonable. I don't think 7 days a week is really a great idea but that's your call, not mine.
I am just wondering how far that is going to get him?What do his coaches say about this? They are a far better judge of his talent, ability and commitment then we are.
I am seriously worried, that he missed that train in swimming, due to having started late (he started swimming about three years ago, started to become serious about one year ago)My son started swimming competitively at 13. By the time he graduated high school he earned high school All-American honors. Then in college he twice swam at NCAA Division 1 nationals. And was a 3 event swimmer at the 2008 US Olympic Trials. He now is a USMS national record holder. I know I’m bragging, but my point is that starting serious swimming at age 11 is not too late, if you and your son take the long term view of this.
Your statement “I am seriously worried” is somewhat, well, worrying. If your son is swimming because he enjoys it, then don’t pressure him by being worried about podium finishes. If they come they come and if they don’t it is still okay to be proud of him
promising them to become Pope one day...
Do they have to be Pope to have a satisfying swim career?
12 is young. My son didn't start his current college sport until he was almost 16, switching away from another sport.
My youngest, 11, is not a natural swimmer. However, she enjoys it and still swims 2-3 x a week in addition to her other sports. I believe she is too young to focus exclusively on the sport she may have some "talent" in.
Maybe he shouldn't up the number of practices he does. When I look at shoulder pain/injury stats, it's clear there's a problem with overtraining age groupers. Wasn't there a coach here who had a kid that got to the olympic trials only because the coach let him sag off some workouts?
Maybe he shouldn't up the number of practices he does. When I look at shoulder pain/injury stats, it's clear there's a problem with overtraining age groupers. Wasn't there a coach here who had a kid that got to the olympic trials only becasue the coach let him sag off some workouts?
I would be interested in learning more about this...
As I said, he is 12 (13 in November) and is doing 5 trainings per week of 2h each (some of this is warm-up / stretching, so I would think about 1:20-1:30 in the water).
He is looking forward to the fall, when he will he able to do 6-7 trainings, but I have to admit that I was wondering about overtraining...
