How far does training take you?

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. Yes, you are right! Probably the comparison with his sisters is steering my son into that direction... He is such a good sport about them being constantly on the podium! But not a day goes by, when he doesn't tell me that he is so much looking forward to being up there himself...and he certainly does follow through, as far as motivation is concerned!! 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. He has had his coach since the beginning of the year. The coach is great...but not particularly talkative... For him all is well, as ds is developing "just fine". He is encouraging daily training, if possible. I am so insecure about swimming and the typical development of a swimmer. If he was passionate about playing the piano, I would have a much better idea about how far he could realistically get with loads of training...the same with studying a language (talent or not!). Sports in general, and swimming in particular, are not my areas of expertise - and that is fine, as ds has a good coach! But, still, sometimes I feel like I was cheering on my girls to study Latin, promising them to become Pope one day... It's not going to happen, however much I drive them to practice, cheer on them, and encourage... I feel it is as much my responsibility as a parent to help and encourage, as it is to be a guide, and in that particular case it might be to encourage other physical activities... I just don't know!!! But, yes, it is very encouraging, to hear that other swimmers bloomed later!! It makes me feel much more authentic when encouraging ds to follow his dream...:)

I would be interested in learning more about this... I have to admit that I was wondering about overtraining... I have a lot of questions about overtraining but not many answers. For me, I discovered that when training for a race, I do much better training every other day than I do 5 days a week - but then I haven't been a pre-teen since the 60's. My impressiom form my age-group days is that I would have done better as as an age-grouper with less swiming. I read in "Swimmer" mag that age-group teens have more shoulder pain than even geezers such as myself. I immediately think there is some overtraining - or other form of mis-training abuse- going on. I think coaches like overtraining. It weeds out most of the less motivated athletes - but it also "weeds out" some champs and physically wrecks others, too. Part of me thinks "The coaches would change if they were hurting the athletic performance." Then I remember that high school football programs gave kids salt tabs and withheld water during practice well into the 1960's.

Your son is 12 years old.....the only thing he is chasing is.....childhood. Let him enjoy childhood. If he wants to swim, let him swim. If he wants to play soccer, let him do that. He doesn't have to excel, he has to enjoy what he does. The rest will take care of itself.

Think about the process. He's learning to work hard and invest in a goal. That is an invaluable life skill, regardless of the ultimate result. Don't try so hard to protect him from what he might perceive as failure. We all have to learn to deal with both success and failure in life. Be glad he's motivated to go out there and give something his best efforts! That is a great thing!!!

Whenever someone worries about future athletic success for a child, I am always reminded that John Naber got a relatively late start, yet went on to be a tremendous swimmer. Success shouldn't necessarily be measured in terms of gold medals or college scholarships though. For now, if he's happy, that should be enough. It may be something he continues for a long while, or it might be a stepping stone to something else. Maybe we he gets to high school he'll discover water polo, for example. Or something else entirely. I never swam in high school, did a year as an over-18 "age group" swimmer when I lifeguarded at a YMCA during college, then did very little after that. When I turned 50 I returned to swimming as the toll on my body from a number of gravity-limiting sports (basketball, volleyball and running) began to reveal itself. I don't swim with nearly the objective success many people here have, but I still enjoy it. Recollections of swimming when I was younger were at least partly responsible for me returning to the sport after all these years.

it seems very "risky" to put all apples into one basket (swimming), if what he really is after is "official recognition". 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)...or simply not being "talented" (if that even exists in swimming???). To answer your original question: certainly talent plays a role in swimming success, and "athletic build" is only a part of it. Joint flexibility, "feel" for the water (which I guess comes from a kineasthetic sense of some kind) are also important. But he is only 12 and there have been plenty of cases of late bloomers (and early flameouts) in swimming. One thing that can be hard to teach is competitiveness, and evidently your son has that in spades. Accolades -- "official recognitions" -- are nice and can motivate people to work hard, but I think one lesson your son needs to learn is not to define his success SOLELY in those terms, and to be patient. As you say, he is improving. Others are too, but if he is working hard then he may well continue to improve after they stop. And he can have goals (eg based on motivational time standards) that do not depend on his placing relative to other kids. As far as your fear of "putting his eggs in one basket," I wouldn't worry about that at all. He should do what he enjoys. Swimming is a good exercise, builds character, and is a good way to make friends. If he gets tired of it later, he can still do other sports, it isn't as if he is "stuck" in just one.

...or simply not being "talented" (if that even exists in swimming???) Yes, it exists for sure. Every swimmer (other than Michael Phelps, etc.) will eventually realize there are other swimmers who will always be better than them. Just about everyone has fun swimming while they are continuing to improve. The real test is when you hit a plateau--and it will happen.

If he likes swimming let him swim. As he trains hard & grows he will get faster. If he wants to try another sport let him. When my son started tumbling, he was pretty awful. It was hard to watch. We asked the coach if were wasting our time & money. He said keep bringing him. Also around the same time he'd gotten a bit pudgy, but before he grew up he grew out. He loved it & got better, he made his hs cheer squad & Texas State college cheer squad. Get em to practice on time Pick em up when they're done Feed em Love em Encourage Believe

When my son started tumbling, he was pretty awful. I think that statement could be generalized to, "When my kid started X, it was pretty awful." Replace X with "violin", "basketball", "curling", ... Nobody starts off as a world beater. :2cents: S