Hi,
I've been following this forum for more then a year and this is my first post here.
My daughter is 9 years old and she has been swimming for 2 years. For the last 8 months she's been training 4 days per week; half-hour dryland, one hour pool. She is a happy swimmer and they have great friendship within the team. Her free and breaststroke styles are quite fine. Her short-course(25m) 50meter times are: Free 40 ; Back 48 ; *** 51 ; Fly 50
But whenever she's in a meet, her stamina drops clearly at around 35m. As for the freestyle, her 25meter time is around 16 seconds. She usually turns before her friends, falls behind at last 15meter. It disappoints her.
How can we help her to build up her endurance?
What should we have her eat before the meet? Should we take her out for jogging, hiking, biking or any other physical activity? All suggestions and hints are appreciated.
Thanks in advance!
But whenever she's in a meet, her stamina drops clearly at around 35m. As for the freestyle, her 25meter time is around 16 seconds. She usually turns before her friends, falls behind at last 15meter. It disappoints her.
Hmm, 9yo is way too young to worry about these things. Your daughter is not lacking endurance, but rather anaerobic capacity (technicality). At that age, we strongly discourage trying to improve this other than through her normal swim development process, which should promotes fun above anything else.
The only productive way with which you could, as a parent, interact would be to help her understanding the concept of pacing, ie not starting off too hard. Free 40sec? 16sec after 25m? I'd try to get her to start in 17.5 instead and see if that alone could bring her under 40sec.
Mcd's hot cakes for me! My son eats a sausage egg bisquit from mcd
My 9 year old eats mcgriddles.. It's the only thing to get up early for on days with 7 am warm up times..glad I'm not the only one.
My son who is now a self driven 14 year old swimmer..used to like sausage mcmuffins...lol
lol oh and I volunteer as the registration person for our club and masters meet director...my husband is an official..get involved..it's the best place to be !! You'll be so busy you'll have no idea of their times..says a 7 year swim parent...
good luck..we all live & learn!
Hmm, 9yo is way too young to worry about these things. Your daughter is not lacking endurance, but rather anaerobic capacity (technicality). At that age, we strongly discourage trying to improve this other than through her normal swim development process, which should promotes fun above anything else.
The only productive way with which you could, as a parent, interact would be to help her understanding the concept of pacing, ie not starting off too hard. Free 40sec? 16sec after 25m? I'd try to get her to start in 17.5 instead and see if that alone could bring her under 40sec.
Thanks.. Next time, I will tell her to save some energy for the last 25m.
I notice that competitive swimming is fun for kids and it is even more "fun" if they finish first. Relay races within the team are their favorite because it's time for competition!
She has a friend that usually finishes all the races in the last position. She started to lose her interest lately. Her mother said that she does not want to come to training because she's not happy with the results at all. Of course the results are not important, the technique is, but it's hard to explain this to a little kid..
So, I think competitive swimming and good results promote fun and motivation.
For what it's worth, when I was that age I swore that pancakes were the best pre-meet meal. :)
Her favorite... :) with banana & Nutella..!
But as far as I know Nutella (sugar) is not good. Am I wrong?
I have a 10 year old who had similar problems about 6 months ago. Roll forward 6 months and she has more endurance and generally looks great in the pool. I put all of this down to her having fun, working on her fundamentals and building up more strength in general. I agree 100% with Ande's comments especially the part about letting her have fun and work out her strokes and endurance with her coach. You are a long way ahead of the game already in that your daughter is having fun. My daughter swims with kids who dont like being at the pool and whose parents make them attend. I would guess there is a pretty strong liklihood that these kids will drop out sometime in the next year unless they start having fun.
Good luck.
For what it's worth, when I was that age I swore that pancakes were the best pre-meet meal. :)
Aren't they? Well actually waffles are slightly better, with a banana, 2+ hours before swimming. Yum!
Hi... Just wanted to add some feedback on this topic.
First of all, she's still an happy swimmer. :)
What she prefers to eat:
If her race is in the early morning; cheese spread on a slice of bread and apricot juice. A banana, half an hour before her race.
If in the afternoon; full breakfast (omelette, crepe, milk, etc.) + lunch; pasta with grated cheese or minced beef on it. A snickers or a banana just before her race.
She swims 5 day/week since two months. Her styles are much better now and improved her times as follows:
(SC-25m) 50m Fr-38s ; Bk-44s ; Br-49s ; Fly-41s
Emphasize the things they do right, and reaffirm what the coach teaches, such as "I saw you really make an effort to streamline and you got a few feet farther on your dive!" Instead of whether they did a better time or not. Every child will mature at different rates - and if you look at those tables of the top 16 at the earliest age, only 11% are still there by late teens.
Also, it's about balance and choices, and not trying to "do it perfectly". Whatever is your normal routine - don't do anything different on or around swim meets. Use common sense in your choice of food, surrounding activity, etc. There isn't a magic bullet breakfast that will be the only solution.
And remember that as they grow, regardless of how they measure up on paper, they will often regress or hold steady with no time improvement as part of the growing process. I tell my girls that they aren't as strong because all their energy is going to making the bones and getting taller, and so there's not as muc energy available right now for their muscles. And because their bones are growing, that's why they are less coordinated now (one girl is a mess at pulling, the other has lost her kick! but a perfect wheelbarrow team!), because their skeletal frame is changing and it takes time for the new you to get coordinated! It's simply a rite of passage that this is the only window for the bones to grow, but when they are older, there is more frame for more muscle! As an example I point out a gymnast in their class who is really strong, coordinated for her size and age. You can't compare yourself to her abilities now when all your energy is diverted to making bones and the rest of your body is literally trying to catch up.
Now, that is totally made up but it's a way for the girls to understand how growth can affect where they are, and especially to understand why the motivational times are so tough. But that is why technique is so important now, because they have to RE-imprint proper techniques for the new bodies as they grow. Everything will follow as the physical body catches up! The ONE thing they can control is attitude. I will not put up with a bad attitude!
