Anyone one care to discuss the hows and whys of swim team training? There’s an aspect I just can’t understand. I’ve been swimming most ofmy life. I began just after high school. I graduated in 1979. In h.s. I was across-country and track distance runner. I’ve never been on a “swim team,” and other than the few open/masters swim meets I’ve participated in…my only competitive swimming has been for triathlons and open water events. I did get a bit of knowledge about swim teams when my daughter was on her h.s. swim team. But what confounds me about swim team (in h.s. anyway) is how the longer swims are handled (500/400 freestyle, and to some extent the 200 freestyle). Frequently it seems that none of the swimmers what to swim in the long events. I’ve even seen on several occasions where the 400/500 isn’t even competed due to lack of interest on both teams. Dumb if you ask me! If I was coach I’d just put someone in there that could finish and get the points. And of course the entire team trains the same way at practice. Why? I guess it’s because of my running/track background. A distance runner doesn’t need to hurdle so there’s no need to train at hurdles. Similarly, in my mind, a (h.s.) distance swimmer (freestyle events) wouldn’t need to butterfly so why train at it? Personally, if I coached a (h.s.) swim team, I’d find a couple of swimmers that would want to train only for the longer events. They’d swim a seperate workout from the rest of theteam, and would always swim the long freestyle events. Why don’t swim coachesdo that?
Dan
I do agree that at a certain age (heading into the teenage years) the child has to make a decision on what sport they want to focus their attention on. I am of the belief that if you aren't 100% committed to something then you probably shouldn't be doing it. Plus with all the morning/afternoon swims and dryland training their really isn't time for another sport.
Sure, in high school you should only focus on one sport per season because of time restraints and demands. But coaches are demanding that kids focus on that same one sport all year.
Specialization is beginning at the grade school level. I know kids that are in baseball year 'round in 1st grade. When I was little, baseball, softball and the like were spring only sports.
So to answer the original question in this post, I knew many kids that never swam a competitive stroke before high school, and ended up being great swimmers. How would these kids know if they were sprinters or IMer's, etc. unless they were forced to try all the different events? High school meets and workouts should be able to introduce the kids to a wide variety of events. At the same time, the practices can still be scaled to cater to abilities (just like clubs and masters do). Pigeon hole-ing should be reserved for college when the kid is being paid to be there (i.e. scholarship).
And at my son's school, he was not permitted on the high school swim team because a) he was not a club swimmer, and b) he has a commitment to a community orchestra that would make him miss Saturday practices (even though I assured the coach that I could get him into a pool later in the day). It's the same with other sports in our district as well.
I do agree that at a certain age (heading into the teenage years) the child has to make a decision on what sport they want to focus their attention on. I am of the belief that if you aren't 100% committed to something then you probably shouldn't be doing it. Plus with all the morning/afternoon swims and dryland training their really isn't time for another sport.
Sure, in high school you should only focus on one sport per season because of time restraints and demands. But coaches are demanding that kids focus on that same one sport all year.
Specialization is beginning at the grade school level. I know kids that are in baseball year 'round in 1st grade. When I was little, baseball, softball and the like were spring only sports.
So to answer the original question in this post, I knew many kids that never swam a competitive stroke before high school, and ended up being great swimmers. How would these kids know if they were sprinters or IMer's, etc. unless they were forced to try all the different events? High school meets and workouts should be able to introduce the kids to a wide variety of events. At the same time, the practices can still be scaled to cater to abilities (just like clubs and masters do). Pigeon hole-ing should be reserved for college when the kid is being paid to be there (i.e. scholarship).
And at my son's school, he was not permitted on the high school swim team because a) he was not a club swimmer, and b) he has a commitment to a community orchestra that would make him miss Saturday practices (even though I assured the coach that I could get him into a pool later in the day). It's the same with other sports in our district as well.
