My daughter has been swimming since she was 5, but started a swim team around 2 years ago. My daughter is 10 years old. She swims for a Naval Academy Swim Club and has been doing roughly 5 a week. She swims meets generally twice a month where we go to another school or university. Before she was at the another swim club that "went away". However when she was there, she made remarkable time reductions, she swims mainly 100-free, 100-back, 100-***, 50-free, 50-back, 50-*** and 100-IM (in the previous team and current team). What is bothering us is in the previous team (4-days a week 1.5 hours each time), she was making time reductions at each meet on each event. However she is at a new swim club (a Naval Academy Swim Club) and she spends more time during practice (5 days a week 1.45 hours each time), however she has recently beginning to ADD TIME, something she has never done before.
Some other information
- She has always been the fastest in her team (before/after) she has always been the fastest during each event during each swim meet (before after).
-100-back (1:21:85) / 100-*** (1:35:73) / 100-free (1:14:28) / 100-IM (1:23:56 / 50-*** (44:28) / 200-free (2:40:97).
-She has recently added 1 to 2 seconds "here and there" instead of dropping time.
-We have arranged a meeting with the coach to discuss.
-She's been with the new time for 3 months, 99% of the time the coach just practices freestyle with the students.
Dan and smotanaro, you're not the only ones who mention that my younger daughter is spending too much time practicing. I am hearing this all the time. But this is not my or coach's intention.. and I am also worried that she could burn out and I even offered her to swim only 1 hr and to spend the other hr on other sport for an example, but its just the fact that she refuses to get out of the water until her coach is near the pool or other team arrives to take the lanes. She swims with her 12-13Y teammates along with her elder sister (cause we can't afford travelling twice a day to take both girls for training in different hours) and perhaps this is one of the reasons. Of course she doesn't swim 4-5 km per session like elder teammates, however she is having great fun with them, so I can do nothing to stop her (believe me I tried and the outcome wasn't good). The only period she doesn't swim is during Christmas vacation (2 weeks) and during August when we are travelling out of the country (3-4 weeks).
However, coming back to the point of this thread is that the Coach is a major factor in proper technique development of kids in their early age, so you can't leave them to any coach, but find a good one. A good coach is not necessarily a coach of some famous swimmers, but a coach who loves and knows his job. If the coach is the "brain" of kid's development, the parent must be the engine. And I forgot to agree in my previous response with "laineybug", but you have to take extra/paid stroke-technique classes. As early you take such classes as cheaper they will be. Not like me to spend a lot of $$$ for a year and half, but that was my fault, cause I didn't pay attention on time, so I deserve it perhaps.
Dan and smotanaro, you're not the only ones who mention that my younger daughter is spending too much time practicing. I am hearing this all the time. But this is not my or coach's intention.. and I am also worried that she could burn out and I even offered her to swim only 1 hr and to spend the other hr on other sport for an example, but its just the fact that she refuses to get out of the water until her coach is near the pool or other team arrives to take the lanes. She swims with her 12-13Y teammates along with her elder sister (cause we can't afford travelling twice a day to take both girls for training in different hours) and perhaps this is one of the reasons. Of course she doesn't swim 4-5 km per session like elder teammates, however she is having great fun with them, so I can do nothing to stop her (believe me I tried and the outcome wasn't good). The only period she doesn't swim is during Christmas vacation (2 weeks) and during August when we are travelling out of the country (3-4 weeks).
However, coming back to the point of this thread is that the Coach is a major factor in proper technique development of kids in their early age, so you can't leave them to any coach, but find a good one. A good coach is not necessarily a coach of some famous swimmers, but a coach who loves and knows his job. If the coach is the "brain" of kid's development, the parent must be the engine. And I forgot to agree in my previous response with "laineybug", but you have to take extra/paid stroke-technique classes. As early you take such classes as cheaper they will be. Not like me to spend a lot of $$$ for a year and half, but that was my fault, cause I didn't pay attention on time, so I deserve it perhaps.
