Hello everyone!
i have a 14 yr old daughter who has been swimming with a USA swimming club for about 2yrs now. She is the only person in our family to swim, so naturally I feel in a bit over my head at times, though she seems to fit in well in the swimming world. I’m not sure how my daughter ranks against her peers, or her just others in her age group for that matter, nor what is a “good time” or “bad time”. Given she is not in the top swim group at her club, I’m get the sense her times about average for her age or perhaps a bit below. So anyways, I’m wondering what I can do to be a “good swim parent”, how far do I go when she adds time and how happy should I be when she drops a little time? Thanks for all your help! I’ve put a couple of her short course yards times below.
100fly: 1:02.51
100back:1:02.35
100free: 56.32
200free: 2:00.59
200back: 2:13.15
200IM: 2:18.87
200fly: 2:24.11
50free: 26.15
orca1946 hit it exactly on the head - keep her having fun. He and I have been coaching about the same amount of time. IMHO, the best swim parent is the one who knows absolutely nothing about the sport except they want their child to have a smile on their face before and after practice and meets. The two most important questions after a practice or meet: a) Did you have fun? and b) where do you want to eat?
And, BTW, your daughters times are pretty good for 14 years old. She might never make the Junior or senior nationals, but she would have always been on the high school state teams I coached in Minnesota and someone so versatile they could swim any event. That makes coaching alot of fun.
PW
orca1946 hit it exactly on the head - keep her having fun. He and I have been coaching about the same amount of time. IMHO, the best swim parent is the one who knows absolutely nothing about the sport except they want their child to have a smile on their face before and after practice and meets. The two most important questions after a practice or meet: a) Did you have fun? and b) where do you want to eat?
And, BTW, your daughters times are pretty good for 14 years old. She might never make the Junior or senior nationals, but she would have always been on the high school state teams I coached in Minnesota and someone so versatile they could swim any event. That makes coaching alot of fun.
PW
