Hello all,
Even though this is a masters forum, I was hoping someone knows of any stories about collegiate or even world class swimmers who struggled when they were in 7-8s or 9-10s. I am looking for some stories to give my daughter some hope. She is 10, loves swimming, and it has been great for her development. But despite really good improvement, she is getting discouraged by a lack of results; and after this weekends champs, she was really down in the dumps despite setting 5 best times. I fear that she will throw in the towel if it feels hopeless to her, so I would like to be able to point to some concrete story of success just to give her hope. I remember I gave up swimming in High School after years of getting beaten like a drum no matter how hard I worked, so I know how discouraging it can get. If she gives up in High School, I would actually be okay with that, but she loves it so much I would hate to see her give up earlier.
I know most top level swimmers have been are great athletes all the way through life (Michael Phelps was the best player on his youth soccer and lacrosse teams) but I was looking for any anecdotes about the classic late bloomer.
I admire her competitiveness, but the main thing she needs to worry about at 10 is fun, and getting her technique right. And developing a work ethic. 10 is nothing. Besides, at 10, you have a few early bloomers who have already grown and tower over their peers, who are usually beating the snot out of everyone. That advantage will be gone by 14.
Only something like 10% of kids ranked nationally at 10 are still ranked nationally at 18. Anecdote, my daughter went from the slowest kid in the pool at 8 to A times at 10 to AAAA at 12.
That said, if she's not putting in the work, she won't get there. And I don't mean showing up for practice, I mean challenging herself on every interval, every set in practice.
I admire her competitiveness, but the main thing she needs to worry about at 10 is fun, and getting her technique right. And developing a work ethic. 10 is nothing. Besides, at 10, you have a few early bloomers who have already grown and tower over their peers, who are usually beating the snot out of everyone. That advantage will be gone by 14.
Only something like 10% of kids ranked nationally at 10 are still ranked nationally at 18. Anecdote, my daughter went from the slowest kid in the pool at 8 to A times at 10 to AAAA at 12.
That said, if she's not putting in the work, she won't get there. And I don't mean showing up for practice, I mean challenging herself on every interval, every set in practice.
Very well said!
Keep it fun and don't get too wrapped up in placing, especially at that age. Even at the the highest level of the sport, if you watch interviews, many of the swimmers will preach that they "focus on what they can control" and "don't get too wrapped up in the result." To illustrate 67king's point, take a look a this tweet from a world championship finalist/NCAA Champ:
twitter.com/.../969953922134757376
I admire her competitiveness, but the main thing she needs to worry about at 10 is fun, and getting her technique right. And developing a work ethic. 10 is nothing. Besides, at 10, you have a few early bloomers who have already grown and tower over their peers, who are usually beating the snot out of everyone. That advantage will be gone by 14.
Only something like 10% of kids ranked nationally at 10 are still ranked nationally at 18. Anecdote, my daughter went from the slowest kid in the pool at 8 to A times at 10 to AAAA at 12.
That said, if she's not putting in the work, she won't get there. And I don't mean showing up for practice, I mean challenging herself on every interval, every set in practice.
True, lots of kids will not be great swimmers. Her parents should informed her that a kid that has workout on a team has a better chance of being a good high school swimmer. As for times, I swam about 2 years in novice swimming and then swift to AAU swimming at age 14. I didn't get A cuts until age 14 in Breaststroke and Butterfly. I didn't get A cuts in Freestyle until age 17, and I was a terrible backstroker only got b cuts at age 14 and then swim slower in back past that age. As a masters swimmer much slower because I didn't keep up wth the swimming when I first came back at 45 years old. Stopped working out again for 7 to 8 years and started working out again at age 59.
I always find it fascinating to search for swimmers in the USA Swimming times database (www.usaswimming.org/.../individual-times-search).
The best example I could find just searching some random swimmers is Olivia Smolia. According to the database, she was mostly a B swimmer through her age 11 year, and didn't get her first A or AA cuts until she was 12. She didn't really break out until 13-14, where, for instance, her 100 back went from still swimming some "slower than B" times to getting her first nationals cut over that two-year period.
I started swimming competitively at 5 and promptly quit. I sucked at 7 and 8. I was not much better at 9 and 10. I got a smidge better at 11 and 12, then was a passable state level swimmer at 13 & 14, but then continued to get better from 15 to 18, working my way onto a spot on the undisputed best college swimming team in the history of the world.
I still think I am learning as a swimmer at 51 years old and, on an age-adjusted basis, getting better.
As a parent of three age group swimmers, I have seen far more cases of kids who stunk at ages 8-12 becoming collegiate and international champions than kids who were great at 8-12. Yes, there are some kids who do start out strong and fast and never slow down, but the lessons to learn from swimming are the need for work, the need for kaizen/continuous improvement. Results will come and go, but character and the ability to grow is a life skill worth far more than any trinket of gold, silver or bronze.
I started swimming competitively at 5 and promptly quit. I sucked at 7 and 8. I was not much better at 9 and 10. I got a smidge better at 11 and 12, then was a passable state level swimmer at 13 & 14, but then continued to get better from 15 to 18, working my way onto a spot on the undisputed best college swimming team in the history of the world.
I still think I am learning as a swimmer at 51 years old and, on an age-adjusted basis, getting better.
As a parent of three age group swimmers, I have seen far more cases of kids who stunk at ages 8-12 becoming collegiate and international champions than kids who were great at 8-12. Yes, there are some kids who do start out strong and fast and never slow down, but the lessons to learn from swimming are the need for work, the need for kaizen/continuous improvement. Results will come and go, but character and the ability to grow is a life skill worth far more than any trinket of gold, silver or bronze.
Girl swimmers versus boy swimmers. Guys usually mature slower physically which means they can be late bloomers more. Its the girl swimmers that are making the Olympics in high school with the exceptions of male swimmers like Michael Phelps but even some girl swimmers don't make the National Team until college.
Girl swimmers versus boy swimmers...even some girl swimmers don't make the National Team until college.My oldest daughter continues to get faster at age 22 and I've watched many of her teammates at college do the same, most of whom were not standouts as age groupers. I agree that it is more likely for a teenaged girl to reach the elite level than a teenaged boy, but we have so many examples of female swimmers continuing to get faster into their 20s. As coaches, trainers and athletes continue to get smarter about how to train, I think we'll see even more of this.
My oldest daughter continues to get faster at age 22 and I've watched many of her teammates at college do the same, most of whom were not standouts as age groupers. I agree that it is more likely for a teenaged girl to reach the elite level than a teenaged boy, but we have so many examples of female swimmers continuing to get faster into their 20s. As coaches, trainers and athletes continue to get smarter about how to train, I think we'll see even more of this.
Claire Donahue is from our area, and a lot of kids have gotten to know her (including my daughter, a fellow butterflier). She was a good swimmer when she was young, but blossomed into the Olympian she became when she went to college.
