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 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 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.