Hello. I found this forum while searching for an answer to my question. My son is a 14 year old high school swimmer and has just completed his meet season. He did not make state finals, so at the current time he is not swimming (or working on dry lands). The coach is focused on the kids who made it to state and they are currently swimming. My concern is that while he has made some huge improvements, how long is too long out of the pool? I encouraged him to start running for 30-45 minutes but compared to the 3-4 hours a day he was in the pool it doesn’t seem like enough. From my understanding he will be out for 3-4 weeks total. I just hate to see him lose the edge he’s worked so hard for.
Make sure you don't push him so hard all year that he ends up walking away from the sport!
It must still be fun and then hard work!
I was going to ask whether he does any other sports besides swimming. I swam year-round from about age 11 on, but I did other sports in school until my senior year of HS. So after the high school season, I'd take a couple weeks off the pool and start up track season, then do just enough swimming to keep feel for the water until summer season.
This, in my mind, helped prevent burn-out, and it also helps develop some general athleticism that kids that only swim don't get as much of.
Make sure you don't push him so hard all year that he ends up walking away from the sport!
It must still be fun and then hard work!
I was going to ask whether he does any other sports besides swimming. I swam year-round from about age 11 on, but I did other sports in school until my senior year of HS. So after the high school season, I'd take a couple weeks off the pool and start up track season, then do just enough swimming to keep feel for the water until summer season.
This, in my mind, helped prevent burn-out, and it also helps develop some general athleticism that kids that only swim don't get as much of.
