Dear friends, hello from Poland this is Hubert father of a 13yrs old girl height: 175cm 5 feet, 8.89 inches. My daughter Lena has been swimming in a swimming club in Warsaw, Poland, Central Europe :) for almost a year. This is her first year. She has been swimming 4-5 times a week 60 minutes/session, every 3-4 weeks she takes parts in some competitions. I have noticed that after the first big step in her swimming progress now she has "swum to the wall". I mean the progress in her results is very, very little. Of course it seems to be normal that the progress at the beginning is huge BUT what now? The coach does not seem to be interested in improving technics aspects of my daughter swimming. He does not teach her the proper jump, the proper reversion etc, she is just "swimming miles". Shall I let the coach do his job? Or consult it with independent coach? In my opinion the improvement of technical aspects of her swimming could "cut" her more seconds.
So her results are 100 freestyle (50m) 1:16:42, 100 backstroke (50m) 1:27:50.
Or maybe after 8 months of swimming You can't expect anything better and we should be happy with the progress?
this is Lena from last Saturday - Lena is line nr 6
www.youtube.com/watch
Regards, Hubert
A few quick thoughts. I'll say this, I've been on my kids' team's board for a few years, and the coach and I are probably closer friends than we should be (that's a balancing act, though - another discussion). So I hear a lot of his gripes. And since my kid is one of the better ones on the team, I talk to a lot of new parents. So, here are some thoughts:
1. Relax. Don't stress too much. Don't expect your daughter to constantly drop. Kids go through plateaus. By stressing on it, you may inadvertently be putting pressure on her. Don't make her feel like she has to improve to impress you.
2. The coach may be developing a plan for her. It may result in some plateauing. It may result in some technique that isn't quite so perfect. Swimming is HARD. Getting it right is HARD. Some coaches want to let the kids get conditioned a bit better before they start wroking the technique. Some do the opposite. Point is, don't assume the coach doesn't have a plan for her.
3. Older kids, and at your daughter's size, she is presumably post-puberty, do NOT drop during the course of the year. My 14 y/o hasn't matched some of her times as a 12 y/o. In other events, she and her twin sister drop once....MAYBE twice per year. Yours has only been swimming 8 months. While her technique and conditioning may be improving, you don't need to worry about drops in every single meet.
4. A lot of kids will revert to bad habits in meets. Especially new ones. Sometimes they race, and forget to focus on the stroke. It takes a LONG time to get the muscle memory set. And so much of swimming is counter intuitive and you can't help but struggle early on.
I'd suggest you try to talk to the coach. Be careful about critiquing the strokes - remember that you aren't a coach and don't know as much as he/she does. But seek to understand what he is seeing and what his plan is. Ask him if you need to have her work with him or another coach individually. As Elaine pointed out, there are some notably technique deficiencies. Now, if you don't feel comfortable with the coach's assessment, then maybe consider a new team or something. But I would suggest you be a little patient. Maybe talk to parents who have girls her age who have been doing it longer. It takes time.
A few quick thoughts. I'll say this, I've been on my kids' team's board for a few years, and the coach and I are probably closer friends than we should be (that's a balancing act, though - another discussion). So I hear a lot of his gripes. And since my kid is one of the better ones on the team, I talk to a lot of new parents. So, here are some thoughts:
1. Relax. Don't stress too much. Don't expect your daughter to constantly drop. Kids go through plateaus. By stressing on it, you may inadvertently be putting pressure on her. Don't make her feel like she has to improve to impress you.
2. The coach may be developing a plan for her. It may result in some plateauing. It may result in some technique that isn't quite so perfect. Swimming is HARD. Getting it right is HARD. Some coaches want to let the kids get conditioned a bit better before they start wroking the technique. Some do the opposite. Point is, don't assume the coach doesn't have a plan for her.
3. Older kids, and at your daughter's size, she is presumably post-puberty, do NOT drop during the course of the year. My 14 y/o hasn't matched some of her times as a 12 y/o. In other events, she and her twin sister drop once....MAYBE twice per year. Yours has only been swimming 8 months. While her technique and conditioning may be improving, you don't need to worry about drops in every single meet.
4. A lot of kids will revert to bad habits in meets. Especially new ones. Sometimes they race, and forget to focus on the stroke. It takes a LONG time to get the muscle memory set. And so much of swimming is counter intuitive and you can't help but struggle early on.
I'd suggest you try to talk to the coach. Be careful about critiquing the strokes - remember that you aren't a coach and don't know as much as he/she does. But seek to understand what he is seeing and what his plan is. Ask him if you need to have her work with him or another coach individually. As Elaine pointed out, there are some notably technique deficiencies. Now, if you don't feel comfortable with the coach's assessment, then maybe consider a new team or something. But I would suggest you be a little patient. Maybe talk to parents who have girls her age who have been doing it longer. It takes time.
