I have a 12-year-old son who is in his third year of competitive swimming (He's been in swimming lessons since he was 6 months old but never swam competitively until he was 10). No one in my family as ever been a competitive swimmer so I am still learning all the nuances of the swim world, even after three years into it.
Given that, I am trying to educate myself on what is the typical amount of "coaching" a swimmer gets at this age (or any age really)? What I mean is, I know by this age they pretty much have their strokes down but I'm thinking there are still things that need to be fine tuned. So how often does a coach or assistant coach say, "Your arms are crossing over during your free, trying doing this to lessen that." or "Your arms need to shoot out right away during your *** so you glide more."? Is it typical to have swimmers at this age just swim laps with no input from the coaches other than what to do next?
Any insight is helpful. I still feel like a fish out of water at times.
If you don't feel that your son is getting enough technical advice, you might talk to the coach and see whether he will provide individualized sessions for swimmers - or you can also seek out camps and clinics - whether offered by your team or through others- that are geared towards providing developing swimmers with technical feedback and instruction. Swimming is a long journey, so take your time and continue educating yourself on the sport.
Oh, here we go with the feelings. That's probably the last thing that should be considered. I would suggest you look at what your club's mission is and how many swimmers they have in the water at once. That is the best barometer of the kind of coaching your child will receive. Clubs have different models. For instance, if you have 30 kids in the water and 1 coach, then you are probably getting what you paid for. If, however, the ratio is smaller, then you have some decisions to make possibly. And head coach is a lot of different things. It is the head coach of the club, the lead coach of the group, the lead coach of the entire age group, etc??
Going to your coach and asking for lessons or asking for camps is some kind of insulting. If a family is asking this, it's a huge red flag. Jumping immediately to privates or camps is not the best way to go. A meeting away from the deck with the coach usually clears everything up, or makes it worse, who knows.
I consider 15 - 18 to be older swimmers. 12 is right in the middle for most larger clubs.
If you don't feel that your son is getting enough technical advice, you might talk to the coach and see whether he will provide individualized sessions for swimmers - or you can also seek out camps and clinics - whether offered by your team or through others- that are geared towards providing developing swimmers with technical feedback and instruction. Swimming is a long journey, so take your time and continue educating yourself on the sport.
Oh, here we go with the feelings. That's probably the last thing that should be considered. I would suggest you look at what your club's mission is and how many swimmers they have in the water at once. That is the best barometer of the kind of coaching your child will receive. Clubs have different models. For instance, if you have 30 kids in the water and 1 coach, then you are probably getting what you paid for. If, however, the ratio is smaller, then you have some decisions to make possibly. And head coach is a lot of different things. It is the head coach of the club, the lead coach of the group, the lead coach of the entire age group, etc??
Going to your coach and asking for lessons or asking for camps is some kind of insulting. If a family is asking this, it's a huge red flag. Jumping immediately to privates or camps is not the best way to go. A meeting away from the deck with the coach usually clears everything up, or makes it worse, who knows.
I consider 15 - 18 to be older swimmers. 12 is right in the middle for most larger clubs.
