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.
I think it depends on the relationships triangle: kids-parents-coach. I was a swimming coach at a local private school and then they fired me because of conflicts with parents... An unpleasant thing, but this experience taught me some important aspects of coaching: parents always protect their kids and think their kids are always right (no matter what); I know what helicopter parenting actually is and I've met a couple of mama's boys; coaches/teacher should always have an adequate reaction to an inadequate situation.
I think it depends on the relationships triangle: kids-parents-coach. I was a swimming coach at a local private school and then they fired me because of conflicts with parents... An unpleasant thing, but this experience taught me some important aspects of coaching: parents always protect their kids and think their kids are always right (no matter what); I know what helicopter parenting actually is and I've met a couple of mama's boys; coaches/teacher should always have an adequate reaction to an inadequate situation.
