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My daughter got her driver's license a year ago and it was nice having her drive herself to swim practice!!

msgrupp: Thanks for being such a good amabassador for Masters swimming. I'm sure when JC becomes 19 he will surely want to join USMS, especially with your words of encouragement. JC - msgrupp is not indicative of USMS.

Personally, I have found many 16 year olds to have the maturity level, emotionally and physically, of those who are 18. And of course, many "adults" have a maturity level more appropriate for a 10 year old.

I do not think my children are ANGELS and that is why a good relationship with adults is such an important thing. If a teen can talk to an adult like JC and the young man at my pool, it is a good thing. Kids need good role models. If those models turn their back on them, who are they going to turn to? I too like the enthusiasm that JC gives us. Try being around teens more, even though they are struggling to grow up and find themselves in a tough world, they are fun and full of energy and most are going to be terrific people and our future leaders. This world is a hard enough place to be without shutting out kids like JC. And a note, getting a drivers liscense is a much harder process now then when I was young. There is a lot more driving time required than there used to be(which is a good thing). There are a lot of kids who cannot get their liscense at 16, simply because they have not had time to fill the requirements.

Gosh, not many things shock me anymore, but posting that a young, impressionable swimmer in NOT WELCOME to post here…SHOCKS ME! Wow, step away here and look at what you have written…..If we, as US Masters Swimmers cannot welcome and tolerate the postings of our youth…who in all reality are the future of US Masters Swimming…. and….at the same time lead them, guide them, teach them, instruct them, motivate them and welcome them, then what have we become? Our children are the future of our sport and they are a blessing. Here is a kid that is proud of getting his drivers license and he finds time to post on OUR forum; as opposed to hanging around in some mall or getting into goodness knows what. Here is a kid that has set goals for his swimming and is proud to share these goals with us and we post that he is not welcome here due to his age. Shame on us if we cannot openly welcome this young swimmer onto our web page. Shame on us if we cannot find time to help guide him, motivate him, teach him, instruct him and more then anything else…listen to him. Hey kid, anytime you want to talk swimming or want my 53 year old guys ten cents worth of advice on any subject, simply write me an e-mail, I am ALWAYS willing and HONORED to take my time and share anything I know with a kid that wants to learn. As to your swimming, you’re on the right track by setting goals for yourself. Keep focused on the long haul and always remember that what you put into the water today, will be akin to putting money in the bank for tomorrow. The deposit you put in the pool each day at practice is the check you get to cash in a meet in the future….GO for it kid…and give it your all!

Phil brought up a very good point. I'm 21 and if I tore my ACL I would be fine for surgery. My training style and health concerns are probably closer to a 16 year old then a 30, 40, 50+ year old but I am in the age of Masters swimming. So using all these reasons for the 16 year old not to post here is kinda crazy. I understand msgrupp's concern about having teenagers post here but until JC_Fly starts posting immature, off-topic, crude comments let him be. He was happy about turning 16 just like a recent "rite of passage" for me was turning 21. Is it really that big of a pain to skip over his thread? Not every thread that has been started here has been directly about swimming but the fact that we are all swimmers unites us. Until the boards start getting cluttered up with junk I say chill. Ok that's my $.02

By the way, JC_FLY, Tom's advice is excellent. Trust me on that. So don't be afraid to ask him questions. His knowledge is awesome. :cool: He has given a lot of advice and much-needed support to someone who shares his age ... me. :D So, as my good friend, Tom, says, visit with us anytime. (That means "don't be a stranger!")

Well, actually physically there is not much different between 16 years old up to around 40 years old if you kept track of the masters times. I'm similar to myself at 12 years old or 13 years olds. I'm 46 years old and probably handle the yardage of an 11-12 year old novice swimmer. Actually in terms of strength a 25 year old male and a 40 year old male are more similar than a 16 year old. Most males develop their strength in their 20's and a 16 year old is more similar to a 45 year old man. when it comes to physical strength.

Jessie's girl is right! The recent "Day Job" and "Transport" threads really had nothing to do with swimming but no one cared and we had fun with them... but let a sincere kid post something off topic and he gets jumped on?

Originally posted by laineybug "Hold on to sixteen as long as you can..." LOL, now if I can only remember who sang that! John Mellencamp (back when he was called John Cougar). The song is Jack and Diane. The rest of that line is: Hold on to sixteen as long as you can Changes come around real soon Make us women and men A classic.