Is Swimming Eating Its Young?

to be honest, most age group coaches have no idea what is going on. They train their little kids for the now and forget about the future. And then they kick you out when you are 18 saying go swim in college, or have a nice life. It seems like if you haven't "made it" or about to make it by the time you are 18 you aren't going to "get anywhere" with swimming. I was never taught you should work out for at least a half hour a day for the rest of your life, might as well keep up the swimming since you like it. My sister, who was an excellent age grouper was totally burnt by the time she made it to college and decided it was time to focus on school because it was clear by what she had been taught that she could not get any further with her swimming. She was lucky enough to go to a school that had a masters program in addition to their varsity program so she ended up coaching and swimming a little bit. But I think if it wasn't for the do or die approach both her and I could have broken that barrier in college and been able to swim at a national rather than regional level. There's a misconception that you can't have a breakthrough and peak when you are 20, 22, 25, etc. Looking back I think I could have. I wasn't fully developed until I was 21. How are you supposed to be at your best when your body hasn't even peaked yet? And if you aren't going to that level you're pretty much tossed to the wolves and have no idea what the options are for continued swimming purely for fun. The good news for me is I've found my way back and it only took 4 years. :agree: AND my sister is going to make a cross state expedition with her 3 month old to watch my swim meet next week. There's no way she will be able to watch and not get charged about swimming again. I think she secretly knows this about herself and thinks this will help motivate her. I feel like the more I talk about it, the more I get former swimmers interested and involved. I think it's just a lack of realizing the opportunity.

to be honest, most age group coaches have no idea what is going on. They train their little kids for the now and forget about the future. And then they kick you out when you are 18 saying go swim in college, or have a nice life. It seems like if you haven't "made it" or about to make it by the time you are 18 you aren't going to "get anywhere" with swimming. I was never taught you should work out for at least a half hour a day for the rest of your life, might as well keep up the swimming since you like it. My sister, who was an excellent age grouper was totally burnt by the time she made it to college and decided it was time to focus on school because it was clear by what she had been taught that she could not get any further with her swimming. She was lucky enough to go to a school that had a masters program in addition to their varsity program so she ended up coaching and swimming a little bit. But I think if it wasn't for the do or die approach both her and I could have broken that barrier in college and been able to swim at a national rather than regional level. There's a misconception that you can't have a breakthrough and peak when you are 20, 22, 25, etc. Looking back I think I could have. I wasn't fully developed until I was 21. How are you supposed to be at your best when your body hasn't even peaked yet? And if you aren't going to that level you're pretty much tossed to the wolves and have no idea what the options are for continued swimming purely for fun. The good news for me is I've found my way back and it only took 4 years. :agree: AND my sister is going to make a cross state expedition with her 3 month old to watch my swim meet next week. There's no way she will be able to watch and not get charged about swimming again. I think she secretly knows this about herself and thinks this will help motivate her. I feel like the more I talk about it, the more I get former swimmers interested and involved. I think it's just a lack of realizing the opportunity.