Is swimming "eating its young?" Are they being burned out with mindless yardage? Do they have to do volume training for long events? Are we missing masters swimmers who were burned out as youths? As to the kids, what can we do to stop the cannabalism?
Parents
Former Member
I think there are many examples of good and bad youth coaches. In Austin TX my kids have swum for three different club teams and our worst experience is with the one everyone associates with Austin. It was shocking how little coaching our kids got. My kids are solid but not elite swimmers. One coach (no longer there) gave my son's team a 75x100 set and left the deck for the duration of the set. 5700 pull was another. Absolutely ridiculous.
Many of the stars of this particular team are imports whose parents do not live with their kids. The talent was developed elsewhere. They come here to swim with the fastest. My kids don't swim there anymore. I won't recommend that team to anyone unless they already have AAAA times ore are close to Trials cuts.
What disappoints me about so many youth coaches is that they coach like they were coached 20 years ago. They have so little knowledge of physiology. They don't spend enough time on technique - just yardage.
My HS freshman swims HS in the mornings 5x, then club 4x in the afternoons. His HS practices are fairly sloppy and not particularly hard. We're monitoring his fatigue level closely and at all times his grades are prioritized above swimming.
I think there are many examples of good and bad youth coaches. In Austin TX my kids have swum for three different club teams and our worst experience is with the one everyone associates with Austin. It was shocking how little coaching our kids got. My kids are solid but not elite swimmers. One coach (no longer there) gave my son's team a 75x100 set and left the deck for the duration of the set. 5700 pull was another. Absolutely ridiculous.
Many of the stars of this particular team are imports whose parents do not live with their kids. The talent was developed elsewhere. They come here to swim with the fastest. My kids don't swim there anymore. I won't recommend that team to anyone unless they already have AAAA times ore are close to Trials cuts.
What disappoints me about so many youth coaches is that they coach like they were coached 20 years ago. They have so little knowledge of physiology. They don't spend enough time on technique - just yardage.
My HS freshman swims HS in the mornings 5x, then club 4x in the afternoons. His HS practices are fairly sloppy and not particularly hard. We're monitoring his fatigue level closely and at all times his grades are prioritized above swimming.
