Greetings
OK I am calling on all of you current/former competitors and/or age group coaches and parents. I am the parent of a 13 yo age grouper who is crazy about swimming. In his current season he has gone from a B/A swimmer to a sectional qualifier. He has worked very hard since last September and will swim sectionals in mid March. Here is my question. Should I require that he backs off or stops swimming in the spring and summer just for resting purposes. He is like a young colt that will just keep on swimming if not reigned in. He loves to swim and compete. I worry about burning him out. I want him to still like to swim when he is my age. By the way I have no personal competitive swimming background so all of this is new to me.
Regards
Spudfin
Make it fun for your child to swim.
We swam all year, summer we would be involved at the pool but would also go out and do open water swimming. We would live our lives as swimmers. Not everything was a coached swim workout.
Winter was hard training but in our club it was also team get togethers. Our coach used to organize lots of social and group activities.
Swimming is not all about training it has to be made into a social event as well. As a team we did things together, hikes to the beach to swim. We went to movies, had team parties, team outings. It made us want to get to the pool to see our friends.
Most USA club teams have social events and going to meets can be like going to a party. Summer swim leagues are all about the fun.
There are lots of loco swim parents as gobears points out: yelling at their kids about times, having them swim 8x a week at age 12, buying every fastskin imaginable, paying for extra private lessons, etc. Keep it balanced and fun. I have a 13 year too. I try to emphasize that it's a long career.
Make it fun for your child to swim.
We swam all year, summer we would be involved at the pool but would also go out and do open water swimming. We would live our lives as swimmers. Not everything was a coached swim workout.
Winter was hard training but in our club it was also team get togethers. Our coach used to organize lots of social and group activities.
Swimming is not all about training it has to be made into a social event as well. As a team we did things together, hikes to the beach to swim. We went to movies, had team parties, team outings. It made us want to get to the pool to see our friends.
Most USA club teams have social events and going to meets can be like going to a party. Summer swim leagues are all about the fun.
There are lots of loco swim parents as gobears points out: yelling at their kids about times, having them swim 8x a week at age 12, buying every fastskin imaginable, paying for extra private lessons, etc. Keep it balanced and fun. I have a 13 year too. I try to emphasize that it's a long career.
