Always win, swim for fun!

This is always an interesting discussion. How do we balance the harsh realities of winning/losing against the joy of participation? After all, if we are mediocre in any activity, it is that rare individual who perseveres and ultimately excels. This is especially true for children who, at the younger ages (8-10) do need to have the adults that surround them keep up a positive attitude. And let's not forget, only 25% of those that excel in 12 and under swimming do the same as they get older. So, early success does not mean a great career just as being an average swimmer does not mean that big improvements cannot occur. Think about the difficulty of swimming some of these strokes. Just getting the arms out in butterfly in rhythm with the dolphin kick is pretty daunting. Then throw in a few backstroke flip turns and breastroke DQ's and you can have a pretty frustrated little kid who might need that simple ribbon to keep him/her going until the next meet. My own daughter is a good case. She is 8 and has been swimming for a little over a year. She is very proficient technically and has hit blue times in most of her events. Yet, that has now pushed her into the final heats with the fastest in her age group in Southern California and she is typically 7th or 8th. The ribbons are placed in each swimmer's folder a few days after the meets and she typically forgets to even look for them. She is vaguely aware of how she placed, but could care less about her ribbons. She is also vaguely aware of her times but could not tell you her times if she was asked. She is mainly concerned with how she felt and how she swam in each race as opposed to whether she "placed". So, any award, except for a huge trophy that glittered in the sun, probably is of little value in her world. I just tell her that if she takes care of the little details of her stroke technique, then the big things will work themselves out. I just want her to learn the strokes properly so that when her mind and body can handle it, then she can start to really push for whatever lofty goals she desires. The danger of stressing winning a heat too much with the youngsters is that they will simply "spin" and thrash about as their technique flies out the window with the hope that some Hurculean effort will get them to the wall first. It is much easier to correct stroke flaws and reinforce good habits now as opposed to waiting until they become more ingrained at a later age. As she gets older and if she continues to compete, I expect that my daughter will become acutely aware of her times and start to set goals and want to get on that podium. Swimming is pretty unique in that it is time based. You either make the cut or you don't. You either out touch the other swimmer or you don't. So, it's quite black and white. At some point, I expect that she will want to win. But I want her to come to that decision on her terms, not mine. In the end, the sport of swimming is probably more of a progression that begins as fun and evolves into the joy of competing and doing well that in turn fuels the desire to excel and perfect technique in the daily grind of workouts. So, the short answer to this convoluted response is that most kids do not care about the participatory ribbons. At some point, and sooner than later, they will figure out how they rank on the pecking order. It is our job as parents to try to put it in perspective so that they continue to enjoy the sport. As far as the rest of us? For the elite swimmers, I would assume that they all want to win and that is why they devote their lives to the sport. With sponsorship money and all that comes with a world ranking, I expect nothing less. Me? I just joined Masters a few months ago after over 30 years out of the pool. I'm just happy to be getting back into swimming shape. Competition means little to me now. That is for my kids and the endless meets that we now go to and help set up and time assist in timing and so on. Rob

This is always an interesting discussion. How do we balance the harsh realities of winning/losing against the joy of participation? After all, if we are mediocre in any activity, it is that rare individual who perseveres and ultimately excels. This is especially true for children who, at the younger ages (8-10) do need to have the adults that surround them keep up a positive attitude. And let's not forget, only 25% of those that excel in 12 and under swimming do the same as they get older. So, early success does not mean a great career just as being an average swimmer does not mean that big improvements cannot occur. Think about the difficulty of swimming some of these strokes. Just getting the arms out in butterfly in rhythm with the dolphin kick is pretty daunting. Then throw in a few backstroke flip turns and breastroke DQ's and you can have a pretty frustrated little kid who might need that simple ribbon to keep him/her going until the next meet. My own daughter is a good case. She is 8 and has been swimming for a little over a year. She is very proficient technically and has hit blue times in most of her events. Yet, that has now pushed her into the final heats with the fastest in her age group in Southern California and she is typically 7th or 8th. The ribbons are placed in each swimmer's folder a few days after the meets and she typically forgets to even look for them. She is vaguely aware of how she placed, but could care less about her ribbons. She is also vaguely aware of her times but could not tell you her times if she was asked. She is mainly concerned with how she felt and how she swam in each race as opposed to whether she "placed". So, any award, except for a huge trophy that glittered in the sun, probably is of little value in her world. I just tell her that if she takes care of the little details of her stroke technique, then the big things will work themselves out. I just want her to learn the strokes properly so that when her mind and body can handle it, then she can start to really push for whatever lofty goals she desires. The danger of stressing winning a heat too much with the youngsters is that they will simply "spin" and thrash about as their technique flies out the window with the hope that some Hurculean effort will get them to the wall first. It is much easier to correct stroke flaws and reinforce good habits now as opposed to waiting until they become more ingrained at a later age. As she gets older and if she continues to compete, I expect that my daughter will become acutely aware of her times and start to set goals and want to get on that podium. Swimming is pretty unique in that it is time based. You either make the cut or you don't. You either out touch the other swimmer or you don't. So, it's quite black and white. At some point, I expect that she will want to win. But I want her to come to that decision on her terms, not mine. In the end, the sport of swimming is probably more of a progression that begins as fun and evolves into the joy of competing and doing well that in turn fuels the desire to excel and perfect technique in the daily grind of workouts. So, the short answer to this convoluted response is that most kids do not care about the participatory ribbons. At some point, and sooner than later, they will figure out how they rank on the pecking order. It is our job as parents to try to put it in perspective so that they continue to enjoy the sport. As far as the rest of us? For the elite swimmers, I would assume that they all want to win and that is why they devote their lives to the sport. With sponsorship money and all that comes with a world ranking, I expect nothing less. Me? I just joined Masters a few months ago after over 30 years out of the pool. I'm just happy to be getting back into swimming shape. Competition means little to me now. That is for my kids and the endless meets that we now go to and help set up and time assist in timing and so on. Rob