On the recent broadcast of www.deckpass.com there was some interesting dialogue on age group swimming, Gary Hall Jr, and yes my hero, Jack LaLanne...
Okay... not to digress, but... Sullivan's breakthrough was from technical improvement, not an increase in power output... just an observation.
Jack LaLanne is my hero...
If you swim for fun, you'll always be a winner! Keeping the focus on personal improvement is a great way to hold the "passion" without making comparisons to others. That concept of winning, only being the absolute freaky best, that concept is dysfunctional. If you are in the water regularly, you'll always be a winner; you can feel great about what you are doing.
Swimming is a unique experience, and mastering the water is a joy.
Parents
Former Member
I completely agree with Chris' prior statement.
I'm not a fan of the everyone is talented, special, smart, beautiful, gifted, amazing, etc. I guess they call it the "self esteem" theory for kids. You're not a good parent anymore unless you send your kid to speech therapy and small motors skills therapy at age 3 ... Yes, kids need encouragement and nurturing, but life is competitive and tough. Winning is fun, and not everyone wins in school, sports or life.
For the very young just learning to swim, I think participation ribbons can help. My summer swim club doesn't have those, but we have "PB" ribbons. When a child does a personal best, they get a special ribbon. I know my then 6 year old was always happy to get her ribbons last summer even when she didn't win the race.
As a master swimmer, it seems ridiculous to posit that you should "choose another sport" if you can't be world ranked. Masters swimming allows myriad time-based goals and is a great sport to participate in as you age. I'm not going to quit just because Peg beat me in the 50 fly last weekend ...
Our swim club gives out different colored beads for PB's, BB's, A, AA, 500, 1000, 1650. Different colors for each. They wear them with a little leather string attached to their parkas. Gives the kids something to shoot for and be proud of, even if they are not dominating their age group.
I completely agree with Chris' prior statement.
I'm not a fan of the everyone is talented, special, smart, beautiful, gifted, amazing, etc. I guess they call it the "self esteem" theory for kids. You're not a good parent anymore unless you send your kid to speech therapy and small motors skills therapy at age 3 ... Yes, kids need encouragement and nurturing, but life is competitive and tough. Winning is fun, and not everyone wins in school, sports or life.
For the very young just learning to swim, I think participation ribbons can help. My summer swim club doesn't have those, but we have "PB" ribbons. When a child does a personal best, they get a special ribbon. I know my then 6 year old was always happy to get her ribbons last summer even when she didn't win the race.
As a master swimmer, it seems ridiculous to posit that you should "choose another sport" if you can't be world ranked. Masters swimming allows myriad time-based goals and is a great sport to participate in as you age. I'm not going to quit just because Peg beat me in the 50 fly last weekend ...
Our swim club gives out different colored beads for PB's, BB's, A, AA, 500, 1000, 1650. Different colors for each. They wear them with a little leather string attached to their parkas. Gives the kids something to shoot for and be proud of, even if they are not dominating their age group.
