Hey everyone, wasn't sure were to put this questions so I decided to place it here. I also wanted to get some opinions from knowlageable swimmers like yourselves so I hope you don't mind me asking this.
Here's the story..
My daughter is 9 years old and has been competing for about 8 months but taking swimming lessons since the age of 3. She's extremely descent for her age (about 35 seconds 50 free, 43 seconds 50 fly, 45 seconds 50 back and 43 seconds 50 ***) just to give you an idea. I decided to pull her off the current team as I feel he was not improving enough as her coach did very little technique training and put her in private lessons with someone I think can really help her learn the little things to make her faster.
Anyways, here is the other thing.
During her swim meets I noticed another 9 year old girl who is swimming with times such as 32 seconds 50 free, 32 seconds 50 fly, 38 seconds 50 *** ect and could not believe it. Keep in mind this girl JUST turned 9!
My question is this,
How is it that a 9 year old child can swim times as fast as many of the top 11, 12 or 13 year olds? Is this a freak of nature? Is it just good coaching? Physical strength? or what.
I did not think it was possible for kids this age to swim so fast. Is there any hope for my daughter to "catch up" to kids like this?
I would like to know everyones opinion on youth marvels like this. I believe this kids has gotten as fast as she will get but that's my own personal opinion. She is sort of short and perhaps as she matures other kids will eventually get taller and stronger and catch up to her times?
If you were in my shoes what would YOU do with your daughter to help her attain these kinds of times?
Thanks
If this was my daughter I would let her enjoy swimming as much as she wants. I would find her a team that has good coaches that focus on fun, technique, know how to motivate young kids and I would stay out of their way. Private coaching at this age doesn't make too much sense. To stay with the sport she needs to have fun and make friends on the team. Swimming in itself is very individual sport and you need the support of teammates during hard times.
And I could care less what times another 9 year old girl is swimming. She may be more mature, more developed, etc... In a year or five your daughter may beat her hands down.
Good luck and enjoy this time in your daughter's life.
First, I would take a step back and go to the USA Swimming website and click on the "Parent" tab. Then I would read all the articles I could about the parent's role with the Swimmer, Coach, and Club.
http://www.usaswimming.org
Kids develop at different ages. The sport is rife with anecdotes about "marvel" 8-year-olds who dropped out at a young age, while kids who matured later excelled in the big meets on the world's stage.
Swimming is a magnificent sport for athletes of ALL ages and abilities. Having an excellent experience is not reserved for just the fastest swimmer.
Nancy
I WHOLLY disagree that swimming should not be about fun first. The heck it shouldn't. I learned to swim at 9 and loved it because it was fun. Probably why I still swim 30 years later.
My daughter did very well as a 5 year old and extremely well as a 6 year old. I gave her tips here and there, but I ALWAYS referred to the fun things about swimming. I never got upset with her. I praised her always for her EFFORTS, never her times. Not to say that we didn't celebrate her championship times, but they were not the focus of swimming.
If you are having fun you are more likely to continue, and thus improve.
Ande- I'm surprised at your advice regarding training for a 9 year old. IMHO that is excessive. I see little shoulders being decimated.
That 9 year old RAC refers to is TALENTED. That is all. Summer Sanders was whoopin' me and everyone else when she was 9 (I was 12). It's called talent.
What the future holds, for any swimmer, talented or otherwise, you don't know.
Someone just sent me an e-mail and it referred to "be happy with who you are and what you have, it is enough". That's not to say you can't work hard, have goals and want to succeed, but you should do the best you can and not worry about what you have no control over (other swimmers)- well of course, unless, you are going to Tanya Harding them before a race!
Something to think about.
:blah:
I wonder slommafan if your friend did not break that barrier because of his physical attributes? What I'm trying to say is you can only work with what god gives you to work with. Some people are excellent swimmers but no matter how hard they try if they are not tall enough, strong enough or whatever they will only go so far.
Anyone agree?
I'm finding it hard to agree with much of anything you are posting, sorry. You talk about pushing your daughter, for who's benefit, yours or hers? Maybe she's right where she wants to be and needs to be. All pushing does is cause the object being pushed to push back.
I don't get what you mean by "only going so far." You only go as far as you want to go and there's nothing wrong with that.
No kid on the planet wants or needs their parents watching them at a workout. It's a universal truism that parents who do that are mcloco cuckoo. Drop her off, go get a cup of coffee. Sitting there evaluating her and her coach seems to be driving you bananas. The sport is for her, not you.
It's like I told wookie as I chased him at a meet with a pair of hedge clippers - I'm doing this for your own good. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't do good for him and maybe not so good for your daughter to obsess either.
Word again!
Perhaps you should take ribbons won by a 9 year old with a grain of salt and stop counting them.
Get her on a good team and hope she likes the sport. Kids don't always choose to do what they're best at or most suited for however.
I'm finding it hard to agree with much of
anything you are posting, sorry. You talk about pushing your daughter, for who's benefit, yours or hers? Maybe she's right where she wants to be and needs to be. All pushing does is cause the object being pushed to push back.
I don't get what you mean by "only going so far." You only go as far as you want to go and there's nothing wrong with that.
No kid on the planet wants or needs their parents watching them at a workout. It's a universal truism that parents who do that are mcloco cuckoo. Drop her off, go get a cup of coffee. Sitting there evaluating her and her coach seems to be driving you bananas. The sport is for her, not you.
It's like I told wookie as I chased him at a meet with a pair of hedge clippers - I'm doing this for your own good. In retrospect, maybe it wasn't do good for him and maybe not so good for your daughter to obsess either.
The reason I "watch" my daughter practice has more to do with the quality of learning she is getting. There are swim clubs out there that if you let them will sock you an arm and a leg and take advantage of you if they can do it. My daughter has real talent and it's MY responsibility to make sure she has the SAME opportunity as the superstar kid down the road who grew up learning from a descent coach and not some fool.
I stand by my universal truism statement. Hovering over your daughter (and the rest of her team incidentally) does absolutely nothing for her, her teammates, the coaching staff. Our team has 600+ kids, all with real talent, so does every other club in America. That doesn't give any single parent the right to ruin the experience for every other kid out there. Toxic parents can destroy a team.
Maybe it's just hard for you to type what you are feeling but from the outside, this all looks like a big stew of disaster waiting to blow up.
It's just so hard when you see your 9 year old kid with a god given talent for something all you want to do is make sure that they make full use of it or else regret that they didn't because nobody pushed them hard enough when they were young.
Don't worry about this. If she does have talent, that talent ain't going anywhere. At this point all she really needs to do is have fun and work on the fundamentals. She has the opportunity to learn bad habits as well as good ones right now. She won't lose anything if she doesn't push it hard now other than swimming faster right now. Down the road if she's ready to train hard the fact that she didn't train hard when she was nine is a non-issue.
I didn't say she shouldn't enjoy her ribbons -- I said you shouldn't so much. I'm not making any assumption about your meet conduct either. But your defensiveness is suggestive.
Successfully maximizing potential is a tricky endeavor ... That's why fun is paramount.
Glad you know how to coach swimming. Now work on spelling!
That is a supid comment.
Why should she not be proud of them? She has them on her desk to remind her of all her hard work and the rewards that come with hard work. You make it sound like it is a crime to be rewarded.
Perhaps swim clubs should not issue rewards out at all and just let them swim. Perhaps it is the swim clubs that are obsessed and not the parent? First off, you don't know me and you never have seen how I react when my daughter wins. I do not "count her ribbons" nor do I scream and shout praising her almighty name. I congradulate her efforts, tell her good job and that is it.
The problem is exactly people like you who "assume" all parents are the same and all parents react in the same way. I obviously know something about swimming or she would have not improved as she did under my training. it would be different if I knew nothing of the sport and was just a casual fan like most parents.
I do not "count her ribbons" nor do I scream and shout praising her almighty name. I congradulate her efforts, tell her good job and that is it.
Um, yes you did, 40 to be precise. Put the ribbons in a box, put them under her bed and look back on them in 30 years when she has kids who swim. That's always fun, although in my case it proved my wife kicked my tail in the pool as an age grouper.
Look, you asked our opinions and many of us have kids the exact same age as yours. If you don't like our opinions, don't bother with asking.
I have no idea if you know a thing about swimming. I've seen kids drop time after being out of the sport for months on end.
Secondly, yes, put them under her bed. What the hell does that tell your kid. I would not be so cruel.
And lastly, yes I am asking for advice but you have made this topic about ME rather than the original topic which I believe was something to the extent of "what makes a 9 year old kid so fast" Look at the topic title please.
We answered your questions - find a good team, take your kid to practice, support them and butt out, let the swimming happen. I know of at least 4 or 5 regular posters on this forum with talented 9-10 year old daughters and none of them are doing what you are doing. A few have already responded. Some even are Olympians and current Masters record holders.
I don't see a need to wallpaper my daughter's room in her ribbons. She knows her achievements. I'm not sure why putting her ribbons in a box for safe keeping is cruel but I'll ask her if she feels like less of a swimmer because of it.
Try this for a week - don't go to your daughter's practices and see if it makes her any better or worse. I promise you this - the other swimmers and parents might be a bit relieved, but I could be supid about the whole thing.
