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
I clearly haven't been able to keep up on all of the comments here, but let me offer some thoughts. As background for my credibility to comment:
My father was a competitive swimmer
My brother, two sisters and I all tried competitive swimming:
My older and sister and I did the whole age group/year-round thing (hard core) through collegiate swimming at Division I level.
My younger sister did age group until about 12 or 13, stopped for a number of years and/or only did summer swimming through HS, then came back and swam on her collegiate team at a small private university.
My younger brother, definitely the best athlete of us, was a great 10 & under swimmer, but just didn't like the sport. He stopped and went on to be a high quality multi-sport athlete in things like golf, basketball, etc.
I coached 10 to 13 year olds on a YMCA team for 2 years, as well as a summer league team.
I currently have all three of my daughters, aged from 6 to almost 14, on a year-round age group program.
My reaction to the original question and some of the comments:
Why are some 9 year olds faster than others? At this age, speed is almost completely a function of physicial maturity / power-to-weight ratio and raw natural athletic talent / "giftedness" / "feel for the water."
Where should motivation come from - the parent, the swimmer? The swimmer. I was a very driven swimmer (probably because I sucked at soccer, basketball, running, etc.) and it's been a very hard lesson for me to learn as a parent of swimmers than I can't impose my drive on my children. I'm like a recovering alcoholic on this point and need to watch myself every day, but the push needs to come from the child. I can and do support my kids in ensuring they have access to a good team, get them to workouts & meets and then support their team through officiating and other volunteer activity. We have parent-coach meetings and do ask our children to set their own goals and offer our help (at their instigation) in developing strategies to reach their goals, but try hard to let the coaches coach.
Should swimming be fun for the child? Absolutely. I loved swimming, loved killing myself in workouts and still do. This is a hard sport that requires a lot of commitment if a kid wants to stick with it; if they don't love it, I doubt they'll last long. But, that's true of any sport. I think we all need to remember that the vast majority of our kids no matter what sport they are in are NOT going to become superstars; their sports endeavors should be oriented towards fun, health benefits and the life lessons like goal setting, commitment, etc.
I clearly haven't been able to keep up on all of the comments here, but let me offer some thoughts. As background for my credibility to comment:
My father was a competitive swimmer
My brother, two sisters and I all tried competitive swimming:
My older and sister and I did the whole age group/year-round thing (hard core) through collegiate swimming at Division I level.
My younger sister did age group until about 12 or 13, stopped for a number of years and/or only did summer swimming through HS, then came back and swam on her collegiate team at a small private university.
My younger brother, definitely the best athlete of us, was a great 10 & under swimmer, but just didn't like the sport. He stopped and went on to be a high quality multi-sport athlete in things like golf, basketball, etc.
I coached 10 to 13 year olds on a YMCA team for 2 years, as well as a summer league team.
I currently have all three of my daughters, aged from 6 to almost 14, on a year-round age group program.
My reaction to the original question and some of the comments:
Why are some 9 year olds faster than others? At this age, speed is almost completely a function of physicial maturity / power-to-weight ratio and raw natural athletic talent / "giftedness" / "feel for the water."
Where should motivation come from - the parent, the swimmer? The swimmer. I was a very driven swimmer (probably because I sucked at soccer, basketball, running, etc.) and it's been a very hard lesson for me to learn as a parent of swimmers than I can't impose my drive on my children. I'm like a recovering alcoholic on this point and need to watch myself every day, but the push needs to come from the child. I can and do support my kids in ensuring they have access to a good team, get them to workouts & meets and then support their team through officiating and other volunteer activity. We have parent-coach meetings and do ask our children to set their own goals and offer our help (at their instigation) in developing strategies to reach their goals, but try hard to let the coaches coach.
Should swimming be fun for the child? Absolutely. I loved swimming, loved killing myself in workouts and still do. This is a hard sport that requires a lot of commitment if a kid wants to stick with it; if they don't love it, I doubt they'll last long. But, that's true of any sport. I think we all need to remember that the vast majority of our kids no matter what sport they are in are NOT going to become superstars; their sports endeavors should be oriented towards fun, health benefits and the life lessons like goal setting, commitment, etc.
