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
Ande, I have read Outliers too. It is great. 10,000 hours of practice, man, that is a lot! But I will dispute the findings as applied to swimming or really athletics in general. Ande, I would be surprised if you swam significantly more than I did during our youth. I think we are merely seperated by our talent. I swam year round with great coaches from age 8 to age 22. Several of my peers from age group went D1, scored at Nats, finaled at trials, whatever. I did the same workouts, worked with the same coaches but they were just more talented too. Oh well. This topic comes up once per year, and usually ends with me saying Michael Jordan’s image as a hard worker was manufactured by Nike, and Geek telling me I am full of it.
Before Geek chimes in, you're not full of it (IMHO). Talent in athletics absolutely plays a role as do our physical gifts or limitations relative to the sport. I trained with guys in HS who out-trained me, but I was faster than them in competition and I out-trained guys in college who smoked me in meets. I'm pretty sure that if I had devoted my 10K hours in my youth focused on basketball instead of swimming, I'd still be a pretty crummy basketball player (e.g., vertical leap rivaling a Chihuahua, hand-eye coordination on par with a someone wearing a blindfold, court speed just above that of a Galapagos turtle on land, etc.). Though I tried many sports as a child, I was a "good" swimmer almost from the start (minus that 5 year old year when I quit because the water was too cold).
Ande, I have read Outliers too. It is great. 10,000 hours of practice, man, that is a lot! But I will dispute the findings as applied to swimming or really athletics in general. Ande, I would be surprised if you swam significantly more than I did during our youth. I think we are merely seperated by our talent. I swam year round with great coaches from age 8 to age 22. Several of my peers from age group went D1, scored at Nats, finaled at trials, whatever. I did the same workouts, worked with the same coaches but they were just more talented too. Oh well. This topic comes up once per year, and usually ends with me saying Michael Jordan’s image as a hard worker was manufactured by Nike, and Geek telling me I am full of it.
Before Geek chimes in, you're not full of it (IMHO). Talent in athletics absolutely plays a role as do our physical gifts or limitations relative to the sport. I trained with guys in HS who out-trained me, but I was faster than them in competition and I out-trained guys in college who smoked me in meets. I'm pretty sure that if I had devoted my 10K hours in my youth focused on basketball instead of swimming, I'd still be a pretty crummy basketball player (e.g., vertical leap rivaling a Chihuahua, hand-eye coordination on par with a someone wearing a blindfold, court speed just above that of a Galapagos turtle on land, etc.). Though I tried many sports as a child, I was a "good" swimmer almost from the start (minus that 5 year old year when I quit because the water was too cold).
