9 Year Old Marvel What? But How?

I think that there is fresh blood in the water... The question has been answered: the 9 yo in question has TALENT. Any other posts are just getting inflammatory. FYI, my daughter fell asleep with her trophies on her bed this past summer. If I can find the picture I will post it. Absolutely hysterical. We DO NOT promote the ideas of ribbons, medals, and trophies as I mentioned- more the fun and effort, and yet she was SO proud of her accomplishments. Cracked me up! :)

As a parent of a two young ones, both of which are very involved in sports, my opinion is just to let her be a nine year old. I think that the life skills that childen learn from sports is far more important than being concerned with performance. Just kick back and enjoy the ride.

I go to her practices because I love to watch my daughter swim. If you want to ignore your kid go ahead but i do not. Want to know what kind of parents act like fools at meets? I've been to my daughters and most of the are moms. Just a fact. Geez, man, relax. I think we all love watching our kids swim but that doesn't mean I like going to 9 hours of practices a week, the meets are bad enough. I had to go to my daughter's practices for three weeks due to her medical condition and I thought I was going to die of boredom, that or wanting to kill the crazy parents who were there watching their kids. I don't think crazy helicopter parenting discriminates between man and woman.

I don't know why any sane human goes to a kid's practice unless they are swimming themselves. That is 2-3 hours of kid-free time. Let the coaches have the drama. I have to rush home and see what Fort's workout was that day and wait for qbrain to ever update his blog.

I can attest to the fact that there are parents out there who attend practices and pay no attention whatsoever. On our summer rec team most of the parents just sit and chat during the practices. My husband and I chat, but we also watch the practices. We live far enough away from the pool that we can't drive back and forth for all 3 kids. And we're usually at the pool for about 3 hours during the summer (wondering if we'll get to our practices ever!) We want to know what the coach is telling the kids (more specifically the verbiage used) so that we can support that too. For example, if the coach says "be a pencil" and we know that was referring to streamline, we can reinforce that with our kids. I have gone over to my own swimmers/kids during a workout. Usually, they have goggle issues and call me over. Sometimes however, for example, when I noticed my daughter stopping at the flags every lap, I went over to her and quietly whispered, "you practice how you race". She started swimming all the way to the wall. It was a gentle reminder. She could have continued to not swim to the wall, and that would have been fine with me (I wasn't going to get mad), but I know she likes to race and she likes to win- that's fun for her, so I try to help her when I can. Please know that summer rec is nutty in that there are SO many kids in the water at once. And while we have the most outstanding coaches, if I see something continue that should be corrected, I will quietly go mention it. The coaches are my friends too so that helps! My husband and I would often commiserate with them about how to help them swim better. It is definitely better to have many knowledgeable eyes watching :agree: When my kids swam USS 2 years ago I did not feel that I could go onto the deck and do that. It would not have been appropriate.

c'mon guys, just answer her questions without pointing fingers, insulting, and or attacking parents care about their kids we want them not to suck we want to help them to achieve their potential it drives us crazy when they don't but there is the issue with overzealous parents each kid has her own trajectory Genetics help, if two champion swimmers/athletes breed and put their kids in a descent swimming program theres a good chance the kid could be really good. The Halls, the Spanns, the smiths. Katie Hoff's mom was a champion basketball player. I think killer instinct comes from the kid. At some point, great genetics and talent need to work hard for very long. If parents feel their kids have great talent, some search the country for the best coaches and move. In swimming this happens with high school age kids 14 & up Many families moved to be coached by Randy Reese in Austin, swimmers moved to be coached by Paul Bergen when I was in high school. This happens in gymnastics. If a girl shows great ability in gymnastics, they need to be in a great program by age 8, 9, or 10 to have a chance to make it to the national level. Some mentioned Michael Phelps, saying he didn't do doubles to 18. I'm pretty sure he did doubles in high school. I don't think he lifted weights till 19. Also when Michael was 12 or 13, his coach Bob Bowman saw his talent and desire. Bob talked with his mom, saying something like Michael could be really great in swimming, but he needs to train incredibly hard every day. She got him to practice. When Michael was 14 he started breaking national records and when he was 15 he made the 2000 Olympic team. Michael had 5 year stretch where he trained every day, sometimes twice a day. Most teams train 6 days a week and take sunday off. it's just one extra day a week but it's 52 more practices each year times 5 years. Phelps did 260 more practices.

Ande - this is all well and good but only a few will ever swim with the likes of a Hall, Hoff, Phelps. All it takes is one crazed parent to cause major issues. We all want what is best for our kids, but have to be mindful our kids are around other kids. Sometimes you suck it up for the good of the team. Today's youth sports have a major issue with bad parents and I see it at every single meet I attend. It's bizarre and disruptive and the kids all know who has a nutty parent and they talk. Paying $190/month does not entitle anyone to put their kid and their opinions over the rest of the team. However, I do realize I have a fairly ideal swimming situation and am partially blind to some issues but certainly not blind to the loco mcsupid parents.

RAC- I haven't called you a single name. And I was merely relating a time when it was appropriate to help my daughter out. I have some swimming knowledge and background, as does my husband, and we are able to successfully impart that knowledge to our kids. I am not an overbearing, helicopter parent. My daughter had an amazing year last year due to her own efforts, perseverance, coachability, and desire to do well. It was not because I was comparing her to other 6 year olds. Ande- I think RAC is male.

5. My daughter is a straight A student and in 4 years never had lower than an A. Was one the best swimmers on her team including the 10, 11 and 12 year olds. If that makes me a bad parent then I want to be the worst one out there. I'm with Jazz ... oh man ... :rolleyes: Your child's achievements or lack thereof don't necessary reflect parenting skills. Great parents can have kids with issues and parents with issues can have great kids. Being a caring parent is fine, but getting unduly wound up in your child's accomplishments or swimming progress or "education" (in 3rd grade) is not. As Geek notes, there are too many locomcstupid parents. The kids and coaches all know and gossip about them. What is it with watching USAS practices?! Coaches hate that. And after age 9 or so, the kids will hate it too. And seriously ... what your kid does at 6 or 9 isn't necessarily predictive of their ability or likelihood of becoming a star swimmer or rocket scientist. Sheesh.

One way to discover the answer to your initial question -- what makes one swimmer the same age better than another -- is to join a masters group and swim with them for a while. I guarantee you that there will be at least one swimmer in the group who will amaze you by being one of the fastest swimmers there, but who looks like s/he couldn't complete a 200 of anything out of the water. Too fat, too thin, too old, too dorky, too whatever, and yet this masters phenom will click off set after set with the fastest group in the pool. Watch and try and figure out how s/he does it, ask him or her how it's done, talk to the coach, and try and incorporate what you learn into your own swimming. Try a local masters meet and note the same things. Go to USMS Nationals and check out the fastest heats. The answer is that there are no universal answers, especially when it comes to age groupers and masters. Ultimately what makes a champion is a convergence of talent, desire, work ethic, and opportunity. A parent has limited control over opportunity. The rest is entirely up to the child.