9 Year Old Marvel What? But How?

Way too "Ionic" for me. I'm outta here. :bolt:

You bet I'm wound up with her education at 3rd grade. My parents never were and I suffered terribly for it in later years because they were never involved. Fact is, nobody on this message board gives a you know what about my daughter except her family. You get one shot at life and if you screw it up you will be working at the local Target in the check out line. Maybe that's why american kids score lower than many other countries in education because parents don't stick their nose in enough. Maybe that's why when I go to the mall all I ever see are young teenage kids doing nothing but acting stupid for their soon to be pregnant girlfriends. Am I too concerned with my daughters 3rd grade education? You bet and it ain't going to change anytime soon. All 3 of my kids are currently at sports practices, not the mall. I don't have this concern for them. Being caring and involved is good; being wound up just isn't. Sometimes benign neglect can be a parenting skill. I hope you're a masters swimmer just for your blood pressure! Ionic about sums it up, Karen!

I have to chime in here. I can recall a great many world beater 9-12yos who disappear later on. Effective swimming relies on so many moving parts. And in children, there are so many aspects that can be at different developmental stages that trying to determine a single reason for performance differences is nearly impossible prior to puberty or even prior to full physical and mental maturity. Just some of the moving parts of the maturity model: 1) Physical - being stronger, taller, etc. 2) Neurological - superior coordination, ability to recruit more muscle fibers during movement 3) Cognitive - better learning skills, grasp of concepts 4) Proprioceptive - better spatial awareness, understanding what a full arm extension feels like, etc 5) Perceptual - better 'feel' for the water, etc. As for being the dreaded helicpoter parent. I'm terrrified of becoming _that_ parent with my 11yo daughter so much so that I think I overcompensate when she asks me swimming related questions (and I am a swim coach, with the team she swims with). But at the end of the day, it comes down to this. Do they enjoy swimming? Because if they do and continue to enjoy it and continue to pursue it, that enjoyment may grow to a passionate love of the sport. And that is the goal. Everything that is destined to happen will come about as a result of that.

I've noticed my swimming buddies with swimming kids are much cooler about the whole age group thing than the parents who don't swim. This is probably true for all sports. RAC - you need to swim with USMS, might reduce your compulsion to hang out at malls and USAS practices since you'll be too tired to move at night. Want proof - check out Fort's, Chris' or pwbrundage's blog. It took me seven years to drop 3 seconds in my 200 free as a Masters. Maybe I should have taken my Dad to my Master's practices to hover over me and berate me, seems to work for RAC.

You got a lot of good (and some interresting) info here. But I wanted to add something small. I started swimming at 5 and was always behing "the phenomenom". I don't remember how old I was when I passed her up, but I did. I think I was around 10 yrs old or so. Anyway, at that point we began developing in different areas. I could NEVER beat her in any short sprint. But if it was over 200 yrds, she was dead last. Point - Yes, she'll be able to catch up, but when your daughter does catch up, it may be at short distance compared to this girl's sprinting power. Or visa-versa. My suggestion would be to keep her progressing on the path that's good for HER. She's still young where she may one day become great at the one stroke she basically sunk at before. get her to practice but don't watch I don't understand why you wouldn't watch? I don't want to hijack the thread so you can pm me. (I'm interrested, not arguing, Please help me to understand)

That was a very informing post thanks. To your questions.. She used to train 4 days a week on the team for 1 1/2 hours per session. she was swimming roughly 1,200 to 1,300 yards total. This new plan is she's doing 2 days week "swim club" 1,200 yards roughly which focuses on endurance and some technique and 1 day on sunday private lessons for 1 hour where the teacher is focusing strictly on some of the "competitve" techniques and stroke techniques to help her cut time. My belief s this private instructor is more qualified than her previous swim team coach. I wanted her to do at least 2 days a week where she would be with other swimmers and kids her own age and one day focusing on the competitive part of swimming. I guess I should give the kid a break though, I mean, she hasn't even puberty yet and she's an amazing swimmer! Puberty can make all the difference lol I do love her and I do support her but I just want her to take advantage of this golden opportunity while she is young to. You mentioned "skinny" swimmers? You mentioned "skinny" swimmers. Is being thin really a drawback? I know most flyers are heavy and built but I think there are quite a few fast "thin" swimmers out there to isn't there?

Interesting. Private lessons aren't a bad thing. If she was talented in music, a tutor would be vital. I think the same concept applies to sports. Find a different team with a coach more to your liking, and trust him. Up the yardage. Light weights might be helpful, but be cautious, very cautious. I know that you are pretty proud of the 33 second drop. Is your daughter?

I think all the advice here has been right on and I appreciate it. To answer a few of the above questions yes I was very athletic in my younger days (mainly basketball) so I am very competitive. I do admit like someone here said I do tend to push and that I need to back off before I do damage to her that I cannot fix. 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. I will however say that I never allowed my daughter to be overworked though. Never did she practice more than 3 to 4 days. I like the point made by drowndrt. My daughter is totally a sprinter, short distances she's fast but slowly she's been getting more endurance and lasting longer in a race. great thing about being tall and thin is the lack of "load" you have to carry. 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?

Interesting. Private lessons aren't a bad thing. If she was talented in music, a tutor would be vital. I think the same concept applies to sports. Find a different team with a coach more to your liking, and trust him. Up the yardage. Light weights might be helpful, but be cautious, very cautious. I know that you are pretty proud of the 33 second drop. Is your daughter? Funny thing even though my daughter enjoys swimming she has been accused by her previous coach (in a fun way) of being too casual with her emotions. She rarely shows emotion, very quiet and is all business on the starting block. She never likes to talk about swimming much and when the coach hands out awards (and she has over 40 ribbons, and an 8 and under championship trophy, certificates ect ect) she takes them with a grain of salt. I mean, she is proud of them but it seems like she expects them or something. I told her that the last you want to do is get so cocky that you expect these kinds of results everytime because I won't happen. She does have a very competitive spirit and hates to lose. I remember during a relay once we had a sucky relay team and were on the verge of being last and my daughter was the last one off the blocks. The one girl ahead of her had an entire half or more pool length lead and my daughter swam as fast as I ever seen her swim a freestyle and during the last length back passed this girl so we didn't finish last. You know, out of all the awards and 1st place ribbons I think that moment was the one moment in time where I was most proud of her. It showed real guts and what she was made of and what potential she had. Finishing second to last isn't great but how you finish second to last was important.

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: This is one reason why I removed her from the team and enrolled her to something a bit more fun. I think she likes the kids better at this new place and afterwards they all get to use the gigantic slide after practice which my daughter likes. I'm really trying hard to being more fun with entire thing and at the same time letting her know that if she wants to be a better swimmer she has to have some sort of dedication to it. Fun is great but fun will not as I said make you better and faster. If that was the case every kid in america would be a great swimmer. As always there is a balance and figuring out what works for YOUR kid takes trial and error.