9 Year Old Marvel What? But How?

I can understand about the whole "parent" thing and I agree completely. Know that many times I've offered my daughter a chance to "take a break" from swimming and do something else yet she insists that she wants to continue swimming. I do attend most of her meets but just sit on the bleachers as I see too many parents standing near the edge of the pools screaming and yelling at there kids which I refuse to do. I like one poster here have the attitude that if she WANTS MY HELP I will be there to give it to her but by asking for it she must understand that my word is law and not to question me otherwise do not ask for it. I am not worried at all that my daughter still has a love for swimming. I think it's so entrenched into her by now that it would take something extremely dramatic to make her want to quit. Someone here said do other things and that she has done and still continues to do. She is a very good basketball player and has done some of that but does not like it as much as swimming. She also does girlscouts and spends time with friends. My only concern as one fellow mentioned is what to do to get the kid to the next level. Private or public. I disagree with many who say put your kid on a team and stay away and let the coach do his job. I am not ready to trust someone so easily without first seeing how they do their job. With my daughters swim team the coach was very lazy and as I said after 8 months of swimming for him never really improved her time or improved her technique any better than it already was. I worked with my daughter for 2 1/2 months and HELLO she drops 33 total seconds. I don't believe in interfering with the coach but I would be doing my daughter a diservice by allowing her to stay on a team with a coach that cares more about his monthly fee and less about actual training. It's not fair to my daughter and it's not fair to me. I won't mention the fact that her team never really seemed like a "team" considering none of the kids ever associated with each other. Hardly anyone ever made an effort to befriend anyone there which was sad. Swim teams are not always good and as a parent you'd better know what you are placing your kid in because in the long run it could do more harm than good. I could care less if you call yourself a level 5 coach nationally ranked at the highest level. I think people put too much emphesis on titles than they do personality, understanding and commitment. Needless to say she is enjoying this new swim club and SHOULD get better in a technical sense working with a good instructor one on one. I've personally seen 9 year old marvels at meets who get the rolling of the eyes from their parents when the kid doesn't beat their time and I've seen how they are overworked to. I am doing my best to ovoid that situation. Fact is to be an excellent swimmer you need to swim but there has to be a happy medium. My thing is I don't want to wait until she is older before getting her good training as it is much easier to train a young swimmer than it is to train an older one who has developed bad swimming habits. Too many times I have seen parents shove their kids onto swim teams and the kid has hardly spent any quality time in lessons and it shows. I'm sorry but I believe being technically sound is far more important if you want to succeed as a swimmer than it is the social atmosphere or just "being physically mature". If you don't know what you are doing in the water I don't care if you have a body like michael phelps or HOW many friends you make at the pool it won't improve your swimming ability.

I have seen kids at this age be great swimmers and I have seen that burn out too. Don't gauge your kids progress or times with others at this age. Believe you me, buy the time they are 18 and if they are still serious about swimming they will probably be the same. My daughter always lagged behind at that age, but in the teens caught up and surpassed the others. It all depends on athletic ability and maturity at such an early age.

That I tend to agree with you as my daughter is tall and thin for her age but many of the top swimmers who she competes against are shorter but more heavily built. In my daughters case it will take more time for her to gain the strength needed to attain those times. Just to clarify though my daughter is only 4 seconds away average on all four strokes to reach gold time for 10 and unders. The fastest 9 year old I know personally swims a 50 free in 32 seconds and my daughter is at 35. This is where personal training comes in as a private instructor could teach her he "little" things that she may not be doing to get that last 4 seconds. But yeah, time will tell everything because some 9 year olds who are very fast now may have a body type that will not improve in a swimming sense as the get older and bottom out. Hard to say at such an early age.

Why is your 9 year old fast? Because she is fast. Why care beyond that from a parental standpoint? Now it sounds like your actual problem is that you local team has very inexperienced coaches working with the little kids and you would really like her to have working with a stroke technician at this age. Seems like a valid concern and your approach of mixing private lessons and regular practices is a decent compromise. A local team here has a million groups and you are placed in the appropriate group based on skill level. What they have that it doesn't sound like your group has is a elite little kid group that is coached by one of the senior coaches. Maybe you should look for a team that offers such a group. The problem with such a group is, what if your daughter likes being the fastest swimmer in the group she trains with now. If that is part of the fun for her, you are going to take that away when you put her in a group with other top level age group swimmers. The other problem is that such groups aren't fun, they are lots of time, lots of yardage type groups.

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. Don't need your dad for that...that's why you are on the forum... Odd thread topic...seems a bid "braggy parent" to me...but I didn't read it all...I don't think I could.:doh: There's an 8 year old on our team went a :32 low in the 50 LCM...I went :32 lower though and beat him...head to head too...in front of all the parents...:shakeshead:

When I was 9, I was a 30 in the 50 yard free. When I was 12 I was only a 26. When I was 14 I was only a 25. So I started out a phenom but dropped off compared to my peers quickly. If I had to guess why, it was because, when I was young I wanted to beat my sister and trained a little harder than most 9 year olds. When I was in college I coached private lessons for kids who were in similar situation as you. Disatisfied parents looking for alternatives to the club program. I had a couple of rules that I tried to follow: 1) I wouldn't teach anyone under age 11 2) I would supplement not replace club practices. I didn't always live up to my standards (college kids want money more than moral fortitude), but I think they are pretty sound. I am not saying you are misguided, just telling you to be careful. Oh and I agree wtih Geek that 1200 is not enough yardage. Ask the coach to justify why the small amount of yardage. He/She might have a good reason.

I was really hoping comments would not be directed so much as "how I parent" but instead my actual question as to what allows 9 year old kids to swim so fast. One problem I deal with ona constant basis are coaches and "people" who don't know me or my child and "assuming" I must be a bad parent because I am involved in my child swimming. I believe many times that is such a misunderstood myth and that's too bad. I have been working with my daughter since age 3 everything from helping her in her workouts to attending meets and giving advice. As far as coaches go I have learned over the last 6 years it is VERY difficult to find a good coach in this sport depending on where you live. Her last coach was horrible as I said before he NEVER took the time to show the kids proper technique to improve and most of the time sat on his butt doing nothing but making them swim yardage after yardage.. My daughter came back to the team after a 21/2 month layoff from the team and during that time I was training her myself (coach didn't know that though) and she dropped 33 plus seconds total time and won the award for the most time dropped for our entire team. Needless to say she never dropped anywhere NEAR that much time under his training. Problem is I cannot do this all the time and I don't want to. I am her father not her coach but I am there if need be. I disagree about private lessons though.. If one can find a good teacher who is skilled enough to teach her the things that are keeping her from going faster why not do it? This is where swim teams differ from private instruction. On a swim team it is difficult for the coach to spend that much time per child where as in a private setting the child can learn in a much more subtle environment without the pressures of competing. My child loves swimming, basically born in the water and she is improving and with proper training she can do the "little" things that are keeping her getting better. I agree that parents need to stay out of it but it is also the parents responsibility to guide them and look out for their best interest since they are too young to make those decissions themselves. I am not one of those blind parents who easily shell out 190.00 per month to a swim team and expect nothing. We live in a world were people think nothing of taking advantage of us and that includes swim coaches as well. Not all but some. I also disagree with the comment "Put fun first". Though I agree fun is an important aspect of a swim team it is not the only important factor. Anything of value in life takes hard work and dedication. Any successful swimmer would be fibbing if they told you that they never had to deal with pressure, strict commitment or a hard work ethic. And many of them had parents who were heavily involved in their sport. The fact is that any child who only swims just to have fun most likely will never go that far with it That's just the way it is. So before anyone wants to preach to me about me being a bad father keep in mind that if it was not for me my child would not be the success that she is now. I simply want her to improve beyond what she is now and I think I have made all the right decissions so far. Now, getting back to my original question which was what makes a 9 year old swimmer so fast I'd the like comments directed torwards that and not my qualifications as a parent. Thanks. .

Having an excellent experience is not reserved for just the fastest swimmer. It is if you want to succeed in it. Show me a happy loser. Fact is nobody wants to lose, do we lose sometimes? yes we do. But the purpose in being a competitive swimmer is to go faster not slower so I disagree.

It is if you want to succeed in it. Show me a happy loser. Fact is nobody wants to lose, do we lose sometimes? yes we do. But the purpose in being a competitive swimmer is to go faster not slower so I disagree. I'm a happy loser

RAC40, are you a swimmer, too? Did you swim as a kid? You sound like perhaps you were an athlete of some kind.