How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:57:22 GMT

As long as you aren't confusing me with the mother who stands at the shallow end "coaching" her son, while the real coaches coach from the deep end.......and when she's not doing that she's "teaching" her younger son who likes to play in the learner portion of the pool while the team swim. Wouldn't be so bad if she didn't try to demonstrate backstroke pull and then try and wind the poor kids arms around for him! :bitching: :afraid:

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 13:35:55 GMT

Don't get me wrong - I'm not having her in training for the 2020 or 2024 olympics (well not unless in 5 or so years time she wants to.....). We're doing the summer swimming and this year they have introduced a 6 & under age in free and back (but not *** or fly). So when she races - which she loves doing, she swims with the 8 yr olds on *** and fly, but with 5, but mainly 6 year olds on free and back. Anyway its kind of frustrating to watch her try so hard on free but get slowed down by the wonky legs (and to know she's the fastest 6 yr old breaststroker, but doesn't have 6u age group for it!). Still, she came swimming with me this morning and there was some improvement :) I'm still wondering though if they might lower the 6u A qualifying time for the free, being as I think only 1 girl has achieved it - It'll be a lonely race for her at regionals! OK better go and channel my competitive spirit into my own swimming.:bolt:

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

gobears — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:14:22 GMT

OK better go and channel my competitive spirit into my own swimming.:bolt: Good idea. As a coach, it's pretty easy to spot parents who are living/competing vicariously through their kids. And it's not pleasant to be around or to deal with. One of the very best things about swimming for me (when I was a kid) was that it was MY thing. My parents were supportive but didn't ever try to tell me what to do or be overly involved. They let my swimming be mine.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 12:08:26 GMT

I know it'll click eventually, but we'd love her to get the A regional qualifying time in her 25yd free in the next 3 weeks (she already has made the back, br and fly :D ) as far as I know only 1 girl in our region has made it, and DD has been coming 3rd or 4th in the meets, so isn't far off. She's 6.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 09:57:46 GMT

Don't get me wrong - I'm not having her in training for the 2020 or 2024 olympics (well not unless in 5 or so years time she wants to.....). Yeah because in 5 years she will be 11 so pretty much at that point her entire swimming career needs to be mapped out. Mostly having fun with you, I think your heart is in the right place...

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

aquageek — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:29:40 GMT

She's 6. I'm with you, borderline loco. USA Swimming doesn't publish 25 yard time standards. They don't publish 6 year old time standards either. At six, what's the big deal? There's one parent like this on our SL team and no one sits within 5 yards of him, not even his kids.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

sydned — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 08:03:02 GMT

My son is nine now and my primary concern is that he have fun, and be safe. I didn't learn to swim until I was 26, didn't start competing until 28, and I've got to say, sometimes I think I'm a lot happier swimming than some of the people who are burned out by the time they hit 20--and have already been swimming most of their lives. If I can help him develop a lifelong love for the water, that's all that matters to me. (And unfortunately, he doesn't have his mother's competitive spirit!)

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

aquageek — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:44:35 GMT

Like pwb, our family spends most of our time in and around pools. Even at the tender age of 11, I have already seen some of my daughters swim pals kids leave the sport due to crazy parents. And many of those kids were terrific swimmers. If you have a good coach, trust him/her. Gently nudge when needed. But, most importantly, just support. Some meets are disastrous, some are jaw dropping spectacular. Our club sends a lot of kids each year off to swim in college. Without exception the kids who go on to swim at the next level have very relaxed and supportive parents. That doesn't mean we can't harbor private delusions of grandeur, but they should be private. I have seen parents write time standards in Sharpie on their kids legs at meets. I have seen parents escort their kids to the clerk of course berating them the whole time and then stand at the turn end screaming. Those kids look like they'd rather be anywhere else in the world. Relax and let it happen. Something will happen, that's for sure, just maybe not what you want.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

swimmj — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 03:34:04 GMT

A funny thing happened to me on the way to the swim meet ... my oldest has been competing in USAS since she was 7 and is now 14. My next 2 daughters are also engaged in swimming. I'm a hyper-competitive person, descended from and with siblings who are proudly Type A. I admit that I got frustrated with my older two kids when they just seemed to, well, not be too "into" the competitive part of the sport. They'd compete, but they didn't seem driven. It bugged me: why weren't they charting their times like I was at their age? Why weren't they obsessing over every page of SwimmingWorld, checking out times from meets around the country? As the Bye Bye Birdie song goes, "Why can't they be like we were ... perfect in every way?" I needed help. While it wasn't quite an "Intervention," my wife and daughters slowly wore me down, slowly helped me to see that this swimming thing needed to be their thing, not my thing. Over the last ~12 to 24 months, I think I've mellowed a lot with respect to my kids' swimming and channeled my competitiveness back into my own sport. I'm still not fully recovered, I'll always be a recovering near-psycho swim parent, but I'm way more relaxed, am letting my kids let it be their sport and am trying to have them form a strong swimming relationship with their coaches. As I've done this, I've been amazed to watch how, paradoxically, they've grown more competitive about the sport. In business-speak, they've taken the R & A from the RACI framework; occasionally, I'm consulted, but mainly informed. It's a joy to watch. It's a treat to see them change, to see them become stronger and more confident. Of course, I still want to fix that streamline, that wonky left arm on her ... deep breaths, Patrick, yoga full breaths ... Perfect post. I would love to have you be a parent of one of the kids that I coach. It's really important for the kids to have swimming be their own thing and for them to pick the things they want to work on. The coaches put the info in front of them and the kids get to choose what their focus is. Parents need to support their kids goals and make sure they get unconditional love.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

gobears — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:48:28 GMT

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Patrick W. Brundage — Wed, 30 Jun 2010 02:19:23 GMT

Recovering Near-Psycho Swim Parent One of the very best things about swimming for me (when I was a kid) was that it was MY thing. My parents were supportive but didn't ever try to tell me what to do or be overly involved. They let my swimming be mine. A funny thing happened to me on the way to the swim meet ... my oldest has been competing in USAS since she was 7 and is now 14. My next 2 daughters are also engaged in swimming. I'm a hyper-competitive person, descended from and with siblings who are proudly Type A. I admit that I got frustrated with my older two kids when they just seemed to, well, not be too "into" the competitive part of the sport. They'd compete, but they didn't seem driven. It bugged me: why weren't they charting their times like I was at their age? Why weren't they obsessing over every page of SwimmingWorld, checking out times from meets around the country? As the Bye Bye Birdie song goes, "Why can't they be like we were ... perfect in every way?" I needed help. While it wasn't quite an "Intervention," my wife and daughters slowly wore me down, slowly helped me to see that this swimming thing needed to be their thing, not my thing. Over the last ~12 to 24 months, I think I've mellowed a lot with respect to my kids' swimming and channeled my competitiveness back into my own sport. I'm still not fully recovered, I'll always be a recovering near-psycho swim parent, but I'm way more relaxed, am letting my kids let it be their sport and am trying to have them form a strong swimming relationship with their coaches. As I've done this, I've been amazed to watch how, paradoxically, they've grown more competitive about the sport. In business-speak, they've taken the R & A from the RACI framework; occasionally, I'm consulted, but mainly informed. It's a joy to watch. It's a treat to see them change, to see them become stronger and more confident. Of course, I still want to fix that streamline, that wonky left arm on her ... deep breaths, Patrick, yoga full breaths ...

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 14:51:03 GMT

I have a 6 year old daughter and I can't even get her to stick with lessons. I keep thinking "when I was 6 I was already on the team kicking butt". But she is stubborn and I've got to chill and not pressure her as much as it bugs me. We go to the pool and go down the slide, dive for rings (it took years to get her face under water), go to the lake and play in the waves by shore. I figure just loving the water is good enough for now. Funny thing she figured out on her own that she can move a lot faster kicking with straighter legs and the little bugger motors around the pool now kicking in a nice streamline. If I could just get her to listen to me for a bit and add the arms and proper breathing ....

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 13:58:41 GMT

She's 6. As long as she's having fun, does much else matter? Recovering Near-Psycho Swim Parent Yeah I keep telling myself that! I watch those legs slowing her down, and the other kids catching her, and think "if only she'd keep her legs straight like the others she'd be well ahead". Then again to watch her beat the 8 yr olds on breaststroke is pretty damn awesome! I think I really need to get a grip :D PS we are not getting her into year round USA swimming anytime soon

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Allen Stark — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 11:15:49 GMT

As a breaststroker my first thought is,"she can swim BR,who cares about free",but I understand free is important.Buy her some fins.She'll have fun with them and find it is MUCH easier to flutter than whip in fins.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:29:16 GMT

Thanks for the input - I was watching her this morning and I think she looks forward in the water rather than looking down which means her head is higher and her hips drop so she tries to get them on the surface and propel herself forward with the breaststroke kick. Still don't know where she inherited the breaststroke from as I was a fly swimmer in my youth, but a rubbish kicker in general. Anyway she wants to gatecrash the morning lap swim with me tomorrow, so I'll get her kicking with the board, and perhaps doing some catch-ups concentrating on looking at the bottom. Hopefully it'll begin feel "right" to her so she does it at practice. I know it'll click eventually, but we'd love her to get the A regional qualifying time in her 25yd free in the next 3 weeks (she already has made the back, br and fly :D ) as far as I know only 1 girl in our region has made it, and DD has been coming 3rd or 4th in the meets, so isn't far off. Its at times like this I wish I had got her interested in a sport I know nothing about!

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Karl_S — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 10:25:33 GMT

She's 6. As long as she's having fun, does much else matter? I agree. At that age the very best thing is for the kid to develop an unshakable love of swmming. Not only will it form the basis for an active healthy lifestyle, but also if she does take up serious competitive swimming, she will need to draw on that love of swimming to get through years and years of tough practices. There is a community center a little too far from where we live for us to make regular trips there. They have a big 10-lane SCY pool and a "recreation" pool with a water slide, several fountains, a "tile beach", a dolphin statue etc. For several years we have taken our daughter (now 8 y.o.) there on occasional weekends. We all do some laps together and I sneak in a little stroke instruction, then we play in the fountains, go down the slide and in general play in the water. Afterwards we shower up in their spacious locker room and have an indoor picnic in their snack area. My daughter has learned a lot during those "play" days.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Patrick W. Brundage — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:59:37 GMT

She's 6. As long as she's having fun, does much else matter? Recovering Near-Psycho Swim Parent

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Former Member — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 08:06:38 GMT

So my daughter is 6 and is swimming on the summer team. She is a very good little breaststroker and has a powerful kick. However she uses a modified version of this kick on her backstroke and freestyle, but it seems to affect the freestyle far more. Hmmmm.... natural born breaststroker it seems. She's blessed! At this young age, they can't really think about two different things in the same time. So if you want to break this natural breaststroke ankle position/action, the simple solution is to teach her how to flutter kick with a kicking board. May take a little longer since she's a natural breaststroker, but she'll get there you'll see!

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

gobears — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 05:09:01 GMT

I wouldn't worry too much. However, my oldest son does the same thing. He's inherited his natural breaststroke kick from me and can't kick freestyle to save his life (like me). I do think, if he ever got serious about swimming, a year-round coach would probably be quick to put him in fins or zoomers to force him to point his toes. I think that is one of the only ways to make a breaststroker break the feet flexing habit.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

aquageek — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 04:11:43 GMT

At age 6 I wouldn't give it one second's worry. If you are dying to do something, put her in lessons.

RE: How do I teach my 6 yo decent freestyle?

Redbird Alum — Tue, 29 Jun 2010 02:30:48 GMT

I learned a long time ago in "baby-proofing" classes that the whip/frog kick is almost inherent. At very young ages, the flutter kick has to be taught, as it is not intuitive. You need a good teacher who can relate well to small children, and make the experience as much a game as a teaching event. The teacher has to be able to adjust the teaching style and examples to fit the student. Don't try to just have her swim the whole stroke all at once. Start with prone position floating (emphasizing body and head position), then a push off the wall to a float, then add "foot wiggles", then use the wall and a kickboard if necessary. Don't mess with the arms and breathing until the kick is fairly well established. Too many people impatiently want it all right away. I believe you build from the basics, and floats/kicks set the stage for everything else.