Hello, first time poster and fairly new to swimming stuff. Some background, my daughter is 9 and loves swimming has always loved swimming. Last year she begged for us to let her join a swimming team so we put her on the YMCA rec team. When she started she was decent at back and free but horrible with the other strokes. By the end of the first season (3 months) she had eally improved and become one of the strongest swimmers in her age group because she was one of the few kids working hard and not just being social.
At the championship meet she got whooped by some girls who were on a competitve team that swam in the rec championship. She was devestaded and asked her coach how could she get as good as the other girls and her coach told her she couldnt that those girls swam twice a day. So who gets conned into wakng up and taking her to swim in the mornings, of course dad!
Well its a full year later and my daughter has sinced moved to a USA team because her rec coach said she needed to move up. My daughter is a driven nut when it comes to this swimming stuff and one of my many questions is it normal for a 9 year old to be addicted to this stuff!! Dont get me wrong I love it, I'm really proud but I do find myself becoming more involved because we as a family are putting in a lot of effort for her to continue swimming competively(team is 45 minutes away compared to 10 minutes with the Y) and we have two other kids.
Also my daughter is a shrimp most of the 7 and 8 year olds are as big if not bigger than my 9 year old. Well my daughter started going to the USA meets which do the age groups in two year incriments so 9 and 10 and my daughter was a middle of the pack swimmer which doesn't bother anyone but my daughter (she hates losing!!) At the first meet she swam a 200 free and won her heat, the second of three heats, and beat a really strong 50 yard swimmer. After the race the coach told her she must be a long distance swimmer, man when kids have seeds planted.
Well from that experience she has set a goal of swimming the mile at her February meet. Whats that meant for us, staying after practice and letting her swim swim and swim some more. Shes been competing in races like the 500 free the 1000 free and the 400 IM. I guess my question is this bad for her all this swimming? Also all the races she is competing in are open events with mostly 13 and up ages, so if she looked like a shrimp before she now is a certified little person.
Her coach says there is no such thing as to much swimming if its initiated by the child. I want to support her but I can see myself and wife becoming more involved just because of the commitment we are putting in and we don't want to be like a few of the parents who make there kids swim til the cry. We'd never do that but am worried about becoming involved because she constantly asks us to critique her. I try to listen to what the coaches tell her in practice so I can reienforce it but I feel like an idiot because the other dad who stays after with his kid actually makes her work out until she cries! Sometimes I want to trade with him and let him have mine and I'll take his out for ice cream. I never knew swimming was so intense. Ok give me some of that swimming knowledge I don't want people to think I'm Mr. Crazy dad but I want to help my daughter as long as she keeps soliciting my help. Should I say anything to Mr. Crazy dad or should I leave it only, he keeps compairing our kids and it makes me uncomfortable and I feel so bad for his daughter. And lastley is my kid swimming to much she swims a 400 IM before practice then 2400-3000 during practice and a 1000 free after practice M-T and Sat morning!
Worlds longest post sorry needed some where to vent!! Thanks ATC
Its a laid back enviornment which I like as some of the other teams we visted are all bussiness and are all about having complete control over your child. Honestly they felt like russian camps for training a big no fun zone, which my daughter would probablly do well with but not how I think things should be done for nine year olds, JMO.
So, what you are saying is you don't trust your team and you feel the need to hawk over your kid and coaches to make sure they are abiding by your perceived set of swim team rules.
I "dump" my kids every day of the week, drive up, unlock the doors and return 2-3 hours later. In fact, we have 600+ parents who do the exact same thing as me, none Russian even. You know what, they love it. What kid wants their parent on deck looking at them the whole time? What coach wants a parent overlooking their practice the whole time?
If you trust your coaches and your team there is no need to be a helicopter parent. Let them swim on their own.
It takes a crazy parent to bring me out of self-imposed exile. And, tomorrow is Saturday, the best day of the week.
I am not agreeing with Geek,it sounds like you are a good parent.That said I think I'd recommend letting her swim the extra swim only once a week.She wants to do more,but distance athletes always want to do more.They are not the best judge of what is good for them.There are countless stories of distance athletes who really improved once they got a coach who understood rest as well as work.I know this doesn't exactly apply to 9 yr olds,but what does apply to 9 year olds is to always leave them wanting a little more so the REALLY look forward to next time.Also,even with perfect technique repetitive stress injuries are an issue even at that age.If she does get tendonitis or impingement syndrome in the next couple of years it will really take the fun out of swimming.
I am not agreeing with Geek,it sounds like you are a good parent.
I am sorry I gave the impression the OP was a bad parent. We just have polar opposite views on this topic.
I practice with an age group team (#2 ranked team in USA Swimming SCY) so I see some of the 9 year olds. I can tell you that our team's philosophy is that, at that age, they should be learning proper technique and doing around 2000 yards per hour practice. Technique is so important at their age. If they don't have that foundation now, they could risk injury and won't learn to get faster later on. Is she working on technique a lot? Is she taking good breaks? Is she getting proper nutrition for muscle recovery? To me it seems a bit excessive and something I don't think our coaches would push. If a swimmer wanted to focus on an event, they would work on it during the regular practice, not add on after it was over or before either.
As for racing older kids, I did that. I was a 200 breaststroker growing up and not all meets held that event for my age group so I would just do it with the older kids. I think that is fine as long as your daughter is okay with it.
Thank you for the replies.
My daughter is a nut, we (my wife and I) both take her to practice and she does the same work out. She loves swimming with the older kids I know it is a sense of pride with her.
She is the type of kid I have to tell her to get out of the pool that we have to go home. She does the extra swimming on her own she asked to do it because she wanted to practice races she would be doing at the meets and she never gets a chance during practice because practice is always drills usually broken up into 50s and 100s. They do alot of technique during the practices because like one poster said at this age its all about technique and thats what the coaches have been preaching.
When we first started at this team she was getting passed during the *** stroke drills. Of course I give her the speech that shes one of the younger ones in the group and over time she will get better and be at the front of the pack, whats she do asks her coach how she can get better and he says its a stroke that gets better with swimming it over and over and practicing the proper technique. When she first started with the stroke she put out a lot of energy but was just bobbing up and down. It was so cute because when she would start to get passed she would go into hyper speed up and down but not go anywhere. Anyways side tracked, so she started getting into the water as soon as we showed up and would practice *** stroke and emphisizing gliding because this is what her coach told her to do. She did that for about two weeks and really changed her *** stroke and now shes pretty darn good at it. Thats how we originally started doing extra and now its transitioned into this, the 400 IM and the 1000 Free. Listen when its your own kid you ask yourself is this normal trust me. There are no other kids on any of the skill groups getting in the pool as much as this kid.
Its this way with everything with her shes nine and shes reading little women, what nine year old chooses on thier own to read that, certianly not me give me a Mad Magazine, lol. I'm not like this and my wifes not this way and our other two kids are definatley not like this (the mail man does not seem to have these traits either, I asked, lol). The coaches seem to love it they always point her out to the older groups and tell them how lazy they are compared to her.
She seems to be addicted to swimming can you be addicted to swimming? I've sat down and talked to the coaches and like I said they think that the amount swam is fine as long as its being initiated by the child which they know is as they laugh at me. Its not like at the end shes winded or tired I'm telling you if I let her she would keep swimming. She gets a lot of self gratification from the swimming. She gets done with a drill thats suppose to be a sprint and comes up smiling a big grin on her face and says whats next. The other kids are trying to go to the bathroom or asking if they are done yet and mine is drooling and asking whats next, again shes a nut. I guess what I'm asking is does anyoe know kids like this at thier swim teams and was anyone like this when they were a kid? If you do or were got any advice on how to deal with a swimming addict?
As far as staying and watching practices shes 9 and I dont care what she does I'm not just dumping my kid and none of the other 9 year old parents do this either. we just sit in the bleachers and bs while the kids practice and the occasional parent will take thier child a pair of googles if thier childs break but I'm not a big fan of just dumping my 9 year old off somewhere. In a few years that will be just fine but not at nine. The coach stands right in front of us and thats when I listen to what hes telling the kids (so I'm informed and not such a swimming novice) shoot he turns around and bs's with us occasionally as well. Its a laid back enviornment which I like as some of the other teams we visted are all bussiness and are all about having complete control over your child. Honestly they felt like russian camps for training a big no fun zone, which my daughter would probablly do well with but not how I think things should be done for nine year olds, JMO.
Oh well worlds second longest post, shift worker so get strange hours of free time lol. Thanks again for the replies!
Standing on deck watching your kid's practices - crazy
Having your kid swim an extra uncoached 1400 per practice - crazy
Standing around with another crazy father comparing kids - crazy
I've seen this behavior time and again and 99% of the time the kid is out of swimming in 3-4 years.
Awesome video can't wait to show my daughter!! Reading the comments on her stroke was interesting made me think of how everyone said Hank Aaron's swing was wrong, he did pretty well for himself too.
atcmac,
Here's a good way to think about swimming and your child's swimming career -- marathons upon marathons upon marathons of training over their years of age group swimming interrupted by (comparatively) miniscule sprints of performance at meets. I come from a super-engaged swimming family (e.g., my dad and I still swim masters, all my 3 kids swim age group) so I've seen a lot in the 35+ years I've been engaged in this sport. I'd just caution you to try to hold your kid back on the extra yardage and especially on the doubles. There will be plenty of time for that. Make no mistake about it -- while swim racing is generally a sprinty type athletic endeavor, a swimming career is a major endurance event. Help her pace herself.
We'd never do that but am worried about becoming involved because she constantly asks us to critique her. I try to listen to what the coaches tell her in practice so I can reienforce it but I feel like an idiot because the other dad who stays after with his kid actually makes her work out until she cries! Sometimes I want to trade with him and let him have mine and I'll take his out for ice cream.
ATC
Just keep on doing what you are doing and be her dad. Let her coach be her coach. Tell your daughter that you support her no matter what - and no matter how well she swims (or doesn't swim) on any particular day. I used to tell my daughter if she had specific questions about her technique to ask her coach to watch her during practice. We had great coaches and they always did. Enjoy watching your daughter and enjoy being her dad! :bliss:
