Swim Moms - lemme borrow your hindsight

[blondeviolin]

My son is a 10yo swimmer. He swims with a USA club and has been swimming for 5 years. He's a decent little swimmer with a fair amount of BB Times. He's not extraordinarily studious so practice must be fun and engaging. He almost never DQs so he's paying attention to the important bits. He is having fun but also wants to be serious at the meets.

 

He has had meets where he drops time across the board and he meets where he has added a second or two. And then we've had meets like today where he's dropped a second or two in a few events and then added significant time (7 seconds!) in other events - mostly breast or fly. Is this typical?

 

Also, in the last 18 mos he's gone from scrawny to husky. What sort of changes should I expect as he heads into these preteen years? I make him swim everything, even the stuff he's not great at or he finds hard, because I know that his body will change as he ages and the stuff that's hard now maybe be easy as that happens.

 

And, finally, are there forums like this for swimming? I was not a swimmer so I rely heavily on his coaches. I can remind him of the obvious tips...and I'm trying not to be tiger mom. It's important to me that he has fun, he learns a skill, and he works for a goal. But it would be nice if he was "good" while he did that stuff.

[all4ramseys@msn.com]

First, I would suggest that you refrain from coaching him directly. Just tell him, every time he swims, how much you enjoy watching him and that you appreciate his effort. Times at this age really don't matter. He should only be competing against himself and striving to improve. Many things impact times that have nothing to do with your child: water temperature, lane width, gutter design, ambient temperature, depth of pool, lighting, etc.

 

Kids this age are growing and changing so rapidly that they can be low on energy for no apparent reason. Also, makes sure he is carb loaded before the meet and eats small snacks throughout the day.

 

I'm interested in what you mean by "good". Is he having fun? Is he willing to participate? Is he respectful of his coach and teammates? Those should be the priorities at this age.

 

Swimming is a beast of a sport. If they don't enjoy it, they won't participate long term. I wouldn't force him to swim events he hates. There is lots of time for him to grow into all the strokes.

 

My youngest (16) swims for his high school team and lettered as a freshman. He will be one of the top swimmers as a sophomore. He hasn't always loved the sport or had great times. He has enjoyed the process, however. 

 

You sound like a great swim mom. Just relax - it's a long haul:)

[Alice]

I have a swimmer, he’s 14. He swims with a USA club and a summer rec team. He’s a good swimmer (some AAA times, some AA). I’m not an expert but these are my basic principles...

 

*I only know his times vaguely. Some of them I know because he is working on a particular goal and he talks about it. Incessantly. :)  Otherwise, I try not to focus on the time other than on how he feels about it. Before a meet I say “Have fun.†After a meet I say “Did you have fun?†And “How many books did you read?†(He likes swimming because the meets are so long and he can read while he waits.) 

 

*I never comment on anything related to his swimming technique. Ever. I trust his coaches and figure they and he know way more than me about swimming. 

 

*Everything related to swimming has to be his goals and driven by him. I don’t make him swim anything. I leave that to the coaches ; they will encourage swimmers to swim out of their comfort zone. I also let him decide how much he wants to swim. He “should†swim more than he does. He’s been pushed by his coaches to swim more, but his response was “I swim enough.†(Not to them, to me when I asked him what he thought. He was more polite to them.) That’s good enough for me. We have talked about how if he has certain goals (swimming in college, certain times or meets to qualify for) than he would need to change what he is doing. Those aren’t his goals. At the same time, he has a goal to break a record at our summer pool and so signed up for extra dryland training this year to get stronger. He’s loving that and I think more so because it was totally his choice. 

 

Every swimmer is different but I will add that my son was an average swimmer until about 11. That was the year that he started to go through puberty and something just clicked for him. He was not the kid in the 9-10 age group that seemed like a star. Then he had a growth spurt which I think made a big difference (one of those things you can’t control though) and also it seemed like it all just started to come together. 

 

[blondeviolin]

So... when I say it would be nice for him to be "good," it would be whatever standard that is FOR HIM. When I say I make him swim everything, I mean I sign him up for whatever events are available to him at swim meets. If there's more options than he can swim, I let him pick. But often it's just a certain set of events and that's what he's swimming. Having no swim experience, I can't help him with what sort of expectations are realistic for him to have.

 

He has been on team for a while and still loves it. When they break for a week or whatever, he gets antsy to get back in the pool. The extent of "coaching" is we remind, "kick" or "remember your coach said to keep your head tucked" or whatever.

[kewb]

My son has graduated and has given up swim in college.  This is my daughter's last year and we will see if she continues in college. Here is what I learned:

I offer no suggestions.  I only tell them how much I love watching them swim.  Not entirely true, their first swim coach died unexpectedly of a Stroke when they were 10 and 8.  And to this day, before they head to the pool area I will tell them what RJ used to say "If you have to breathe, don't."  It's a thing we have.  He was such a great coach.  My kids only had him for a short time but he left an impact.  However, my point was, don't coach.  Only tell them you love to watch them swim.  Applaud when they shave time, commiserate when they don't.

 

There are fast pools and there are slow pools. They mess with your times.  Meters and Yards also change your times.

 

His body is changing and strokes he was once awesome at will become horrific experiences.  My son went from the kid with the awesome breast stroke to "OMG, is he drowning"  Okay, not really that bad but it was eye opening.  My son was like a puppy and had no idea how to use his limbs anymore.

 

 

[Kim in Appalachia]

I'm a bit confused why you are signing him up for events.  I've never done that.  The coach always does.  You want to make sure that he's not swimming too many events in a meet.  I think more than 4 is too much, but I know some coaches do more.  If they are all short events it's not too bad, but still, I wouldn't want him to over swim.

 

My current youngest swimmer is now 18.  I have stroke judged for years, and I have occasionally offered some tips, but it is the coaches job to coach.

 

At 10, just let him enjoy it.  My kids loved swim meet weekends.  It was a lot of fun and good times with friends.  Just let him have that.

 

Enjoy swimming!

[blondeviolin]

I wish the coaches signed him up for events! Then I wouldn't have to figure out which events would be best for him to be working with each time. It was that way before we moved but not here. The coaches approve what he swims, but we do the picking on team unify. The next meet is the area championship and he has qualifying times for every event. He wants to swim them all, but that gives him five per day. *shrug*

 

The pool where he practices is the only Olympic-sized pool and where a great majority of his meets are. He may swim two away meets each year.

 

I appreciate the foresight to know what to look forward to. I can't see him giving up swim any time soon.

[EmseB]

When I swam competitively, the coach signed us up for every event we could reasonably do in our age group.  We swam "everything".  It doesn't sound outlandish to me.

 

Otherwise, I would just leave the coaching to the coaches, and be the cheering section.

[J-rap]

At that age, we just let them swim, get to know the various strokes, feel at home in the water, and other than that, pretty much leave it up to the coach.  Their bodies do go through a lot of changes.  At some point, their body type often starts working with a particular stroke more naturally than others.  Between their own interest and coach's advice, they figure out which strokes to really focus on.

 

Sometimes when my ds was working on muscle building (outside of swimming, but under the advice of the coach), it actually slowed down his times for awhile.  There's a balance with all of that.

 

When they're still getting the hang of different strokes, you'll often see bigger changes.  Once the strokes become more refined (as they get older), the changes will be generally be smaller.

 

I think it's one of the most exhausting sports there is, but my ds especially loved it.  They sure eat a lot though!