When the whole family is good at swimming

[Anonymous]

My kids are both very good swimmers but terrible at all ball sports we’ve put them in

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It depends on the event in swimming too. Sprinters, especially sprint freestyle swimmers, can be pure athletes and don't require nearly as must practice or history in the sport. My spouse didn't even swim for a club until before senior year of high school and then ended up a conference champion in college.

+1
I mentioned my kids like this and then a different poster told me to “shut up”. It’s true some kids can literally just walk into a sport after casually participating and do really well. My husband was a great college swimmer so when the kids were little he made sure they knew the technique for all 4 strokes. They only started to compete at 12 years old and not highly competitive at that. The older one was 14 and the little one was 15 before they really decided to start “trying” at the meets. Older one is entering senior year and my guess is she will swim in college like her dad. I don’t think she’s come close to displaying her potential yet, but she is definitely getting some attention. And trust me when I say, we did not spend tons of money or time on swimming. We live in the south where swim team is like a cult - one that totally repulsed me - so we were definitely not part of that bandwagon.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old daughter is dominating the 8 and unders this summer and is at the top for her team and in the league in most strokes. It’s 100% because of swimming 4-5 days a week this past year. She will swim 4 days a week this next year before summer swim and I expect the same will happen next summer. It’s all about those who can pay and take them to club swimming. She does have heart and focus for it, but very little physical prowess. Club swimmers will almost always win. We have an exceptional swimmer on our summer team that is physically gifted in all sports and wins first in all his races and doesn’t do year round swim. But he is the exception for sure.

Puberty will change her life.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Genetics give you a head start, but swimming, like distance running, is a sport that responds well to good coaching, quality equipment and facilities, and sustained effort from the athlete. It’s also a sport where improvement is measured in tenths of seconds, against the athlete’s own times. Other sports are subject to teammates and the competition - variables outside of the athlete’s control.

I disagree with the improvement being just against an athlete's own times. For example, especially around puberty, different swimmers will significantly improve quickly. There have been a few threads about how tough that is on late bloomers who continue to improve incrementally but who are suddenly getting smoked.

This!
I was the best basketball player until puberty. I was the fastest and most skilled. After puberty I was definitely bottom half. I’m 5’3” so soccer was more my thing after that - ended up playing D1.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Gross

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Lol, yeah - having a mom that’s 6’4 is a pretty good indication that a kid will be freakishly tall, especially since it’s likely that the dad is as tall or taller. That’s not really what anyone is talking about and shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not the same as the girl with normal height parents who hits 5’4 in 5th grade and stops growing. And not the same as the 6’4 dad and 5’3 mom who for some reason always expect the sons to be 6’4 like dad but almost never happens.

Also, it would be awful to be a 6’4 woman.

[Anonymous]

I knew a family with three kids - all amazing athletes in a variety of sports. One only did summer swim as she was a gymnast but she could still beat most of the club summers. She went on to win the NCAA women’s gymnastics all-around title. The brother was a D1 swimmer for a large southern college and I’m not fully sure what the other sister did, but I think she was also a collegiate swimmer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Lol, yeah - having a mom that’s 6’4 is a pretty good indication that a kid will be freakishly tall, especially since it’s likely that the dad is as tall or taller. That’s not really what anyone is talking about and shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not the same as the girl with normal height parents who hits 5’4 in 5th grade and stops growing. And not the same as the 6’4 dad and 5’3 mom who for some reason always expect the sons to be 6’4 like dad but almost never happens.

Also, it would be awful to be a 6’4 woman.

Please shut up. YOU are awful.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Lol, yeah - having a mom that’s 6’4 is a pretty good indication that a kid will be freakishly tall, especially since it’s likely that the dad is as tall or taller. That’s not really what anyone is talking about and shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not the same as the girl with normal height parents who hits 5’4 in 5th grade and stops growing. And not the same as the 6’4 dad and 5’3 mom who for some reason always expect the sons to be 6’4 like dad but almost never happens.

Also, it would be awful to be a 6’4 woman.

Please shut up. YOU are awful.

She’s a pig let her be

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Lol, yeah - having a mom that’s 6’4 is a pretty good indication that a kid will be freakishly tall, especially since it’s likely that the dad is as tall or taller. That’s not really what anyone is talking about and shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not the same as the girl with normal height parents who hits 5’4 in 5th grade and stops growing. And not the same as the 6’4 dad and 5’3 mom who for some reason always expect the sons to be 6’4 like dad but almost never happens.

Also, it would be awful to be a 6’4 woman.

Please shut up. YOU are awful.

Why? What part of this is awful? Whoever posted about the 6’4 girl was responding to a post about kids who reach their peak height at an earlier age, and this was not applicable.

It is difficult to be way outside the norm physically. 6’4 is a full foot taller than the average height for a woman. Would you agree that the opposite would be difficult - to be a 4’9 man (a foot shorter than average)? There are NBA stars who have publicly discussed their discomfort with their excessive height, and that is for men (where being very tall is “desirable”) and elite athletes. Still there are some who would prefer being less outside of the average. Sorry if the use of the word “awful” was offensive to you - perhaps “difficult” is more accurate and kinder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Lol, yeah - having a mom that’s 6’4 is a pretty good indication that a kid will be freakishly tall, especially since it’s likely that the dad is as tall or taller. That’s not really what anyone is talking about and shouldn’t have been a surprise. Not the same as the girl with normal height parents who hits 5’4 in 5th grade and stops growing. And not the same as the 6’4 dad and 5’3 mom who for some reason always expect the sons to be 6’4 like dad but almost never happens.

Also, it would be awful to be a 6’4 woman.

Please shut up. YOU are awful.

She’s a pig let her be

🐷 go oink oink

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Money and willingness to pay $$ for year round teams and private lessons. Not genetics.

Definitely not the case. We’ve got a number of year round swimmers on our summer team and they are not particularly good (some don’t even make A meets). I’m sure they are better than they would be without swimming year round, but they still are not good.

It’s mostly about general athleticism, height and body type, particularly at younger ages. As you get older, you have to also train hard.

We've got a boy at our pool who used to swim year round, but dropped it in favor of lacrosse in middle school. He's still challenging pool records five years later because he's just a freak athlete.

We’ve got 10 year old girl who only swims during the summer. She beats every other 9-10 girl on our team (including 2 club swimmers) in every stroke and usually places first at A meets.

We’ve got one of those at our pool. But it’s just that she grew early and is at least a head taller than everyone else.

That’s what people mean by genetics.

Uh, no - if this girl grew early and is a head taller, she probably just had early puberty and is done growing. All the others will catch up and then pass her. Early puberty for most athletes is advantageous for a few years then the effect is reversed, as they hit their peak at an earlier age and typically end up shorter when others grow, continue to improve, and pass them in both size and speed.

Or the kid who was a head taller in K will end up being 5'11. Either is possible

There was a girl in my daughter’s pre-K class who was a whole head taller. She just kept growing. She hit puberty early and was 5’6”ish in 3rd or 4th grade. One could have said this about her, but she wasn’t done growing. She’s 6’4”, like her mom now. She’s 17 so, I hope for her sake she’s done growing. She plays volleyball, always has. Her dad was a volleyball player, mom was a runway model.

Gross

Your comment says more about you. The girl is beautiful, smart, athletic, and confident. Your insecurity is oozing though. In a few years when you see her in the international stage, please reflect on your gut reaction of this child.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 7 year old daughter is dominating the 8 and unders this summer and is at the top for her team and in the league in most strokes. It’s 100% because of swimming 4-5 days a week this past year. She will swim 4 days a week this next year before summer swim and I expect the same will happen next summer. It’s all about those who can pay and take them to club swimming. She does have heart and focus for it, but very little physical prowess. Club swimmers will almost always win. We have an exceptional swimmer on our summer team that is physically gifted in all sports and wins first in all his races and doesn’t do year round swim. But he is the exception for sure.

Be careful with burnout and overuse injuries with putting a 7 year old in swim 4-5x per week. I’m a former D1 swimmer and my kids and a bunch of teammates’ kids are now starting swim. Almost all of us are limiting our kids to twice per week as long as possible. We all agree it’s better for them to do multiple sports early and develop different muscle groups and overall body awareness/athleticism. A 7 year old who swims a lot will get passed by kids who started out not swimming much and ramp up later at age 9-10. That can be hard on the kid.

+1
My college roommate, also a college swimmer, feels pretty strongly about this with their 2 kids.

+2 not a college swimmer, but former competitive swimmer and 7 generally seems really really young for that level. I can't imagine keeping the joy of swimming very long doing winter swim 4 days a week starting that young since winter swim is generally, pretty much a slog.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:DD and DS have both been swimming year round since they were 6. Same club. Same coaches. Same amount of practices. Same amount of time and money spent. But DS will never be as fast as DD simply because DD inherited all the things you need to be a really fast swimmer: height, hyper mobility, an inverted triangle body shape, a gigantic arm span, gigantic feet and a super competitive personality. If parents are competitive swimmers, they likely have some or all of these attributes and would likely pass them on to their kids. They also understand the time, money, dedication (and volunteer hours!) year round swim requires and are prepared to make such sacrifices. So it’s a bit of both. Nature and nurture. However, all the nurture in the world won’t make your kid an elite swimmer if they’re not built like one.

Tomoru Honda would like a word. He had the record for the 200 fly and won a silver medal in the 200 fly last Olympics. He’s 5’8”.

I’m sure he already realizes he’s the outlier. The average height of male gold medalists swimming that year was just over 6’3’’ - with Honda pulling that average way down.