Can an 11yr old start swim team?

[Anonymous]

Out of nowhere my 11yr old is very insistent he want to do swim team. He is begging me and I don’t even know if it’s an option for him. He obviously knows how to swim and is strong swimmer but knows nothing about technique of strokes or anything like that. What should I tell him?

[Anonymous]

That he can do it?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:That he can do it?

Where do I even start?

[Anonymous]

A lot of groups have a “pre competitive” class or group where they specifically work on stroke development. It sounds like that is what he would need.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:That he can do it?

Where do I even start?

Do you belong to a pool? If not, you'd start by joining a pool that has a swim team.

Or, look into if any of the public pools have teams you could join.

However, at this point you are half way through the summer swim season so it might currently be more of an exercise of planning for next year or some sort of instructional or stroke and turn type class/clinic over the winter.

[Anonymous]

Some summer swim teams’ only criteria is the ability to make back and forth from one end of the pool to the other, so yes, these would welcome him with open arms.

[Anonymous]

My kid learned freestyle with 5 private lessons at 10 years old. Yea your son can do it

[Anonymous]

Yes!!! I started at 11 and went on to receive D2 and smaller D1 scholarships! Have fun!

[Anonymous]

Absolutely he can, and we have many kids that do so regularly.

Summer swim teams are primarily for fun. There's competition, but it's not usually that hardcore.

He DOES need to be able to actually swim though, obviously. Can he get up and down a lap pool without grabbing onto the railings/lane lines?

Also, because we've had this come up at my pool recently. Make sure he's willing to wear jammers/the swim team suits. (snug fitting shorts).

Doing swim team wearing baggy trunks is usually a terrible idea, if it's allowed at all. He'll need to be comfortable with the idea of wearing a competition style suit.

[Anonymous]

You can do it

[Anonymous]

Yes he can. not too late. The summer swim team my kids were on only required swimming a full length of the pool to join. Also a lot of kids dropped out (especially boys) as they got a bit older. So they were happy for older kids to join, especially boys. Seemed similar for most of the summer teams. If kids didn’t have certain strokes down (butterfly etc) they’d just swim in the freestyle and backstroke events etc- or whatever ones they could do. Most summer swim programs have a wide variety of skill levels on the team.

If he wants to progress faster or needs to learn proper strokes can always do lessons on the side.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of nowhere my 11yr old is very insistent he want to do swim team. He is begging me and I don’t even know if it’s an option for him. He obviously knows how to swim and is strong swimmer but knows nothing about technique of strokes or anything like that. What should I tell him?

Are you in Washington DC area?

Yes there are ways to do stroke clinics or lessons to learn more or American Red Cross lessons or life guarding or summer swim here.

You could focus on getting on to the high school team. Many HSs here, as you know, do not have pools. So it’s a dance to get to what pool they rented and the times can be not great.

If they want to really learn and do conditioning there’s a range of good swim team programs. Again, there is a lack of indoor pools here so logistics and team capacity are what they are.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Out of nowhere my 11yr old is very insistent he want to do swim team. He is begging me and I don’t even know if it’s an option for him. He obviously knows how to swim and is strong swimmer but knows nothing about technique of strokes or anything like that. What should I tell him?

Of course! Many outstanding competitive swimmers didn't start swimming (or take swimming seriously) until high school. But even more important, it's a great sport that's fun and something you can do throughout your entire lifetime. Summer swim is ideal for a kid like this, but many clubs have groups targeted to kids who are looking for something more informal and less competitive that might be a good place to start (or at least in my area they do).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A lot of groups have a “pre competitive” class or group where they specifically work on stroke development. It sounds like that is what he would need.

+1. I have two swimmers, one started at age 10, the other at age 7. I would ask around for stroke school, pre-comp, and swim team recommendations for the fall and keep an eye on signup dates. The summer goal should be to learn stroke mechanics, dives and turns to be able to try out for a swim team in the fall. Summer swim team is ideal because he will be able to see if he likes being on a team and he will learn the basics, but I would also supplement with private lessons to focus on technique, starts and turns. If he was 7/8, I would say that lessons are not necessary, but a motivated 11 year old who can absorb one on one instruction well, and then can practice it daily during summer swim practice will make huge improvements in a couple of months.

Ideally, the goal is swim team in the fall rather than stroke school or pre-comp - at age 11 they will benefit from the rigor and frequency of swim team practice. If he isn’t ready, pre-comp or stroke school is the backup. Age 11 is not too late, but it does get harder as the kids get older, both from a swim perspective but also from a social perspective, which is why I would opt to get him into a team rather than pre-comp. Older swimmers who are less experienced might be swimming with 9/10 year olds. My kids never did pre-comp or stroke school. My 10 year old started with one team and he moved to a better team that was closer to us the next year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:A lot of groups have a “pre competitive” class or group where they specifically work on stroke development. It sounds like that is what he would need.

+1. I have two swimmers, one started at age 10, the other at age 7. I would ask around for stroke school, pre-comp, and swim team recommendations for the fall and keep an eye on signup dates. The summer goal should be to learn stroke mechanics, dives and turns to be able to try out for a swim team in the fall. Summer swim team is ideal because he will be able to see if he likes being on a team and he will learn the basics, but I would also supplement with private lessons to focus on technique, starts and turns. If he was 7/8, I would say that lessons are not necessary, but a motivated 11 year old who can absorb one on one instruction well, and then can practice it daily during summer swim practice will make huge improvements in a couple of months.

Ideally, the goal is swim team in the fall rather than stroke school or pre-comp - at age 11 they will benefit from the rigor and frequency of swim team practice. If he isn’t ready, pre-comp or stroke school is the backup. Age 11 is not too late, but it does get harder as the kids get older, both from a swim perspective but also from a social perspective, which is why I would opt to get him into a team rather than pre-comp. Older swimmers who are less experienced might be swimming with 9/10 year olds. My kids never did pre-comp or stroke school. My 10 year old started with one team and he moved to a better team that was closer to us the next year.

PP. I realized that you might be talking about just a summer rec team, not a club team. In that case, yes have him join! But I would still do a few lessons on the side since a strong swimmer like your son will learn five times as fast from private instruction than from swim practice.