Common for a 14 yo girl?

[Anonymous]

First meet of the season and swam six events and no time drops. Been swimming for years and usually makes drops for the first meet. Is this normal at this age? Talking about a AAA cut swimmer.

[Anonymous]

I find it hard to believe that you have a 14 year old with AAA times and don’t know that girls slow down after puberty. Also, when you’re already pretty fast, it’s nearly impossible to keep dropping every time you get in the pool.

[Anonymous]

First meet of the season - always very mixed for our son. He uses it as a benchmark to see where he is. He usually drops in a few events a bit but not much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:First meet of the season and swam six events and no time drops. Been swimming for years and usually makes drops for the first meet. Is this normal at this age? Talking about a AAA cut swimmer.

Totally normal. Take a look at the results of the 13 and over swimmers at the 3 local meets this weekend and you will see lots of adding amongst the top level swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Yep. Age 14 was my last year in swimming.

[Anonymous]

sep and October meets are always demoralizing for most. but also 14y is tough (and beyond) as they end puberty

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yep. Age 14 was my last year in swimming.

Why? Seriously?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I find it hard to believe that you have a 14 year old with AAA times and don’t know that girls slow down after puberty. Also, when you’re already pretty fast, it’s nearly impossible to keep dropping every time you get in the pool.

I am not a swimmer. Every year since 9 there have been drops and improvements. This year there were adds. That has never happened.

[Anonymous]

Once they're past most of puberty, you need to compare to last season's time at the same meet, not their personal best ever.

[Anonymous]

Historically the Sept meet sees time increases.

Kids have only been back in the water a few weeks, maybe 4 to 6 weeks, after a break for 3 to 4 weeks. It takes time to get back in shape and build up endurance. Be patient, time drops typically come in Nov and Dec.

[Anonymous]

Welcome to swimming as a 14 year old girl. I too was a AAA swimmer who had big time drops at 13. Then 14 and 15 suuucked. I could not drop time in my best events despite working so hard. I focused on other events because I was so frustrated. Finally at 16 I got through the plateau and went on to swim 4 years of D1 with my very last race being a best time.

I wouldn’t worry much about not dropping time at the first fall meet. And if it ends up being the first sign of a plateau, just be supportive and follow your child’s lead. I was so cranky about it (and cranky in general at that age) and my parents nagging me asking why I was not dropping time would NOT have been helpful. The fact that they stayed out of it other than driving me to the pool probably helped me not quit.

[Anonymous]

This is really good advice and exactly what our coaches said to do.

Anonymous wrote:Once they're past most of puberty, you need to compare to last season's time at the same meet, not their personal best ever.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Welcome to swimming as a 14 year old girl. I too was a AAA swimmer who had big time drops at 13. Then 14 and 15 suuucked. I could not drop time in my best events despite working so hard. I focused on other events because I was so frustrated. Finally at 16 I got through the plateau and went on to swim 4 years of D1 with my very last race being a best time.

I wouldn’t worry much about not dropping time at the first fall meet. And if it ends up being the first sign of a plateau, just be supportive and follow your child’s lead. I was so cranky about it (and cranky in general at that age) and my parents nagging me asking why I was not dropping time would NOT have been helpful. The fact that they stayed out of it other than driving me to the pool probably helped me not quit.

Thank you for this. I have not said anything, nor plan to. I tend to focus on whether she is having fun and liking swim (and all of her swim friends) than actual times. She is the driving force in her swimming. Now if I can get my husband to do the same...

[Anonymous]

OP you have already been told the correct answers, but even if it wasn’t “normal” to add time at this point in the season do you really everything to go perfectly in life at all times?

Have you never had a bad test, touched a curb slightly on a turn, dropped a glass in the kitchen, etc?

Life is full of mistakes/failures/accidents that happen even when they aren’t supposed to. Hitting a curb one time doesn’t make you the worst driver in the world, so given the fact you came to an anonymous forum asking if it’s okay that your kid added time at a meet and isn’t completely perfect in her entire life means you aren’t as chill about this as you think you are and are totally living through your kid’s successes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Historically the Sept meet sees time increases.

Kids have only been back in the water a few weeks, maybe 4 to 6 weeks, after a break for 3 to 4 weeks. It takes time to get back in shape and build up endurance. Be patient, time drops typically come in Nov and Dec.

+1 This is exactly the reason and the timing for drops. Be patient. Also, "back to school, back to pool" is a double-whammy.

Help your daughter get her diet straight, plenty of sleep, hydrate, etc...