How many days a week for an eight year old?

[Anonymous]

Any parents concerned about 3x a week for 9 year olds? Debating whether to stick with 2 or move to 3. Or could do twice a week with club and one extra day a week for a less intense stroke clinic.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any parents concerned about 3x a week for 9 year olds? Debating whether to stick with 2 or move to 3. Or could do twice a week with club and one extra day a week for a less intense stroke clinic.

Some do it. Not sure how many of them last in the sport. It’s a lot.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any parents concerned about 3x a week for 9 year olds? Debating whether to stick with 2 or move to 3. Or could do twice a week with club and one extra day a week for a less intense stroke clinic.

This question is very kid dependent. My swimmer did 3x a week for an hour when they were 9 and had no issues with it, and the same was true for a lot
of kids that were in their training group. There are also kids that started out with that many practices a week and by 11-12 decided to move on from the sport. There is no one size fits all answer to the question of how many days a week should a 10 and under be swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Any parents concerned about 3x a week for 9 year olds? Debating whether to stick with 2 or move to 3. Or could do twice a week with club and one extra day a week for a less intense stroke clinic.

Depends on the kid. Are they all in on swimming? 3x/week means you'll have to start saying no to other things, including things on multiple weekend days when there are meets. That's the right choice for some kids and families and not for others. In many cases it depends on whether there is another potential sport involved.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Any parents concerned about 3x a week for 9 year olds? Debating whether to stick with 2 or move to 3. Or could do twice a week with club and one extra day a week for a less intense stroke clinic.

Some do it. Not sure how many of them last in the sport. It’s a lot.

It only works if 1. the swimmer wants to go, 2. the practices are fun and not high yardage, 3. the swimmer is doing other activities during the week, and 4. the swimmer wants to go (worth repeating).

My kid went to 2 practices a week at age 7-8, and then 3 practices a week at age 9-10, and now goes to 5-6 at age 13. When he was 9, he would have gone to 5 practices a week if we had let him. As soon as his other sport ended its season, he wanted to go the pool every day. Even now, at 6 practices a week, he asked to go to doubles on the weekend (was told no by coach and by us). Some kids really thrive on the practice. He wakes up on his own for Saturday am practice and weekend swim meets.

The best advice I got was to have him attend one or two practices a week fewer than he wanted. If he had a test or was tired, we suggested he take a day off.

A 7 year old won’t really know if they are going to enjoy twice a week practice until they try. But a 9 year old should be able to tell you, “yes, I want another day of practice” or “no, 2 days is enough for me”.

Just pay attention to your kid. They will let you know how much practice is appropriate for them. The burnout question is a valid one, but it doesn’t happen overnight. Kids who have to be cajoled into going to practice, who make excuses why they can’t go, who don’t enjoy working in the pool, are showing you that this isn’t making them happy.

[Anonymous]

I’m the PP who asked about 9 yo’s and my kid loves to swim. She would happily do it every day. It doesn’t feel like a grind to her - she loves it. I’m more wondering if it raises the concerns about overuse of the muscles at 9.

She also dances so gets some other exercise. But 9 yo is also the point at which dance is asking for 3 days a week too and we can’t make that kind of commitment to both.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who asked about 9 yo’s and my kid loves to swim. She would happily do it every day. It doesn’t feel like a grind to her - she loves it. I’m more wondering if it raises the concerns about overuse of the muscles at 9.

She also dances so gets some other exercise. But 9 yo is also the point at which dance is asking for 3 days a week too and we can’t make that kind of commitment to both.

My swimmer did 3x a week at 9. They are now 13, completely committed to the sport and (knock on wood) have never been injured. Whenever she has wanted a day off, we let her take a day off. Listen to your kid is the best advice anyone can give you, if she starts resisting going to practice or complaining about shoulder pain that’s when you know she is doing too much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m the PP who asked about 9 yo’s and my kid loves to swim. She would happily do it every day. It doesn’t feel like a grind to her - she loves it. I’m more wondering if it raises the concerns about overuse of the muscles at 9.

She also dances so gets some other exercise. But 9 yo is also the point at which dance is asking for 3 days a week too and we can’t make that kind of commitment to both.

I’m PP from 6:26 pm. It was not too much for my 9 year old, who was also playing club soccer three times a week (two practices and one game). His program was not high volume and we let him skip if he was tired. He has not had a swim injury or a soccer injury and he is 13 now. Proper technique and good coaches are paramount.

[Anonymous]

You need 3 days a week of consistent practice to really improve at any sport.

[Anonymous]

I would think 2 to 3 times a week is fine through 6th grade, I would not increase to more than 5 days a week until high school, too many kids burn out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Why is it too much for their bodies? My kid does swimming and dance — and dance is not yet aerobic. I don’t get this comment I hear a lot that it’s too hard on their bodies. Also do you forget summer swim is 5 times a week plus meets. Why is that ok if 3 days a week winter swim is too much?

Also my kid has ADHD and anxiety so complains about everything. If I didn’t make her do anything she complained about she would literally sit at home all day. So for me what’s important is does she feel good after swimming — the answer is always yes. So we have her swim 3x a week because it makes her feel good.

Because the summer swim season is 6 weeks long, and kids get a long break after it’s over. Even so, my club swimmer got kinda burnt out physically toward the second half of the summer season last summer (even though he was still having fun and enjoying it, times were not improving or getting slower, etc).