What makes little kids super fast?

[Anonymous]

Body ratios. Sometimes they grow out of their ratios

[Anonymous]

Little arms and little legs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some of these faster kids have amazing starts, while others are bellyflopping or diving too deep. Seems to me like a skill that can be worked on in private lessons without burning a kid out.

+1 My DD is pretty good but she dives so deep off the blocks. Loses a ton of time.

[Anonymous]

8U I think is a bit of a crapshoot

Kids I know who were the fastest 8Us were (1) generally athletic, (2) started swimming young and, in some cases, spent a lot of time in the pool, and (3) were just 'naturals' in terms of form.

Looking at my high school swimmers and their friends, there are a couple kids who were 8U superstars and continue to rock it, a number of kids who were 8U super stars but focused on other things and now are mediocre, and a number of kids who were unremarkable as 8Us but that changed at puberty and they now rock it (or got really good for a few years when they grew early, and now are pretty mediocre).

One of my kids was the later (mediocre, then really fast, then plateaued). The other was a natural at breast stroke and blew other kids away as a 6 year old pretty. He was also really focused, so learned things like starts pretty easily. He's matured into one of the fastest kids on his high school team -- but his 8U magic breaststroke talent is long gone (it's now his worst stroke) and I think most of his later success is due to competitive drive and dedication.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a very fast swimmer as a little kid. Set a state record for 9 year old breaststroke.

I attribute it to 1) height. I grew really early and was consistently the tallest girl in my grade through middle school. 2) learned to swim early (age 3) because my mother loved swimming and took me swimming all the time as a toddler. 3) I loved swimming, and wanted to do it all the time. 4) starts and turns. A coach taught me a breaststroke pull out around age 6, and I just loved the feel of it. I would practice it for fun a lot. The feel of the water rushing past you with a good pullout is still a feeling I really enjoy.

For what it’s worth I did not continue to be an elite swimmer as I got older, especially as my peers caught up on height. I swam in college, but I was a good but not great division 3 swimmer in college.

This sounds similar to my story in that I was really tall and loved being in the water. I was a pool rat! I didn't start swimming on a team until 8.5 though, I was intimidated by what I saw the swim team doing at their practices! Once I did join the team I was quite good -- but only at my best stroke for the first year or so. Then I started getting good at two other strokes as I swam more. Always had one I hated! Where my story diverges is that I ended up taller than anyone would have predicted and thus maintained my height advantage. So I think early on it was loving being in the water, natural ability, and height. And then later it was all of those things plus working really hard. But I wouldn't have wanted to work that hard unless I loved being in the water. Parents, pay attention to whether your kid truly loves the act of swimming. That's what makes a long term swimmer. Other kids might as well try other sports because they probably won't stick with swimming no matter how good they are at a young age.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I was a very fast swimmer as a little kid. Set a state record for 9 year old breaststroke.

I attribute it to 1) height. I grew really early and was consistently the tallest girl in my grade through middle school. 2) learned to swim early (age 3) because my mother loved swimming and took me swimming all the time as a toddler. 3) I loved swimming, and wanted to do it all the time. 4) starts and turns. A coach taught me a breaststroke pull out around age 6, and I just loved the feel of it. I would practice it for fun a lot. The feel of the water rushing past you with a good pullout is still a feeling I really enjoy.

For what it’s worth I did not continue to be an elite swimmer as I got older, especially as my peers caught up on height. I swam in college, but I was a good but not great division 3 swimmer in college.

Love this. I think the breaststroke pullout is so elegant!

As an aside for OP, some 8 year olds are just stronger and more aggressive than others. I have seen plenty of little kids who just thrash the water with a high tempo and go fast, while others with better technique are slower.

I think this is the reason why USA swimming got rid of 8u motivational times and age group nationals. Although there are so many age group wonders who did became olympians, for the most part, focusing on times for youngsters did more harm than good. 8u is by far the cutest, goofiest, and sweetest phase of swimming, so just let them have fun.