Swimmer change over time: good/great/mediocre

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is considered elite at 10? Just curious how you define that.

By the end of 10, my kid was mostly AAAA across the board, with a few AAA in weakest events. The time standards for boys make a much bigger jump than girls at 11-12 because they factor in the boys who experience early puberty and get very strong and developed. When he turned 11 his times translated mostly to A times, now as an older 11 he is at the AA-AAA level. We’ll see what happens at 12. Zero signs of puberty yet so it can be tough going against the boys who are physiologically more mature.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a question for the seasoned parents: how does a kid who has B times at the bottom of the age group typically progress? Do they make A times by the time they’re at the top? Just curious as I have a 9 year old who just did their first winter meet as a 9-10 and got a couple of B (close to BB) times. Late spring bday, so won’t age up in winter swim until the 2025-26 season. Swimming twice a week right now because of other sports they enjoy more, which I do not see changing anytime soon.

I would not expect a huge amount of time drops if your swimmer is not swimming 3 times a week at that age. Maybe a little if their technique was bad and is improving drastically.

That said, it’s not all about time drops and B times etc. As long as your kid is enjoying swimming, keep at it at the level that works for you.

I think B times are great for a first winter swim meet, especially if your swimmer is only going twice a week. It's foreseeable that he or she will move up to A times before aging up. You could add in a third day of practice next year. Keep it fun and they will want to stick with it.

+1, my swimmer is one of those that didn’t start club until age 9. By the end of the 9-10 age group they had almost all A times, AA times in their best strokes, and even a AAA in their best event. The key was swimming was fun, they developed great friendships with their teammates, loved the meets, and just caught the bug.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Here’s a question for the seasoned parents: how does a kid who has B times at the bottom of the age group typically progress? Do they make A times by the time they’re at the top? Just curious as I have a 9 year old who just did their first winter meet as a 9-10 and got a couple of B (close to BB) times. Late spring bday, so won’t age up in winter swim until the 2025-26 season. Swimming twice a week right now because of other sports they enjoy more, which I do not see changing anytime soon.

I would not expect a huge amount of time drops if your swimmer is not swimming 3 times a week at that age. Maybe a little if their technique was bad and is improving drastically.

That said, it’s not all about time drops and B times etc. As long as your kid is enjoying swimming, keep at it at the level that works for you.

I think B times are great for a first winter swim meet, especially if your swimmer is only going twice a week. It's foreseeable that he or she will move up to A times before aging up. You could add in a third day of practice next year. Keep it fun and they will want to stick with it.

+1, my swimmer is one of those that didn’t start club until age 9. By the end of the 9-10 age group they had almost all A times, AA times in their best strokes, and even a AAA in their best event. The key was swimming was fun, they developed great friendships with their teammates, loved the meets, and just caught the bug.

Same here. I actually have two. One started club swim at 10 and the other at 7. The one that started at 10 took about 2 years to catch up to the other kids who had been swimming since 7 or 8, but he was hitting AAA times by the time he was 12. He's on the younger side the age group this year, but it seems like he's above those his age. The one that started at 7 (now 10) has always been a top swimmer, which I attribute in part to starting the same time as most of the others. I think my older one would have followed that path if he had started at 7 or 8.

[Anonymous]

This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

DP - or they get injured or burn out, both common in kids who start swimming intensely at very ages.

Also: kids who start at a "later" age or start swimming more competitively at later ages can absolutely improve, depending on how hard they're willing to work (and, to some extent, what kind of physical changes happen with puberty). That's the benefit of a sport like swimming vs. soccer, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

No, that’s not what the report said. As has been said many times in this thread, if you look at today’s elite swimmers not a single one was a B level 10 year old. There are certainly elite 10 year olds that leave the sport, or aren’t elite any more by the time they are in HS, for any number of reasons, but the elite in the sport in HS and beyond were also elite when they were young.

[Anonymous]

As a retired college swimmer, I refused to let my DDs swim more than twice a week until 11-12. So yea, they improved a lot leading up to HS. Most of my old teammates feel the same way about too much too soon. It’s the long game that matters if you are expecting to make it to the college level.

[Anonymous]

My swimmer had maybe 1 "A" time at 10, and hit her first futures cut at 14. Has 3 now at 15. No idea what is next, but she loves it, works hard, and hopes to continue in college.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

No, that’s not what the report said. As has been said many times in this thread, if you look at today’s elite swimmers not a single one was a B level 10 year old. There are certainly elite 10 year olds that leave the sport, or aren’t elite any more by the time they are in HS, for any number of reasons, but the elite in the sport in HS and beyond were also elite when they were young.

This is not true for all. I went and looked at my club’s top
8’swimmers (both male and female) and 3 of the 8 males were B level swimmers and 4of the 8 females.

Also of note was that a few top swimmers from back then are no longer current with swims times.

Do it for your own club.

[Anonymous]

My DS started swim for the first time at age 12. Slower than B across the board when he started but by the end of 12, hitting A and BB times, swimming 3x week. Now at 13, he’s back to slower than B or B in most strokes but still dropping time. I could see him hitting A times again by 14 because he practices 5x week and still has some growing to do. I don’t think he’ll ever hit anything better than that but that is perfectly fine with him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

No, that’s not what the report said. As has been said many times in this thread, if you look at today’s elite swimmers not a single one was a B level 10 year old. There are certainly elite 10 year olds that leave the sport, or aren’t elite any more by the time they are in HS, for any number of reasons, but the elite in the sport in HS and beyond were also elite when they were young.

This is not true for all. I went and looked at my club’s top
8’swimmers (both male and female) and 3 of the 8 males were B level swimmers and 4of the 8 females.

Also of note was that a few top swimmers from back then are no longer current with swims times.

Do it for your own club.

None of our club’s current top 8 15-18 year old girls were B level swimmers when they were young.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This thread is ridiculous. I swam in college for a top 15 D1 team and had no where NEAR A times at age 10! Plenty of kids blossom late in swimming. Stop getting so hung up on young swimmers' times and read USA swimming's report on the 10 and Under Wonder.

What years did you go to college? Today’s landscape is a lot different. We’ve all seen the 10 and Under Wonder report and it does not mean that the norm in this day and age for swimmers to be B level until HS and all of a sudden take off.

You clearly missed the point of the ten and under wonder report- it doesn’t matter that times are different now. What stays the same is the fast kids under ten don’t stay fast bc if so many extraneous variables

No, that’s not what the report said. As has been said many times in this thread, if you look at today’s elite swimmers not a single one was a B level 10 year old. There are certainly elite 10 year olds that leave the sport, or aren’t elite any more by the time they are in HS, for any number of reasons, but the elite in the sport in HS and beyond were also elite when they were young.

This is not true for all. I went and looked at my club’s top
8’swimmers (both male and female) and 3 of the 8 males were B level swimmers and 4of the 8 females.

Also of note was that a few top swimmers from back then are no longer current with swims times.

Do it for your own club.

None of our club’s current top 8 15-18 year old girls were B level swimmers when they were young.

Same for the top 8 15-18 year old boys.

[Anonymous]

Half of ours were BB or lower at 10.