Pros/cons of quitting in HS

[Anonymous]

My kid is only 11 but I'm concerned about this for the future. I could see them devoting the next five years to swimming to the exclusion of other activities and developing other talents, then quitting at sixteen and not being nearly as good at anything else as they were at swimming. This would be very bad for college admissions and I think would leave the unmoored. Right now I'm encouraging them to do other activities but they say they only want to swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid is only 11 but I'm concerned about this for the future. I could see them devoting the next five years to swimming to the exclusion of other activities and developing other talents, then quitting at sixteen and not being nearly as good at anything else as they were at swimming. This would be very bad for college admissions and I think would leave the unmoored. Right now I'm encouraging them to do other activities but they say they only want to swim.

It’s smart to be aware of this when your kid is younger. We went all in on swimming because that’s what DC wanted. She had tons of success and was on a solid trajectory to swim in college. But she’s burned out and isn’t sure she wants to continue. I try not to fixate on how or if quitting will impact college admissions for her, but I do worry that it won’t be easy to demonstrate that level of commitment to any new activity she may pick up. But maybe the experience will become an interesting thing for her to write about in college essays. I know how cynical that sounds.

[Anonymous]

As a parent of a current college swimmer and one in high school who plans to swim in college, here are my thoughts. If your kid seems burned out, complains about going to practice, has other interests s/he wants to pursue, then let them quit. I would encourage them to continue to swim HS and summer if that's something they've been doing, but quit year round/club swimming. Swimming is hard enough when you're all in.

Plus, swimming in college is hard, especially for boys, if you want to attend a certain type of school. While swimming may help with the college process for some kids, it can actually make the process more difficult in many cases. Very strong swimmers may still not be fits for the types of colleges they would like to attend, so then the quesiton is "what is sacrificed?" If your kid is not going to be recruited at the type of college they want to attend and they're asking to quit, let them! Swimming will still be part of their application -- dedication to a sport all through high school if they stick with summer and high school swim. Plus, they can pursue other interests to make them more interesting/desirable to colleges.

[Anonymous]

“Burnout” is being thrown around in this thread like candy yet not a single person has described a situation of actual “burnout”.

Burnout is when you are working harder and harder and harder and seeing no gain or getting slower whereas this thread is just full of “well they didn’t want to do what the next group asked of them so they decided to quit and something else”. This is absolutely NOT burnout but rather just a swimmer having a change in heart/priority.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Burnout” is being thrown around in this thread like candy yet not a single person has described a situation of actual “burnout”.

Burnout is when you are working harder and harder and harder and seeing no gain or getting slower whereas this thread is just full of “well they didn’t want to do what the next group asked of them so they decided to quit and something else”. This is absolutely NOT burnout but rather just a swimmer having a change in heart/priority.

This isn’t the only way to define burnout. Throw swimming burnout into google and it’s defined differently in different swimming publications and resources.

[Anonymous]

I quit club swimming in high school and only did the school team and NVSL. I didn’t want to wake up so early and devote so many hours to the sport. My sibling kept it up through high school, swam one season at a D1 program, which they hated, and basically never swam again. They enjoy other sports/activities, but hate swimming. I still swim masters occasionally and am grateful for the skill. I also don’t regret quitting club in high school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Burnout” is being thrown around in this thread like candy yet not a single person has described a situation of actual “burnout”.

Burnout is when you are working harder and harder and harder and seeing no gain or getting slower whereas this thread is just full of “well they didn’t want to do what the next group asked of them so they decided to quit and something else”. This is absolutely NOT burnout but rather just a swimmer having a change in heart/priority.

Calling it the wrong name (which is highly disputable anyway) doesn't invalidate the very real scenario repeatedly being described here. Further, I don't think it's fair to minimize this to a simple "change of heart or priority". These kids have followed grueling schedules year over year and some hit a point where - even if they're still improving - they just don't want to do it anymore. They may still have swimming goals, but it's hard to keep going... one might say, they've burned out. I think it's why we consistently hear the seasoned parents tell the rest of us to have perspective, play a long game, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Burnout” is being thrown around in this thread like candy yet not a single person has described a situation of actual “burnout”.

Burnout is when you are working harder and harder and harder and seeing no gain or getting slower whereas this thread is just full of “well they didn’t want to do what the next group asked of them so they decided to quit and something else”. This is absolutely NOT burnout but rather just a swimmer having a change in heart/priority.

Calling it the wrong name (which is highly disputable anyway) doesn't invalidate the very real scenario repeatedly being described here. Further, I don't think it's fair to minimize this to a simple "change of heart or priority". These kids have followed grueling schedules year over year and some hit a point where - even if they're still improving - they just don't want to do it anymore. They may still have swimming goals, but it's hard to keep going... one might say, they've burned out. I think it's why we consistently hear the seasoned parents tell the rest of us to have perspective, play a long game, etc.

Thank you for this. This discussion has been so helpful and constructive. And burnout can be an issue even for fast swimmers who haven’t plateaued.