Tired of people telling my son he has a “terrible” birthday

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there are bad birthdays - there was a whole thread on this a few months ago. But there is also puberty. Which gives a big advantage to the kids who are going through it in swim and those that have yet to - which has nothing to do with age. Some of our team's best swimmers are the girls who are starting and have gone through puberty. We have a ten year old with an April birthday. Her times are faster than most of the 12s. She has a good birthday and also is going through puberty. Now there is a chance in a few years the others will all catch up and surpass. That is the nature of any sport.

Who is to say your kid in a few a years won't be in a better position that others.

This is true, and it renders times and rankings especially in the 11-12 age group nearly meaningless. But coaches know this. Anyway, once kids hit 13-14 and especially high school age, the birthday no longer matters. In fact, winter birthdays might be better although fall would generally be the best (except for maybe redshirted summer kids).

11-12 age group is a sh*t show and meaningless. You have puberty and huge disparities. I will take the kid making decent times at 11 that is nowhere near puberty over the kid making JO cuts that has already been through it. The second kid is done, they are not going to get much better. Meanwhile their peers will be improving and growing over the next few years. It is good to have bad years and not to be the best. Focus on technique and it evens out.

Way too general. I know plenty of smaller swimmers who have done incredibly well during their teen years, even at 5'2" (girl) or 5'6" (boy).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there are bad birthdays - there was a whole thread on this a few months ago. But there is also puberty. Which gives a big advantage to the kids who are going through it in swim and those that have yet to - which has nothing to do with age. Some of our team's best swimmers are the girls who are starting and have gone through puberty. We have a ten year old with an April birthday. Her times are faster than most of the 12s. She has a good birthday and also is going through puberty. Now there is a chance in a few years the others will all catch up and surpass. That is the nature of any sport.

Who is to say your kid in a few a years won't be in a better position that others.

This is true, and it renders times and rankings especially in the 11-12 age group nearly meaningless. But coaches know this. Anyway, once kids hit 13-14 and especially high school age, the birthday no longer matters. In fact, winter birthdays might be better although fall would generally be the best (except for maybe redshirted summer kids).

11-12 age group is a sh*t show and meaningless. You have puberty and huge disparities. I will take the kid making decent times at 11 that is nowhere near puberty over the kid making JO cuts that has already been through it. The second kid is done, they are not going to get much better. Meanwhile their peers will be improving and growing over the next few years. It is good to have bad years and not to be the best. Focus on technique and it evens out.

Way too general. I know plenty of smaller swimmers who have done incredibly well during their teen years, even at 5'2" (girl) or 5'6" (boy).

Been in the swim world for over a decade now. And outside of breast short kids can sometime "keep up" with the big ones but they are not beating them. The other three strokes offer a huge advantage to those with big feet and hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there are bad birthdays - there was a whole thread on this a few months ago. But there is also puberty. Which gives a big advantage to the kids who are going through it in swim and those that have yet to - which has nothing to do with age. Some of our team's best swimmers are the girls who are starting and have gone through puberty. We have a ten year old with an April birthday. Her times are faster than most of the 12s. She has a good birthday and also is going through puberty. Now there is a chance in a few years the others will all catch up and surpass. That is the nature of any sport.

Who is to say your kid in a few a years won't be in a better position that others.

This is true, and it renders times and rankings especially in the 11-12 age group nearly meaningless. But coaches know this. Anyway, once kids hit 13-14 and especially high school age, the birthday no longer matters. In fact, winter birthdays might be better although fall would generally be the best (except for maybe redshirted summer kids).

11-12 age group is a sh*t show and meaningless. You have puberty and huge disparities. I will take the kid making decent times at 11 that is nowhere near puberty over the kid making JO cuts that has already been through it. The second kid is done, they are not going to get much better. Meanwhile their peers will be improving and growing over the next few years. It is good to have bad years and not to be the best. Focus on technique and it evens out.

Way too general. I know plenty of smaller swimmers who have done incredibly well during their teen years, even at 5'2" (girl) or 5'6" (boy).

Been in the swim world for over a decade now. And outside of breast short kids can sometime "keep up" with the big ones but they are not beating them. The other three strokes offer a huge advantage to those with big feet and hands.

I agree with the immediate PP, but it’s not just height it’s also the timing of muscle development. Those who hit puberty later also tend to end up taller. So come 13-14 (and for boys sometimes even later) they smoke many of the early developers. Tell your kid Bdays are entirely irrelevant in HS and College swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Yes, there are bad birthdays - there was a whole thread on this a few months ago. But there is also puberty. Which gives a big advantage to the kids who are going through it in swim and those that have yet to - which has nothing to do with age. Some of our team's best swimmers are the girls who are starting and have gone through puberty. We have a ten year old with an April birthday. Her times are faster than most of the 12s. She has a good birthday and also is going through puberty. Now there is a chance in a few years the others will all catch up and surpass. That is the nature of any sport.

Who is to say your kid in a few a years won't be in a better position that others.

This is true, and it renders times and rankings especially in the 11-12 age group nearly meaningless. But coaches know this. Anyway, once kids hit 13-14 and especially high school age, the birthday no longer matters. In fact, winter birthdays might be better although fall would generally be the best (except for maybe redshirted summer kids).

11-12 age group is a sh*t show and meaningless. You have puberty and huge disparities. I will take the kid making decent times at 11 that is nowhere near puberty over the kid making JO cuts that has already been through it. The second kid is done, they are not going to get much better. Meanwhile their peers will be improving and growing over the next few years. It is good to have bad years and not to be the best. Focus on technique and it evens out.

Way too general. I know plenty of smaller swimmers who have done incredibly well during their teen years, even at 5'2" (girl) or 5'6" (boy).

Been in the swim world for over a decade now. And outside of breast short kids can sometime "keep up" with the big ones but they are not beating them. The other three strokes offer a huge advantage to those with big feet and hands.

I agree with the immediate PP, but it’s not just height it’s also the timing of muscle development. Those who hit puberty later also tend to end up taller. So come 13-14 (and for boys sometimes even later) they smoke many of the early developers. Tell your kid Bdays are entirely irrelevant in HS and College swimming.

This is very true. Early puperty will make the kid taller for a while but their end height will be shorter. So that 5'2" 11 year old girl seems like a giant but she already hit puberty and is not going to grow but an inch more. She will be just taller than everyone for several years. Then that short kid that has been just slowly growing and also slowly growing muscle strength and coordination will hit puberty later - hit their shoot up and be five inches taller and have better muscle timing/development.

So high school and college is when it all shakes out. Birthdays might impact short term at the younger ages, but long term, not going to matter. Meanwhile, make sure your kid is just having fun and won't quit.