Reply to If your kid was an AAAA swimmer at 10 and 12?

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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]I have a swimmer off to a Power 5 program in the fall. They were very good at 10 and 12 (advanced track immediately and always after 8&u), but seriously I don’t actually know if they were AAAA. I can say they were zones and NCSA age group qualifying level from 10 on.

Things that we did that were purposeful and I think mattered:
-3 practices per week until MS
-A second sport (or activity) each season through MS
-Saying yes to as many social and family activities as possible. Sometimes this meant missing practice. If you don’t make a habit of being short on practice, this is not a problem. Missing many birthday parties or sleepovers becomes a problem.
-If kid asked for a night off, the answer was yes. If this became a habit there would have been conversation about sticking with it or moving on. 
-We focused on one season at a time, committed year to year. There was always an off ramp if kid was ready to move on or pick another sport as primary sport in HS.
-We did not talk about College swimming until halfway through high school. *unless kid wanted to 
-Always followed kid’s lead
-Let them find the right academic balance (HS)

We also lucked into things - great coaches close to home with a cohesive group of kids. The vast majority of the cohort stayed at one club their entire career. My kid is a well rounded swimmer. I think not being stuck as a specialist was very helpful for motivation and being fine with ruts or plateaus bc there was always something else to focus on.[/quote]

Follow this template.  Really good advice.  [b]Even if[/b] your kid sets a National age group record, follow this.  [b]Don’t fall into the trap of going all in on swimming at a young age if they are really good.[/b]  If they one day aspire to swim at college level and beyond, no one cares what place they got at JOs at 10.  They’ll be a better swimmer in the long term by having an athletic background in other sports[/quote]

PP of big list adding on...
I love the "even if" because some times there is pressure to do certain things. 
We were not willing to give up summer family vacations. Summer availability gets very limited very quickly. This means that some years we did not participate in a summer travel meet. It does not matter if they go to summer zones at 10, 11, 12... if it doesn't work for your family, don't do them. There were years we said zones/summer camp/family vacation - we can only do two and mom and dad pick vacation. The other thing we lucked into was siblings who were all swimmers as primary sport with similar opportunities. This helped a lot with these decisions.

I also believe the full 4-6w off was really important.[/quote]

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