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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]Most clubs don't teach stroke.  It's really frustrating.  [/quote]

Unfortunately, this is true if most clubs and the thing most parents don’t understand. Whether club swimming or summer swim team, most coaches do not correct strokes.  You really need to do some private lessons and get one on one time. All the kids do during practice is swim back and forth in their lane. They are learning endurance.

Only the top swimmers will get more personal attention. [/quote]

Or you need to have a kid who is the type who really pays attention to what the coaches are saying and demonstrating, really thinks about what they are doing during practice, AND has good body awareness. I'm the former swimmer PP. My parents never paid for a single private lesson. I remember my first club swim experience at age 9 was a total zoo. The coaches were nice, but there were a ton of kids in the lane. My parents weren't watching practice or doing research on the best club in the area. I just had a strong internal desire to improve and a good natural feel for the water.

I see kids like this at my 9 year old's practice. They have the natural feel and are clearly invested in doing things the right way because they really want to drop time. My own child is like this with a different sport, where the coaches comment on how hard they work. They will probably drop swim at some point but I figure there are benefits to it for however long they want to participate, regardless of whether they are on a path to be really good.

I think parents need to be realistic about their kids' potential. Not every kid can become an elite young swimmer if only they are at the right club. Most swimmers can improve if they work at it. But there needs to be a certain level of natural ability combined with the desire to consistently apply what has been taught, even when no one is reminding you about it. I don't think the coaching matters nearly as much at the younger ages as it does when kids get into the more intense training groups. Outcomes are largely dependent on factors specific to the kid. Those factors can change as kids get older, for better or worse. But kids who are going to be really fast at ages 8-12 will probably be fast no matter who coaches them, and kids who aren't as fast are not going to magically become fast because of coaching. But if they keep plugging away they may get faster later due to puberty etc.[/quote]

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