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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and[b] it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.[/b]

My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one. [/quote]

This is what my DH is arguing.  [/quote]

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs?  How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim?  What's it worth?  Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP.  It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming.  Humans typically can't optimize everything.[/quote]

I totally get that it's our call on the trade-offs.  I'm just trying to figure out whether it's true that he'd be so far behind that he wouldn't be able to catch up within a few months or even make a club team at that point?[/quote]

I've seen kids make club teams at 10/11 coming off instructional stroke & turn plus summer swim.  However, I think what people are trying to say is that the many of the clubs, particularly the more competitive ones (e.g. RMSC) have a limited number of spots and it gets increasingly difficult to make the team at 10 or 11 vs. 8 or 9.  There's a good chance your child will be able to make a club, just not necessarily your preferred club.  As for catching up, if the child has talent and works hard it shouldn't be an issue at that age, but again you might have fewer swim options available to start with at that time.[/quote]

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