My son aged up to the 11-12 group last year and he wanted to quit swimming. He felt comfortable with his times (BB/A) in the 10&U group and even though we talked about starting over in the next age group since he'll be on the younger/smaller end of the pack, he was still disappointed and felt discouraged after the first meet. We're taking it easy with the practices and meets to give him time readjust and focus on other things for now.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

It’s way tougher for boys (especially if they are late bloomers as far as puberty).

I think this is true. 11-12 can be rough for girls because there are some that have already started to go through puberty and are 5’6 and strong, and then there are some that are just starting puberty and are still under 5’ and tiny. By 13-14, most girls have gone through puberty are most of the way through so you don’t see as many of the stark differences in size and strength.

Girls also don't get that much stronger with puberty. For boys, it's a massive difference. And puberty can actually hurt a lot girls if they end up with big boobs or hips.

Definitely true. We had a great female swimmer on our summer team who was an all-star year after year. Then one summer around 13 or so she showed up with the body of a playboy model. She was never fast again.

Great swimmer or great figure. The second has a lot more long term good effects.

my son is turned 11 jan 17th so sadly he just missed out on the gold short course where he had 5 cuts and the whole middle of the pack thing couldn't be more true. he happened to pull out 5 silver cuts and were just celebrating that for now. hes hoping to get back to the gold in the long course. he has a number of b cuts and close to a few bb that about all I can expect and he's satisfied with that and I'm happy he is.

I really hope 15 isn't worse than 13 for my late blooming boy.

Right now he is 14 and hoping to get some JO cuts. No chance at 13.

So hopefully by 15 he grows a bit and can make some SC Junior cuts.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

It’s way tougher for boys (especially if they are late bloomers as far as puberty).

I think this is true. 11-12 can be rough for girls because there are some that have already started to go through puberty and are 5’6 and strong, and then there are some that are just starting puberty and are still under 5’ and tiny. By 13-14, most girls have gone through puberty are most of the way through so you don’t see as many of the stark differences in size and strength.

Girls also don't get that much stronger with puberty. For boys, it's a massive difference. And puberty can actually hurt a lot girls if they end up with big boobs or hips.

Definitely true. We had a great female swimmer on our summer team who was an all-star year after year. Then one summer around 13 or so she showed up with the body of a playboy model. She was never fast again.

Anonymous wrote:When people use the word "brutal", why would you put your child in a sport where that's the experience? Or is it hyperbole? Is it just that kids are losing more often? Because kids in other sports know how to handle that by 10.

All sports can be "brutal" at times. Travel teams and making the cut are rough. Kids being benched and not playing because other kids are better can be brutal.

Kids who swim know how to lose, most lose all the time as there is only 1 kid who can come in first and there is no team/other players to carry the weak link. With swimming so much of "winning or losing" are trying to make time cuts for big meets and drop time. In younger age groups the time cuts are somewhat easier and most kids who work hard can make some of them. Some kids can make them more easily due to physicals size. As kids, especially boys, get older the time cuts get more difficult/faster. This give an advantage to kids who hit puberty earlier as the times are based on the top % of kids in that age group and, as expected, kids who have hit puberty and put on more muscle will get faster. This makes it "brutal" for the late bloomers because they may still be working hard, but not seeing the same results as the other boys who now have the physique of men.

I do think that there challenging times weed kids out. The ones who really love the sports will keep pushing where the kids who don't may leave the sport when the going gets tough.

Anonymous wrote:When people use the word "brutal", why would you put your child in a sport where that's the experience? Or is it hyperbole? Is it just that kids are losing more often? Because kids in other sports know how to handle that by 10.

Brutal for us meant the kid wanted to quit. Our rule is, you sign up, you show up. So we made him keep going to club swimming for the exercise because we had paid for it. Got him involved in another sport too. We gave him the option to quit at the end of the summer season and he decided not to because he finally started dropping time again (grew about four inches last year!)

I think 13 is a big jump. And a lot of meets have “13 and up” as a single age group.

When people use the word "brutal", why would you put your child in a sport where that's the experience? Or is it hyperbole? Is it just that kids are losing more often? Because kids in other sports know how to handle that by 10.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

It’s way tougher for boys (especially if they are late bloomers as far as puberty).

I think this is true. 11-12 can be rough for girls because there are some that have already started to go through puberty and are 5’6 and strong, and then there are some that are just starting puberty and are still under 5’ and tiny. By 13-14, most girls have gone through puberty are most of the way through so you don’t see as many of the stark differences in size and strength.

Girls also don't get that much stronger with puberty. For boys, it's a massive difference. And puberty can actually hurt a lot girls if they end up with big boobs or hips.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

Um- Humble Brag

nothing humble about that..lol
also 15 year old girls are much different than 15 yr old boys boys.

Many girls have stopped growing at 15 where 15 year old boys are at all different stages of puberty.

Yep - 15 can be brutal for boys (unless you are Michael Phelps) swimming against 19 year olds. But by 15 a girl could very well be peaking and faster than 19 year olds.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

Um- Humble Brag

nothing humble about that..lol
also 15 year old girls are much different than 15 yr old boys boys.

Many girls have stopped growing at 15 where 15 year old boys are at all different stages of puberty.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

Um- Humble Brag

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

It’s way tougher for boys (especially if they are late bloomers as far as puberty).

I think this is true. 11-12 can be rough for girls because there are some that have already started to go through puberty and are 5’6 and strong, and then there are some that are just starting puberty and are still under 5’ and tiny. By 13-14, most girls have gone through puberty are most of the way through so you don’t see as many of the stark differences in size and strength.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think 15 is going to be brutal.

It hasn't been so bad so far for my swimmer- got her first 2 futures cuts at 15, and sure, didn't make finals at Futures, but still pretty happy overall.

It’s way tougher for boys (especially if they are late bloomers as far as puberty).