Anonymous wrote:I was a very fast swimmer as a little kid. Set a state record for 9 year old breaststroke.

I attribute it to 1) height. I grew really early and was consistently the tallest girl in my grade through middle school. 2) learned to swim early (age 3) because my mother loved swimming and took me swimming all the time as a toddler. 3) I loved swimming, and wanted to do it all the time. 4) starts and turns. A coach taught me a breaststroke pull out around age 6, and I just loved the feel of it. I would practice it for fun a lot. The feel of the water rushing past you with a good pullout is still a feeling I really enjoy.

For what it’s worth I did not continue to be an elite swimmer as I got older, especially as my peers caught up on height. I swam in college, but I was a good but not great division 3 swimmer in college.

This sounds similar to my story in that I was really tall and loved being in the water. I was a pool rat! I didn't start swimming on a team until 8.5 though, I was intimidated by what I saw the swim team doing at their practices! Once I did join the team I was quite good -- but only at my best stroke for the first year or so. Then I started getting good at two other strokes as I swam more. Always had one I hated! Where my story diverges is that I ended up taller than anyone would have predicted and thus maintained my height advantage. So I think early on it was loving being in the water, natural ability, and height. And then later it was all of those things plus working really hard. But I wouldn't have wanted to work that hard unless I loved being in the water. Parents, pay attention to whether your kid truly loves the act of swimming. That's what makes a long term swimmer. Other kids might as well try other sports because they probably won't stick with swimming no matter how good they are at a young age.

8U I think is a bit of a crapshoot

Kids I know who were the fastest 8Us were (1) generally athletic, (2) started swimming young and, in some cases, spent a lot of time in the pool, and (3) were just 'naturals' in terms of form.

Looking at my high school swimmers and their friends, there are a couple kids who were 8U superstars and continue to rock it, a number of kids who were 8U super stars but focused on other things and now are mediocre, and a number of kids who were unremarkable as 8Us but that changed at puberty and they now rock it (or got really good for a few years when they grew early, and now are pretty mediocre).

One of my kids was the later (mediocre, then really fast, then plateaued). The other was a natural at breast stroke and blew other kids away as a 6 year old pretty. He was also really focused, so learned things like starts pretty easily. He's matured into one of the fastest kids on his high school team -- but his 8U magic breaststroke talent is long gone (it's now his worst stroke) and I think most of his later success is due to competitive drive and dedication.

Anonymous wrote:Some of these faster kids have amazing starts, while others are bellyflopping or diving too deep. Seems to me like a skill that can be worked on in private lessons without burning a kid out.

+1 My DD is pretty good but she dives so deep off the blocks. Loses a ton of time.

Little arms and little legs.

Body ratios. Sometimes they grow out of their ratios

They probably have more fast twitch fibers.

My kid (now 9) is a pretty lazy swimmer in terms of practice, but is moderately fast. But when they were 6 (2nd year of summer swim) they went to all-stars for the first time in breast. No idea how they learned to swim breast a) without DQing at that age and b) that fast. Something just clicked I guess.

Their breast time used to legit be faster than free and back.

Anonymous wrote:I was a very fast swimmer as a little kid. Set a state record for 9 year old breaststroke.

I attribute it to 1) height. I grew really early and was consistently the tallest girl in my grade through middle school. 2) learned to swim early (age 3) because my mother loved swimming and took me swimming all the time as a toddler. 3) I loved swimming, and wanted to do it all the time. 4) starts and turns. A coach taught me a breaststroke pull out around age 6, and I just loved the feel of it. I would practice it for fun a lot. The feel of the water rushing past you with a good pullout is still a feeling I really enjoy.

For what it’s worth I did not continue to be an elite swimmer as I got older, especially as my peers caught up on height. I swam in college, but I was a good but not great division 3 swimmer in college.

This was similar to DS except his stroke was butterfly. He was off the charts height wise since about 3. I taught him to swim starting at 2 and we were in the water all the time. He also didn't stick with it because he fell in love with a different sport. Which is probably for the best as my right shoulder is destroyed as butterfly was also my stroke and I did that through high school.

Anonymous wrote:Genetics.

Were you and your husband the fast kids growing up?

+1

My 8yo DS is pretty fast and he gets it from his dad.

Anonymous wrote:I was a very fast swimmer as a little kid. Set a state record for 9 year old breaststroke.

I attribute it to 1) height. I grew really early and was consistently the tallest girl in my grade through middle school. 2) learned to swim early (age 3) because my mother loved swimming and took me swimming all the time as a toddler. 3) I loved swimming, and wanted to do it all the time. 4) starts and turns. A coach taught me a breaststroke pull out around age 6, and I just loved the feel of it. I would practice it for fun a lot. The feel of the water rushing past you with a good pullout is still a feeling I really enjoy.

For what it’s worth I did not continue to be an elite swimmer as I got older, especially as my peers caught up on height. I swam in college, but I was a good but not great division 3 swimmer in college.

this is a very good example... parents, stop expecting too much from your kids, provide adequate support, let them figure out the rest themselves

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best boy and girl (unrelated) on our team are both tall for their age. Both sets of parents swam in college, parents are tall over 6'. They have been swimming year round for a long time already.

My younger son is the tallest in his practice group and also one of the slowest. He’s an okay swimmer, but you are really overstating the importance of height in swimming. With the range of distances and strokes/events, it is really not necessary.

There are very few high level swimmers who are not tall.

Sure, if you’re talking about Olympians like most people seem to go straight to when they want to talk about “high level swimmers,” most are tall. Not all. In the 100 free, yes. But go to any very high level meet or D1 team and you will find a wide variety of heights.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The best boy and girl (unrelated) on our team are both tall for their age. Both sets of parents swam in college, parents are tall over 6'. They have been swimming year round for a long time already.

My younger son is the tallest in his practice group and also one of the slowest. He’s an okay swimmer, but you are really overstating the importance of height in swimming. With the range of distances and strokes/events, it is really not necessary.

There are very few high level swimmers who are not tall.

Anonymous wrote:The best boy and girl (unrelated) on our team are both tall for their age. Both sets of parents swam in college, parents are tall over 6'. They have been swimming year round for a long time already.

My younger son is the tallest in his practice group and also one of the slowest. He’s an okay swimmer, but you are really overstating the importance of height in swimming. With the range of distances and strokes/events, it is really not necessary.

The best boy and girl (unrelated) on our team are both tall for their age. Both sets of parents swam in college, parents are tall over 6'. They have been swimming year round for a long time already.

Genetics.

Were you and your husband the fast kids growing up?