Anonymous
Post 02/09/2024 09:52     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


Who cares about finaling at JOs. The goal should be for your child to be their best and still love the sport as they grow older. Maybe actually do their best times as a senior in high school or beyond. You mock people who have their kids swim 3 times a week as an age grouper, saying their kid is gonna fall behind, but ignore the countless people who tell you that’s not true. You should probably listen to people who try to warn you about the dangers of burnout. But you’ll convince yourself it won’t happen to your kid.
-signed former US National swimmer who swam 3-4 times a week until they were 15. (But what do I know)

You are conflating a whole bunch of things here. Reference to finaling at JOs was made because that was part of the discussion that was being had. Everyone understands that of course the goal is for your kid to love the sport and do their best, but the reality is that for some kids that is intertwined with performance at high level meets. My kid loves the sport but part of their love for it is their love of competition (they would be like this with any sport, it’s who they are), seeing that the hard work yields results. No one was mocking anyone, but it’s disingenuous to suggest that being in the water only 3x a week up to age 13 is not going to set a kid behind. That is just the reality of today’s youth sports environment. At the high level clubs a swimmer only in the water 3x a week isn’t going to advance to higher level training groups, which often have attendance requirements. Would an exception be made for a burgeoning Katie Ledecky, of course, but is the exception not the rule. In today’s world you can’t just rock up at age 15 and state ok now I’m ready to kick it up a notch and practice more than 3 days a week and expect entry into a high performance training group. Not every kid wants to be in that kind of group, and that’s totally fine. One of the great things about this area is that there is a club and training group for pretty much everyone. But practicing 3x a week until HS is not realistic for a kid who wishes to compete at a high level.
Anonymous
Post 02/09/2024 09:01     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


Who cares about finaling at JOs. The goal should be for your child to be their best and still love the sport as they grow older. Maybe actually do their best times as a senior in high school or beyond. You mock people who have their kids swim 3 times a week as an age grouper, saying their kid is gonna fall behind, but ignore the countless people who tell you that’s not true. You should probably listen to people who try to warn you about the dangers of burnout. But you’ll convince yourself it won’t happen to your kid.
-signed former US National swimmer who swam 3-4 times a week until they were 15. (But what do I know)


Thank you for this! My DS' coach really discourages his elite age group swimmers from exceeding 4 days/week of 90 min practices, for all the reasons you say above and others have been pointing out. As a parent, you always worry you're somehow short-changing your child if you don't follow the lead of some of the most competitive clubs and swimmers in the area, but we trust this coach and his guidance. His group is swimming so well this year and I'm excited to see what these kids will do when they're older and practicing even more. Your post reinforced all of that, thank you. This is not a criticism of other families' choices, but is reassuring that ours is okay too.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 23:13     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


Who cares about finaling at JOs. The goal should be for your child to be their best and still love the sport as they grow older. Maybe actually do their best times as a senior in high school or beyond. You mock people who have their kids swim 3 times a week as an age grouper, saying their kid is gonna fall behind, but ignore the countless people who tell you that’s not true. You should probably listen to people who try to warn you about the dangers of burnout. But you’ll convince yourself it won’t happen to your kid.
-signed former US National swimmer who swam 3-4 times a week until they were 15. (But what do I know)
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 22:12     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I grew up swimming in Georgia and recently moved down here from New York and this is the first time I’ve ever seen teams charge by # of days and not just by group. Y’all here are so caught up in solely the number of days your swimmers are doing but in reality that has isn’t what impacts a swimmers trajectory, it’s what they are doing in those practices!

For example: 3 1.5 hour practices at 3000-3500 yards a practice would be way worse for a 9-10 year old that is going to 5 max 1 hour practices but each practice is 1200-1500 yards but y’all here would be like “OMG YOU ARE GOING 5 DAYS A WEEK AT 9?!?!? Mine’s doing 3 so mine’s not gonna get injured and yours is going to burnout” and that’s couldn’t be further from the truth.



The discussion is on age appropriate not days a week or hours. We are all in agreement on yardage and age appropriate training.

There are multiple posters here clutching their pearls at the thought of swimmers under the age of 13 practicing 5 days a week regardless of what the training itself looks like. [/quote

My kid started doubles in 7th grade. He was still 12.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 17:34     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I grew up swimming in Georgia and recently moved down here from New York and this is the first time I’ve ever seen teams charge by # of days and not just by group. Y’all here are so caught up in solely the number of days your swimmers are doing but in reality that has isn’t what impacts a swimmers trajectory, it’s what they are doing in those practices!

For example: 3 1.5 hour practices at 3000-3500 yards a practice would be way worse for a 9-10 year old that is going to 5 max 1 hour practices but each practice is 1200-1500 yards but y’all here would be like “OMG YOU ARE GOING 5 DAYS A WEEK AT 9?!?!? Mine’s doing 3 so mine’s not gonna get injured and yours is going to burnout” and that’s couldn’t be further from the truth.



The discussion is on age appropriate not days a week or hours. We are all in agreement on yardage and age appropriate training.

There are multiple posters here clutching their pearls at the thought of swimmers under the age of 13 practicing 5 days a week regardless of what the training itself looks like.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 15:49     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:I grew up swimming in Georgia and recently moved down here from New York and this is the first time I’ve ever seen teams charge by # of days and not just by group. Y’all here are so caught up in solely the number of days your swimmers are doing but in reality that has isn’t what impacts a swimmers trajectory, it’s what they are doing in those practices!

For example: 3 1.5 hour practices at 3000-3500 yards a practice would be way worse for a 9-10 year old that is going to 5 max 1 hour practices but each practice is 1200-1500 yards but y’all here would be like “OMG YOU ARE GOING 5 DAYS A WEEK AT 9?!?!? Mine’s doing 3 so mine’s not gonna get injured and yours is going to burnout” and that’s couldn’t be further from the truth.



The discussion is on age appropriate not days a week or hours. We are all in agreement on yardage and age appropriate training.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 12:43     Subject: Help me find a new club
I grew up swimming in Georgia and recently moved down here from New York and this is the first time I’ve ever seen teams charge by # of days and not just by group. Y’all here are so caught up in solely the number of days your swimmers are doing but in reality that has isn’t what impacts a swimmers trajectory, it’s what they are doing in those practices!

For example: 3 1.5 hour practices at 3000-3500 yards a practice would be way worse for a 9-10 year old that is going to 5 max 1 hour practices but each practice is 1200-1500 yards but y’all here would be like “OMG YOU ARE GOING 5 DAYS A WEEK AT 9?!?!? Mine’s doing 3 so mine’s not gonna get injured and yours is going to burnout” and that’s couldn’t be further from the truth.

Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 12:28     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


But swimming that much that early is way too soon to be pulling the yardage lever for improvement. You do that with older kids to have them start dropping time. As a swimmer, I just think that an 11 or 12 year old swimming that much is a recipe for disaster. It is very short sighted. If you look at the trajectory of top swimmers they are good at that age and make steady increases and time drops as technique improves and yardage is added. It prevents injuries and burn out, and keeps them through the sport so they can make Nationals, D1, or the Olympics.

It depends on the actual training they are doing. My swimmer’s practice is 90 minutes max and they are not doing a crazy amount of yardage. The number of days you are in the water isn’t the problem, it’s whether the training being done on those days is age and developmentally appropriate.


I think that is the outrage of an 11-12 year old training with a senior group. It just is not appropriate. That group is going to do a lot of yards in addition to intense resistant work.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 11:33     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


But swimming that much that early is way too soon to be pulling the yardage lever for improvement. You do that with older kids to have them start dropping time. As a swimmer, I just think that an 11 or 12 year old swimming that much is a recipe for disaster. It is very short sighted. If you look at the trajectory of top swimmers they are good at that age and make steady increases and time drops as technique improves and yardage is added. It prevents injuries and burn out, and keeps them through the sport so they can make Nationals, D1, or the Olympics.

It depends on the actual training they are doing. My swimmer’s practice is 90 minutes max and they are not doing a crazy amount of yardage. The number of days you are in the water isn’t the problem, it’s whether the training being done on those days is age and developmentally appropriate.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 09:46     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.


But swimming that much that early is way too soon to be pulling the yardage lever for improvement. You do that with older kids to have them start dropping time. As a swimmer, I just think that an 11 or 12 year old swimming that much is a recipe for disaster. It is very short sighted. If you look at the trajectory of top swimmers they are good at that age and make steady increases and time drops as technique improves and yardage is added. It prevents injuries and burn out, and keeps them through the sport so they can make Nationals, D1, or the Olympics.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 08:09     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.

The PP was talking about making finals, not just making JOs. It takes about an A time to make JOs, which is not that difficult for a talented kid to do in the shorter events.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 07:47     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


That is far from true. My made JOs at 11-12 with 3 day a week practices and I know lots of kids that do. I agree that at 13, five days a week is the standard.
Anonymous
Post 02/08/2024 06:38     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:Some 10&u’s make finals at JOs while swimming only two days per week.

Making finals in 50s does not require a lot of training when you are naturally talented.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 23:10     Subject: Help me find a new club
Some 10&u’s make finals at JOs while swimming only two days per week.
Anonymous
Post 02/07/2024 20:49     Subject: Help me find a new club
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The swimmer is at Chinquapin and Mt. Vernon. They are in the water six days a week. They are not even a teen yet. Yes, it is happening. The swimmer's parents pushed for it and have been pushing since their swimmer was 10, Barry finally gave in when the swimmer turned 12.

The # of days in the water wouldn’t be so much of a concern for me. I’m fairly certain I know who you’re taking about, and my kid in the same age group (with a big club) is in the water 5-6 days a week. The difference is the actual training my kid is doing is geared toward kids that are 11-13 years old not HS kids.


You should be concerned. Swimming 5-6 days a week before high school is insanity. -Former d1 swimmer whose daughter is 11, swims 3 days a week and still finals at JOs.

I’m not. My kid has not been injured or had any aches and pains. She’s training appropriately for her age. I’m calling BS that she was 11 last year and finaled at JOs training 3 days a week. You can final at age 10 with that but once you get past the 10U group you are way behind the curve if you’re only in the water 3 days a week.


New poster. My 11 year old also final’d at JOs while only training 3 days per week. At 12 and now 13, they’re doing 4 days per week (and made several A finals at 12.) I recognize that’s fewer days than their competitors, but I also think this is a long game depending on the swimmer’s goals. As others have said, adding more days and yardage are among the levers to pull as swimmers get older. I appreciate the perspective of the D1 swimmer, thank you for that!