But as long as he is enjoying it, I guess it is okay. But I'd closely monitor him and the instant he says he's tired, bored, it's too hard, etc, I'd let him opt out of a workout. The hardest thing us Type A triathlete parents have to do is let our kids be kids and not push our training values onto them at too early an age.

I swam off/on for 14 years and quit for a year when I was 12 because of burnout. I eventually came back to the sport for a few years until I was 15, then quit again for another year, before starting again at 16. I think part of why I kept taking "breaks" is because I was swimming at a high level and being pushed into two-a-days, etc at a fairly young age.

Of course, for what it's worth, I also made two olympic trials and have a couple gold national championship relay medals. But I think that is mostly attibutable to having a really good/inspirational coach my final year in HS and first year in college.

When we got into the longer workouts when I was on swim team I would go to the bathroom a little more often to catch my breath, sometimes I would let a slower swimmer in front of me and if we had to do backstroke there was nothing like grabbing a lane line for a little help.

Mike

LOL, I loved the lane line trick, great propulsion going into the turn.

From my days coaching I can remember the hell weeks (ain't fun for the coaches thats for sure) and I remember us having extra practices for the little kids but nothing like the seniors. Maybe the little ones added three practices per week say a M,W,Th am in addition to the M-Th PM and Sat.

The seniors on the other hand put up to 20k in some days, 2 a days M-Sat w/ friday evening off if they showed up that morning.

The best part IMO as a swimmer and a coach was the 2 hr no touching the bottom or walls water polo!

I think the 8 yo will be fine. They will do fun stuff such as play relay games (my favorite was 4 person teams swimming 50's for X length of time) and treadwater w/ bricks or weight buckets, it's not just grinding out yardage.

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

Water polo rAwkZ!!

And is seriously one of the best things you can do to get ready for open water swim racing.

Sounds like coach has a reasonably good idea of what's age appropriate for the little ones.

That's right it's 4 times per week - one down tonight, exactly 3,000 yds, about 800 of that w/ kickboard and fins. They had big smiles at the end and left practice chanting "9 more days, 9 more days, ..." ... so far, so good!

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kangaroo -- please do not read or respond to any of my posts

I got a present like that too, also on my 14th birthday.

4000 scm butterfly... Sounds scary, but after 1200 you just go on, and on, and on...

I think when you're 8 y/o you kind of look up to your coach, so when your boy think it's fun, just let him go. But if he tells you that it's not fun, or he don't want to go, call the coach and talk to him. Maybe he says that your boy should come to the poolside and watch (remember to bring his speedos), cause 9 out of 10 times he will go in the pool. Maybe only swimming the half, but he'll be there.

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Long Distance PB: 8:25
Instagram: larsschmidttri

  I consider myself a very experienced swim coach, I swam all through HS and now I coach one of the best HS swim teams in the nation. I have also been coaching the age group club team for about 15 years, so I understand this concern very much.

Swimming needs to be fun!! Especially for someone 8years old. If its not fun then there is very little there to keep one going. First of all, I don't think that an 8 year old is going to benefit a great deal from longer more intense practices, They have no muscle mass to help them get that benefit. In fact, they will be more inclined to get an injury for that reason, with no muscle mass all the stress gets put on the joint (shoulder) and then to the bones. That is a situation that you do not want to have as an 11-12 year old. In my opinion, until about the age of 10-11 swimming needs to be centered on 85% technique and 15% aerobic workouts, I center on technique so much because of the high rate of injury that can occur with swimming with the wrong technique.

During our Christmas break season, our group of younger swimmers are in the water everyday for 1hr, and we do different things with them on a each day, including games on about 1 day week. I think that I’ve been very successful in this plan and I have done this plan for about the last 10 seasons.

The second main point is that I would like to make is, Would you like your child to be #1 in the state/nation as an 8 year old or would you rather have your child be #1 in the state/nation as a senior in HS? I think we know what that answer is and the philosophy of the swimming program needs to coincide with that. There are far too many parents that think that if they are not #1 now they will not be #1 in the future. It is just as common to see someone swimming their whole life and end up as a state champion as it is to see someone start swimming several years prior and end up as state champion. It takes hard work and dedication either way and that is not something a coach can necessarily teach, but the swimmer who just started might have a slight upper hand at the dedication part because this is a relatively new thing to them. Many parents these days want instant success; You and I know that is very often not the case, especially in dealing with young children! I want to see my swimmers at meets doing the different things that we have been working on in practice and above all having FUN!!

As far as a parents concerns I would just suggest talking to your child’s coaches as much as possible (Not on deck during practice) and seeing what their goals and philosophies are.

I do apologize for making this seem like a thesis but swimming has been a passion of mine for quite some time now and I like to give back as much as it’s given to me. Please email me with any additional questions or concerns you may have.
I hope I was some help.

That is one of the groups I currently coach. My "advanced" 7-8 year olds are doing 2500-3000 yards 3 to 4 days a week. Most of that yardage is stroke technique.

Like others have been saying...as long as he is motivated, excited, not overly fatigued...let him go for it. As long as it's his decision and he's having fun then it is a great time for comraderie, confidence building, etc. I think that as long as his typical workouts are under 3000 yards and are technique as well as fun based then he should be fine doing a small amount of extra yardage for two weeks. Without seeing the whole picture it's really hard to give anything but general advice.

We're sticking to our regular schedule during the holidays for all 10 & unders...our Senior and top level age group will be getting the double sessions and 100 100's on New Years...

Looks like your son will be adapting to a new meaning of "torture" as he progresses from one age group to future competitive groups...this is how it should be.

It's great that you have this source to help inform, educate...and as others have stated, close communication with his coach is key as well.

Peace...

Peter

I cannot remember a time when I wasnt going to swim practice. I think I began at 5. Started 2 practices a day at around 10 or so. My coach trained everyone the same way - HARD. As a result, my shoulders didn't make it past my freshman year in College and still give me signifigant problems today. At 8 years old I do not believe the body can respond to this type of stress properly. My only result at that age was fatigue. I would reccomend that you only let your kid do one practice a day, focus on stroke, and spend the rest of the time being a kid.

These kids can handle it. Their ability to endure is enormous. I've seen it for 30 years. Yes, some kids get burned out, but ten days shouldn't hurt him unless he has some physical ailment.

A better question is, WHY aren't the rest of us doing this? :) :)

We are the wusses, not the 8 year olds. :) j/k

-Robert

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"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." ~Anne Frank