turdburgler wrote:
imswimmer328 wrote:
The only place a 13 year old is going doing events like that is to burnout
Why? Young people win medals at the Olympics in many sports. I swam almost every day for no less than an hour from age 5. It helped me greatly both mentally and physically. I watched others do that as well. Some burned out, some were rock stars and everything in between. Just like the rest of life. People burn out or succeed in all manners, sporting or otherwise.
The kid clearly has something amazing and who are we to judge his support system or him with what he is doing?
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Swimming isn't running. Decades ago the Australian government restricted the training time and travel to international swim meets for its elite junior swimmers because of overtraining and burnout at the hands of overzealous coaches..Ironman has age restrictions,cycling has gear ratio limits enforced,junior team sports have different rules than adults all designed to protect children.There is a massive difference between reasonable organized training and what can sometimes amount to physical abuse.
It is funny that people are happy to criticize the way the old Eastern Block countries mistreat their young swimmers,gymnasts,ballerinas,etc,etc but the narrative changes in the USA because of you know "Freedom"