Nice article from Coach Leonard. Certainly something all coaches and parents (regardless of the sport) deal with. It's always good to bring some perspective to anything.
Marc
Swim
Parents Can Learn About the Developmental Process in Sports...And Respect It.
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By
John Leonard
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One of the most frequently
asked questions in swimming is "how come I'm not as fast as "those
guys?" Sometimes this can come from child to parent, or child to coach.
Occasionally, and unfortunately, it can come from Parent to child (pretty
destructive, though unintentionally so.)
Living in the USA, there are as
many ways of training young athletes as there are coaching devising the
training. Most are based on sound developmental principles that result in
long term appropriate development and physical progress. Occasionally,
someone drifts off into some inappropriate training for a particular age.
Quite often, since all children develop differently, some children are
under-served by a particular type of training.
But the most common correct
response to the question is "they are physically developed earlier than
you are." "They" may be bigger, taller, more
coordinated, and most importantly, STRONGER than another swimmer.
Children develop at different rates, hence the concept of chronological age
and biological age. You can be 12 with the "look" of a 10 year old
boy, or you can be twelve with a need to shave every other day and the build
of a late teenager. And the difference in girls of the same chronological age
is even more pronounced. The point being, children can be "spot
on" in terms of age and development, they can be "early
developers" and they can be "late developers". As a vast
generalization, those children whose genetic heritage comes from closer to
the equator, tend towards early development. Those near the northern
latitudes for their heritage, tend to be late developers.
One is not "better"
than the other". They are simply, different. And of course, whatever
developmental "advantage" or "disadvantage" they are at
early in life, tends to even out quite dramatically in the later teen years.
Humans all wind up looking very similar.
The danger is that the slower
developing child may become discouraged by their lack of competitive success,
despite great practice attendance, great skill development and hard work.
Size and strength DO matter in the sprint events. One solution that is highly
long term satisfactory, is for the late developer to focus on the event
distances that especially reward diligence in training and diligence in
learning...the 200's of the strokes, the 400 IM, and the distance free
events. IF our slow developer eventually has a growth spurt and shows promise
in the sprint events, they will have the best possible background preparation
by having spent time in the 200-400-1500 range earlier in their career.
A second issue is that parents
of fast -developing children may become incorrectly focused on "winning
races" since that is what their child may do...rather than on the real
business of age group swimming...the perfection of technique and solid
aerobic training background. It's easy for any of us as parents to
dream dreams of the Olympic Games when our 10 year old is dominating his
local opposition, or even national competition.....but they are biologically
advanced, which, by definition, will later "even out".
Very important for parents to
recognize that your child will develop at their own time and rate.....and
comparing them (favorably or unfavorably) with others does them (and the
others) a serious dis-service.
The only valid comparison that
is also meaningful, is the child swimming against their own best times. And
may they make steady progress in that measurement!
All the Best for Good Swimming!
JL
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John Leonard is the Executive Director of the American Swimming
Coaches Association and is an active coach of senior and age group swimmers.
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