Anyone who has worked with kids knows and understands that one of the main qualities you must have is patience. Age-Group Swimming requires more patience than working with Senior Swimmers, but that still requires patience. The ultimate goal is for the swimmer to reach their potential at the ages of 16 - 18 years old to be able to possibly consider swimming in college. College swimming is not for everyone, but it is a possibility if you are willing to look beyond just NCAA Division 1.
The career of a young swimmer is about development and growth in the sport. Most parents who have their swimmers begin swim team around ages 6 - 10 have this concept down. The years go by and the swimmer becomes better and better at swimming, and the concept of long term becomes much harder. You go to swim meets, and you now have others to compare through the years. This becomes the decline of patience. Parents and Swimmers begin to compare themselves to others, and frustration develops. The best thing to do, do not compare while in developing stages. Kids develop at different rates. One study I read said that a child of the same age can differ in physical maturity by up to 5 years. This physical maturity develops strength and coordination that makes swimmers faster. This is why comparing to another child their own age makes no sense if they are even 1 year more physically mature than your child. If you happen to have an early maturing child, it is best not to compare because the maturity and growth that your child has done, the others around them will go through sometime in the next 5 years, and they will catch your child even if the training is not as good, equal or better than your child's.
As an age-group coach, we must reign in this idea of being on the top when younger than 16 is of up most importance. This doesn't mean that is a bad thing to be on the top. You may be an early maturing child, so you should be on the top. The field will pretty much be equal by 16 (for guys, in some cases it can actually be later).
I had a parent come up to me one time and asked me if their child is fast enough to continue to participate in Club Swimming. The child had just turned 10 years old. The child had only done club swimming for a short amount of time (less than 6 months), and I was taken back by the question. I answered it by explaining that the child is too young to determine such a thing, and that she hadn't been in club swimming long enough to really be able to execute properly consistently. This is the extremity of being impatient. It does illustrate that society in general wants a quick return all the time. We all get caught up in wanting everything now mentality. It is so easy to just fall in line with the masses and being one of the norm. Throughout this series, I have mentioned that it takes work, even for the parent. Let's face it, if it were easy, then we'd athletes coming out of everywhere. Athletes though are developed not by doing the ordinary, but by willing to do the extraordinary. The difference being the added part of ordinary, which is the word "extra". A child, coach, and parent must be willing to do the extra just so the child can become an athlete, and not a participant. Then to be an elite athlete it takes just a little more than that "extra."
Remember that as a parent of a young swimmer, be patient. Ask the child to pay attention, work hard, and do their best. It is not easy to be patient during the roller coaster ride of a swim career, but it is the best way to go about it. Remember that if your child is fast when they are young; others are going to catch up. If your child is slower while young, they will catch up to some their peers if they continue to stay attentive, work hard, and always give their honest best effort.
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