Developmental advice for parents of age-group swimmers (8-12 years old)

In todays post I'm going to advise parents on how to prepare for and deal with the ups and downs of this challenging  yet rewarding sport. 

Parents of young swimmers should:

• Select an age-group for your child.
• Interview a number of teams and coaches about what they do and what they can do for your child.
• Ask about what the team emphasizes in the early years. The answer you want to hear is technique, technique, technique. The answers you don't want to hear are speed, speed, speed or winning.
• Ask about the practice schedule. When first coming from a learn to swim program, expect three to four practices per week. By ages11 to 12, perhaps five to seven practices per week. Each practice should last 45 to 60 minutes and gradually increase.
• Understand the purpose of swim meets. They are there to test what the child learns in practice. Coaches who are on the right track teach calm, cool, colected behaviour at meets and the ability to have fun when racing and analyze the results of the techniques used in the race. Coaches who emphasize winning do your child no service.
• Expect your coach to ask your child to swim all the events. Focusing on a few things they do well early in their career is shortsighted. The breaststroker at age 10 may well be the best distance swimmer by age 17. You cannot tell what can develop, so the child should keep developing all strokes as long as possible.
• Be a parent. Take care of the parental things and let the coach coach. This is equally true in practice and at swim meets. If you have questions or comments, talk to the coach and listen to the coach's responses. Talking to your child about it sets up a destructive conflict for your child. Talking to other parents about it is similar to asking your neighbor how to pull your decayed tooth: not wise. Ask the coach.
• Support the total success of the team. This is not an individual sport. Eventually, your child will be deeply affected by the degree of success or lack thereof of their teammates. It makes a team to succeed in this sport. You cannot do it with a selfish ''me first'' approach.
• Do ask the parents of teenagers  what they went through in the sport. You can learn from their experience. The longer you are in the sport, the more you learn to relax, have a sense of humor, and enjoy it! Your child may sometimestry to impress you with how hard it is. They are truly not complaining; they are usually bragging. Learn to discern the difference. The relevant question is not whether they are having fun every day but whether it is a satisfying experience. If they want to go to practice, all is well. Sometimes in the earliest years, parents have to enforce the commitment tha child has made in joining the team by taking them away from the computer or TV, putting them in the car, and saying ''we're going to practice''. Eventually, the swimmer should be eager to go.