Swim squad: go back or give up?

[gundigirl]

DD is 7 and a real water baby. She was invited to try out for a competitive swim squad for the second time recently (the first time was when she was 6).

The coach told us that she’d like her on the team eventually, but that she needs to perfect her breaststroke kick first. Her swimming lessons have been a bit hit and miss over the spring, with quite a few cancellations, and then summer in between, so I’m not surprised her technique isn’t quite where it needs to be.

I also got the impression that some of the other children have private 1:1 coaching (a few parents were discussing it quite openly). I’m wondering how common this is at this age?

Would you persevere and try again in a few months, or just leave it for now? DD absolutely loves swimming and is clearly keen, but she also does drama and other activities. I’m not sure I want to go down a very intense/competitive route at 7 and would like to keep her options open for the time being.

For those with children in competitive swimming, is private coaching something most families do, or is it really not necessary at this age?

At 7, no club should be intense work as it is way too young. That squad age group should also be working on technique too so there is the possibility that breaststroke kick, the most technically difficult, needs a lot more 121 correction than a club could reasonably undertake due to the numbers of swimmers they need to coach. If you do go this route, ask for recommendations from the club, the standard of breaststroke teaching can be very inadequate.
At 7, my two did maybe a couple of hours a week at a club and no private coaching. One is now national champs level.

7 is too young for squad swimming. Had your DC been through every single stage of lessons available? My DD swam competitively for 3 different clubs and not one took under 9s, unless they had a swim school.

If your dd genuinely loves swimming, her technique will improve over time anyway.

If she did stay in the squad she would have to dedicate a lot of time and early mornings to swimming in a few years and that is the real test in my opinion. Nothing worse than trying to motivate a child to do something every day that they just don’t want to do. All those private lessons will be wasted when you see them dragging their heels poolside. But if she loves it right now just focus on keeping up that enthusiasm and confidence.

@turkeybootsshe is in Stage 4 with the Swim School associated with the club. That's why she was invited for the trials, even though she still has a few more stages to go through.

Let her work through the swim school stages. Sometimes swim teachers associated with clubs can get overly enthusiastic about a young swimmer, and the senior coaches provide some proportion.
Swimming is a long and hard sport on parents, so don't let them race her through the stages!

Stage 4 is way too early if the club doesn’t actually have a swim school. The association is more of a “where to go if you want to continue” and not take the place of the early development stages.

It's great that your DD loves the water, but I agree that Stage 4 is early and 7 is borderline too young (depending on how intensive the training is). Your DD should just enjoy the lessons and have another try.

I don't think that now is the time for one-to-one coaching. It has more benefits later when your DD can understand more and remember what she's been told.

Let her work through the stages. If the swim club is not a teaching club I.e they want her to be taught good technique before she joins then she absolutely isn't ready at stage 4.

It's interesting what you are all saying about 7 being too early, Coach said she had spaces for 7-8 but not 9-10 ATM so I guess parents try and get kids in the Club earlier rather than later? It's a competitive club in an area with fairly pushy parents so I can see that being the case. As for DD, she was spotted by some teachers and I got invited to the try outs. I'm not overly fussed one way or another, just trying to better understand how this all works.

If your DC wants to swim, are there more clubs locally? They seem pushy and thats rarely a good learning environment, especially combined with parents getting private coaching for kids under competition age (age 9 + under Swim England local meet rules).
Swim parents can be a particular type of crazy, and it's a very rare 10 year old who'll make it all the way to the Olympics.

Every good 10 yr old I’ve met has quit swimming before 15. My club and other clubs, it’s widespread.
We will suggest to parents that they stay in swim school if they aren’t ready, especially as that breaststroke kick does not sound like it could be corrected easily in a club session hence the 121 suggestion made.

My daughter was invited into squad at 10 and quit when she was 13. Expectation to swim 5x per week and more was too much, even though she loved swimming. They have to be very keen on competing and happy to put the hours in which very often involve early mornings - as well as conditioning training. I would wait a bit and see whether she’s happy to prioritise it over some of her other activities.

I mean this kindly don't be seduced by the "being spotted" they do this to entice parents into joining the club . They make you feel like your kid has something special when really it's a numbers game.

They need a large amount of kids in at the younger years so they still have a big enough membership at the older end when many kids have dropped out due to the massive commitment and cost or overly intense atmosphere or bullying or whatever the reason may be.

Let her enjoy swimming and learning for now. Once she's exhausted learn to swim she could join rookie lifeguards or swim club if she wants to.

Stage 4 is far too early. She doesn't need 1 to 1, she needs time and to work up the stages. Mine moved to clubs at Stage 8 ish and none of them have ever had any private sessions.