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Wolverine is largest member of weasel family
I have a question for swimmers out there and those who have kids who are on swim teams or who they themselves were on swim teams.
I have a very enthusiastic 7 year old who is a competent and safe swimmer. He can backstroke, frontstroke and goes off the diving board and handles the deep end with ease. He has expressed an interest in joining our local swim team at our pool this summer and I want to encourage him to do so.
Where would I go to get him "swim training lessons"?
Stuff about learning the competitions, building stamina....etc?
I don't want to throw him into these meets without him being prepared.
Sounds like my life about 15 years ago. We started by putting our two in the summer swim league at the pool we belonged to. The coaches were high school swimmers and things were casual, even though there were state champion swimmers within the older age groups. The purpose of the summer league was to let kids have fun while teaching fundamentals.
After the summer the kids joined one of the local swim teams where the teaching became more focused, but still fun. Basically what @Buck I in Mich said above. Mine swam through high school.
At the end of the first swim team season my younger son was beating the older one. It came down to he was stronger, but no technique. A year later the older one had his technique down and was crushing little brother. At that point little brother learned he might want to listen to the coaches more and work on improving his technique.
It is definitely a sport that will teach discipline and your kids will learn how far they can push themselves. The nice thing about swimming is there is no arguing with the coach that your kid should be the starter because he is a better fielder, pitcher, running back, or point guard. The time is the time.
Meets can be brutal but it is worth it. Just don't be that parent. You know what I mean;-)
One final memory. My kids are pretty quiet. My younger son had a bully in his grade school class. The kid came up behind my younger one and grabbed him by the shoulders one day. Once the bully realized the size of my son's shoulders the bully let go, walked away and never bothered him again. This was after about 5 years of year-round swimming. Swimmers are bigger than they look.
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