THE ASCENT

"Parents are very much part of the team, but as with everyone on the team, roles need to be clear and aligned with each person’s expertise and knowledge of the child in question. Parents should absolutely take the lead on nutrition and hydration, ensuring their child is well-fueled each day (and seeking expert guidance on this where needed). They should also be responsible for managing their child’s time in relation to schoolwork and other social activities. Parents should ensure their child gets an appropriate amount of sleep and assist in preparing their equipment and kit for the next day—trying not to do it for them but ensuring everything is complete"

Dr. Jon Rudd - High Performance Director, Swim Ireland.

Fun,

Being part of a team,

Learning technique and skills,

Learning 'feel' for the water,

Understanding body awareness on land and in the water.

Michael Bohl - Legendary Australian Olympic swimming coach.

Our sport has many great examples showing that maintaining high academic and athletic standards is possible. The key to this is structure and support. Offer a home environment that helps them balance both their academic and athletic needs, and demonstrate an attitude that helps them believe it is possible to be successful on all levels.

Rachel Stratton-Mills - Director of Swimming & Diving, Northwestern University.

The mental toughness part of swimming basically comes from how children are raised. At the end of the day, children need to be taught how to fail, get up, and move forward. In the past, the problem I often saw was that parents didn’t want their kids to feel emotional pain. So, they would protect them by not letting them continue to try again. I think failure, and the ability to try and try again, is part of developing mental toughness. Showing the athlete that they can succeed by taking chances, getting do-overs, and moving forward after failure is key.

Ron Aitken - Head Coach & CEO, Sandpipers of Nevada.

As a physician, I have learned that the nutrition of each swimmer needs to be as customized for them as their swimming or dryland programs. Every swimmer is different in how they respond to certain foods because they each have a unique microbiome.

Gary Hall Sr. - The Race Club.

Injuries stem from one of three general areas: overtraining, poor technique (unbalanced strokes), or genetic predisposition, or any combination of these factors. A mature program will focus on developing balanced strokes with gradual increases in training for long-term development, which is equally important for injury prevention.

Don Heidary - Co-Head Coach & Founder, Orinda Aquatics.

Signs of burnout in young swimmers include a lack of enthusiasm for training, decreased performance, fatigue, irritability, and a desire to quit the sport. To prevent burnout, it's important to maintain a healthy balance between training and rest, encourage participation in other activities, and ensure the training environment is positive and enjoyable.

Brett Hawke - Sprint Revolution.

The secret to success in swimming is good technique. Technique trumps everything. The more time we spend on technique, the better swimmer we will develop in the end. The sooner we get young swimmers embracing technology—hopefully focused on technique and understanding—the better they will swim. If we want to teach a person a foreign language, it seems young children are like sponges and learn languages more easily. The older we get, the more habits we form, and the more distractions we have. The sooner we can get young swimmers learning with technology, the sooner they will master the best technique, and in the end, the world will swim better and faster!

John Mix - Founder of Finis.