Courtesy of Elizabeth Wickham
The ever-dreaded plateau. It’s almost as bad as the “shank” in golf. I shanked every iron shot for months. I felt frightened every time I stood over the ball.
The plateau for a swimmer also can be a scary time. No matter what your swimmer does, he or she doesn’t drop time. One of my swimmers was stuck at 1:00 on her 100 free for what seemed to be a lifetime. In reality, she was 13 and it lasted for more than a year.
Coaches and parents of older swimmers told me it’s normal. Plateaus can happen to anyone — 13-14 year olds, high school swimmers or college students. If swimmers stay in the pool, they will break through it. But, it can be very discouraging and some give up.
As a parent, here are three tips to help your swimmer make it through a plateau:
TIP ONE:
Don’t freak out. Your anxiety will be felt by your swimmer. You need to trust the process and your athlete’s coach.
TIP TWO:
Reassure your swimmer that his or her coach has gotten many swimmers through plateaus. It’s not our job to coach our kid through a plateau. It’s our job to encourage and reassure.
TIP THREE:
Keep the swimming atmosphere fun. Have teammates over to hang out, like a Saturday after-practice breakfast. Team fun and bonding will help swimmers through tough plateaus.
Here’s what our coaches did: they had swimmers compete in off events at meets. Swimmers may see success and get best times in events they rarely swim. Also, they worked on specific things in practice like underwaters or breakouts. When swimmers focus on improving technique, their times will eventually get faster.
Swimming is a process. Trust in it.
I’ll never forget watching my daughter break 1:00 for her first time at the Belmont Pool in Southern California. She swam a 57. Her coach asked, “What happened to 58 and 59?” She said, “They are highly over-rated.”
Elizabeth Wickham volunteered for 14 years on her kids’ club team as board member, fundraiser, newsletter editor and “Mrs. meet manager.” She’s a writer with a bachelor of arts degree in editorial journalism from the University of Washington with a long career in public relations, marketing and advertising. Her stories have appeared in newspapers and magazines including the Los Angeles Times, Orange County Parenting and Ladybug. You can read more parenting tips on her blog: http://bleuwater.me/.
The”plateau”… hockey players miss more shots on goal than they make. Baseball players miss more pitches than they hit. Eventually swimmers’ take longer and longer between best time swims.
Called being “normal”, fellow parents. Please, just let your child be normal in a decidedly brutal and un-normal sport.
Remember all those 20 second time drops? Things have to balance. Our kids go through so many changes inside that we can’t see… be patient, trust the process, trust the coach, and just let it happen.
Please don’t project your anxiety onto your young athlete. It’s normal. It’s happened for generations of swimmers. It will happen for generations more. Keep it calm, let them vent, tell them OFTEN you… Read more »
Good topic to create lots of discussions. I thought we all keep getting better at whatever we do regardless of age, size, technique, education, etc. What fun would it be if we didn’t have struggles, setbacks, projects that failed or didn’t meet expectations? For any of us it’s about finding little ways to get better – how do you eat an elephant…. As swimmers/coaches It’s about working together and yes, sometimes involving others to move thru the process. It also helps for younger 14 & un to train IM and let your best events find you. When stuck get better at a measurable area – kicking, strength area or faster repeats. You have more daily opportunities to get un-stuck not… Read more »
Do plateaus happen if you’re a 17 yearn old boy?…
Absolutely. I lived through it myself. I also coached athletes through it many, many times. Pretty similar to what I’ve read elsewhere on this thread about swimming different events – my number one recommendation is always to change up the training in a way that makes it more fun. When I was in high school, my coach inexplicably threw me in the sprinters group after about a year and half plateau – my primary event was 200 Bk. I was a little confused and it didn’t make me a sprinter, but it did do the trick. As a coach, I observed that the athletes who were most successful were those who were self-directed in their approach to the sport. Athletes… Read more »
My 11y old is now hitting her plateau. She made all the records on her club when she was 10 and just the next entire season, she stop improving on almost all the events. I’m reading these articles trying to help “me” not “her” going through her plateau. Because she cares winning less than I do. Unlike most of the elite swimmers who have strong desire to win, she enjoys swimming just because she loves the feeling after work out. She is not competitive in her nature. So I have to learn to accept the fact that she will not actively seek the way to improve her technique to beat her time, she just likes to work out.
Thankyou ????
One more article for my team please… “3 tips for swim parents on why 11 year olds in 11 year old bodies aren’t going to beat most 12 year olds in 14 year old bodies.”
Can you write an article for my team? “3 tips to help swim parents whose swimmer keeps improving but it’s not enough improvement”?
I’ve had meetings with parents about this before. Their swimmers improved but it wasn’t as much of an improvement as another swimmer on another team.
EXACTLY.
OR.. THE PARENT COULD JUST LEAVE THE SWIMMER ALONE ABOUT TIMES!!!!!!