Plateau?

Question
I have a 10 year old girl who has been swimming for 3 years year round. She is a AA /AAA swimmer and has typically swum top 10 in her age group. The last three meets she has added time and she is becoming increasingly frustrated. Her coach doesn't seem too concerned but I fear it's taking the toll mentally on her. One race her breast stroke is awesome the next terrible and her free style seems to be falling apart.

When she races in practice or has "last out" games in practice is does incredibly well and her times are great. However, when she gets to a meet she seems to fall apart. Can it all be mental, is she practicing too much (3-4 days per week) or not enough or could she simply be hitting the wall?

Any advice you can share would be appreciated, I hate to see her throw in the towel.

Karen

Answer
Hi Karen--
It doesn't sound like she's working out too much, at 10 or 11 she could be going 5 or 6 days a week without issues(if she's willing and it's offered). Depending on the type of training she is doing it is very typical for times to fluctuate throughout the season.  It seems like she's having a pressure issue, she does well at practice because there is no pressure and the games are fun and, yeah, sometimes it's fun to beat your friends at practice. When she gets to competition(meets), she might be putting to much pressure on herself to perform well for "mom and dad" or her coaches instead of relaxing and having fun. Try focusing on the fun and not worrying about the result...make up some sort of games to play when competing. About hitting the wall, she's a little young to be done improving, but girls also grow earlier than boys and those hormones can cause havoc for a while.
Don't give up, she can get it back...
Hope this helps,
George