Swimming drills at home for 8 year olds

At a glance

At 8

13 swimming drills the app opens for an 8 year old work at home, across 6 skills.

How long

One home session of about 25 minutes; SSTracker never plans more than 30 minutes for an 8 year old.

How often

At most 3 training days a week, with rest days between. Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

What you need

Most used: mat (4 of the 13 drills), mirror or partner (1), notebook (1), resistance band (1), swim bag (1), wall (1). 4 drills need nothing but space.

Safe at home

One child and one parent in a room, garage or yard. Never tackling, contact, diving or head-first falls, no stunts or loaded lifting, and nothing that needs a coach, rink, pool or court. Stop when anything hurts.

13 at-home drills

Swimming drills for 8 year olds to do at home

Every drill below is one the app opens for an 8 year old and one that works at home: a room, garage or yard, one parent as the partner, no venue. Each drill's page has the steps, a diagram where the setup can be drawn, three ways to make it a game and a log to print.

endurance

Endurance

• Dryland CoreAges 7 and up · 10 min
• Hollow Holds and RocksAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Animal WalksAges 7 and up · 8 min

race mindset

Race Mindset

• Pre-Race BreathingAges 7 and up · 5 min
• Race VisualizationAges 7 and up · 8 min
• Meet Day ChecklistAges 7 and up · 6 min

streamline & breakouts

Streamline & Breakouts

• Streamline Check on DeckAges 7 and up · 5 min
• Streamline Wall StandAges 7 and up · 6 min

speed

Speed

• Dry-Land Flutter LegsAges 7 and up · 8 min

starts & turns

Starts & Turns

• Dry-Land Start PopAges 7 and up · 8 min

A 24-minute session

A home swimming session for an 8 year old

A warm-up, 2 drills and a cool-down, 24 minutes in all. Do it up to 3 days a week, with rest days between.

1. 1Swimming Warm-Up, Ages 7 to 10An 8-minute moving warm-up for swimming players aged 7 to 10: easy running, moving stretches, balance and soft landings, then swimming moves. Before practice, never still stretches first.8 min
2. 2Pre-Race BreathingSlow breath out, relaxed shoulders.5 min
3. 3Stroke Shapes on LandSlow and big, then smooth.6 min
4. 4Swimming Cool-Down Stretches, Ages 7 to 10A 5-minute cool-down for swimming players aged 7 to 10 after training: an easy walk, then gentle stretches for the legs, hips and arms, each held for a slow count of 10.5 min

At 8

What changes in swimming training at 8

The app opens the same 13 at-home drills at 8 as at 7; the ones below are a different selection from that list.

Organized sport in all: no more hours a week than the child's age (NATA), so at most 8 hours for an 8 year old, with two rest days a week.

The week

Fitting swimming into a week at 8

At 8 the limit is 8 hours of organized sport a week. If you count home sessions against it to be safe, 3 sessions of 25 minutes is 1.25 hours, which leaves 6.75 for team practice and games. Even 3 days at the app's longest, 30 minutes, is 1.5 hours.

The research behind it

• Ages 6 to 12 are the "sampling years": high play, low deliberate practice.

  Côté and Vierimaa 2014

• Organized sport should total no more hours a week than the child's age in years, with two rest days a week.

  NATA youth sport specialization recommendations

Questions and answers