Why Isn’t My Child Dropping Time?

I received an email from a dad who was second guessing his decision to move his daughter to a new team. They switched teams to benefit the entire family’s schedule. Here’s the email and my response:

"Dear Elizabeth,

I was wondering if you could help me with a conundrum my family is having. My daughter is about to turn 11 and she has been swimming for five years. A little over two years ago she switched swim teams with our encouragement because the new team’s pool was 10 minutes from our house compared to 45 minutes for our previous team. We have three other younger children and the 90 minute round-trip was becoming a strain on the family."