Just my opinion... but 7 is too young to be making that serious a commitment to competitive swimming.
My opinion is based on family experience: Both my kids (9 and 12) do year-round swimming, with a club in Atlanta that routinely turns out very, very talented swimmers. The senior kids are in the water, twice a day, just about every day of the week. Pretty crazy if you ask me, but they love it.
Even this club - which takes their training very seriously - recommends 3 practices a week for their youngest group (7 to 10 year olds). Maybe 4 times if you've got a kid that needs to burn off the energy, but 3 is fine. They take the long view... at this age, the point is to develop the love of the sport. The kids that are breaking records at 9 are not necessarily the ones still breaking records at 17.
I agree. My almost 10 year old son plays competitive tennis and soccer, and even at his age group (10-12 year olds) the coaches still emphasize the love of the game more than the competition. Learning and loving the game, skills development, and participation are key until the kids are older. I'd have to have a discussion with the coach and find out more information before being willing to commit to something that serious at that age, at least for our family.
And I also agree with Ivy that flexibility is key. My son's soccer academy doesn't punish him for missing games or practice, they have flexible practices (available up to 4 nights per week, whatever is best for your family), and they emphasize the fun part of the game. Tennis is a little different because we decide which tournaments he plays in so we control the schedule, but even for practices his coach doesn't complain that he misses 1 of the 2 nights to go to soccer. (our family limits sports to 2 nights per week, so he only gets 1 of each per week)
I've told my son when he is 12 he can choose something to the exclusion of others, if he wants to even then. But I've read too many studies and spoken with an ortho acquaintance about the repetitive stress injuries showing up in very young children to let him do 1 thing, year round, with intensity at this this stage. JMHO anyway.
