Switching teams etiquette

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

DP - that is definitely an NCAP site.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

DP - that is definitely an NCAP site.

Yes it is NCAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

DP - that is definitely an NCAP site.

Yes it is NCAP.

Same. I have an age group swimmer but almost the whole group qualified for NCSAs. They definitely push each other and as they move into HS, I expect them to continue to do so. For my child, have such a strong group of 8-9 swimmers has been incredibly valuable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

There is at least one top level RMSC site with all of the training group planning on swimming D1. The few that ended up D3 went to top academic/swim schools NESAC or UAA

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

There is at least one top level RMSC site with all of the training group planning on swimming D1. The few that ended up D3 went to top academic/swim schools NESAC or UAA

The reality is the swimmers in the top training groups at these clubs are elite by any metric. I don’t quite understand why people feel the need to try and denigrate or dismiss these clubs and their swimmers, but it’s just inaccurate to try and portray the top training groups at these clubs as mediocre.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

DP - that is definitely an NCAP site.

NCAP-Burke and NCAP-West, and previously NCAP-Prep

[Anonymous]

I would send a note thanking them for past years and letting them know not coming back, especially if you'll see them. I probably would make my kid write a note, too.

[Anonymous]

What about the NCAP Dulles South/Claude Moore site? How are they?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

There is at least one top level RMSC site with all of the training group planning on swimming D1. The few that ended up D3 went to top academic/swim schools NESAC or UAA

The reality is the swimmers in the top training groups at these clubs are elite by any metric. I don’t quite understand why people feel the need to try and denigrate or dismiss these clubs and their swimmers, but it’s just inaccurate to try and portray the top training groups at these clubs as mediocre.

Lots of kids in top RMSC + Nation’s Capital groups either go D3 or don’t swim in college at all. Which I find pretty appalling consider the 20 hour per week commitment.

The one Nation’s Capital group this year that cleaned up at NCSAs is super elite. Most other sites have a handful of really good kids and bunch of others they sent through the meat grinder and got burnt out along the way. You won’t see 25 kid groups all going D1.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Why are you switching teams if the currently relationship between your swimmer and coach is positive?

Oftentimes a talented swimmer needs a bigger club so they can attend the harder meets and have a better group of swimmers their age. It has nothing to do with the coaching.

Or a swimmer hits a plateau and a new coach and new perspective could be the push the swimmer needs.

This is NCAP propaganda. You can swim fast at any club if your coaching is good and your athlete works hard. “Better meets” only matter if you are super elite

NP, this is actually just true, not propaganda from the bigger clubs. Having a training cohort of other fast swimmers is important not only so swimmers can continue to train with the appropriate age group and not feel like they need to swim up to be challenged, but so they are training to the best of their ability rather than down to the ability of the swimmers around them.

+1

There are clubs and there are elite clubs. There is a difference. Not total propaganda, but some of it is.

The key is in bold. This is why elite clubs exist. Like attracts like. No different than any other sport. You want to perform at your best? You need to train with the best (both coaches and fellow swimmers). Katie Ledecky herself moved from Stanford to Florida in order to train for the Paris 2024 Olympics (and also to be closer to family on the East Coast).

That’s true, but for every Katie Ledecky or Phoebe Bacon or Andrew Wilson or Torri Huske, there are 1000 local kids who are pretty good but will never be elite. They are better off focusing on enjoying the sport than worrying about the elite status of their club. 95% won’t get a $ of scholarship money.

There are also varying levels of “elite”. Of course most kids are not going to the Olympics, but there are also the kids that want to swim D1 or make Olympic trials cuts, and there are the kids that want to swim D2 or D3. If you fall within those categories (particularly swimmers aiming to swim D1) there are a handful of clubs that train at that level.

What clubs train at the D1 level?

I would say Machine, NCAP, RMSC, ASA and AAC are the clubs that are designing the training for their top training group to produce D1/Olympic trials qualifier swimmers.

They have very few D1 kids and only a handful of trials kids. I think everyone should reset their expectations as to what the average “national training group” level kid is going to achieve. Most are D3 caliber

I’m just going to say that we are at a site with one of the aforementioned clubs and every kid in the top level training group that is going to continue swimming is going to a D1 school. This site also has multiple Olympic trials qualifiers (current and alums).

Please share which site/club this is.

There is at least one top level RMSC site with all of the training group planning on swimming D1. The few that ended up D3 went to top academic/swim schools NESAC or UAA

The reality is the swimmers in the top training groups at these clubs are elite by any metric. I don’t quite understand why people feel the need to try and denigrate or dismiss these clubs and their swimmers, but it’s just inaccurate to try and portray the top training groups at these clubs as mediocre.

Lots of kids in top RMSC + Nation’s Capital groups either go D3 or don’t swim in college at all. Which I find pretty appalling consider the 20 hour per week commitment.

The one Nation’s Capital group this year that cleaned up at NCSAs is super elite. Most other sites have a handful of really good kids and bunch of others they sent through the meat grinder and got burnt out along the way. You won’t see 25 kid groups all going D1.

I can only speak to what our experience is at our site (although I suspect it’s our site you’re referring to as super elite). The kids in the very top group (Gold I) generally go on to swim D1 in college, and very few, if any, of them stop swimming altogether.

[Anonymous]

Re: NCap the only really elite site left is coached by Jeremy Linn (NCap West). The rest have a handful of good but not overwhelmingly great swimmers

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Re: NCap the only really elite site left is coached by Jeremy Linn (NCap West). The rest have a handful of good but not overwhelmingly great swimmers

I think he meant the Burke Site under coach Morgan.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I would send a note thanking them for past years and letting them know not coming back, especially if you'll see them. I probably would make my kid write a note, too.

No one cares. Just move on. They just want you money. Skip the note.