Best swim team

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - I can assure you that it's nearly impossible to tell if a kid has a future in swimming at age 8 so just pick the most convenient pool for you and your family.

At age 8, my son was coming in 1st or 2nd at MCSL All stars, Coaches long course and large championship meets. He was burned out by age 10 and was no longer enjoying competition. By age 11, other kids hit puberty and he didn't and it was really rough. He never gave up and has made a great comeback at 15 and is now 17. He's not the swimmer he was at age 8 though. Sometimes they really do peak at age 8.

That’s great to hear that his perseverance paid off. And I’m sure he had good technique to rely on. I think some kids do peak at 8, but for most, I think it’s less that they peak at 8, and more that the competition pool is pretty small at 8. At 12u, kids get more serious and the ones who started as 10u are no longer beginners. There are also weird years where there are fewer fast kids, so slower kids seem to be excelling, but it’s just relative. At our Jo’s the 10u girls have one such glitch, and the winning times for most events were a good few seconds slower than the 10u boys. At that age, the times are usually pretty similar. Kids who win a lot, but are actually just the top of a slower year sometimes have a hard road ahead because they expect to continue to win and can get burned out. The gist of all of this is that kids have to enjoy it and want to work hard even if they aren’t finishing first, because most kids will not be the fastest (obviously).

I’m not in the area, not even on the east coast

Which JOs is that? The 10U girls in PVS are crazy fast.

Not in the area, not even on east coast!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - I can assure you that it's nearly impossible to tell if a kid has a future in swimming at age 8 so just pick the most convenient pool for you and your family.

At age 8, my son was coming in 1st or 2nd at MCSL All stars, Coaches long course and large championship meets. He was burned out by age 10 and was no longer enjoying competition. By age 11, other kids hit puberty and he didn't and it was really rough. He never gave up and has made a great comeback at 15 and is now 17. He's not the swimmer he was at age 8 though. Sometimes they really do peak at age 8.

That’s great to hear that his perseverance paid off. And I’m sure he had good technique to rely on. I think some kids do peak at 8, but for most, I think it’s less that they peak at 8, and more that the competition pool is pretty small at 8. At 12u, kids get more serious and the ones who started as 10u are no longer beginners. There are also weird years where there are fewer fast kids, so slower kids seem to be excelling, but it’s just relative. At our Jo’s the 10u girls have one such glitch, and the winning times for most events were a good few seconds slower than the 10u boys. At that age, the times are usually pretty similar. Kids who win a lot, but are actually just the top of a slower year sometimes have a hard road ahead because they expect to continue to win and can get burned out. The gist of all of this is that kids have to enjoy it and want to work hard even if they aren’t finishing first, because most kids will not be the fastest (obviously).

I’m not in the area, not even on the east coast

Which JOs is that? The 10U girls in PVS are crazy fast.

Not in the area, not even on east coast!

As summer approach I’ll put in my pitch for Potomac Swim and Tennis. Fun and competitive team. We are currently recruiting for our weaknesses for this summer. Looking for 15/18 boys and girls. You don’t have to live near Potomac. Swimmers travel from all over the county. Just make sure you can be there on meet day and we will put you in. Even if you can only make 1 dual meet and divisionals we don’t mind as long as we win.

[Anonymous]

You can use this website to view USA swim teams in your LSC and see their size, top USA Time Standards and power points for each swimmer and filter by age and gender, and number of meets swimmers have done to get a good idea of the success and activity each team in your area as part of your research on finding the right team.

https://www.myswimio.com/teams.php

[Anonymous]

Thanks. I visited the pool website. It looks like I have to be a pool member in order to join the swim team. It is like $800 1-time + $700 yearly +swim team fee. These could add up to quite a bit of money. Are most MCSL teams in this price range?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not in the area, not even on east coast!

As summer approach I’ll put in my pitch for Potomac Swim and Tennis. Fun and competitive team. We are currently recruiting for our weaknesses for this summer. Looking for 15/18 boys and girls. You don’t have to live near Potomac. Swimmers travel from all over the county. Just make sure you can be there on meet day and we will put you in. Even if you can only make 1 dual meet and divisionals we don’t mind as long as we win.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I visited the pool website. It looks like I have to be a pool member in order to join the swim team. It is like $800 1-time + $700 yearly +swim team fee. These could add up to quite a bit of money. Are most MCSL teams in this price range?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not in the area, not even on east coast!

As summer approach I’ll put in my pitch for Potomac Swim and Tennis. Fun and competitive team. We are currently recruiting for our weaknesses for this summer. Looking for 15/18 boys and girls. You don’t have to live near Potomac. Swimmers travel from all over the county. Just make sure you can be there on meet day and we will put you in. Even if you can only make 1 dual meet and divisionals we don’t mind as long as we win.

NP - our (non-fast) MCSL team is at a pool in this price range, if not a bit more. I'm guessing others are, as well. We love swim team but also very much appreciate the pool as our summer social hub, so it's well worth the price. If it were solely for swim team, that wouldn't be the case.

[Anonymous]

There are the county MCSL pools - long branch, Bethesda, and glenmont. As they’re not membership clubs you just pay the swim team fee (around $300?) and that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Our pool has a $250 joining fee and about $650 per family per summer year. Team adds about $130 per kid. Sounds like we're a cheaper date!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Thanks. I visited the pool website. It looks like I have to be a pool member in order to join the swim team. It is like $800 1-time + $700 yearly +swim team fee. These could add up to quite a bit of money. Are most MCSL teams in this price range?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
Not in the area, not even on east coast!

As summer approach I’ll put in my pitch for Potomac Swim and Tennis. Fun and competitive team. We are currently recruiting for our weaknesses for this summer. Looking for 15/18 boys and girls. You don’t have to live near Potomac. Swimmers travel from all over the county. Just make sure you can be there on meet day and we will put you in. Even if you can only make 1 dual meet and divisionals we don’t mind as long as we win.

that price is probably not potomac swim team - last i checked even for membership with no voting right it's already close to $2000. That's before swim team fee.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - I can assure you that it's nearly impossible to tell if a kid has a future in swimming at age 8 so just pick the most convenient pool for you and your family.

At age 8, my son was coming in 1st or 2nd at MCSL All stars, Coaches long course and large championship meets. He was burned out by age 10 and was no longer enjoying competition. By age 11, other kids hit puberty and he didn't and it was really rough. He never gave up and has made a great comeback at 15 and is now 17. He's not the swimmer he was at age 8 though. Sometimes they really do peak at age 8.

That’s great to hear that his perseverance paid off. And I’m sure he had good technique to rely on. I think some kids do peak at 8, but for most, I think it’s less that they peak at 8, and more that the competition pool is pretty small at 8. At 12u, kids get more serious and the ones who started as 10u are no longer beginners. There are also weird years where there are fewer fast kids, so slower kids seem to be excelling, but it’s just relative. At our Jo’s the 10u girls have one such glitch, and the winning times for most events were a good few seconds slower than the 10u boys. At that age, the times are usually pretty similar. Kids who win a lot, but are actually just the top of a slower year sometimes have a hard road ahead because they expect to continue to win and can get burned out. The gist of all of this is that kids have to enjoy it and want to work hard even if they aren’t finishing first, because most kids will not be the fastest (obviously).

I’m not in the area, not even on the east coast

Which JOs is that? The 10U girls in PVS are crazy fast.

Not in the area, not even on east coast!

As summer approach I’ll put in my pitch for Potomac Swim and Tennis. Fun and competitive team. We are currently recruiting for our weaknesses for this summer. Looking for 15/18 boys and girls. You don’t have to live near Potomac. Swimmers travel from all over the county. Just make sure you can be there on meet day and we will put you in. Even if you can only make 1 dual meet and divisionals we don’t mind as long as we win.

🙄🙄🙄

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:(Pops popcorn)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This reminds me of the mom who was convinced her 8yo was going to the Olympics and had an endless pool installed. 8yo quit swim a few months later.
Don’t be that mom, OP!

But but but....she's scary good

[Anonymous]

Agree that at 8 you should be looking at whatever is close and most fun / has local kids or friends already there. And don’t let swim consume your life when they are young! There’s plenty of time for that later and kids burn out.

Given your timing, I’d find a fun summer team and figure out where her teammates who swim in the winter go and try out for that.

I honestly think swim carpool with neighborhood/summer swim kids is why my kids stuck with swimming into high school.