Annandale/Springfield Swim Clubs

[Anonymous]

We are moved here from PA. My children love swim and dive teams and we want to make some new friends. They are not all star material, but they can hold their own in meets (sometimes first, sometimes last depending on the pool we swam/dove against). What are the pros and cons for any of these swim clubs? I don't think any have a waitlist:

Canterbury Woods
Parliament
Ravensworth Farm
North Springfield
Edsall Park
Springfield

[Anonymous]

don't know all of these, but what HS will your kids go to? that would be a factor for me

[Anonymous]

And other than the teams in arlington, and maybe mc lean, most pools in Burke/ springfield / ffx don't have a list.

[Anonymous]

those pools are all fairly far down the nvsl ladder-
https://www.mynvsl.com/

north springfield, edsall park, and springfield are all division 17
canterbury woods and ravensworth are 7
parliament is 15.

I don't know which of them have dive teams.
The division 17 teams are struggling to exist- they have so few swimmers.
You can get a sense of that by looking at the divisionals results from last year- this is where each pool gets to send top 2 swimmers in each stroke- notice that at division 17 a lot of the slots go unfilled.
https://www.mynvsl.com/results/26170?back=dv

as a random point of comparison- in division 17 the divisionals top time for 9-10 girls breast was 54.21. In division 7 it was 50.21. In division 3 it was 42.54. Point being- that is a big time difference between the divisions.

If you are interested in swim team, I would probably try and go for one of the d7 teams. (although I will admit I am particularly fond of Parliament's swim coach and if he is staying on that would tend to sway my decision.)

[Anonymous]

The pools here are very neighborhood based. I would join the one closest to your house where their friends from school will go. That's literally the only consideration here. The only rub is that they all won't have a summer dive team so that limits your options somewhat. I would first check whether your neighborhood pool has a dive team and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pools here are very neighborhood based. I would join the one closest to your house where their friends from school will go. That's literally the only consideration here. The only rub is that they all won't have a summer dive team so that limits your options somewhat. I would first check whether your neighborhood pool has a dive team and go from there.

Completely agree-- pick a pool based on the school your kids will attend! Also close to these is Ilda, which does have a dive team, but seems to struggle to get enough kids for swim team.

[Anonymous]

Annandale might be a good pick.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The pools here are very neighborhood based. I would join the one closest to your house where their friends from school will go. That's literally the only consideration here. The only rub is that they all won't have a summer dive team so that limits your options somewhat. I would first check whether your neighborhood pool has a dive team and go from there.

Yep. If you want your kid to be able to walk or ride their bike to the pool (with their friends) go with a community with a neighborhood based pool. In parts of Arlington (north) there is some of that. There are no neighborhood based pools in South Arlington (which adds to its lack of community feel) and no pools for City of Alexandria and very few in west Alexandria (they tend to be overly populated too with all kinds of neighborhoods fighting to get in).

Community pools are amazing, but inside the beltway are tough. Also look at Camelot, amazing neighborhood with strong sense of community.

[Anonymous]

Maybe check out what the St James has to offer in that space?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Maybe check out what the St James has to offer in that space?

HUH?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Maybe check out what the St James has to offer in that space?

HUH?

St James is not a rec league or part of NVSL. They do have club swim but they do not have dive boards (try the Alexandria Dive Club if looking for club dive).

A lot of summer rec league swimmers don't swim club. Particularly in the bottom third of NVSL division line up -- and that is okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:don't know all of these, but what HS will your kids go to? that would be a factor for me

+1. If you’re looking for summer swim and dive teams I would pick the pool where most people in your neighborhood or school go. Ours wanted to go to the pool where their friends were.

[Anonymous]

If you are looking for Div 17 check out Broyhill Crest. Incredibly strong community around that pool. SHRA also has a good community if you are looking for a significantly stronger team/higher division.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We are moved here from PA. My children love swim and dive teams and we want to make some new friends. They are not all star material, but they can hold their own in meets (sometimes first, sometimes last depending on the pool we swam/dove against). What are the pros and cons for any of these swim clubs? I don't think any have a waitlist:

Canterbury Woods
Parliament
Ravensworth Farm
North Springfield
Edsall Park
Springfield

Any reason by Wakefield Chapel is not on the list? They also have a dive team and you don't have to be a member of the community to join the pool, and they do a lot of team building/ social activities so it's a great way to make friends. Truro is also in this area, too. Those both pyramid into WT Woodson FWIW (not sure where your kids will be attending schools).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:If you are looking for Div 17 check out Broyhill Crest. Incredibly strong community around that pool. SHRA also has a good community if you are looking for a significantly stronger team/higher division.

Broyhill Crest is amazing. Beautiful pool so warm and welcoming.