swim parents: Why is NCap so expensive?

[Anonymous]

Running through a pro-con list of the area teams for faster swimmers, I am wondering if I am missing something:

RMSC
Pros
- less expensive since it is subsidized
- dedicated pool space

Cons
- crowded
- depending on where you are in the county, not that convenient

ASA
Pros
- dedicated pool
- smaller team

Cons
- don't go to as high-profile meets
- if you don't like your teammates it's so small it's a problem
- age group coaches are great but not so great national-level coach

Machine
Pros
- awesome outcomes and recruiting
- family-owned and run team

Cons
- for us the only one I can think of is that the locations are not convenient if you live in Montgomery County

NCAP
Pros
- They attend and hold big meets with fast swimmers
- Some good coaches

Cons
- Some seriously mediocre coaches, and bc they have so many locations there is no quality control across location so you have to get lucky
- Expensive! Is this bc they have so many locations so it should be more convenient??
- Current CEO was supposedly somehow involved in the sexual abuse issues in the 90's and never suffered any consequences
- Even though there are a lot of locations, some teams are still swimming outdoors? Is this true?!

[Anonymous]

I think that NCAP relies on its National Rating. It is consistently one of the best teams in the country. Machine is the club i would choose if I didn’t have four swimmers. I am shocked at the improvements kids have there and what is their formula.

[Anonymous]

NCAP doesn't charge you for meets or nickel and dime you for other things and doesn't require parents to volunteer. It is one cost and that is it.

[Anonymous]

I just looked at Swimcloud and RMSC is ranked better than I would have thought and higher than NCAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCAP doesn't charge you for meets or nickel and dime you for other things and doesn't require parents to volunteer. It is one cost and that is it.

Yea. The fees are built in which is nice. That can be a big chunk of change with multiple swimmers. We spend an extra $1000 per swimmer with meets that is a separate cost.

[Anonymous]

I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:NCAP doesn't charge you for meets or nickel and dime you for other things and doesn't require parents to volunteer. It is one cost and that is it.

Not true, you are required to volunteer for three meets or get charged $150 and ever since the pandemic you get charged per event per meet, just FYI

As an NCap parent I am annoyed with the coaching- some coaches are great, others are not, and its hard to switch between location and the administration doesn't seem to care a lick that there is such a huge disparity. I don't even know what the administration does other than charge you almost twice as much as RMSC (yes, I know we can switch and frankly we are seriously thinking about it)

Also I know that a ton of swimmers left the Prep site and don't know why and why the admin wouldn't care about that??????

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

OP here - I looked this up- for the same national-level group, ASA is $2500+ LESS than NCap. Why? How?

[Anonymous]

Once you get to age group performance at our NCAP location, you can drop in for as many practices as you choose without paying more. To me, that means the age group swimmers are subsidizing them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

OP here - I looked this up- for the same national-level group, ASA is $2500+ LESS than NCap. Why? How?

They are about the same price.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

OP here - I looked this up- for the same national-level group, ASA is $2500+ LESS than NCap. Why? How?

No, the top training group at our NCAP site is just $600 more than ASAs top group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Running through a pro-con list of the area teams for faster swimmers, I am wondering if I am missing something:

RMSC
Pros
- less expensive since it is subsidized
- dedicated pool space

Cons
- crowded
- depending on where you are in the county, not that convenient

ASA
Pros
- dedicated pool
- smaller team

Cons
- don't go to as high-profile meets
- if you don't like your teammates it's so small it's a problem
- age group coaches are great but not so great national-level coach

Machine
Pros
- awesome outcomes and recruiting
- family-owned and run team

Cons
- for us the only one I can think of is that the locations are not convenient if you live in Montgomery County

NCAP
Pros
- They attend and hold big meets with fast swimmers
- Some good coaches

Cons
- Some seriously mediocre coaches, and bc they have so many locations there is no quality control across location so you have to get lucky
- Expensive! Is this bc they have so many locations so it should be more convenient??
- Current CEO was supposedly somehow involved in the sexual abuse issues in the 90's and never suffered any consequences
- Even though there are a lot of locations, some teams are still swimming outdoors? Is this true?!

NCAP is out there to enrich their CEO and few coaches. They make money hand over fist. Take a top group for example. 30 kids * 6 Large a year. They'll likely pay 60k for lanes and a bit more for insurance and meet fees. Even after paying for coaches their margins are large

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

OP here - I looked this up- for the same national-level group, ASA is $2500+ LESS than NCap. Why? How?

They are about the same price.

I don’t think this is right- NTG at ASA is $4800 but NCap Gold at Prep is over 6k

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I know RMSC is less expensive, since they are county run, but is there really an appreciable price difference between similar levels at NCAP, ASA, and Machine?

Because NCAP isn’t centrally run you do need to do some research into the site you are contemplating joining, but on the whole I would say they have more good coaches than bad. The tricky part is if say the Bronze level coaches at a site are really good, but the Silver and Gold coaches are not, or vice versa.

OP here - I looked this up- for the same national-level group, ASA is $2500+ LESS than NCap. Why? How?

They are about the same price.

I don’t think this is right- NTG at ASA is $4800 but NCap Gold at Prep is over 6k

I did not realize that NCap Prep was over 6k. That's high. Perhaps it offers more practice times than ASA.

[Anonymous]

Still paying off judgments against Rick Curl?