At what age did your kid quit/finish summer swim team?
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Anonymous
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My kids have been on summer swim team since they were 6 and 8. They love it and my spouse and I are active volunteers. I always wondered why there were so few seniors compared to the younger age groups, but now that my kids are teens, I'm seeing how it's hard for them to get summer jobs or do specific camps they want because swim team is so time intensive.
I used to dream they would be doing the whole senior swim season hoopla, and now I'm wondering if that may not happen. When and why did your kiddo finish? |
Anonymous
| DD is 12 and I think this is her last year. She's been swimming with the pool since she was 6, but just isn't feeling it as much. She'll still probably spend the whole summer at the pool |
Anonymous
| Mine have been it for the long haul. |
Anonymous
| Team rep here. We see a big drop off when they hit the 13-14 age group. |
Anonymous
| Our team also has a marked decrease in participants in the 15-18 category. I think it’s a combo of things, a lot of kids that age are trying to get a summer job, and that is also around the age where some kids who have been committed swimmers stop swimming competitively because they don’t want to put in the time commitment for a sport they aren’t going to continue long-term and they have other competing interests. |
Anonymous
| My kid refuses to go, last summer and now this summer too. So sad. 15. |
Anonymous
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Just like girl scouts, there's a huge drop off around 12 or 13. They become interested on other things (my kids wanted to do drama camp after being successful in the 6th grade play), for example.
Plus, her friend group wasn't doing it anymore (long vacay plans, camps, volunteering at nature ctr, etc) so she'd be the "only" one and by herself on swim team. On a side note, age also got her period and doesn't want to have to make excuses as to why she's not at the pool for practice and meets for a week in June and July. |
Anonymous
Same. All teens |
Anonymous
| Summer of 7th grade. Many of their friends quit and they were more interested in sleeping in than getting to practice at 7:45 am. |
Anonymous
| Our team has a late evening swim for kid who work. |
Anonymous
? There’s no reason to skip practices and meets when she has her period. Year round swimmers learn how to use tampons pretty quickly. Even for non swimmers it’s a bummer to sit out of any pool parties, avoid the beach, etc. anytime you have your period. Might as well learn now. |
Anonymous
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I have competitive swimmers, rising 10/12th, they will go to the end.
Our team has a big group of teens that have stuck together, probably because most of them club swim. Also, probably because of the wealth of club swimmers, it is also true that a number of the kids who dropped off at 15 are those who didn't or no longer club swim. |
Anonymous
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My oldest is 13 - and in 8th grade. He is still doing it - but I suppose I could see it coming to an end eventually, especially if he doesn't do the swim team in HS.
He will do it this upcoming summer, & I could see him possibly doing it the summer after 9th grade because he is so easy going and his siblings will be there and some friends - but I think the summer after that he will have other plans (he goes to a sleepaway camp the second half of the summer but in two summer the programming changes and I know the new dates would conflict with swim team so unless he is super crazy about it and swimming in HS - then he could probably make summer swim at the pool work for the 2-3 weeks he'd be here). |
Anonymous
I assume it's because they're not making the HS teams. |
Anonymous
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Let all kids pull away in junior high if they are
not willing to go from 2-3 day to 5 days + mornings in high school. 3 Mornings min for sprints, 5 mornings for distance, 3-5 hour Saturday + Sunday. Swimming and dry land = 32 hours week for a D1 scholarship |