AAC vs. DC Wave (swimming)

[Anonymous]

We are deciding between swim programs for our daughter and do not know much about either program. Both are convenient to our house. Does anyone have any feedback?

[Anonymous]

You are too late for AAC, it's full unless your daughter is an elite swimmer already.

[Anonymous]

AAC is an elite-level team. As PP said, unless your swimmer a phenom, you’ll have to wait until next year’s registration period to try out

[Anonymous]

We have been offered spots on both teams. Any feedback?

[Anonymous]

One benefit to AAC is that they host their own meets, so you're not dependant on invitations. DC Wave is going to be more chill.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been offered spots on both teams. Any feedback?

Start with AAC and see if it’s a good fit. Your swimmer can likely switch from AAC to DC Wave if it doesn’t work out, but it’s less likely your swimmer would be able to move in the other direction.

[Anonymous]

AAC is pretty strict (depending on your group/age) with attendance. They "suggest" how many times per week they want you to attend, and if you're on the low end of it, your kid really feels it from the coaches. I didn't really feel much of a sense of team, honestly. It was a bummer that the practice times were so late for my young child. I would frequently see other moms with (younger) kids already in PJs waiting in the bleachers.

Long Bridge is a beautiful and fantastic facility.

Good luck with your choice!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAC is pretty strict (depending on your group/age) with attendance. They "suggest" how many times per week they want you to attend, and if you're on the low end of it, your kid really feels it from the coaches. I didn't really feel much of a sense of team, honestly. It was a bummer that the practice times were so late for my young child. I would frequently see other moms with (younger) kids already in PJs waiting in the bleachers.

Long Bridge is a beautiful and fantastic facility.

Good luck with your choice!

I have an older AAC swimmer, and had a very different experience. DC definitely feels like they are part of a team, and their coach has been supportive during stretches where DC was missing some practices for other school activities.

I do think the practice times for younger kids could be very challenging.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:One benefit to AAC is that they host their own meets, so you're not dependant on invitations. DC Wave is going to be more chill.

We are with AAC and although they host some meets - it is only mini meets and one long course meet. They also attend the WORSE meets for some reason during regular season. Usually just the Opens and no invitationals, so it is the crappy of the crappy meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:AAC is pretty strict (depending on your group/age) with attendance. They "suggest" how many times per week they want you to attend, and if you're on the low end of it, your kid really feels it from the coaches. I didn't really feel much of a sense of team, honestly. It was a bummer that the practice times were so late for my young child. I would frequently see other moms with (younger) kids already in PJs waiting in the bleachers.

Long Bridge is a beautiful and fantastic facility.

Good luck with your choice!

They are strict and Evan (the head coach) fosters a culture that unless the reason you are missing practice is for track or cross country, you will be treated differently. They generally will not move you up or select you for certain meets if you are not putting in the time.

There is not much sense of team because it is a county program. So they fail a lot with admin, publicity, marketing, and all in all promoting their swimmers. Whereas other local clubs you can look at their social media and they celebrated all that their swimmers accomplish (in club and summer league) you will find none of that with AAC. It is kind of a black hole.

Right now AAC has an overcrowding problem, they have too many swimmers, not enough coaches and swim groups for those swimmers. So swimmers are being held back because of the bottleneck in practice groups.