Swimmers on another travel sports team: how do you handle schedule conflicts?
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Anonymous
| DC will be on a travel sports team this coming year and its practice schedule won’t be out until late August. DC’s swim team has asked us to complete the registration by early August. What can we do if the travel sports team practice schedule conflicts with the swim practice schedule? |
Anonymous
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Hope for the best, sit down and figure what you can do when the schedule comes out.
If neither team has flexible practice schedules, you’re stuck, and you have to make some decisions. |
Anonymous
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See if the travel sport can tell you which weekdays your child’s team is likely to practice. They may not know location or time but they probably have an idea of which age groups will train when. Depending on the sport the coaches may coach multiple teams and they will try to schedule practices back to back.
We had to switch swim clubs last year to make the schedules work, and now switching again to create a balance that works better for my child. Swimming is not their first priority right now so they aren’t wedded to a specific club team or coach. Hoping the one we picked for next year will work for a few years. One kid on the travel sport team missed practice once per week due to swim. It’s not ideal for a team sport where they need to learn to play together. Not sure that will fly again this year but it’s up to the coach. |
Anonymous
| Swim practice is more flexible than other club sports. For us, it’s offered 6 times a week for 12 and under and 8 times a week for 13+, so my kids just go to their other sports and go to swim on the other days/times. Meets sometimes conflict, but we prioritize the championship meets and work around the rest. |
Anonymous
| Swim takes a backseat when there’s a conflict. Mainly because there are so many swim clubs and practice options around here that it’s easy to switch if the club you’re with doesn’t work for you. |
Anonymous
| There are so many swim clubs around here that you can find a more low key club that has looser attendance requirements and doesn’t care if you miss an occasional meet because of a conflict. I don’t know how old your DC is, but from our swim experience, 11/12 is generally the age where kids decide whether swim is their primary or secondary sport. The kids where it’s the secondary sport track into the more low key practice groups/clubs, and the kids with talent who are committed to swim as their primary sport start ramping up their swim training as they look to get into the more advanced training groups. |
Anonymous
The issue is that many of the larger clubs want kids to commit to a set schedule like Mon/Wed/Fri or Tues/Thurs/Sat (for example). They need you to sign up for a specific group and don’t let you attend on different days because all the groups fill up. There are smaller clubs that are more flexible. But you have to accept that your kid probably can’t do one of the big name clubs if they also do another club/travel sport. |
Anonymous
Our swim club has only three time slots for practices. Hope they don’t conflict with DC’s soccer practices/games… |
Anonymous
| Depends on the age and level/group. Most clubs are flexible until 13 and over/top groups. If they aren’t, that is a red flag. |
Anonymous
| Um, for our club and many others, they'll let you swim but you won't be in the more elite groups if you are skipping practice for another sport |