Is DC Wave a serious swim program?

[Anonymous]

Our child did well in summer swim and we got an invite from DC Wave. The tryouts were strange and I do not hear about the program much on this forum. What is the program like?

[Anonymous]

What do you want to know? Yes it’s a serious swim program. I’m not sure why you thought the tryouts were strange. They weren’t strange when my kid tried out and I know multiple people who tried out this year and none described them as strange.

The coaches at Takoma are great.

[Anonymous]

They are a good program, though not as intense or successful as some of the other bigger and more expensive programs. It’s a great place to start club swim to see if your kid likes it.

[Anonymous]

You got an invite because they’re running a business fyi. They need swimmers for income.
We got an invite to Machine 2 years but they were crazy expensive ( 3x the price of a smaller club) and put more time demands on a then 9 year old.
We’ve competed against DC Wave and they seem like a nice group of kids and parents. When you stand timing with a complete stranger for 4 hours you learn things…….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our child did well in summer swim and we got an invite from DC Wave. The tryouts were strange and I do not hear about the program much on this forum. What is the program like?

I'd be interested to hear why you think the tryouts were strange or what made them seem strange to you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You got an invite because they’re running a business fyi. They need swimmers for income.
We got an invite to Machine 2 years but they were crazy expensive ( 3x the price of a smaller club) and put more time demands on a then 9 year old.
We’ve competed against DC Wave and they seem like a nice group of kids and parents. When you stand timing with a complete stranger for 4 hours you learn things…….

They had about 200 kids trying out. They aren’t just throwing out “invites” (actually recommendations) for income. Plenty of kids want to join.

[Anonymous]

We did it a couple years ago as a way to keep our kids active and because they said they liked swimming. They became much better, but we found because they weren't amazingly talented and didn't really like the crazy competition aspect of the meets (super early in the AM, far away, and LOUD), they were ignored by the coaches during practice and after a year we decided it wasn't worth the cost.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did it a couple years ago as a way to keep our kids active and because they said they liked swimming. They became much better, but we found because they weren't amazingly talented and didn't really like the crazy competition aspect of the meets (super early in the AM, far away, and LOUD), they were ignored by the coaches during practice and after a year we decided it wasn't worth the cost.

That’sa critique of any year round swim program. The point is to compete.

[Anonymous]

Do it if it’s convenient for you location-wise and your kids like it

As mentioned previously it’s not one of the bigger clubs but that can be a good thing

They don’t have swimmers at Zones or Sectionals like some of the other teams, but if your kid wants to swim those or they get good enough, you can switch later

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it if it’s convenient for you location-wise and your kids like it

As mentioned previously it’s not one of the bigger clubs but that can be a good thing

They don’t have swimmers at Zones or Sectionals like some of the other teams, but if your kid wants to swim those or they get good enough, you can switch later

They do have swimmers at those events, when they qualify.

[Anonymous]

Right but it’s definitely not as often as the other teams. I can’t remember the last time I saw a DC Wave swimmer at those

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right but it’s definitely not as often as the other teams. I can’t remember the last time I saw a DC Wave swimmer at those

Just because you didn’t see swimmers doesn’t mean they weren’t there. It’s not many swimmers (which is probably what you meant not “as often), but they do typically compete. Here’s the meet schedule: https://www.teamunify.com/team/pvdcpr/page/training/competition-schedule

It’s not complete though because they also had a couple of swimmers at Richmond futures a few days ago, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Right but it’s definitely not as often as the other teams. I can’t remember the last time I saw a DC Wave swimmer at those

They were there this past season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do it if it’s convenient for you location-wise and your kids like it

As mentioned previously it’s not one of the bigger clubs but that can be a good thing

They don’t have swimmers at Zones or Sectionals like some of the other teams, but if your kid wants to swim those or they get good enough, you can switch later

DC Wave sent swimmers to Zones and Sectionals in the 2022/2023 season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do it if it’s convenient for you location-wise and your kids like it

As mentioned previously it’s not one of the bigger clubs but that can be a good thing

They don’t have swimmers at Zones or Sectionals like some of the other teams, but if your kid wants to swim those or they get good enough, you can switch later

DC Wave sent swimmers to Zones and Sectionals in the 2022/2023 season.

Yep that’s been established. That’s why I linked to the schedule.