ISCA -- how big of a deal are these meets?

[Anonymous]

Wondering if this is a scammy money grab or legit honor? If your child qualifies, does your club team notify you or is it on the parents to navigate?

[Anonymous]

ISCA is a fun and fast meet, but no huge honor. They definitely squeeze you for every penny too-- but the kids really enjoy the experience.

Not all teams go to these big meets, but generally teams who go should post the qualifers and inform parents.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if this is a scammy money grab or legit honor? If your child qualifies, does your club team notify you or is it on the parents to navigate?

It’s definitely a money grab, it’s a slight step up from PVS JOs. Using the 10 and under girls 50 back as an example, the PVS JO cut was 38.29, the 10 year old ISCA cut was 36.69, the 10 and under Zone cut was 35.29, and the 10 year old NCSA cut was 34.39. Our club does Zones or NCSAs, and they notified the families of the kids that qualified and provided information about the meets. It was not club travel, so it was on us to make the travel arrangements.

[Anonymous]

On some level all travel meets are money grabs- my swimmer always posts their best times qualifying for national meets at things like NCI or PVS champs and then just sort of repeats the times at the bigger travel meets but that could just be my swimmer

Things like ISCA are more for the team experience anyway, especially if you have a kid younger than fifteen. Just an opinion

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if this is a scammy money grab or legit honor? If your child qualifies, does your club team notify you or is it on the parents to navigate?

It’s definitely a money grab, it’s a slight step up from PVS JOs. Using the 10 and under girls 50 back as an example, the PVS JO cut was 38.29, the 10 year old ISCA cut was 36.69, the 10 and under Zone cut was 35.29, and the 10 year old NCSA cut was 34.39. Our club does Zones or NCSAs, and they notified the families of the kids that qualified and provided information about the meets. It was not club travel, so it was on us to make the travel arrangements.

The PP above has given a good summary of where the meet falls and others have given good feedback. Key to note: most teams do ISCA or NCSA. It's not usually parent choice. It may be parent travel, as another PP has indicated but that's very different than an athlete/parent choosing to attend or not attend a certain meet. My kids have qualified for a number of meets our team does not attend and thus they didn't go. They wouldn't want to anyway as, like other PP mentioned, part of the "lure" of these meets is the team aspect and being away with other kids on your team you enjoy.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wondering if this is a scammy money grab or legit honor? If your child qualifies, does your club team notify you or is it on the parents to navigate?

It’s definitely a money grab, it’s a slight step up from PVS JOs. Using the 10 and under girls 50 back as an example, the PVS JO cut was 38.29, the 10 year old ISCA cut was 36.69, the 10 and under Zone cut was 35.29, and the 10 year old NCSA cut was 34.39. Our club does Zones or NCSAs, and they notified the families of the kids that qualified and provided information about the meets. It was not club travel, so it was on us to make the travel arrangements.

The PP above has given a good summary of where the meet falls and others have given good feedback. Key to note: most teams do ISCA or NCSA. It's not usually parent choice. It may be parent travel, as another PP has indicated but that's very different than an athlete/parent choosing to attend or not attend a certain meet. My kids have qualified for a number of meets our team does not attend and thus they didn't go. They wouldn't want to anyway as, like other PP mentioned, part of the "lure" of these meets is the team aspect and being away with other kids on your team you enjoy.

+1, this is important to note. Your club generally dictates which of the post-JO champs meets your swimmer can attend. A good thing about these higher level champs meets for the age groupers is that they allow bonus events, so if you qualify in only 1 event they will let you add bonus events to fill out a whole meet so you’re not going all the way to Florida for just a 50 free or something. My swimmer is 11 and they love travel meets, staying in the hotel with their friends, getting the bag tags, sweatshirts, etc.

[Anonymous]

We did ISCA and are not sure about doing it again, even if our kid qualifies. It falls during Spring Break, and while it's fund to go to Florida for Spring Break, you won't get much beach time or other enjoyment because: (i) your swimmer will need his/her rest if swimming multiple events on different days; (ii) you won't have an opportunity to get away, since you'll be spending 1/2 your day fighting for parking, sitting in the stands, and just generally waiting for things to move along. It's even worse if your kid makes the finals, because you'll head back to the pool that evening, ruining any dinner plans you might have.

[Anonymous]

You do NCSA or ISCA. Yes, it’s cool if your kid makes cuts/finals/places. It’s a national meet and there are lots and lots of kids that swim a lot that don’t make the cuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did ISCA and are not sure about doing it again, even if our kid qualifies. It falls during Spring Break, and while it's fund to go to Florida for Spring Break, you won't get much beach time or other enjoyment because: (i) your swimmer will need his/her rest if swimming multiple events on different days; (ii) you won't have an opportunity to get away, since you'll be spending 1/2 your day fighting for parking, sitting in the stands, and just generally waiting for things to move along. It's even worse if your kid makes the finals, because you'll head back to the pool that evening, ruining any dinner plans you might have.

So you refuse to let your swimmer have an experience they really enjoy just because parking can be hard? Cmon

[Anonymous]

I feel like a reason not to do it again is the cost. My kid went once and it was a great experience but prob won't go again.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did ISCA and are not sure about doing it again, even if our kid qualifies. It falls during Spring Break, and while it's fund to go to Florida for Spring Break, you won't get much beach time or other enjoyment because: (i) your swimmer will need his/her rest if swimming multiple events on different days; (ii) you won't have an opportunity to get away, since you'll be spending 1/2 your day fighting for parking, sitting in the stands, and just generally waiting for things to move along. It's even worse if your kid makes the finals, because you'll head back to the pool that evening, ruining any dinner plans you might have.

So you refuse to let your swimmer have an experience they really enjoy just because parking can be hard? Cmon

I’m not the PP but this involves the expense of flights, hotel rooms, meals, etc. and if you’re dragging siblings along you have to consider them too.

[Anonymous]

We've always had a blast. Swim is a grind, and if the kid is practicing and working hard and qualifies they can go if they want, which they do.

They have so much fun with their friends, the team gifts them a ton of swag as gifts. Going back in a van to watch finals if they're not in them. Team dinners.

This year, the older 15+ is during spring break. 14U ISCA is the week after for FCPS, just FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We did ISCA and are not sure about doing it again, even if our kid qualifies. It falls during Spring Break, and while it's fund to go to Florida for Spring Break, you won't get much beach time or other enjoyment because: (i) your swimmer will need his/her rest if swimming multiple events on different days; (ii) you won't have an opportunity to get away, since you'll be spending 1/2 your day fighting for parking, sitting in the stands, and just generally waiting for things to move along. It's even worse if your kid makes the finals, because you'll head back to the pool that evening, ruining any dinner plans you might have.

So you refuse to let your swimmer have an experience they really enjoy just because parking can be hard? Cmon

I’m not the PP but this involves the expense of flights, hotel rooms, meals, etc. and if you’re dragging siblings along you have to consider them too.

As the PP indicated, their child ALREADY had the experience of going to ISCA. Also as enumerated: (a) it's during Spring Break, (b) cost of flights (~$2k+ for a family of 4), (c) hotel room for 4-5 nights ($1.2k), (d) meals (~$300+), (e) dragging a sibling along who will just sit in the stands for 4+ days.

Most of the parents we know did ISCA only once for these and many more reasons. That said, if your kid has a chance of placing VERY high at ISCA in his/her age group, it might be worth it to go again.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure how old your swimmer is, but if they are planning to swim in college, it is a good experience to learn to travel on the road. My swimmer is in HS and they do team travel (NCSA, not ICSA), so the cost is not too bad. I think once age 14 (or so) and if they are continuing in college, it's great to get that practice in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure how old your swimmer is, but if they are planning to swim in college, it is a good experience to learn to travel on the road. My swimmer is in HS and they do team travel (NCSA, not ICSA), so the cost is not too bad. I think once age 14 (or so) and if they are continuing in college, it's great to get that practice in.

"learn to swim on the road", not "travel" on the road, sorry!!