Clubs that incorporate a bit of fun for 8 and unders?

[Anonymous]

I have an 8 and under swimmer doing a once a week maintenance program with the summer swim team. They loved summer swim but aren't enjoying the winter program as much because it's more of a slog... just swimming back and forth and not really any fun stuff as a little break or at the end of practice.

I am well aware of the difference between summer swim and club swim, and that club is much more serious. But in my mind a good coach/club would keep in mind that the little ones are more likely to stay in the sport if they break up the work with some short games/fun or something to look forward to at the end of practice.

I'd be willing to try a club team next year if they are known for having a balance of solid technique work and fun for the youngest kids. Do any clubs in NOVA fit this description?

[Anonymous]

We're at one of the Maryland sites of Machine and they've done a terrific job of making practice fun for the kids. My three are in their two intro groups (7 year old swims twice/week, 11 and 9 year olds three times). Their intro programs seem focused on making club swimming fun and engaging for kids, presumably so they'll stick with the sport.

Anyway - Machine has a bunch of Virginia sites if you want to take a look. Highly recommend!

[Anonymous]

My kid was with PAC at Fairland and practiced the same time as Machine in the next lanes.
I didn’t see any games or fun stuff happening on a regular basis. It’s definitely more monotonous.

[Anonymous]

We are at Machine too and have littles. There is no fun things at the end of practice on most days.

[Anonymous]

We have been at AAC and NCAP and definitely no fun there.

I tell swimmers to wait until 10 to join club when a kid knows this is something that they want. I always cringe when people say my kid loves summer but is not having the same feels for club. Summer is the reward for club swim. It is the fun. Takes an older kid to get that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We're at one of the Maryland sites of Machine and they've done a terrific job of making practice fun for the kids. My three are in their two intro groups (7 year old swims twice/week, 11 and 9 year olds three times). Their intro programs seem focused on making club swimming fun and engaging for kids, presumably so they'll stick with the sport.

Anyway - Machine has a bunch of Virginia sites if you want to take a look. Highly recommend!

To be more specific, since two PPs have disagreed with me: *my* kids have fun at Machine. They love the relay races and team stuff they do. My youngest's coach was wearing a jack o' lantern hat at practice last week and generally being goofy, which DS told me about after (I also saw her). So maybe it's more about the attitude than the activities? Or it varies by kid? In any case, I'm impressed that my kids report both having fun and making friends at club swim.

[Anonymous]

We have 8&U swimmers with a different club team (FxFx), and while my kids don't seem to do fun things like games and relays, they love their coaches and teammates.

I would say they have fun at practice, but they also genuinely love to swim.

[Anonymous]

When my DD was that age the coach would occasionally incorporate a relay or something fun into the last few minutes of practice, but club swim is what it is.

Our group sometimes tried to all take the kids out to dinner after practice so that they could get to know each other. It made practice more fun if the other kids were your friends.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at one of the Maryland sites of Machine and they've done a terrific job of making practice fun for the kids. My three are in their two intro groups (7 year old swims twice/week, 11 and 9 year olds three times). Their intro programs seem focused on making club swimming fun and engaging for kids, presumably so they'll stick with the sport.

Anyway - Machine has a bunch of Virginia sites if you want to take a look. Highly recommend!

To be more specific, since two PPs have disagreed with me: *my* kids have fun at Machine. They love the relay races and team stuff they do. My youngest's coach was wearing a jack o' lantern hat at practice last week and generally being goofy, which DS told me about after (I also saw her). So maybe it's more about the attitude than the activities? Or it varies by kid? In any case, I'm impressed that my kids report both having fun and making friends at club swim.

My kids love their machine practices and they have “fun”, but they don’t do fun stuff at most practices. My kids just like it because they are with their friends. The practices themselves are pretty normal, not fun - unless you have friends there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We're at one of the Maryland sites of Machine and they've done a terrific job of making practice fun for the kids. My three are in their two intro groups (7 year old swims twice/week, 11 and 9 year olds three times). Their intro programs seem focused on making club swimming fun and engaging for kids, presumably so they'll stick with the sport.

Anyway - Machine has a bunch of Virginia sites if you want to take a look. Highly recommend!

To be more specific, since two PPs have disagreed with me: *my* kids have fun at Machine. They love the relay races and team stuff they do. My youngest's coach was wearing a jack o' lantern hat at practice last week and generally being goofy, which DS told me about after (I also saw her). So maybe it's more about the attitude than the activities? Or it varies by kid? In any case, I'm impressed that my kids report both having fun and making friends at club swim.

My kids love their machine practices and they have “fun”, but they don’t do fun stuff at most practices. My kids just like it because they are with their friends. The practices themselves are pretty normal, not fun - unless you have friends there.

PP you're responding to - that's fair. I've been impressed that my kids have made friends there, people they look forward to seeing, within six weeks of practice starting. To me, that speaks to the overall environment the coaches foster.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have been at AAC and NCAP and definitely no fun there.

I tell swimmers to wait until 10 to join club when a kid knows this is something that they want. I always cringe when people say my kid loves summer but is not having the same feels for club. Summer is the reward for club swim. It is the fun. Takes an older kid to get that.

I have an NCAP swimmer and they do games, relays, etc. as part of practice probably at least 1x a week (my swimmer is in MS). I don’t quite understand the fun and games focus though, in any club sport practice is practice, that is not unique to swimming. If a kid doesn’t enjoy club practice because its not fun enough that is the sign that rec, or summer league swim, is the better fit. Club sports aren’t for everyone, regardless of the sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been at AAC and NCAP and definitely no fun there.

I tell swimmers to wait until 10 to join club when a kid knows this is something that they want. I always cringe when people say my kid loves summer but is not having the same feels for club. Summer is the reward for club swim. It is the fun. Takes an older kid to get that.

I have an NCAP swimmer and they do games, relays, etc. as part of practice probably at least 1x a week (my swimmer is in MS). I don’t quite understand the fun and games focus though, in any club sport practice is practice, that is not unique to swimming. If a kid doesn’t enjoy club practice because its not fun enough that is the sign that rec, or summer league swim, is the better fit. Club sports aren’t for everyone, regardless of the sport.

PP I agree with you a 100%. Summer is supposed to
Make kids like swimming and be fun to do that. It is not serious (times don’t count for anything, you are not going to college on it, officials are rudimentary trained etc).

Why do summer swimmers join club and then want it to not be serious? It is a different animal than summer with different end results. Like the booster who stated on another thread their kid at 13 wants to work on sprint 50s for summer. NO. That is not “real” swimming and not club.

[Anonymous]

York does a lot of fun stuff. They do a Halloween ‘sock hop’ for under 12s (that I know of). My kids are older so I mostly know what they do for seniors. they have attended senior lock-in, senior retreat, some kind of Mini Golf/Pizza thing, and an Intrasquad meet based on ‘Houses’ (like in Harry Potter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:York does a lot of fun stuff. They do a Halloween ‘sock hop’ for under 12s (that I know of). My kids are older so I mostly know what they do for seniors. they have attended senior lock-in, senior retreat, some kind of Mini Golf/Pizza thing, and an Intrasquad meet based on ‘Houses’ (like in Harry Potter.

I'll echo York. My 12 year old DD started at 7 and refuses to quit York because it's so much more fun compared to other teams. Their motto is literally all about making swim fun and about the kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have been at AAC and NCAP and definitely no fun there.

I tell swimmers to wait until 10 to join club when a kid knows this is something that they want. I always cringe when people say my kid loves summer but is not having the same feels for club. Summer is the reward for club swim. It is the fun. Takes an older kid to get that.

I have an NCAP swimmer and they do games, relays, etc. as part of practice probably at least 1x a week (my swimmer is in MS). I don’t quite understand the fun and games focus though, in any club sport practice is practice, that is not unique to swimming. If a kid doesn’t enjoy club practice because its not fun enough that is the sign that rec, or summer league swim, is the better fit. Club sports aren’t for everyone, regardless of the sport.

PP I agree with you a 100%. Summer is supposed to
Make kids like swimming and be fun to do that. It is not serious (times don’t count for anything, you are not going to college on it, officials are rudimentary trained etc).

Why do summer swimmers join club and then want it to not be serious? It is a different animal than summer with different end results. Like the booster who stated on another thread their kid at 13 wants to work on sprint 50s for summer. NO. That is not “real” swimming and not club.

DP - I get that, but different teams have different cultures, which can translate to how "fun" the work feels. I've been on teams that were so serious they sucked any possible fun out of the experience and others that made grueling work a blast. Inasmuch as those differences exist, it's reasonable for a parent considering the various club options to take that into account.