Winter Swim with Summer Team

[Anonymous]

Our DS (7) loved summer swim and wanted to do winter swim this year. We have been going every Sunday but it is starting to feel like a waste of time. The coach only pays attention to the very best (older) kids, the groups are incongruent as far as ability which means they ended up in a big traffic jam even if they are only swimming a 25 at a time, and the pool is 20 minutes one way for a 45 minute practice. It seems very disorganized. Is this a typical experience?

[Anonymous]

Are you just going 1x/week? Is this some kind of winter program that is put on by your summer team coach? Have you gone to any meets? Most 1x/week programs are more like a stroke and turn clinic than actual swim "practice". Generally speaking, at a high level, you get what you pay for. If your swimmer is really interested in year-round swim and you're able to make the time commitment, then look into programs like Tollefson, Machine, FINS, or HEAL or something like that. How many times a a week during the year do you think you could commit to?

[Anonymous]

For our pool it was just a lot of laps. I think the primary benefit was seeing if the kids liked going out in the cold to swim laps and not really much else. We had one kid who did and we put them in club swim. We had another who didn't and stuck with just summer.

[Anonymous]

My kid does stroke and turn now once a week on Sunday. This is not really winter swimming though OP. It’s kind of the bare minimum.
Club swim or year round swim would be twice a week and include meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My kid does stroke and turn now once a week on Sunday. This is not really winter swimming though OP. It’s kind of the bare minimum.
Club swim or year round swim would be twice a week and include meets.

OP seems to be talking about a winter program run by the summer team. Most of the pools around us run one. It's usually Sunday evening and geared towards younger age groups

[Anonymous]

Winter swim is key to the kids not forgetting how to swim their strokes. To keep up muscle memory. It is never like summer swim.

Club swim would be more swimming of laps and building endurance and then monthly meets that can run long sometimes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid does stroke and turn now once a week on Sunday. This is not really winter swimming though OP. It’s kind of the bare minimum.
Club swim or year round swim would be twice a week and include meets.

OP seems to be talking about a winter program run by the summer team. Most of the pools around us run one. It's usually Sunday evening and geared towards younger age groups

Yes, this is what he is doing. Winter swim through our summer pool.

[Anonymous]

OP why is the pool so far away? Usually they are near the community.

If your kid wants to get serious about swim, he can join a club next year. I am sorry that your team does not put more thought into their winter lanes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP why is the pool so far away? Usually they are near the community.

If your kid wants to get serious about swim, he can join a club next year. I am sorry that your team does not put more thought into their winter lanes.

I am not sure. We live in a part of the county where a rec center is closer right now so I am guessing lane space was hard to get. It was closer last year.

[Anonymous]

As a kid who did winter swim (now an adult with my own swimmers) - winter swim always sucks in my opinion! I did club for some years as people are referencing, and that isn’t that great either. I loved summer swim so much that I did winter swim so I could participate more in the summer but I don’t remember anyone really loving winter swim. But I know what you’re talking about - the Sunday swim teams offer. It’s simply just to keep stroke up.

So, I wouldn’t personally jump to club especially with a 7 year old. It’s ok to just do summer swim especially if your pool isn’t a low division and is a little less competitive (IDEAL in my opinion). Summer swim is the best - where awesome kid memories are made. Unfortunately this just doesn’t carry over!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a kid who did winter swim (now an adult with my own swimmers) - winter swim always sucks in my opinion! I did club for some years as people are referencing, and that isn’t that great either. I loved summer swim so much that I did winter swim so I could participate more in the summer but I don’t remember anyone really loving winter swim. But I know what you’re talking about - the Sunday swim teams offer. It’s simply just to keep stroke up.

So, I wouldn’t personally jump to club especially with a 7 year old. It’s ok to just do summer swim especially if your pool isn’t a low division and is a little less competitive (IDEAL in my opinion). Summer swim is the best - where awesome kid memories are made. Unfortunately this just doesn’t carry over!

Yea, if you have the ability, stay away from single digit division teams.

[Anonymous]

I am on the board of our (low ranked/noncompetitive) summer team and we have a small winter swim component. Like yours, it is once a week for an hour and about 20m from our neighborhood (closest pool that has lane availability and doesn't close every other weekend for club meets.)

The point of winter swim is really just to get kids who don't swim year round back in the water and start some light conditioning. Our winter swim is almost all 11 and unders and they do laps, maybe some relays, some dives, maybe work on turns. I know it seems like a waste, but your child is benefitting from being in the water vs the other kids who last swam a lap in July. Plus, she might enjoy seeing her summer swim friends/coach. I know this is a draw for our winter kids.

Ours has been disorganized in the past because our coach is a college student and had many cancellations, so we were scrambling for someone to coach that week. Hopefully, this year is better as a parent (former college swimmer) has agreed to do it since he will be there with his child. But yes, it is typically not as organized as summer when you have a lot of volunteers.

[Anonymous]

How much are you paying?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kid does stroke and turn now once a week on Sunday. This is not really winter swimming though OP. It’s kind of the bare minimum.
Club swim or year round swim would be twice a week and include meets.

OP seems to be talking about a winter program run by the summer team. Most of the pools around us run one. It's usually Sunday evening and geared towards younger age groups

Yes, this is what he is doing. Winter swim through our summer pool.

I was the one who asked what you are paying. You get what you pay for. Winter swim through the summer pool is just slightly better than not swimming at all during the winter months, and basically everyone knows that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our DS (7) loved summer swim and wanted to do winter swim this year. We have been going every Sunday but it is starting to feel like a waste of time. The coach only pays attention to the very best (older) kids, the groups are incongruent as far as ability which means they ended up in a big traffic jam even if they are only swimming a 25 at a time, and the pool is 20 minutes one way for a 45 minute practice. It seems very disorganized. Is this a typical experience?

This seems like a waste of time. I have two year round swimmers and I think a group lesson with a swim school would be a step up from what you are describing. At least your child would be getting instruction instead of being stuffed in a lane. They probably don’t have enough lane space or coaches to separate kids into manageable groups. My kids swim 3-4 per lane and their last team swam no more than 6. After 6, there is far more waiting than swimming.