Summer swim team: Division A vs L team

[Anonymous]

We participated in our community swim team last year. It was our first time. The head coach was fired after the first week. The team did not seem well-run at all. They don’t have a lot of volunteers and the coaches were not very good either.

If we were to join a Division A team, would our experience be different?

[Anonymous]

How fast is your swimmer? Because unless they’re really fast, they won’t swim anything but a B meet

The division matters, but the differences are mostly between pools, not divisions

[Anonymous]

Division A mean they are really good and probably very competitive. Only the best swimmers will make the A meet. It’s also a liked cut throat and the parents are possibly cliquish.

In Division L, your summer may swim in every A meet. Parents may be cliquish. Not as cut throat.

Some issues are universal regardless of division. Volunteers are always an issue no matter where, even CCSDA (country club league). Expectations of summer swim coaches are way too high. It’s 5 super quick weeks. It goes really fast. Enjoy it. Just let the kids have fun.

[Anonymous]

With the letters you're quoting I'd say you're MCSL? I'm sure much of this would apply in other leagues as well, though.

Quite often you can't just join any given summer swim team: if you have to be a pool member, you're looking at trying to find a pool with openings (sometimes hard) and potentially paying a new joining fee, as well. Then there's the commute: with many summer swim teams practicing 2x/day (although not everyone of course attends every practice), you might be calculating drive distance and time, as well.

As PP indicated, there's a lot to be said for summer swim that doesn't have much to do with the competitions. The best-case scenario is positive involvement and growth in the sport in the midst of a community that you and your family enjoy. You can't always bring that about by shopping pool divisions. If you really want your swimmer to be powering up and cutting time, you might prefer a year-round team to trying to game summer swim. But again, as PP suggested, the summer season is a short burst of joy in the middle of a hard work cycle. Don't depend on it to make your child a swimmer - depend on it to make them love swimming.

[Anonymous]

Agreed. In the higher divisions, you have tons of good swimmers because they are year round swimmers. You can be good as a summer only swimmer but you gotta go to practice every day to keep up. Summer swim is about fun. A few weeks of comraderie, concessions, and craziness. Coaches are hit or miss. A coach needs to bring a team together. They will set the vibe for the team. There are some toxic ones out there. Find a team where your kids have lots of friends and it will make for some awesome lifetime memories.

[Anonymous]

Our team has bounced from L to H since my kids have been on it for many years. We have an amazing head coach and it’s just a lot of fun. I don’t think it’s the division level that makes it a good experience. It’s the coaches that set the tone for a healthy attitude and a positive experience.

[Anonymous]

You have crappy summer coaches everywhere. Unless your kid is getting AA-AAA type times, don't expect to swim A meets as a walk on at an A division team.

"Shopping" summer swim usually doesn't make a lot of sense. Strangely, a stronger swimmer may shine more in a lower division team as they will win more events, be a core of the team, etc. But you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes. As other people said, summer swim is about junk food, cheering in the sun and hanging out with friends.

[Anonymous]

Agree previous posters that it's not necessarily the division that is going to give you better organization/better coaches, but may play into whether your kid swims A meets if that is something they care about. Our team has bounced around A through D in the years we've been involved. For the most part, other than freestyle and 8&Us, the kids swimming A meets are year round swimmers. Our team is alot of fun and for many of the kids it's definitely not about the times/A meets but hanging out and having fun so I guess it depends what you are looking for.

[Anonymous]

+ 100

" ... you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes."

So many parents expect a coach to be hands-on with technique and get in the pool with their kids. It's just too many kids. That's what private lessons are for.

Find a team that is fun and your kid has friends from school. Talk to other parents. Coaches come and go and divisions change. You can go up 2 or drop 2. Look for a team with kids and parents with your vibe. Our team has been losing for years and the kids still come back It's fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:+ 100

" ... you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes."

So many parents expect a coach to be hands-on with technique and get in the pool with their kids. It's just too many kids. That's what private lessons are for.

Find a team that is fun and your kid has friends from school. Talk to other parents. Coaches come and go and divisions change. You can go up 2 or drop 2. Look for a team with kids and parents with your vibe. Our team has been losing for years and the kids still come back It's fun.

There are plenty of clubs that focus on technique and not competition. I've met numerous parents whose kids don't want to compete year-round, but want to do well during the summer season when they're swimming with their friends. I do wonder sometimes whether it's more the parents who want their kids to do well (but they can't convince their kids to compete year-round), since most of the time the kids just want to have fun....

[Anonymous]

It’s less fun at the higher divisions.

Signed,
Mom of a very fast kid in the B division

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You have crappy summer coaches everywhere. Unless your kid is getting AA-AAA type times, don't expect to swim A meets as a walk on at an A division team.

"Shopping" summer swim usually doesn't make a lot of sense. Strangely, a stronger swimmer may shine more in a lower division team as they will win more events, be a core of the team, etc. But you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes. As other people said, summer swim is about junk food, cheering in the sun and hanging out with friends.

That’s very much an exaggeration. We are A division and plenty of swimmers with BB-A times are making A meets, particularly in free where there are more slots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s less fun at the higher divisions.

Signed,
Mom of a very fast kid in the B division

It's less fun at the higher divisions if your kid is not fast and does not qualify for A meets.

If you are a regular at A meets, it's fun. B meets are fun but the times don't count for anything except to move up to A.

Summer swim is fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:+ 100

" ... you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes."

So many parents expect a coach to be hands-on with technique and get in the pool with their kids. It's just too many kids. That's what private lessons are for.

Find a team that is fun and your kid has friends from school. Talk to other parents. Coaches come and go and divisions change. You can go up 2 or drop 2. Look for a team with kids and parents with your vibe. Our team has been losing for years and the kids still come back It's fun.

There are plenty of clubs that focus on technique and not competition. I've met numerous parents whose kids don't want to compete year-round, but want to do well during the summer season when they're swimming with their friends. I do wonder sometimes whether it's more the parents who want their kids to do well (but they can't convince their kids to compete year-round), since most of the time the kids just want to have fun....

Which clubs focus on technique and not competition? That's where I want my kid to be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have crappy summer coaches everywhere. Unless your kid is getting AA-AAA type times, don't expect to swim A meets as a walk on at an A division team.

"Shopping" summer swim usually doesn't make a lot of sense. Strangely, a stronger swimmer may shine more in a lower division team as they will win more events, be a core of the team, etc. But you shouldn't rely on coaching for summer swim to make any dramatic improvements in technique or stroke - there are simply too many kids in too short a time to make meaningful changes. As other people said, summer swim is about junk food, cheering in the sun and hanging out with friends.

That’s very much an exaggeration. We are A division and plenty of swimmers with BB-A times are making A meets, particularly in free where there are more slots.

Yep, there really aren't that many AA and faster swimmers to go around in the youngest age groups. 10&u boys need to be 29.79 or less to be at least AA in 50Y free. Right now in all of PVS, there are only 18 boys who are still 10&u who have met this standard. And, many of them are in Northern Virginia, not Montgomery County.