NCAP Burke, NCAP West, Machine Oak Marr, or OCCS? 9 year old, BB times

[Anonymous]

I ran a search and spent far too much time going down dated DCUM rabbit holes. We are considering switching teams. Our daughter is a young nine, BB times, close to one A time, very good technique but speed is still developing. She tried out and was offered spots in each of the following sites/clubs. We would love candid feedback:
NCAP-West Bronze (2?)
NCAP-Burke Bronze 2
Machine Oak Marr HP Silver
Machine Audrey Moore HP Silver
OCCS (don’t recall the group)

Thank you in advance!

[Anonymous]

I'd consider how may days/times and distance.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider how may days/times and distance.

I was surprised that both NCAP sites were 1 hour 3 days/week, whereas the Machine groups are 1.5 hours 4 days/week (if I’m remembering correctly). Downside to Machine was the early early practice times. Upside to NCAP Burke is the 5:30 pm practice times.

I would love to hear about the instructional capabilities of the coaches at these sites, the culture of the parents and kids, and how positive and encouraging (or not) the coaches are. Thank you!

[Anonymous]

We have a bit of a bias, so take this with a grain of salt, but my DD had a terrible Machine AM experience. The coaches had terribly high expectations of a child- and berated her when she missed practice for a family emergency. There were also a few kids in her group that experienced injuries I think due to overuse.

We ended up with another team in the Fairfax and are much happier. I will say DD's friends that swim for NCAP Burke seem to love it as well.

[Anonymous]

NCAP West is an amazing site with a lot of top swimmers. Their coaching staff is great from the youngest kids all the way through the top HS kids. There is not the same unevenness that other sites experience where certain groups coaches are great while others aren’t. They are all great. The only thing to be aware of is that their Bronze 2 group is extremely large, lots of kids per lane and lots of lanes in use for practice.

With that being said, travel time is always king when your swimmer is that young, so that should also weigh heavy in your decision. As a down the road consideration along those lines, the high level HS kids at NCAP West train at Vint Hill which is 20 minutes or so further west from Freedom Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'd consider how may days/times and distance.

I was surprised that both NCAP sites were 1 hour 3 days/week, whereas the Machine groups are 1.5 hours 4 days/week (if I’m remembering correctly). Downside to Machine was the early early practice times. Upside to NCAP Burke is the 5:30 pm practice times.

I would love to hear about the instructional capabilities of the coaches at these sites, the culture of the parents and kids, and how positive and encouraging (or not) the coaches are. Thank you!

I’m the poster who mentioned NCAP West. The coaches really are great and encouraging, Coach Nicole is amazing with the Bronze 2 kids. If you’ve ever been at a meet with West’s 9-10 kids you’ve definitely heard her cheering her kids on It is a competitive site though, so the parents can be super into it. As I said there are a lot of top swimmers at West so that is a dynamic to be aware of.

[Anonymous]

People seem to be very happy with NCAP Burke. Good practice times. Coaching seems to be very good. Nice facility. They don't seem to push the super young ones too hard but if you want that, you can get it. We opted for another team close by, but that was our second choice.

A lot seem to love Machine but the early times are a no-go for us.

[Anonymous]

My kid does the morning practice at Machine and we have had a really positive experience at Machine. My kid has been there for a few years and the coaches are very supportive. It also frees up the schedule so that my kid can do other sports in the evening.

[Anonymous]

We're a Machine family and generally love the culture of the organization as a whole. That said, different sites vary, of course and at that age, I'd go with the team/location that offers the best combination of coaches your kid likes and convenient practice times. Nine year olds still need a lot of sleep; early AMs would be a non-starter for us with kids that young.

[Anonymous]

Where is NCAP west? Is that the Claude Moore site?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Where is NCAP west? Is that the Claude Moore site?

No, West has 3 practice sites: Freedom Center, Vint Hill (HS age only) and Warrenton.

[Anonymous]

We swam for NCAP Burke last year.
Pros: facility does not host meets so you will not have practices cancelled, great practice times and options (we like early evenings), kids liked coaching staff, program continues through summer months in LC outdoor pool (great alternative to NVSL practice if you want to change things up)
Cons: meets are very crowded and kids struggled to find space, not much communication from coaches beyond swim meet schedule and not much advance notice for those events, more expensive than other clubs, facility is not great for viewing practices if that's your thing (six chairs in lobby area with a window view into pool)

[Anonymous]

We like ncap Burke but the best thing about it is that it’s close to house and we know kids from school and pool there.

[Anonymous]

For a 9 year old, just pick the one closest to your house.

[Anonymous]

We are at Machine Audrey Moore and started at the bottom in Gears Green group and have progressed now in the High Performance Group and have been extremely satisfied over the past 5 years especially. They have been very good at paying attention to what swimmers are doing at practice and where they are improving and always reach out and suggest doing certain events at upcoming meets based on how they have been doing at practice. On top of that all the swimmers in the High Performance group are extremely close, cheer for one another at meets, hang out outside of practice and my DD looks forward to going to practice the next morning morning which is all I can ask for.

One thing I do want to state regarding another PP mentioning that they have “terribly high expectations” is that while yes this site does does have high expectations it doesn’t seem to be in a sense of “you must swim fast or you don’t matter” but rather is in terms of the discipline they expect such as get in on time, swim on the right side of the lane, no bouncing off the bottom, paying attention during instruction, and if you expect your child to get better then they have to actually be at practice which in my opinion is extremely similar to what schools expect and is just the definition of a good professionally run program which is what I’m actually paying for.