Long Course

[Anonymous]

DC is new to competitive swimming in the younger age group. I’m hearing that as DC gets older to plan on participating in Long Course. I was assuming we would have summers off. Do most swimming participate in Long Course? Is it competitive? I see there are LC championship meets, but the qualifying times seem more generous. What’s your experience? Do I need to plan for DC to swim winter & summers? At what age to you start doing LC? Thanks!

[Anonymous]

At our club, the advanced groups start doing long course at 9. Each age group has a base level that doesn’t do summer/LC training. Kids in those groups tend to practice with their summer teams and that’s it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At our club, the advanced groups start doing long course at 9. Each age group has a base level that doesn’t do summer/LC training. Kids in those groups tend to practice with their summer teams and that’s it.

+1, this is how our club handles it too. If your child ends up being committed to swimming and gets on an advanced track the expectation will be that they compete with the club through LC season.

[Anonymous]

Yup bye bye summer! We get two weeks of vacation in August and that’s about it but they love it so oh well lol

QTs look more generous but it’s bc 50meters just takes more time!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Yup bye bye summer! We get two weeks of vacation in August and that’s about it but they love it so oh well lol

QTs look more generous but it’s bc 50meters just takes more time!

As this poster points out, it’s a longer distance (meters vs. yards) AND also, LC means fewer turns because the pool is converted to one long 50 vs 25 in length, so it’s inherently slower because you’re not getting as much momentum off the walls (a 50 is one lap, a 100 is two laps, etc.). Between those two factors, the times become incomparable.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Yup bye bye summer! We get two weeks of vacation in August and that’s about it but they love it so oh well lol

QTs look more generous but it’s bc 50meters just takes more time!

As this poster points out, it’s a longer distance (meters vs. yards) AND also, LC means fewer turns because the pool is converted to one long 50 vs 25 in length, so it’s inherently slower because you’re not getting as much momentum off the walls (a 50 is one lap, a 100 is two laps, etc.). Between those two factors, the times become incomparable.

+1. DC has Zone cuts in short course but is not close in LC because they are strong on turns.

[Anonymous]

I think long course at the age group level will fade. Time is better spent using the summers to prepare the young ones for IMX.

[Anonymous]

For our kids, we are in a lower MCSL summer division and the coaching for the 10-13 band who have done year round a couple of times isn’t great. They were mostly concentrated on endurance for the big 15O and then getting the 10U legal in all strokes. The LC practices for the 12U at our year round are great. Maybe 3 kids in a lane. They get a lot of attention from the coach. They don’t go to every one but the time invested is SO much more worthwhile. There aren’t a ton of open LC meets in PV but the time spent swimming is so great for their endurance.


Conversely to what other people say some swimmers do better in LC if they have weak(er) turns and can just get in a good rhythm and go.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For our kids, we are in a lower MCSL summer division and the coaching for the 10-13 band who have done year round a couple of times isn’t great. They were mostly concentrated on endurance for the big 15O and then getting the 10U legal in all strokes. The LC practices for the 12U at our year round are great. Maybe 3 kids in a lane. They get a lot of attention from the coach. They don’t go to every one but the time invested is SO much more worthwhile. There aren’t a ton of open LC meets in PV but the time spent swimming is so great for their endurance.


Conversely to what other people say some swimmers do better in LC if they have weak(er) turns and can just get in a good rhythm and go.

Respectfully - and perhaps you didn’t mean this - but it’s very unlikely that LCM times would be faster than SCY times. Swimmers with weaker turns may be faster at LC than their peers who are faster at SC, but the times themselves would most likely still be slower than SC times for all swimmers in this scenario.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our kids, we are in a lower MCSL summer division and the coaching for the 10-13 band who have done year round a couple of times isn’t great. They were mostly concentrated on endurance for the big 15O and then getting the 10U legal in all strokes. The LC practices for the 12U at our year round are great. Maybe 3 kids in a lane. They get a lot of attention from the coach. They don’t go to every one but the time invested is SO much more worthwhile. There aren’t a ton of open LC meets in PV but the time spent swimming is so great for their endurance.


Conversely to what other people say some swimmers do better in LC if they have weak(er) turns and can just get in a good rhythm and go.

Respectfully - and perhaps you didn’t mean this - but it’s very unlikely that LCM times would be faster than SCY times. Swimmers with weaker turns may be faster at LC than their peers who are faster at SC, but the times themselves would most likely still be slower than SC times for all swimmers in this scenario.

Not that the times are faster, but are better-- AA vs A, or more power points, or making a champs cut

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For our kids, we are in a lower MCSL summer division and the coaching for the 10-13 band who have done year round a couple of times isn’t great. They were mostly concentrated on endurance for the big 15O and then getting the 10U legal in all strokes. The LC practices for the 12U at our year round are great. Maybe 3 kids in a lane. They get a lot of attention from the coach. They don’t go to every one but the time invested is SO much more worthwhile. There aren’t a ton of open LC meets in PV but the time spent swimming is so great for their endurance.


Conversely to what other people say some swimmers do better in LC if they have weak(er) turns and can just get in a good rhythm and go.

Respectfully - and perhaps you didn’t mean this - but it’s very unlikely that LCM times would be faster than SCY times. Swimmers with weaker turns may be faster at LC than their peers who are faster at SC, but the times themselves would most likely still be slower than SC times for all swimmers in this scenario.

Not that the times are faster, but are better-- AA vs A, or more power points, or making a champs cut

Got it! And I agree. I’ve seen LC favor some swimmers and disadvantage others.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think long course at the age group level will fade. Time is better spent using the summers to prepare the young ones for IMX.

never change, IMX guy!!!

[Anonymous]

Newbie question here. DC just swam their first LC time that meets the standard for the PVS LC championship meet in July (youngest age group). (We're new to anything outside of standard age-group club meets and invitationals.) I assume it's up to the club whether DC attends that meet? The time cuts actually seem pretty generous to me, so it's hard for me to imagine that every kid in PVS who has that time can/should swim that meet. But if DC should be there, we will be there. How do I know?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Newbie question here. DC just swam their first LC time that meets the standard for the PVS LC championship meet in July (youngest age group). (We're new to anything outside of standard age-group club meets and invitationals.) I assume it's up to the club whether DC attends that meet? The time cuts actually seem pretty generous to me, so it's hard for me to imagine that every kid in PVS who has that time can/should swim that meet. But if DC should be there, we will be there. How do I know?

Congrats to your swimmer. At that age, I wouldn’t feel like your swimmer “should” be at any meet; do what’s best for your family’s schedule. You will have plenty of years when you can’t. Regardless, yes, it’s up to your club whether they send swimmers to a particular meet. I’d think it would be on your LC meet schedule by now if it’s a meet your club attends. If not, no harm in emailing the coach or club to inquire. Not sure if you do summer swim, but at the younger ages, it’s a lot to swim LC championships the same weekend as A meets or other summer swim meets. By that point in the summer, the kids are tired, so what seemed like a good idea in May feels less so come July.
I would imagine the converted times are indeed more generous, as fewer kids do LC (esp at younger age groups), so easier cuts ensures decent participation. Good luck!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Newbie question here. DC just swam their first LC time that meets the standard for the PVS LC championship meet in July (youngest age group). (We're new to anything outside of standard age-group club meets and invitationals.) I assume it's up to the club whether DC attends that meet? The time cuts actually seem pretty generous to me, so it's hard for me to imagine that every kid in PVS who has that time can/should swim that meet. But if DC should be there, we will be there. How do I know?

At our club, you need to sign your swimmer up. So don't assume a coach is just going to take care of it! Kids aren't expected to swim, especially at the younger ages, but if they want to it's a fun experience.