Swim club group

[Anonymous]

Do all swim club do time trial at the beginning in order to divide group ( by ability), or just divide kids to age group instead? Apparently my tiny middle schooler was from time to time be divided into age 8 or 9 group with few kids still learning to swim, so DC couldn’t work on jump from starting block and some other techniques, while DC has all strokes legal and has been in nearly all A meets in summer, and is working on one stroke for championship cut and ranked the 3rd in the swim club after first meet. Should I talk to swim club Coaches so DC can join the correct age group at least?

[Anonymous]

Generally age is just that but a group could be 9-12s and likely is. Do NOT compare summer swimming and stroke legality to club swim. Oftentimes young kids are not as legal as they think and if your middle schooler is just joining club they are behind.

Did your club do an assessment of your swimmer prior to joining? That is how swimmers are put into groups. A middle schooler should be swimming 100s and longer and they might be in a lower group because they lack the necessary endurance.

There are no time trials. The first meet which usually happen before or at the October Open will show the baseline in like six events for swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Generally age is just that but a group could be 9-12s and likely is. Do NOT compare summer swimming and stroke legality to club swim. Oftentimes young kids are not as legal as they think and if your middle schooler is just joining club they are behind.

Did your club do an assessment of your swimmer prior to joining? That is how swimmers are put into groups. A middle schooler should be swimming 100s and longer and they might be in a lower group because they lack the necessary endurance.

There are no time trials. The first meet which usually happen before or at the October Open will show the baseline in like six events for swimmers.

Thanks for the info regarding time trials. There’s not really pre registration assessment. DC had 3 events including IM legal at last weekends Mako invite.

[Anonymous]

You can ask but it's possible that the next age group is full. My daughter had to swim down a group for a whole season with AAC just because there wasn't room in the next group. She was on a waitlist for a spot in the correct group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:You can ask but it's possible that the next age group is full. My daughter had to swim down a group for a whole season with AAC just because there wasn't room in the next group. She was on a waitlist for a spot in the correct group.

AAC has limited spots and will holds kids for a while. It all depends on kids in senior and excel leaving. Then it trickles down.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally age is just that but a group could be 9-12s and likely is. Do NOT compare summer swimming and stroke legality to club swim. Oftentimes young kids are not as legal as they think and if your middle schooler is just joining club they are behind.

Did your club do an assessment of your swimmer prior to joining? That is how swimmers are put into groups. A middle schooler should be swimming 100s and longer and they might be in a lower group because they lack the necessary endurance.

There are no time trials. The first meet which usually happen before or at the October Open will show the baseline in like six events for swimmers.

Thanks for the info regarding time trials. There’s not really pre registration assessment. DC had 3 events including IM legal at last weekends Mako invite.

Sounds like you were only able to make half the meet. You should try and swim six events or both days as a middle schooler unless you have a conflict. Also swimming more than just a 100. That was your time trials.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Generally age is just that but a group could be 9-12s and likely is. Do NOT compare summer swimming and stroke legality to club swim. Oftentimes young kids are not as legal as they think and if your middle schooler is just joining club they are behind.

Did your club do an assessment of your swimmer prior to joining? That is how swimmers are put into groups. A middle schooler should be swimming 100s and longer and they might be in a lower group because they lack the necessary endurance.

There are no time trials. The first meet which usually happen before or at the October Open will show the baseline in like six events for swimmers.

Thanks for the info regarding time trials. There’s not really pre registration assessment. DC had 3 events including IM legal at last weekends Mako invite.

What events? At 13 the minimum distance is 100s. Not sure what grade your middle schooler is.

[Anonymous]

As other have posted there are various reasons as to how kids get placed in various practice groups. Generally, I've seen coaches try to group kids based on practice set times. For example, if everyone in the lane is going 10 x 100s on 1:30 at a 1:45 interval, it would not be ideal to place a kid in there who can't make that interval. So yes, you can end up with a situation where you have a 11-12 year old practicing with a high performing 10 & U group. Again, there are things that the coach is trying to balance when grouping kids - maybe you want to keep all the teens together in a "senior group" for maturity reasons, for example.

You can always contact the coach to hear her/his approach.