If you switched swim clubs, why?
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Anonymous
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Our club has experienced some mid-season changed and some without notice or reason. If you switched swim clubs, why did you switch, and did you leave quietly or give warning? |
Anonymous
| We switched about a month into the season last year. We reached out to another club, spoke to those coaches, did a trial at a few practices and left it to our son to decide. There was nothing "wrong" with our previous club but our son wanted more mid-distance/distance training and he wasn't getting that. We essentially left abruptly by sending a note saying we've been thinking about this and we are moving on. His former coaches were very kind and said he's always welcome back. |
Anonymous
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I am very glad that PP had a good experience moving teams. Many teams will not only not care if you leave, they will not let you return if you do- TOLL is notorious for this, as is NCap based on our friends' experiences.
DC changed teams bc of specific coach/training- glad we did bc we found a much better fit. DC spoke to coach on the last day and I sent an email. I would not advise on giving them warning- just tell them when you are ready to leave. In our case, they were very nice about it, but we will also never go back. |
Anonymous
NP. Our club makes it very clear that we are financially responsible for the whole year when we sign up. From what I can tell, most clubs are the same way. Are you paying for two clubs and only going to one? |
Anonymous
| DC aged up into a group whose practice times didn't work (at _all_) with other commitments, so we didn't re-up at the start of the season, and I wrote the head coach. We received a kind and lovely email back and felt really good about the time we had invested there in the past. In other words, the best possible goodbye - we would have stayed if we could. |
Anonymous
| I am the poster who said we had a good experience and yes we ended up double paying last year - but our new team allowed us to go on a payment plan. Yes I wish we could have made the decision earlier but we did not anticipate some of the changes with regard to training and we told our son - we support you either way but no complaining if you decide not to move. |
Anonymous
| We were with the Marlins and the coach missed too many practices to even count. Emailed Bill and he literally forwarded the email to the coach with a CC to me and she just made excuses. They already had our money and offered zero solution to the problem. We left and went elsewhere. |
Anonymous
| We left just to get a new coaching perspective. Swimmer was not improving under the same old coaches. Switching was like a jump start. |
Anonymous
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Switched 2x.
1. Coach was not a good match for my kid at the time (8y.) Very strict. 2. Kid is a lower level swimmer and coaches basically dismissed him (not formally) but stopped really giving him attention once they realized he wasn't going to be a top swimmer. 3. Ended up in a club that was low key, encouraging coaches (for all levels), and very flexible. That was perfect for my kid. |
Anonymous
| Coach wasn’t a good fit for the swimmer. Worked with the team to change training sites. |
Anonymous
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Our older son was in a smaller swim club at age 10. When his younger brother turned 7, we had both try out for a larger club with better practice times that we could walk to (this was in ny). It was fairly common for kids to start off at the smaller club and then switch to the larger one, which had better coaching. We sent an email to the head coach after they both got slots in the larger club, explained about the commute and received a polite response wishing us luck.
You have to realize that your one child leaving the one swim club they have ever known is not the same thing a swim club with hundreds of kids losing one child with probably hundreds waiting to take the empty spot. They don’t care as much as you think. Be polite and professional and move on. |
Anonymous
| We switched our younger two swimmers when the pool closed and practices were divided between 3 different sites. Switched to another club but I’m not sure if we made the right decision. My swimmers are unhappy with the new club but it would have been a struggle to get them to practice had we stayed. |
Anonymous
| We left when my swimmer was in 9th grade, his old team did not have committed swimmers and the head coach was not very engaged. They were horrible when we left and my child never spoke to them on deck. |
Anonymous
Similar situation. Another HS swimmer. Left club we were at since 8 years old. Coach was committed, but fellow swimmers not as committed. Club and old coach won’t speak to DC. |
Anonymous
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It’s disappointing to hear about so many petty and immature coaches. I expect this more from dance studios and gymnastics gyms from what I have heard from a few friends, but not from swim. Switching clubs is common and shouldn’t cause so much drama. And switching USA swimming clubs is a snap compared to the ordeal of switching soccer clubs in my state after the start of the season. It required writing a letter to the state youth soccer association, letters from both coaches to the state youth soccer association, etc. And even then, everyone was an adult and gave my kid high fives when we saw them at games. We have had a few swimmers come from other teams and some leave for other teams, and it always stays amicable.
OP, hope the coaches are normal about it, but if they aren’t, then you know you made the right decision. |