Any other clubs besides NCAP going downhill?

[Anonymous]

Seems to be so much hate towards NCAP. They have a ton of amazing swimmers. We had a bunch jump to them.

I am sure that other clubs have their issues as well, so what are they (you do not need to give actual names) Size and location are good enough.

[Anonymous]

What a weird post. It’s like you’re out fishing to make it look like NCAP isn’t the only club with problems.

[Anonymous]

It’s soooo much $$$$$. Not really worth it. Coaches are meh for the money. Most do not get value. Only the top, elite get the attention. The rest are there to pay $$$$.

[Anonymous]

The reason NCap gets hate is bc it deserves it

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It’s soooo much $$$$$. Not really worth it. Coaches are meh for the money. Most do not get value. Only the top, elite get the attention. The rest are there to pay $$$$.

Take it up with the county to reduce lane rental price then.

Looking at the Fairfax County website it costs $29.87 per hour per lane, so lets say an 11 month group has 8 lanes of space and practices 5 days a week for 2 hours the pool rental cost for that group for the entire season is ~$115,000. You will need 29 swimmers paying $4k/year to just cover the lane rental cost for that group, not even talking about paying a coach yet, so this is why it is so expensive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It’s soooo much $$$$$. Not really worth it. Coaches are meh for the money. Most do not get value. Only the top, elite get the attention. The rest are there to pay $$$$.

Take it up with the county to reduce lane rental price then.

Looking at the Fairfax County website it costs $29.87 per hour per lane, so lets say an 11 month group has 8 lanes of space and practices 5 days a week for 2 hours the pool rental cost for that group for the entire season is ~$115,000. You will need 29 swimmers paying $4k/year to just cover the lane rental cost for that group, not even talking about paying a coach yet, so this is why it is so expensive.

Clubs don’t pay $29.87, they buy in bulk. Last I heard, lanes were $17/hr when rented at volume.

[Anonymous]

My swimmer is not elite and never will be. But she loves to swim. We can get the same experience (i.e., mediocre coaching, very little personal feedback) at a lower cost club. This is true for 90% of the people who are paying out the wazoo for NCAP.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My swimmer is not elite and never will be. But she loves to swim. We can get the same experience (i.e., mediocre coaching, very little personal feedback) at a lower cost club. This is true for 90% of the people who are paying out the wazoo for NCAP.

Excluding RMSC and AAC since they are county programs and less expensive, are the other private clubs really that much less expensive than NCAP though?

[Anonymous]

What is a lower cost club? I looked into my local NCAP and it was basically the same price after all the registration, fees, extras as the other clubs around- Machine, Marlins, York. Yes, AAC and RMSC are cheaper, but they don’t pay for lanes and are otherwise subsidized by the local governments, so not a fair comparison.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My swimmer is not elite and never will be. But she loves to swim. We can get the same experience (i.e., mediocre coaching, very little personal feedback) at a lower cost club. This is true for 90% of the people who are paying out the wazoo for NCAP.

Excluding RMSC and AAC since they are county programs and less expensive, are the other private clubs really that much less expensive than NCAP though?

ASA is slightly less than the other private clubs.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My swimmer is not elite and never will be. But she loves to swim. We can get the same experience (i.e., mediocre coaching, very little personal feedback) at a lower cost club. This is true for 90% of the people who are paying out the wazoo for NCAP.

Excluding RMSC and AAC since they are county programs and less expensive, are the other private clubs really that much less expensive than NCAP though?

Potomac Marlins is not very expensive. They are meh. But, as another poster pointed out, most swimmers get that experience regardless of what they pay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is a lower cost club? I looked into my local NCAP and it was basically the same price after all the registration, fees, extras as the other clubs around- Machine, Marlins, York. Yes, AAC and RMSC are cheaper, but they don’t pay for lanes and are otherwise subsidized by the local governments, so not a fair comparison.

NCAP is almost $4,000 for the season for 11-12, correct? Marlins is about $3,000 for a comparable training group. Marlins also has so many more options for training - we don't pay nearly $3,000 at 11-12 because we're only swimming twice a week. Is that even an option with NCAP? Like I said, my kid isn't elite. I don't have a beef with NCAP. I just think it's a jackhammer and most kids just need a regular hammer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My swimmer is not elite and never will be. But she loves to swim. We can get the same experience (i.e., mediocre coaching, very little personal feedback) at a lower cost club. This is true for 90% of the people who are paying out the wazoo for NCAP.

Wait, what? Does your child swim for NCAP now and you're thinking of leaving for a lower cost club, or did you used to swim for NCAP and left for a "lower cost" club?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a lower cost club? I looked into my local NCAP and it was basically the same price after all the registration, fees, extras as the other clubs around- Machine, Marlins, York. Yes, AAC and RMSC are cheaper, but they don’t pay for lanes and are otherwise subsidized by the local governments, so not a fair comparison.

NCAP is almost $4,000 for the season for 11-12, correct? Marlins is about $3,000 for a comparable training group. Marlins also has so many more options for training - we don't pay nearly $3,000 at 11-12 because we're only swimming twice a week. Is that even an option with NCAP? Like I said, my kid isn't elite. I don't have a beef with NCAP. I just think it's a jackhammer and most kids just need a regular hammer.

I have a high level NCAP 11-12 swimmer and we are paying a little over $4k and my swimmer practices 5-6 days a week. For the poster that mentioned ASA, we are paying roughly the same as we would at ASA (swimmer would be an NDG swimmer there). I do agree that if you have a swimmer who isn’t fully committed to swim as their primary sport and is only in the water a few days a week it is not worth it if you have the option to join a different club that is less expensive and/or has different practice options where cost is different depending on how many days a week you practice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is a lower cost club? I looked into my local NCAP and it was basically the same price after all the registration, fees, extras as the other clubs around- Machine, Marlins, York. Yes, AAC and RMSC are cheaper, but they don’t pay for lanes and are otherwise subsidized by the local governments, so not a fair comparison.

NCAP is almost $4,000 for the season for 11-12, correct? Marlins is about $3,000 for a comparable training group. Marlins also has so many more options for training - we don't pay nearly $3,000 at 11-12 because we're only swimming twice a week. Is that even an option with NCAP? Like I said, my kid isn't elite. I don't have a beef with NCAP. I just think it's a jackhammer and most kids just need a regular hammer.

I have a high level NCAP 11-12 swimmer and we are paying a little over $4k and my swimmer practices 5-6 days a week. For the poster that mentioned ASA, we are paying roughly the same as we would at ASA (swimmer would be an NDG swimmer there). I do agree that if you have a swimmer who isn’t fully committed to swim as their primary sport and is only in the water a few days a week it is not worth it if you have the option to join a different club that is less expensive and/or has different practice options where cost is different depending on how many days a week you practice.

A high level 11 year old should not be swimming 6 days a week. Maybe if they have gone through puberty - maybe. But that is well above the guidelines and asking for injury.