Can a kid just continue non-competitive swim lessons until middle?

[Anonymous]

My kid loves swimming and is good at it. She has only ever taken lessons (learn to swim, then stroke and turn). She's 8. We considered doing summer swim but logistically couldn't make it work. I also worried about the competitive environment -- she is developing good sportsmanship but can be a perfectionist and very hard on herself, and I think constantly being rated for A or B team or relays would stress her out a lot.

Club swim is an option but we're reluctant to move to multiple days a week at this age, plus meets. Are there clubs that just do two days a week with minimal meets?

OR, would it be okay to just keep doing lessons until she's older, probably middle school? She enjoys it and continues to improve, she likes the current frequency, she has expressed no interest in competing. If we just stick with lessons now, will that make it impossible for her to make, for instance, a HS team later, if she wants that?

[Anonymous]

Yes, of course! There are many year-round swim programs in the area with varying levels of commitment. For example, my middle-of-the road summer swim team kids took a once-per-week lesson/class with one company until they were in 9th grade.

[Anonymous]

Depends on the HS team. Some are not cut and some are more competitive.

Most clubs have 2-3 day a week programs and meets are never required. However, I think swimming and never going a meet does impact swim performance. Kid race different than they practice and you only really get good turns when going faster in meets.

Club meets are a lot different in that unless there are time cuts, all kids can swim and there is no fighting over who can and can't make it.

Your kid is also only 8 so no need to make big decision now. She/you may change your mind and want to compete.

[Anonymous]

Try a 2-day per week club team next year, add in a meet when she feels ready, and see if she likes it. Highly recommend going to a club and doing a practice group where she has friends.

[Anonymous]

As a PP said, no one can tell you the odds of your daughter making her high school swim team because some teams make cuts and others don’t. Generally, the larger and more affluent high schools are going to have more of the serious year-round swimmers, and that’s where it will be harder to make the team.

As far as just continuing lessons, it partly depends on what you mean by lesson. A lot of lessons are geared toward younger kids. As kids get older, it is more common for them to either do club swimming or a once a week maintenance program offered by their summer league team. There are a few non-competitive options like stroke schools that are geared toward older elementary/middle school aged kids, but those can be a little bit harder to find and harder to get into because spots are limited.

[Anonymous]

OP here. Yes of course if she started asking about competing we'd seek it out. But right now she seems uninterested or even opposed to it (she does not like competitive sports in general at the moment and avoids whenever possible).

I just don't want a situation where she decides she wants to compete, especially in a school team, and she can't get a spot because we didn't start club swimming early enough. Do other kids wait until 9 or 10? Or would that put her behind? I'm not looking for an accelerated pace, just average. I feel out of the loop since we don't do a summer swim team and it seems like that's the logical next step, but it doesn't work for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a PP said, no one can tell you the odds of your daughter making her high school swim team because some teams make cuts and others don’t. Generally, the larger and more affluent high schools are going to have more of the serious year-round swimmers, and that’s where it will be harder to make the team.

As far as just continuing lessons, it partly depends on what you mean by lesson. A lot of lessons are geared toward younger kids. As kids get older, it is more common for them to either do club swimming or a once a week maintenance program offered by their summer league team. There are a few non-competitive options like stroke schools that are geared toward older elementary/middle school aged kids, but those can be a little bit harder to find and harder to get into because spots are limited.

OP here. I'm looking at the MoCo stroke and turn clinic, or the Nation's Capitol Swim Club developmental program (is that program too intense? It looks like it's just weekly classes through the school year with a focus on skill development, which is what we want). Would you recommend one of those or something else? We have exhausted the strip mall swim school classes and I'm looking for next steps so she can keep swimming since she really likes it.

[Anonymous]

Depending on where you live summer swim can be super relaxed- and it’s all opt in, as in you can choose to compete or not. (Not believe the nonsense on this site- outside of division 1 in nvsl everyone is having fun- and even most people in D1 are there for fun).

Anyway- swim lessons are totally fine, but she might want to try to compete before high school age to see if she likes it, and summer swim is a very low cost way to make that happen. Most pools have evening practices (some are less advertised- but you could email and ask), so even if she couldn’t make many, a practice a week and a couple meets to see if she likes them would be good experience

[Anonymous]

Summer swim is the fun part of swimming even for club swimmers. I would go to a few meets at your pool (if you belong to one) and see the atmosphere and see if she likes it. My kids are not A level swimmers and don't swim in winter and insist on doing summer swim for the camaraderie and general fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Summer swim is the fun part of swimming even for club swimmers. I would go to a few meets at your pool (if you belong to one) and see the atmosphere and see if she likes it. My kids are not A level swimmers and don't swim in winter and insist on doing summer swim for the camaraderie and general fun.

OP said she can’t make it work. Lots of people can’t, but if you can’t I don’t see a point in taking her to meets so she can see what she’s missing.

My son teaches swim lessons and has a group of late elementary and middle school girls who come to him once a week to work on endurance, and have fun. That’s another option.

[Anonymous]

Try FINS, which has stroke instruction and multiple practices per week, but is not a club and so does not have regular meets. She can get pretty good there before you reconsider. Or MoCo Stroke and Turn and SwimMontgomery (between the two programs, you can get 3 days per week).

But fwiw 10 can be a _little_ old to join club swimming. The endurance developed by swimming 2-3 times per week (meaning a solid hour of laps, not taking turns to show a lesson skill) is hard to duplicate if your kid is getting into it for the first time.

[Anonymous]

My daughter’s entire HS team does club & summer. It really depends on where you are but I’d find a lowkey club team to put her on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a PP said, no one can tell you the odds of your daughter making her high school swim team because some teams make cuts and others don’t. Generally, the larger and more affluent high schools are going to have more of the serious year-round swimmers, and that’s where it will be harder to make the team.

As far as just continuing lessons, it partly depends on what you mean by lesson. A lot of lessons are geared toward younger kids. As kids get older, it is more common for them to either do club swimming or a once a week maintenance program offered by their summer league team. There are a few non-competitive options like stroke schools that are geared toward older elementary/middle school aged kids, but those can be a little bit harder to find and harder to get into because spots are limited.

OP here. I'm looking at the MoCo stroke and turn clinic, or the Nation's Capitol Swim Club developmental program (is that program too intense? It looks like it's just weekly classes through the school year with a focus on skill development, which is what we want). Would you recommend one of those or something else? We have exhausted the strip mall swim school classes and I'm looking for next steps so she can keep swimming since she really likes it.

NP - I'd also look into options at Tollefson, QOSA, and Machine. All three have low-key/no competition options across age ranges, and being with a club would allow her to move into a competitive program more easily in the future if that's something she wants. MoCo S&T is very hit or miss and NCAP, while it has lower intensity options, can be very intense as a club generally.

[Anonymous]

Agree with others. The large high school swim teams are going to be competitive, with kids having had experience with summer and/or club swim. Private school swim teams will generally be easier.

I'd recommend FINS as well for stroke refinement. I'd also highly recommend summer swim. The logistics aren't particularly difficult for our team - you can go to the practices that your schedule allows. We offer both morning and night practices. You can go to the meets you want to, or you don't have to go to any. It's super fun and not high stress. Summer swim is how a lot of club swimmers first fall in love with the sport.

As for club swim, getting onto a team is going to get harder as your child gets older. I know our club prefers kids to join at 6 or 7. By 10 or 11, getting in requires competitive experience with strong times.

[Anonymous]

She's 8..... HS is a long-time away. She may find other interests. As other PP mentioned, stroke development with a club is fine.

There's a correlation between enjoying an activity and being "good" at it. What you want to avoid is the crustification of bad habits/technique that will detract from her being reasonably proficient and therefore enjoyment.

Not with my own kids (teens and are club swimmers and do other sports) and not with other kids have I ever come across someone say, "my technique/skills suck in {fill-in-the-blank}, but damn, this is fun!"