least popular Individ All Stars event

[Anonymous]

curious from those who've been around a while, is there one event that seems easier to make? ie the top all around swimmers tend not to pick it?

[Anonymous]

This varies from year-to-year but they definitely have problems filling all of the spots for the older age groups, regardless of event. How old is your kid?

[Anonymous]

11/12 so kids still want to go -- I feel like everyone loves free/fly/IM, no?

[Anonymous]

Generally the most scratches are IM out of any event.

And 13&O are likely to have scratched. 15-18 will have a TON of scratches across the board.

[Anonymous]

You can pull up last year's scratches. There were a ton of 11-12 scratches in free and back.

And a ton - I mean maybe a dozen total.

They don't publish the initial scratches, so it could be more.

[Anonymous]

There really aren’t that many in 11-12. I was looking at IM last week and I think it went to #24 as second alternate so it moved 4 spaces.

15-18 has a ton because most top swimmers are at Futures.

[Anonymous]

I am wondering this too. I have a younger kid who has neither a weak stroke nor a really strong one. They are ranked between 15 and 20 for each individual stroke. Higher in IM so will definitely pick that one. But not sure what other 2 events to pick (in our league kids can choose 3). Freestyle feels like the hardest to make All Stars if you aren't a standout freestyler. Plus no one really DQs there. Ironically DC's highest individual stroke ranking is in the stroke they like least, and they are also the least consistent in that event. Wondering if fly is more or less popular than the others? And if breast less popular than free/back? It seems like odds might be better in fly/breast because odds of DQ'ing tend to be higher in those at the young ages.

My oldest is so different -- only really good at two strokes, so it's always been easy for them to pick events.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering this too. I have a younger kid who has neither a weak stroke nor a really strong one. They are ranked between 15 and 20 for each individual stroke. Higher in IM so will definitely pick that one. But not sure what other 2 events to pick (in our league kids can choose 3). Freestyle feels like the hardest to make All Stars if you aren't a standout freestyler. Plus no one really DQs there. Ironically DC's highest individual stroke ranking is in the stroke they like least, and they are also the least consistent in that event. Wondering if fly is more or less popular than the others? And if breast less popular than free/back? It seems like odds might be better in fly/breast because odds of DQ'ing tend to be higher in those at the young ages.

My oldest is so different -- only really good at two strokes, so it's always been easy for them to pick events.

How do you know where they are in IM at this point in the season?

[Anonymous]

You'll never really know. My kid was a preteen girl 1st alternate and did not get to swim a few years ago. Not a single kid scratched. I think in the last few years more scratch. maybe it is due to school starting earlier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I am wondering this too. I have a younger kid who has neither a weak stroke nor a really strong one. They are ranked between 15 and 20 for each individual stroke. Higher in IM so will definitely pick that one. But not sure what other 2 events to pick (in our league kids can choose 3). Freestyle feels like the hardest to make All Stars if you aren't a standout freestyler. Plus no one really DQs there. Ironically DC's highest individual stroke ranking is in the stroke they like least, and they are also the least consistent in that event. Wondering if fly is more or less popular than the others? And if breast less popular than free/back? It seems like odds might be better in fly/breast because odds of DQ'ing tend to be higher in those at the young ages.

My oldest is so different -- only really good at two strokes, so it's always been easy for them to pick events.

How do you know where they are in IM at this point in the season?

A

Our league publishes rankings for IM including results from the IM invitational meet. I assume most kids who are good at IM have done it either at an A meet or at that meet.

[Anonymous]

As a general rule of thumb, typically the older the age group the higher number of scratches.

[Anonymous]

There is no IM in NVSL A meets and our team doesn’t even let us see times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is no IM in NVSL A meets and our team doesn’t even let us see times.

Pull up the results from the past few years to gauge. It will give you an approximation of the times needed.

[Anonymous]

It varies a lot from year to year. As do the times. Last year, my DC had a time that comfortably made AS in prior years and usually would comfortably scratch in (older age group). But instead, the times were faster to make AS an fewer people scratched so no dice!

IM is the one that is the most variable.

[Anonymous]

In most divisions, IM is a craps shoot at divisionals because you can’t really predict who is going to swim. This is especially true at the younger ages (10&U/11-12). Sometimes you need a strong time to medal .. and sometimes you can medal with a pretty average time. However, I don’t think that hat this necessarily carries over to IAS qualification. There are still enough top swimmers doing IM that you need a top-tier time to make IAS.

I would guess that 8&U breast is likely the easiest event to make IAS overall. Even in the top divisions, the pool of kids who can swim breast well and legally at that age is relatively small. And there is a technical aspect, so there is less benefit to a younger kid simply being bigger or more athletic.

As others have written, the most IAS scratches are typically in the 15-18s.