Regular Cancelations of Swim Practices

[Anonymous]

Hi all — I’m looking for a little perspective.

My son’s club team has been canceling practices pretty regularly due to swim meets being held at the pool. I completely understand that meets take priority, but this feels like it’s happening quite often.

I’m starting to question whether we’re getting the value we expected for the cost of the program, given the number of missed practices. Is this something other teams typically deal with, or does this seem excessive? I’d really appreciate hearing about others’ experiences.

[Anonymous]

How often and what pool?

[Anonymous]

To truly assess this, I think you’d have to compare the costs of other clubs, their practice frequency, where else they charge extra fees, etc. We changed clubs in the past. The newer one was more expensive, but way fewer schedule disruptions, so I’m okay with the higher costs. If your current club is less than other clubs, they may have factored this into the dues. (Lots of factors determine dues cost, but if they’re paying less for lane rentals for the season, they may charge less.)

[Anonymous]

I should also add that it really comes down to what facility you’re practicing at. In Virginia, clubs that practice at rec centers and GMU are going to contend with more practice cancellations than clubs that use other facilities. Those sites host meets for a lot of clubs, HS teams, and colleges, so it’s unavoidable. That won’t be unique to one club, it’s any club that uses the facility.

[Anonymous]

Our team offers practice at a different pool when originally pool has meet conflict, or we can get makeup class at a different day/time.

[Anonymous]

I think this is where teams like NCAP-Burke, Hydra, and many of the Machine sites (probably others) rate a bit higher. These pools do not host meets and serve only one team. As such, the cancellations are mostly (always?) tethered to weather.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Hi all — I’m looking for a little perspective.

My son’s club team has been canceling practices pretty regularly due to swim meets being held at the pool. I completely understand that meets take priority, but this feels like it’s happening quite often.

I’m starting to question whether we’re getting the value we expected for the cost of the program, given the number of missed practices. Is this something other teams typically deal with, or does this seem excessive? I’d really appreciate hearing about others’ experiences.

define regularly? PVS meets (or HS meets) don't just happen on the fly - they are scheduled months in advance. If these are cancellations outside the norm, then ok.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is where teams like NCAP-Burke, Hydra, and many of the Machine sites (probably others) rate a bit higher. These pools do not host meets and serve only one team. As such, the cancellations are mostly (always?) tethered to weather.

We’re with Machine at UMD, which of course is used often for meets. Their site leadership does a great job rescheduling to the Fairland site as much as possible and communicating with us as early as possible. It’s not ideal, but for us worth it, between the coaching and what a great pool it is.

[Anonymous]

Do you have tbe option of midweek practices instead and you just prefer weekends?

[Anonymous]

Machine at UMD is cancelled often and then rescheduled for Sunday morning at Fairland which doesn’t work for us. In general, the priority is not kids who are younger or not on elite track. They should rebate back to parents, particularly when no practice due to weather, but they do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think this is where teams like NCAP-Burke, Hydra, and many of the Machine sites (probably others) rate a bit higher. These pools do not host meets and serve only one team. As such, the cancellations are mostly (always?) tethered to weather.

Our club team practices at a public pool and we have never once had a practice cancelled for meets or other scheduling conflicts. On the rare occasion (I can think of maybe 2 times) there’s been a pool closure, they have moved the practice to an alternate pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Machine at UMD is cancelled often and then rescheduled for Sunday morning at Fairland which doesn’t work for us. In general, the priority is not kids who are younger or not on elite track. They should rebate back to parents, particularly when no practice due to weather, but they do not.

But are you saying younger kids are offered makeups on Sun mornings but since you can’t do that, you should get a rebate?

[Anonymous]

What are your regular practice days?
I’m still confused. Most practices are midweek. If you chose a Sat practice day then of course they’re going to get canceled for meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Machine at UMD is cancelled often and then rescheduled for Sunday morning at Fairland which doesn’t work for us. In general, the priority is not kids who are younger or not on elite track. They should rebate back to parents, particularly when no practice due to weather, but they do not.

But are you saying younger kids are offered makeups on Sun mornings but since you can’t do that, you should get a rebate?

I’m saying practices are regularly cancelled on Saturday, sometimes they will reschedule for Sundays - sometimes not. Weekday practices are also frequently cancelled - we lost a week for snow, there are no practices on holidays where MD is closed- they were not rescheduled at all. If you are paying for three classes a week on certain days - you should get those days, especially since they discourage you from bringing them on their non-assigned days. Machine itself gets compensated from university when they don’t get the lanes. They should pass this on to parents. Because there is a big jump in tuition from 2-3 times per week.

[Anonymous]

Here’s another example- it was just announced that April 10th there will be no practice for all sites due to an all staff planning meeting to plan next season. After multiple weeks in March of interrupted practices, this is an inconsiderate choice.