year round team with flexible options, good communication, positive culture for all

[Anonymous]

What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

[Anonymous]

Not going to ever happen....

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not going to ever happen....

Which part?
What year round team are you on? Any experience with the smaller swim clubs that you can share?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure your wishlist works with pool availability here. The number of swimmers compared to lane space in the DC area make your wishlist unreasonable. Your child who doesn't want to commit full time to swim (which is reasonable) is taking away lane space from a child who does want to commit full time to swim.

There are areas of the country where you can find a team that meets your wishlist. Are you willing to move to find this team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure your wishlist works with pool availability here. The number of swimmers compared to lane space in the DC area make your wishlist unreasonable. Your child who doesn't want to commit full time to swim (which is reasonable) is taking away lane space from a child who does want to commit full time to swim.

There are areas of the country where you can find a team that meets your wishlist. Are you willing to move to find this team?

“Your child is taking Swabian’s space.” “Are you willing to move to find this team?” Are you serious? I hope not. There are quite a few smaller clubs around here that don’t require full-time swimmers. Hopefully we’ll hear some responses about the options, communication, and culture there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

The bolded is not true for Machine, at least not for the Maryland sites. They have 2-4/week options for older swimmers that are almost all in the afternoons. Again, this is Fairland and UMD only. We've also found they have a very positive team culture and good communication. UMD has a lot of practice disruptions during certain parts of the year, since many big meets take place there. So far, the trade off has been worth it for us.

Location is going to be a huge deciding factor here, maybe more than anything else. Maybe I missed it where you included that information, but it matters.

[Anonymous]

QOSA

[Anonymous]

If you can get in with a good coach/site, RMSC seniors might work.

The problem is, spots in that group are very hard to come by.

[Anonymous]

Most of the clubs in the area, even the ones you mentioned as being inflexible, have a low key HS training group that practices in the evening and doesn’t require attending every day.

[Anonymous]

Centerville Swim Club fits all of the criteria you described. It is a smaller club that uses a few different pools around the area. Communication is excellent. You can sign up for as little as one day a week. They are pretty flexible with attending practice on a different day if you have to miss your usual day. That being said, I don’t think it would go over well if you didn’t at least generally commit to a specific schedule and we’re asking to change which practice you attend every week.

The only real drawback is that if your child wants or needs more serious training, the club seems to be funneling that into their early morning practices even for younger kids. But if you have a kid who isn’t super serious about swimming and needs flexibility, CSC offers this in a way that most other clubs do not.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not going to ever happen....

Which part?
What year round team are you on? Any experience with the smaller swim clubs that you can share?

We've been on several an none do that.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

This isn't going to happen anywhere. Having said that, we don't have a super fast swimmer and we've been fine with Marlins. We went into it knowing it's basically just good exercise for our kid with the option for her to challenge herself at meets. That's it. As for practices, you're going to have more flexibility with the younger ages. As they get older, due to pool/lane availability, early morning is usually the only way to get all the practices in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

The bolded is not true for Machine, at least not for the Maryland sites. They have 2-4/week options for older swimmers that are almost all in the afternoons. Again, this is Fairland and UMD only. We've also found they have a very positive team culture and good communication. UMD has a lot of practice disruptions during certain parts of the year, since many big meets take place there. So far, the trade off has been worth it for us.

Location is going to be a huge deciding factor here, maybe more than anything else. Maybe I missed it where you included that information, but it matters.

Machine Chesterbrook has afternoon/early evening options. Practice schedules differ by site. As with the case with all clubs in the real, practice options are limited by pool time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

This isn't going to happen anywhere. Having said that, we don't have a super fast swimmer and we've been fine with Marlins. We went into it knowing it's basically just good exercise for our kid with the option for her to challenge herself at meets. That's it. As for practices, you're going to have more flexibility with the younger ages. As they get older, due to pool/lane availability, early morning is usually the only way to get all the practices in.

Thank you.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What USA swim teams have some flexible options for evening practice? We are searching for practice 2 to 4 times a week, ideally between 5 and 8 PM, and bonus if they allow practice make-ups or flexibility. We also would like communication and attention from the coaches, even if you’re not a top swimmer or are still developing technique. No playing favorites- we’re all paying the same amount of money and volunteering to the team- everybody deserves attention and communication equally, not just the favorites.

NCAP and Machine require eventually getting to five days a week or early morning practices. Makos gives a lot more attention the fast top swimmers and certain parents, and communication is not great from some coaches.

The bolded is not true for Machine, at least not for the Maryland sites. They have 2-4/week options for older swimmers that are almost all in the afternoons. Again, this is Fairland and UMD only. We've also found they have a very positive team culture and good communication. UMD has a lot of practice disruptions during certain parts of the year, since many big meets take place there. So far, the trade off has been worth it for us.

Location is going to be a huge deciding factor here, maybe more than anything else. Maybe I missed it where you included that information, but it matters.

Machine Chesterbrook has afternoon/early evening options. Practice schedules differ by site. As with the case with all clubs in the real, practice options are limited by pool time.

Pretty much every Machine site has a “senior” program which has 2, 3, and 4 day options that you are welcome to stay in for as long as you’d like.

Now if your swimmer improves a ton during the year and now has a goal to make a next level cut time, the coach will likely recommend going to more days, but that will happen at every team as they aren’t going to change the whole groups training to satisfy one swimmer (and no club will at that level)