Summer Swim Team Coaching- tell me about yours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We have a huge team with lots of year round swim kids in the older ages. Only some kids get picked for A meets. But they all practice at the same time and there is not splitting out to A swimmers and B swimmers during practice.

My view as mom of one older year round swimmer and one younger summer inly swimmer. Normal practices are not really enough for them to learn the stroke mechanics well enough. You need to add some of the one on one lessons or at least small group clinics (ours offers these for a small extra fee). It is just too many kids on a large team.

In my view if there is favoritism or different treatment of A meet vs B meet kids in any way other than selection for Sat swimming then it is a toxic team feel I would not want my kids on. It should be one big full team - some of which swims on Sat.

DC's team seems like it's hit that toxic feel. Luckily it's over. Any advice from people about how to address for next year?
Swim leaders are under the illusion the coach is fine but they are awful.

[Anonymous]

it really depends on the team and the coach. some of our coaches are super hands off and just telling the kids what they are swimming. a FEW are hands on and will correct the kids and work on their mechanics. we have a HUGE team and everyone practices together.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a huge team with lots of year round swim kids in the older ages. Only some kids get picked for A meets. But they all practice at the same time and there is not splitting out to A swimmers and B swimmers during practice.

My view as mom of one older year round swimmer and one younger summer inly swimmer. Normal practices are not really enough for them to learn the stroke mechanics well enough. You need to add some of the one on one lessons or at least small group clinics (ours offers these for a small extra fee). It is just too many kids on a large team.

In my view if there is favoritism or different treatment of A meet vs B meet kids in any way other than selection for Sat swimming then it is a toxic team feel I would not want my kids on. It should be one big full team - some of which swims on Sat.

Our team doesn’t separate out to A swimmers and B swimmers per se, the kids are separated by age groups, the 8 and unders, early ES, late ES, middle school, and HS, but they do move kids into different practice groups based on ability. Essentially all the club kids are in the HS practice group regardless of their age. I think this is helpful because then you don’t have the 10 year old club kid swimming with their age group, who can’t keep up with them and then get salty about that kid being the best all the time. If you want the club kids to come to practice you also can’t have the 10-12 year old club kids swim with their age group because they get nothing out of that practice. The mix of ages in my kid’s practice group has been fun for them, they make a point to go to summer practice after club practice at least once a week and feel like they also get something out of it.

My club swimmer loves swimming with her age group.

Our experience may be a little different because we just joined our summer team this year, so my kid didn’t have pre-existing friends on the team. But when DC went to their age group practice the first week they had their legs pulled, kids being shitty, kids cheating saying they had completed the warm up 100 when they hadn’t because my DC had finished. It sucked and DC didn’t want to come back to practice until they were moved to the HS practice where all the kids were awesome.

[Anonymous]

Wow, our college age coaches charge $40 for a 30 min lesson.

[Anonymous]

Our coach is wonderful and my kids love the junior coaches. I feel very grateful as I’ve heard some other communities were unable to find coaches this year and had to cancel the season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, our college age coaches charge $40 for a 30 min lesson.

Do you think that's on the upper end? Ours is $30.

[Anonymous]

OP here- thanks for all the helpful feedback! Good to know their is a range and I should lower my expectations. However, I can’t get over the lack of encouragement. Example- we had a relay recently and for many kids, it was their very first time doing one. Zero prep before morning of- which is fine- but coach was actually present at start/finish and I watched as there was zero acknowledgment as swimmers got out of the pool- no matter how they swam. No high five, “good job”, Pat on back or anything. I feel like that is basic coaching 101.

I will be looking at year round swim starting this Fall.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here- thanks for all the helpful feedback! Good to know their is a range and I should lower my expectations. However, I can’t get over the lack of encouragement. Example- we had a relay recently and for many kids, it was their very first time doing one. Zero prep before morning of- which is fine- but coach was actually present at start/finish and I watched as there was zero acknowledgment as swimmers got out of the pool- no matter how they swam. No high five, “good job”, Pat on back or anything. I feel like that is basic coaching 101.

I will be looking at year round swim starting this Fall.

A bunch of parents at our pool were talking about the same thing the other day. Maybe you're at our pool. We have a really bad coach this year.

[Anonymous]

I felt dissatisfied with our coaching but assumed it was just me until the parent reps sent out an email earlier today.

They’re calling a parent meeting for this week to discuss the future of the team and how to provide a better experience for kids, parents, volunteers, etc. For our team, it looks like the lackluster coaching, A-team parents who don’t sign their kids out of meets and keep others from having opportunities to swim, and refusal of parents to volunteer (all huge issues this season) has finally blown up and is getting addressed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I felt dissatisfied with our coaching but assumed it was just me until the parent reps sent out an email earlier today.

They’re calling a parent meeting for this week to discuss the future of the team and how to provide a better experience for kids, parents, volunteers, etc. For our team, it looks like the lackluster coaching, A-team parents who don’t sign their kids out of meets and keep others from having opportunities to swim, and refusal of parents to volunteer (all huge issues this season) has finally blown up and is getting addressed.

It’s nice that teams are addressing legitimate issues. There was a team in our division whose head coach left (I don’t know the circumstances) after the 1st A meet, and we had heard less than complimentary things about that coach. Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.

[Anonymous]

Our coaches are pretty great. 175 kids but the head coach knows them all by name and the assistant coaches give pep talks to each swimmer before and after each event, regardless of whether it’s an A meet or B meet. They’re competitive (especially the head coach) and push the kids, but also have a lot of fun. I don’t know that there’s a ton of time for individual instruction, but my kids have improved tons each season and really enjoy the team.

[Anonymous]

“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I felt dissatisfied with our coaching but assumed it was just me until the parent reps sent out an email earlier today.

They’re calling a parent meeting for this week to discuss the future of the team and how to provide a better experience for kids, parents, volunteers, etc. For our team, it looks like the lackluster coaching, A-team parents who don’t sign their kids out of meets and keep others from having opportunities to swim, and refusal of parents to volunteer (all huge issues this season) has finally blown up and is getting addressed.

I hope our team does that. The reps are under the illusion that it's been a great season but lots of parents are seriously unhappy for many of the reasons you mentioned and it's not lackluster coaching but downright poor coaching.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.