Transferring between swim clubs

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

I would agree with this. By age 11, it’s hard to break into the top clubs unless you have champs cuts because their groups are largely full with returning swimmers. I think 8-9 is the sweet spot for getting into club swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Times start mattering at 11/12 for girls. That is the first "cut" so to speak where you can see if there is any potential talent. That being said I would rather a pretty good 11/12 that has yet to go through puberty (girl) then one that has already grown and potentially is peaking.

Boys it is a little later than girls.

A lot of talented kids burn out and peak during the 13-15 range. I am watching our club move swimmers out of the elite track (13 year olds) to the competitive track because the times and improvements are starting to get flat. They are also accepting swimmers from other clubs with good times and trajectories.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Times start mattering at 11/12 for girls. That is the first "cut" so to speak where you can see if there is any potential talent. That being said I would rather a pretty good 11/12 that has yet to go through puberty (girl) then one that has already grown and potentially is peaking.

Boys it is a little later than girls.

A lot of talented kids burn out and peak during the 13-15 range. I am watching our club move swimmers out of the elite track (13 year olds) to the competitive track because the times and improvements are starting to get flat. They are also accepting swimmers from other clubs with good times and trajectories.

This is true for the most part. But at 16 it is really easy to move clubs if you have sectional or national times. Any club wants that swimmer. Younger kids should be making champ cuts (league) at the minimum if they want a club to look at them.

[Anonymous]

swimming is easy this way- you have the times, you can move anywhere, any time.

if you don't have the times, you have to get lucky (maybe a bunch of kids leave), already be there (and moved up the system), or know the coach somehow (through summer swim, etc)

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.

Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.

Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.

Depends on the age a bit. But if your kid is under 12, they all drop time a lot and occasionally hit a plateau. So, at least at the biggest clubs this sort of analysis is unlikely to bump a slower kid above a faster one.

[Anonymous]

Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

Check out the IMR rankings for various clubs and you will find that they all have non-competitive kids on their roster.

For example, ASA is one of the more selective clubs .. https://www.swimmingrank.com/mdva/pv/scy_PVASA_girls_11_12_imr.html

Bigger clubs such as RMSC [ https://www.swimmingrank.com/mdva/pv/scy_PVRMSC_girls_11_12_imr.html ] and NCAP [ https://www.swimmingrank.com/mdva/pv/scy_PVNCAP_girls_11_12_imr.html ] have even more non-competitive swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.

Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.

Depends on the age a bit. But if your kid is under 12, they all drop time a lot and occasionally hit a plateau. So, at least at the biggest clubs this sort of analysis is unlikely to bump a slower kid above a faster one.

Do clubs ever factor in how frequently a child is practicing? One of my kids likes swimming well enough, but currently likes other sports more. So swimming is more of a 2 day/week activity max right now. He's getting to an age where kids who are more committed will be swimming 3-4 days/week. If he decides in a couple years that he is burned out on other sports and wants to swim more, will the bigger/"better" clubs just not be an option because he will be too far behind the kids who committed earlier? He is pretty athletic, has a nice natural freestyle, and a good body type for swim. I think he could be good at middle to longer distance free IF he wanted to make that commitment. Not sure how much coaches factor in potential for kids who aren't training as much as some others...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

This is highly dependent on how dense your area is with swimmers vs swim clubs. We lived in nyc where the slots for tryouts filled up within a couple of days for a certain club. So forget worrying about not getting a spot after trying out, it was hard to even get a chance to try out. We then moved to a city where there were plenty of clubs, so joining a new one entailed one email to the coach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

It’s club dependent, there are so many clubs in the DMV that any swimmer should be able to find a place to swim. However, for the bigger and more competitive clubs (RMSC, NCAP, Machine) tryouts are competitive. The other piece is that once you are in at one of these clubs, you do not lose your spot even if you do not end up developing into a champs level swimmer. As a result there are a decent number of slots in the 9 and over groups that are already taken by the kids that started with the club at 7 or 8, making it even more competitive for the kid trying to join at age 11-12.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

It’s club dependent, there are so many clubs in the DMV that any swimmer should be able to find a place to swim. However, for the bigger and more competitive clubs (RMSC, NCAP, Machine) tryouts are competitive. The other piece is that once you are in at one of these clubs, you do not lose your spot even if you do not end up developing into a champs level swimmer. As a result there are a decent number of slots in the 9 and over groups that are already taken by the kids that started with the club at 7 or 8, making it even more competitive for the kid trying to join at age 11-12.

A number of the clubs have at least two groups for kids 11 and up. One group is the serious competitive one (often requiring 4 or 5 days a week practice), and the other is not so competitive (3 days a week or so) even though they usually still go to meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….

It’s club dependent, there are so many clubs in the DMV that any swimmer should be able to find a place to swim. However, for the bigger and more competitive clubs (RMSC, NCAP, Machine) tryouts are competitive. The other piece is that once you are in at one of these clubs, you do not lose your spot even if you do not end up developing into a champs level swimmer. As a result there are a decent number of slots in the 9 and over groups that are already taken by the kids that started with the club at 7 or 8, making it even more competitive for the kid trying to join at age 11-12.

A number of the clubs have at least two groups for kids 11 and up. One group is the serious competitive one (often requiring 4 or 5 days a week practice), and the other is not so competitive (3 days a week or so) even though they usually still go to meets.

My kid swims with NCAP and at our site 11-12 is where you see a lot of kids stop swimming. We don’t have a less competitive option for swimmers that age, so the choice is to either make the commitment to the more competitive group or leave the club. There is a less competitive HS option, but that doesn’t help the kids in 7th-8th grade who like to swim but it’s not their primary sport, or they don’t want to practice 5-6 days a week with some early mornings.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.

Starting at what age do times really matter?

Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.

Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.

Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.

Depends on the age a bit. But if your kid is under 12, they all drop time a lot and occasionally hit a plateau. So, at least at the biggest clubs this sort of analysis is unlikely to bump a slower kid above a faster one.

Do clubs ever factor in how frequently a child is practicing? One of my kids likes swimming well enough, but currently likes other sports more. So swimming is more of a 2 day/week activity max right now. He's getting to an age where kids who are more committed will be swimming 3-4 days/week. If he decides in a couple years that he is burned out on other sports and wants to swim more, will the bigger/"better" clubs just not be an option because he will be too far behind the kids who committed earlier? He is pretty athletic, has a nice natural freestyle, and a good body type for swim. I think he could be good at middle to longer distance free IF he wanted to make that commitment. Not sure how much coaches factor in potential for kids who aren't training as much as some others...

Not up front but they all pretty much have their practice attendance requirements defined so you know what you are expected to maintain if you are invited. Once you are on the club, if you can't maintain these minimums you'll be off the team or need to move down to a less competitive option for the age, if available. From what you describe, your son would be in the lower tier group at RMSC which only requires 2x/week.