Swimming as second (or third) favorite sport

[Anonymous]

My middle kid is one of those who is pretty good at almost every sport and doesn't want to give up any of them because of different friends etc and fondness of variety probably. So, said kid swims 2-5x/week depending on what part of the year it is. More in the winter and summer with no other conflicts. Less in the fall and spring. There are definitely kids that only swim 2 days a week, even in HS.

And definitely cutting varies. 2 schools my kids go to, one has a large team with either no or minimal cuts, the other cuts but I think it was mostly really aspirational kids that got cut, kids that could really only swim 50 and maybe 100 events.

That's another thing to keep in mind for any casual swimmer, if you can just swim a 500 semi-competently, your chances are better on a cut team because the coach won't have to burn a ringer on the event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My middle kid is one of those who is pretty good at almost every sport and doesn't want to give up any of them because of different friends etc and fondness of variety probably. So, said kid swims 2-5x/week depending on what part of the year it is. More in the winter and summer with no other conflicts. Less in the fall and spring. There are definitely kids that only swim 2 days a week, even in HS.

And definitely cutting varies. 2 schools my kids go to, one has a large team with either no or minimal cuts, the other cuts but I think it was mostly really aspirational kids that got cut, kids that could really only swim 50 and maybe 100 events.

That's another thing to keep in mind for any casual swimmer, if you can just swim a 500 semi-competently, your chances are better on a cut team because the coach won't have to burn a ringer on the event.

OP here. This is good to know! My child is a freestyler and I think they are suited for the longer races. Long and lean with pretty good endurance. I will encourage them to try the longer races at the few club meets they will be doing this year.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For now my late elementary kids swim in the Norman Competitive group - 2x a week workouts and 0 meets. Swimming is not their top sport, but it’s #2 for both and they see this as a way to be competitive for summer swim at our NVSL division 6/7/8 pool.

Following because I like the exercise they get and hope they can maintain something similar through junior high. In HS, I assume they will have conditioning workouts as part of their main sports or will be able to take responsibility for coordinating running or biking for fitness with friends like I did at that age.

Norman swimming is really really badly run. Make sure you stay and watch, they have safety issues.

[Anonymous]

I have a kid whose primary sport isn’t swimming and one whose is. For the future, if you’re in Virginia, try York twice a week, machine twice a week, or AAC twice a week options. They all have some program available for kids who do other sports (eg my kid practices late at night to stay relevant but it’s definitely a secondary sport!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There are plenty of swim options to swim 2-3 times a week and do other sports as well with swim. Nothing will make a kid quit more than swimming all the time and the younger the kids starts swimming all those days, the more likely they will quit when a teen.

High School swim can be a cut sport at certain schools but usually if the kid is terrible at swimming (i.e. can barely swim). A lot of high school kids that are great on the team, swim summer and that is it.

This. Programs that want kids under 13 in the water 5 days a week and penalize the kids that don’t put in that time are a ticket to burnout. I’ve seen it happen with some insanely talented swimmers who just gave up to go play other sports for fun.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I disagree. If you go to a pvs meet you will see there are tons of kids, including teens, who only swim 2x a week. Most high school swim teams are no cut.

+1

BC needs swimmers, if you can look past their recent hazing incident.

[Anonymous]

I know a bunch of kids who swim 'casually' in high school - i.e. in summer swim, on the HS swim team, maybe doing something outside of school a couple times a week. One of my two will likely end up in this group (she's in 7th grade now, swimming 2-5 times a week depending on the season and other sports).

My other kid is a 6-time a week swimmer and for him, the decision was between keeping that up (at the expense of other sports he really enjoys) or dropping down to nothing outside summer swim. He was not willing to consider the 3x a week club swim option; he thought it was only worth it to swim if he put in the work to excel. That seemed silly to me, but alas, his decision. He might yet decide to drop swim sometime in high school, in which case I expect he'll keep up with Summer Swim and maybe continue to swim for the high school team, which is pretty chill (does really well, but has a good mix of superstar club swimmers and more casual swimmers).