Swim team
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Anonymous
At least in NVSL it is not strictly a requirement to wear jammers (I'm a clerk of course and we enforce uniform standards, so I'm familiar with this one). Knowing that he doesn't have to if he really doesn't want to might take some of the edge off. You decide, PP, if that would help. |
Anonymous
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Swim meets mean lots of time sitting around _outside_ the water being wet. Trunks are really uncomfortable under those circumstances (wet, cold, floppy fabric sloshing around your legs?), so jammers will likely feel a lot better really fast. Plus team uniform, so it is about fitting in for the team picture, etc.
PPs are right that the intergenerational nature of summer swim is one of the things that makes it really special. I want my DCs to become the kinds of teenagers who are leading them at the pool: the kids from ages 8 to 18 literally play together outside of practices while the families laugh and talk next to the pool. It's like some kind of dream world. |
Anonymous
+1 to all of this. Both my boys (10 and 8) now prefer jammers to trunks! The intergenerational connections in summer swim are truly magical. My older son really connected with a teenage coach who, like him, is the middle child in the same family constellation - that relationship meant a lot to him. We've also found positive benefits related to school transitions, e.g., my DD had a lot of friendly faces from the pool when she started middle school last year, older girls who could show her the ropes and just generally be reassuring. I know summer swim can get a lot of flak on this board, but I love the intensity of it all. It's short, but so sweet! |
Anonymous
| People mentioned the volunteer needs. Those are real so be prepared to meet the needs of the team. Some families like the idea of swim team but don’t want to do the work. In my area, everything is done by volunteers except for paid coaches. |
Anonymous
Apologies if this has already been mentioned, haven't had time to read through the thread just yet. But I had to say. He'll be much more comfortable wearing jammers. One of my boys with very much the same way at first, he's very big on routines, and was used to wearing swim trunks only. But trunks don't make a lot of sense for multiple reasons in a swim team setting. They're straight up harder to swim in, due to them creating 'drag', and don't allow for a lot of the mobility that you need (i.e while doing flip turns etc). Plus, he'll feel better with jammers on while out of the pool, as my boys insist they're way more comfortable when wet than standard swimming trunks. Heck my guys wear their jammers even when just swimming around for fun in non-team settings these days, simply because they're more comfortable. He'll be fine, especially when he sees all the other boys are also wearing them. |
Anonymous
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It's worth trying it and seeing if your kid likes it. We required all our kids to do it for one season because it really teaches them how to swim proficiently. One kid turned out to be a very good swimmer and is still doing it as an older teen. He has a lot of other interests so has never made it the center of his summer life. He goes to practice, swims at the meets, and has a good time. Doesn't hang around at the pool all day, etc. One kid hated it and just did the one season. One kid really loved it when younger and made a ton of friends and embraced the social side of things but then dropped off as a teen because not a great swimmer. If you are at a big pool with a strong team, which has a lot of advantages, the team will really thin out when they are teens. The kids who aren't doing A meets tend to drop it as an activity.
Just go in with no expectations and see how your kid likes it. |
Anonymous
Intergenerational connections are awesome. And.... Some of the pools have had hazing issues. When the kids age into 13+, they get hazed by the older teens. For sure, this doesn't happen everywhere but I would always just keep your eyes open and ask a lot of questions. |
Anonymous
And on the girls' side, depending on how spacious and comfortable your locker room is, keep an eye out for girls ages 10-13 and nonsense involving phones and hanging out in the locker room. We had a big problem with it the last 2 summers. |
Anonymous
I keep my eyes open plenty - I’ve worked professionally with CPS, so I know better than to assume it would never happen to my kids. I’m also not so naive as to let my 13 year olds do a lock-in with 17 year olds and zero adults (actual adults) present. Stuff like this doesn’t happen in a vacuum. Warning signs of this kind of stuff: coaching at the extremes (entrenched leaders who have been there forever or ones who turnover constantly, with little authority), general culture of winning at all costs, general culture of cliquishness (bc not all pools have them). These aren’t all, but are some of the bigger red flags. |
Anonymous
I’m disappointed to hear this. I’m not so naive that I think summer swim is some sort of utopia, but I’ve never heard of hazing in summer swim. On the contrary, my own experience and those of most with whom I’ve spoken is that the inter-age group camaraderie is what makes it so special. Further, the older kids see themselves as mentors/leaders/protectors of their younger teammates and the team fosters this (especially because unlike in other sports, the younger kids on the team can score just as many points as the older; they’re not lower on the pole contribution-wise). Anyway, I certainly hope that summer swim hazing by older kids is an extreme exception (of which we should all still be mindful of course). Now, as another poster mentioned, the introduction of phones sucks and is a disruptor among peers. I’d love to see the older kids role modeling positive social media behavior to their younger teammates. |
Anonymous
| Based on our experience, there has not been a lot of inter-generational bonding outside of the older kids serving as junior coaches for the youngest kids. This whole the points count the same argument hasn't meant the young kids are bonded with the older kids. Sure, the 17 year old junior coaching the 7 year old may have a bond with that kid but it’s not like 12 year olds and 17 year olds are bonding as teammates. There is a lot of rose colored glasses view of summer swim going on here. |
Anonymous
Our coach is threatening to confiscate phones during a meet. |
Anonymous
That’s not our experience at all. No, the 7 year olds aren’t best friends with 17 year olds, but they cheer each other on, throw the little kids on their shoulders for cheers, know each others names, play field games together, and older kids are definitely role models / looked up to. One of my kids still talks fondly about a teenage teammate who was around when we was 8 and my 15 year old has a now nine year old “little buddy” he fondly greets whenever he sees and will throw around in the poll. I’m sure it differs by team, but I’m a new poster and the different aged friendships are something I’ve really loved about swim team too. |
Anonymous
You can have him wear his trunks over the jammers at first if he’s nervous. He’ll quickly discover they are comfortable and the trunks are annoying when swimming. My 3 boys always brought their jammers to the beach and wore them under their trunks while boarding. Protected them from the sand and rashes. |
Anonymous
Exactly. At our pool, it’s apparently cool for swim team kids to wear jammers outside of practice (when hanging at the pool), and my kid has taken it so far as to insist on wearing jammers at the beach 🤣🤣🤣 |