Mini-team swim lessons?

[Anonymous]

Minis vary by pool. Our is that if you will separate from your parent, put your face in the water and swim by any means for 5-10 meters you are mini. The goal for the season is to get all the minis swimming a full 25 by the end of the season. Once you can swim a 25 you are on the regular swim team as an 8 and under.

The minis practice is that each mini is in the water with a mini-coach who is a 12-15 year old on the swim team. The swim team coaches give directions to the mini coaches who help each mini practice stuff like kicking and arm pulls. The minis “compete” in the B meets in events that swim across the dive well, with their mini coach in the water with them. It’s the most adorable part of summer swim: you see these teenagers who you remember being a mini seemingly yesterday, but now looking so big and grown, helping the littlest ones across the pool. Then you see both the mini and their coach celebrating like they just won the Super Bowl when they make it across.

[Anonymous]

Our pre team says on their website that they need to be able to swim 15 meters, but in practice they take a lot of kids (like mine) that can't swim yet. I think the real criteria is they need to be willing to get in the pool and put their face in the water without a parent.

[Anonymous]

Adding that I do not think weekly lessons are terribly effective for the majority of kids. My kid made much more progress over 3 consecutive days of playing at the pool with me than she did in 3 months of weekly lessons.

[Anonymous]

It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Also make sure you understand what the pool means by pre-team. Our pool has a swim lesson program which is different from our mini program. Pre-team requires being able to swim 25m of freestyle and backstroke. It might not be pretty or legal, but can they generally do it without doggy paddling, stopping to hold the wall or standing.

Is that to join or to graduate?

To join. Pre team is about taking kids who have basic swimming skills and improving them. It isn’t the same as teaching them how to swim.

Seems to vary- at our pool (in MCSL), if your child swims freestyle across the pool at the evaluation they go straight to the swim team. Pre-team is for the kids who can swim a few yards independently , then over the course of the season the goal is to get them swimming a length of freestyle, and backstroke although more kids are able to accomplish the former.

Same at our MCSL pool. We’re super lucky to have a large coaching staff and a head coach very skilled at teaching young kids. Our 8&U have made a lot of progress this season! So have our pre-teamers, but at a different level.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

How do you determine whether a kid can handle a 45 min 8 and under practice vs. a 30 min pre-team practice? Just curious.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

I think this also depend on the team size and how competitive the team is. I know pools like Overlee have so many kids that they are more strict on requirement to be on the team or pre-team.

At our pool to be on 8U/real swim team they need to be able to swim across the entire pool and keep up with the pace of practice.

For mini team then need to be comfortable in the water- tread water, float on back and front, jump in deep end, do some backstroke and front crawl.

[Anonymous]

Our pool, Vienna Aquatic Club, has a program like this. You have to be a member but you could try for a summer lease next year.

[Anonymous]

And here are the various swimming levels at Vienna Aquatic https://vacgators.swimtopia.com/swimming-levels

[Anonymous]

OP, there are many NVSL pools in the McLean, Falls Church, Arlington area, so find a pool near your neighborhood and get on the list to join for next summer (the summer swim season is almost over). In the meantime, Spring Hill Rec has great swim lessons and gave my kids a great foundation. When mine were little, we did lessons at the Rec Center and then joined our pool's mini program/ regular swim team (depending on where they were at the time) and did lessons with the coaches at our pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

The first week of 8U practice is a mess, but after that our borderline 25-ers can usually make it through in the slow lane, so we keep them and cultivate them over time. They make so much progress in a single summer!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:A poster in another thread mentioned having signed up their child for a swim team with a “mini team” (or “pre-team”?) that consists of daily swim lessons. Where/how can I find something like this in the McLean/Falls Church/Arlington area?

My kids (6 & 4) have done Goldfish with little progress, so I’d love to find something better, but don’t understand how swim teams (or pre-teams) work. Thanks for any advice!

PPs are right that pre-team and lessons are two different things. Pre-team is essentially for kids who have had lessons already and can do some (not pretty) attempts at actually swimming (and not just underwater). They work on skills and stamina, not water adjustment.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Adding that I do not think weekly lessons are terribly effective for the majority of kids. My kid made much more progress over 3 consecutive days of playing at the pool with me than she did in 3 months of weekly lessons.

Weekly lessons don’t work for most kids unless they have additional pool time to practice what they just learned. That is the beauty of a lot of pre-teams: kids in the water multiple consecutive days a week for several weeks.

[Anonymous]

NVSL is the league that covers summer rec swim team in your area, OP. They have teams at a number of outdoor (and therefore summer-only) neighborhood pools. You can look up NVSL pools to find a few near you, then ask those pools about their wait list and mini team program. Generally you have to be a member of the pool before you can join a swim team, mini or regular.

The NVSL season runs from early June to late July, so it's almost over for this year. You might want to look into stroke classes during the rest of the year, and try to join a pool team next summer (but depending on the pool, you might be to get on a wait list, so don't put off looking into it).

Kids love it because it's neighborhood-based, so they are swimming with friends from school or neighborhood. The teams usually make it a lot of fun. Some are more intense, others are more laid back and chill.

As noted, requirements to join the mini program varies by pool, but it often requires some ability to swim, whether it's a few years or 25m. It's not a learn-to-swim program, it's an introduction to swim team - learn the specific strokes for swim team, build stamina, learn a safe diving start, and most of all have fun so that they beg their parents to sign them up for the real swim team in a year or two .

[Anonymous]

At our pool to be on 8U/real swim team they need to be able to swim across the entire pool and keep up with the pace of practice.

We don't have a mini team and just ask that kids be able to swim 25m without grabbing the lane line or wall. It doesn't even have to look like freestyle. They just have to get across the pool.

Kids in the beginner 8u lane often use kickboards and fins to help them through practice, just like kids would in a normal swim lesson when working on skills. There's also still a lot of fun time and games during practice, so it's not like practice is 45 minutes of laps.

It is amazing to see the range of skills from the left side of the pool to the right. Right now we have a tiny 7 yo with an AS time in fly who looks like the next Michael Phelps swimming in the same pool with kids who are barely managing not to drown.