Year round swim advice

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would go with Machine so there’s room for growth if he turns into a great swimmer.

I wouldn’t start with Machine if he isn’t finishing top 3 in A meets as a 10 year old.

First he should see where he is offered a spot. My kids swim for Sea Devils and I imagine he’d be offered a spot in Age Group 2 or possibly AG3. But if you’re in South Run, the AG3 kids at Sea Devils are finishing top 3 at Divisionals/some NVSL all stars.

NP - why? My 9 and 7 year olds did their Gears program for the first time last year. They swam in all our A meets, Divisionals, and All-Star relays. Machine has training groups for different levels; they’ve been fantastic for my kids.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Adding on: the hardest change for summer league swimmers who start club is the endurance factor. Often the warm up is 200 free out of the gate. Last night, I watched my child’s club practice, which included all 8-12 swimmers since it was an optional practice. My child (age 9) started with 200 free, then swam two 200 IMs, then moved to a 500 free, then did some 100 kicks, then some breaststroke/fly kick drills, then ended with 50 sprints off the blocks. They did not use fins the whole practice, and the practice was only 1 hour.

It takes a few months for new club swimmers to build to this level of stamina, and some summer swimmers never learn to love it. My child loves practice; she’s go every day if she could, and the more yardage, the better for her; she loathes summer league practices because they are too easy. When I was little, however, I hated the endurance stuff of club swim and relished summer league sprints. Everyone is different.

Don’t let the crazies scare you off. When your child joins club swim, s/he will be placed in the appropriate group for his/her ability. If speed and/or capacity is built, the child will move up to a more appropriate group. For 9 year olds, 200 IMs and 500s in practice are: 1. Crazy, 2. Not the norm. And before you tell me that’s what the fast kids do- my 10 year old rarely- once a month-ish- did more than a 100 in practice- an occasional 200 free. Never a 200 IM, never a full 100 of stroke, never a 300, 400, or 500 in practice. And my child had A or better times in all 100s and 200 IM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Adding on: the hardest change for summer league swimmers who start club is the endurance factor. Often the warm up is 200 free out of the gate. Last night, I watched my child’s club practice, which included all 8-12 swimmers since it was an optional practice. My child (age 9) started with 200 free, then swam two 200 IMs, then moved to a 500 free, then did some 100 kicks, then some breaststroke/fly kick drills, then ended with 50 sprints off the blocks. They did not use fins the whole practice, and the practice was only 1 hour.

It takes a few months for new club swimmers to build to this level of stamina, and some summer swimmers never learn to love it. My child loves practice; she’s go every day if she could, and the more yardage, the better for her; she loathes summer league practices because they are too easy. When I was little, however, I hated the endurance stuff of club swim and relished summer league sprints. Everyone is different.

Don’t let the crazies scare you off. When your child joins club swim, s/he will be placed in the appropriate group for his/her ability. If speed and/or capacity is built, the child will move up to a more appropriate group. For 9 year olds, 200 IMs and 500s in practice are: 1. Crazy, 2. Not the norm. And before you tell me that’s what the fast kids do- my 10 year old rarely- once a month-ish- did more than a 100 in practice- an occasional 200 free. Never a 200 IM, never a full 100 of stroke, never a 300, 400, or 500 in practice. And my child had A or better times in all 100s and 200 IM.

Yeah my club team practices at 9 and 10 years old were 25s of stroke drills. And I had AAA times in my best events at 10. Doing what PP described at age 9 sounds like a great way to develop shoulder problems early.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would go with Machine so there’s room for growth if he turns into a great swimmer.

I wouldn’t start with Machine if he isn’t finishing top 3 in A meets as a 10 year old.

First he should see where he is offered a spot. My kids swim for Sea Devils and I imagine he’d be offered a spot in Age Group 2 or possibly AG3. But if you’re in South Run, the AG3 kids at Sea Devils are finishing top 3 at Divisionals/some NVSL all stars.

NP - why? My 9 and 7 year olds did their Gears program for the first time last year. They swam in all our A meets, Divisionals, and All-Star relays. Machine has training groups for different levels; they’ve been fantastic for my kids.

Mainly because OP says that Sea Devils is the most convenient location. Her kid is 10, she can always switch after a year or two.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:10 year old starting winter swim does not need 3-4 or more practices a week. 2 or 3 are good.

Yes, they do.

Why? I’m here at the MCSL all star meet with a number of teenagers who did not start swimming 4+ times a week until 12 or 13 (one who just placed top 3). No need to go crazy in your first year of winter swim. Find a program that works for your family and see how they do with a 2-3 day/wk program. You potentially have 8 more years of this. No need to rush things.

+1

If you push too hard, they will burn out and quit. 2, sometimes 3 days a week is all that is needed at this age. My kid is 15 and is doing very well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would go with Machine so there’s room for growth if he turns into a great swimmer.

I wouldn’t start with Machine if he isn’t finishing top 3 in A meets as a 10 year old.

First he should see where he is offered a spot. My kids swim for Sea Devils and I imagine he’d be offered a spot in Age Group 2 or possibly AG3. But if you’re in South Run, the AG3 kids at Sea Devils are finishing top 3 at Divisionals/some NVSL all stars.

Do NOT do SDS at south run whatever you do!! While yes it is cheaper than Machine and therefore looks great as a starting option, their coaches are awful at teaching strokes/skills correctly and this will affect your swimmer greatly the rest of their “career” even after they inevitably change teams.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I would go with Machine so there’s room for growth if he turns into a great swimmer.

I wouldn’t start with Machine if he isn’t finishing top 3 in A meets as a 10 year old.

First he should see where he is offered a spot. My kids swim for Sea Devils and I imagine he’d be offered a spot in Age Group 2 or possibly AG3. But if you’re in South Run, the AG3 kids at Sea Devils are finishing top 3 at Divisionals/some NVSL all stars.

NP - why? My 9 and 7 year olds did their Gears program for the first time last year. They swam in all our A meets, Divisionals, and All-Star relays. Machine has training groups for different levels; they’ve been fantastic for my kids.

Mainly because OP says that Sea Devils is the most convenient location. Her kid is 10, she can always switch after a year or two.

Then why reference how the kid finishes, if it's all about convenience? Her kid is 10, not 7. Machine has various age-/developmentally-appropriate training groups, making it easy for kids to move around as necessary as they get older and depending on how much of a priority swimming is. IMO, 10 is old enough to want that kind of flexibility. Moreover, kids form friendships on their club teams - there's little point in choosing a club team you might leave in a year or two when you have a kid old enough to care about those friendships.

[Anonymous]

At age 10, swimming 2-3x/week is good so that he can have other priorities and do other sports…and not get burnt out. We like makos. From my research and from what I hear from families is that machine and ncap push swimming 5x/week at earlier age, do not encourage or support doing other sports, and they are very “big” teams (multi-site, larger number of swimmers) which we don’t want.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At age 10, swimming 2-3x/week is good so that he can have other priorities and do other sports…and not get burnt out. We like makos. From my research and from what I hear from families is that machine and ncap push swimming 5x/week at earlier age, do not encourage or support doing other sports, and they are very “big” teams (multi-site, larger number of swimmers) which we don’t want.

NCAP-Burke is 3 hours per week until age 11 or 12, with exception for the most elite 10.5/11 year olds.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:At age 10, swimming 2-3x/week is good so that he can have other priorities and do other sports…and not get burnt out. We like makos. From my research and from what I hear from families is that machine and ncap push swimming 5x/week at earlier age, do not encourage or support doing other sports, and they are very “big” teams (multi-site, larger number of swimmers) which we don’t want.

When do swimmers at Makos start going 5 days a week?

My swimmer at Machine is just now being pushed to 5 days and they are 13 and have been a JO qualifier every year since they were 9.

I find it extremely hard to believe that they push kids to 5 days later than Machine considering MAKOs was the one with a 14 year old make Olympic Trials so if anything I’d assume they are actually pushing them to 5x/week earlier than Machine

[Anonymous]

Piggy-backing on OP with a similar "what would you suggest" question. I have searched and searched this forum and still feel stuck.

How often should a 10 year old be practicing, and how important is the club? My simmer has several JO times and was an NVSL all-star this year in two events. She loves swim, but isn't ready for it to be her main activity, (mostly I'm not ready). We are looking for a new club and we're scared off by 4x a week with drylands. She also hasn't had much targeted instruction on teqnique outside of private lessons. Previous club team seemed to focus mostly on conditioning, so we're looking for a program with energetic coaches that work on technique and mechanics.

What are the most important things when looking for a club team - specially for the swimmer? She's still so young, and I don't want her to burn out. She only swam 2x a week during the '23-'24 year-round season. 4 times seems like too much.

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Per a very recent graduate that swam with Marlins and Makos: Makos does not let you join the senior group until you are in high school. Regardless of AAAA times and Olympic Trials cuts.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per a very recent graduate that swam with Marlins and Makos: Makos does not let you join the senior group until you are in high school. Regardless of AAAA times and Olympic Trials cuts.

Are you saying this is a good thing or not?

[Anonymous]

I’m saying this is a thing, you can determine good or bad. Policy is in place to avoid burnout and take a long term view at development.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Per a very recent graduate that swam with Marlins and Makos: Makos does not let you join the senior group until you are in high school. Regardless of AAAA times and Olympic Trials cuts.

Umm their trials qualifier has definitely been with the top coach for at least the past two years, so maybe they just preach “we don’t push” but then don’t actually practice what they preach.