Dragon Swim Team
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Anonymous
| What age is too young for 400IM, 200Fly? |
Anonymous
Dragon currently has two 12&u boys and no 12&u girls with a time in either 4IM SCY or 4IM LCM. Similar story in 2Fl. Current data don't support your claims regarding those events. My anecdotal observations would peg FISH as the club pushing more kids towards taking on longer distances. They have nine 12&u kids with a 4IM time already and more than a dozen 12&u kids with a time in 1000 free. |
Anonymous
It depends on the kid. Mine did both for the first time at 11, just 1x that season. Now at 13, the 400 IM is a good event for them and they swim it multiple times through the course of the season. My swimmer is not a butterflier though and avoids the 200 Fly as much as they can. |
Anonymous
| If you're willing to drive a little bit, sign up for Centreville Swim Club. They practice at Cub Run and other locations. We saw a huge transformation in our swimmer after signing up with them. So so happy! |
Anonymous
Whenever the kid is ready to go. Mine was 9 for the 4IM. It’s essentially only a 100 of each stroke. |
Anonymous
| If you want your kid to be screamed at, Dragon is the club for you. I'm always appalled watching their coach at meets. I can't believe parents and kids tolerate this behavior! |
Anonymous
In my experience as a mom in a mixed family who straddles immigrant, 1st gen, and more permissive American culture, there are a lot of families for whom this kind of behavior is normal and/or seen as the mark of an aspirational sports program. We were encouraged to trial by acquaintances and knew right away based on their parenting style that it wouldn’t be a good fit for us. |
Anonymous
Their swimmers hold records so clearly it works. |
Anonymous
Sure. It’s just a question of what tradeoffs you’re willing to make. Healthy well-adjusted childhood or swim records earned alongside verbal abuse? |
Anonymous
Kids are pretty wimpy these days |
Anonymous
So do swimmers from most clubs in the area. |
Anonymous
Let me know how their mental health is in early adulthood. |
Anonymous
My kid did freestyle1650 SCY, 500 SCY, 400 LCM, etc... at a mix of 11 and 12 years old. What's the big deal? |
Anonymous
THIS. I swam in the 90s (not in DC area) and there were a couple of coaches famous for yelling at and berating their swimmers. The kids were fast but most of them were a mess by their early 20s. IF they didn’t quit before or during college they struggled with mental health in early adulthood. It could have been the coach or it could have been the parents who were presumably pretty harsh in their methods if they thought such a coach was a good idea. Whether you like it or not your children are growing up in American culture. At some point they will realize it’s messed up for adults to scream at them regardless of how you were raised on your home country. And they will blame you for letting them be subjected to that. |
Anonymous
This is why the Cal Women’s Coach was fired. |