Summer swim - what’s the deal w meets?
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Anonymous
| Op here. It’s a pmsl division a team. There are a couple b team meets this summer. As I said, I am completely new to this so I’ll see what the coaches advise. Was just hoping for some feedback here but it seems team dependent. |
Anonymous
This depends on your team. We have stroke work clinics one day a week that are coach invite-only. Typically they are used to help borderline kids get legal in certain strokes (especially for fast kids at risk of DQing in an A-meet). For any kid, if you talk to the coach they can give a little more instruction in practice or make recommendations for a private lesson if that’s what they think is needed. To answer the original question though - at 6, your kid is still really young! As others have said, they’ll likely start out swimming just free, or free and back, at B meets - and maybe add more as the season progresses. On our team at least, it’s also okay if they choose not to swim any meets. Some 6 year olds, even fast ones, get overwhelmed and it’s better just to take things at their own pace. My youngest insisted in doing pre-team at 6 even though he was a great swimmer (though the coach convinced him to move up and swim the last B meet - which he crushed, coming in first in fly). At the time we were all stressed about convincing him to practice with the team, swim meets, et. but in retrospect there was absolutely no reason to not just take things at his own pace. Summer swim is one of my kids favorite things but it can be overwhelming for the little ones! It’s totally okay to start out slow, just swim free, etc. |
Anonymous
Our team offers clinics. They are invite only and run for 20 to 30 minutes and it is 2-3 kids. They run them when the pool is not open and probably work with 12-15 kids each week on strokes in this very small group setting. They encourage private lessons as well. I reached out to the team rep and she spoke to several of the coaches and came up with a game plan for my swimmer last year. It took a clinic and one private lesson and it all clicked. Our team tries and get all kids that are not legal in their strokes to learn one new stroke during the summer. They track it. |
Anonymous
At our mid-division MCSL team (relatively small pool), my 6yo son was on the team last year and there were about 20ish 8&u boys who were "on the team" (in that they showed up to practice at least a handful of times) and a smaller cohort of 12-15 who attended practice regularly. My son definitely was not fast enough to swim in the A meets so we skipped all of those, but he swam the strokes he was even close to legal in at B meets and had a really good time. He had a really great time and was really into trying to lower his times, and the B meets were a great experience (also a big plus to have them in the evenings when the weather is warmer and you are not having to peel them out of bed in the early morning). As others have said, every team may be slightly different and no one knows your kid as well as you do, but I fwiw based on my experience in a similar situation last year I would encourage you to sign your kid up for as many B meets as you can swing because my kid really enjoyed them. |
Anonymous
Six-year-olds don’t need extra practice, particularly if they don’t want it. No better way to get your kid to hate something than to force them to do it against their will. Sounds like you are new in the swim world. |
Anonymous
I'm wondering if you are on Adelphi since you mention the couple of B meets (you don't have to answer if you don't want). If you ARE a fellow Adelphian, welcome! If you're on another PMSL Division A team, I'm betting advice would be pretty similar... Although we are Division A, and a competitive swim team, we're also pretty chill and inclusive in terms of levels and abilities. I would say do whatever your 6 year old wants and is interested in. If they like practice for the learning and social vibe but get freaked out about meets, don't push them. If they are interested in giving it a real try, go for it. I've known younger kids that go both ways. Time Trials this Saturday is a great opportunity to get a feel for what a meet is like, but without being against another team. I'm betting the coaches will put them in just free and back and see how they do. Truth be told, most of the kids love meets because it's not that much swimming (way less than practice), and mostly hanging out with friends and eating donuts. We've loved being in PMSL and have found it way less stressful and crazy than what I know of MCSL and NVSL. So competition to "make the A team" or be "relegated" to B meets, etc. Everyone is generally welcome at Saturday A meets. And then there are a couple B meets and a 10&u mini meet to give folks more opportunities. |
Anonymous
Disagree re: private lessons. The summer junior coaches are great teachers. It helps the younger kids feel welcome, and it helps teach the older kids to be better lane coaches. Lessons w a teen are super cheap, and as mentioned, have added benefits other than stroke mechanics. |
Anonymous
+1 |
Anonymous
A lot of people here disagree with the PP about private lessons for kids that don’t want them. To those that disagree: are any of your kids good swimmers? |
Anonymous
| Mine asked for private lessons because he got DQ again and again. He couldn’t join meets like his friends did, and he’s sad and lost confidence. So we hired teen coach to give him private lessons over summer. Then the next summer, he was able to get legal in some strokes and was in A meet. A lot of swimmers in our pool want private lessons, also DC’s cousin and friends in different sports get private lessons, because the kids themselves want to get better. I can’t think of anyone around was forced to take private swim/sport lessons. |
Anonymous
I think the problem is your assumption that the child does not want them. |
Anonymous
I have club swimmers, two that are quite good (A times) and one that is exceptional (AAA/AAAA times). Once your kid is beyond the stage of learning how to swim as a life skill and to survive - if they do not want private lessons to better technique there is zero reason to force it on them. I don't agree with the parenting style of needing a kids buy in to do a sport (you can force a kid to try a sport for a season and then quit - they never know until they try it) but I don't agree with trying to makind a kid go above and beyond if it is not something that they want. It is an easy way to make the kid miserable. |
Anonymous
I have seen it both ways. I have seen kids who want private lessons and their parents would not do it and I have seen parents disappointed in their kid's swim make them do private. In the ladder case, the kid was fine with their performance but the parent was upset about it. On a summer team of 150 kids you will end up with 2-4 families that are just intense. The kid always running up for approval from them, crying on deck, or throwing tantrums, or being a jerk to another swimmer who might be faster or competition. These parents will do private lessons, clinics, etc. to make the kid better. It starts so young the kid doesn't even realize what is going on. I think private lessons are great if they kid wants to overcome some issue (perfect a turn, work on a stroke) but when you start doing them all of the time - it is an issue. They should be a few lessons and short in duration to work on something specific. |
Anonymous
| For a 6 yo, focus on the summer swim experience and all the fun that should be had. If the fun sparks your kid’s interest in spending more time in the water and improving, that’s great. Follow their lead. |
Anonymous
| OP. You know your child best. For some, you have to do a little pushing even if kid doesn't want to. Swimming (and there are other sports/activities like this) and so you have to get some degree of proficiency to enjoy it. As an example, if your kid is completely lifting their head out of the water to breathe for freestyle such that their body goes 45 degrees like the Titanic and they're just not getting it, then yeah, maybe get your kid some extra instruction. For others, maybe you just let it go. |