Tell me about swimming for a small winter swim club

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here and thank you for the tips. It seems like there are a lot of Tollefson boosters here but I heard from a dad that he didn't have the best experience in the stroke clinic his child did. He said the coach was pretty negative and not at all encouraging.

Correct me if I'm wrong but doesn't Toll have the model of mixing kids in their clinics and their teams for certain sessions and then the team kids do practice separately?

Can you tell me what you mean by the bolded by mixing kids?

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure if I'm getting the language right but I was told it's such a small club that kids on the team get to choose endurance classes or is it stroke classes? and that those classes have kids who are just in the clinic as opposed to the team. Most clubs I am familiar with don't have any practices or clinics that have both team kids and clinic kids. I don't think this is bad. I was just curious.

[Anonymous]

You can pronounce it either like toll plaza or more like tall-of-son. The family pronounces it tall-of-son.

Toll reorganized this year and they have an 8 and under group, 9-10 group,age group for 11-14 (no team practice, just stroke and endurance classes plus meet participation) and age group elite for 11-14 which is 4-5x/ week team practice plus meet participation.

I am very surprised that one of the Tollefson instructors was negative and not encouraging. I certainly hope that parent complained because that goes completely against Tollefson philosophy. In all our years with them we have never had a coach/instructor behave that way.

Btw I have posted several times on this thread, so there may just be one Toll booster here - me.

[Anonymous]

^^just to clarify 8 and unders and 9-10 also practice as a team - not just random endurance classes that are mixed. All team members are required to take a stroke class. They are usually just with other team members unless you are making up a class - then you may be with non team members.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm not sure if I'm getting the language right but I was told it's such a small club that kids on the team get to choose endurance classes or is it stroke classes? and that those classes have kids who are just in the clinic as opposed to the team. Most clubs I am familiar with don't have any practices or clinics that have both team kids and clinic kids. I don't think this is bad. I was just curious.

That is just an option for kids 11-13 who don't want the intensity of a team. Everyone else is on a team. You can see the different groups on their website.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:My daughter swims with Tollefson. She loves it. So far, they have laser tag, haunted forest and a travel meet planned - all before the end of this year. They usually have a secret Santa over the holidays and some sort of community service activity as well. Lots of ways for the kids to socialize other than just on the pool deck. Highly recommend it.

My child is starting at Tollefson this year and was so excited to find about the laser tag and haunted forest!

I'm not sure if the laser tag and haunted forest are for all groups or just my daughters group - sometimes they do have group specific activities. The secret Santa, service project, Halloween treats and travel meets are definitely for everyone. Which group will your daughter be in?

Age Group Elite. Those two events were mentioned in a recent email we received.

Yep. Your daughter is gonna love Toll!

For a small team like Toll, do the kids bond quickly? Seems like there aren't that many kids in each age Group/gender. Does that make it harder or easier?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^just to clarify 8 and unders and 9-10 also practice as a team - not just random endurance classes that are mixed. All team members are required to take a stroke class. They are usually just with other team members unless you are making up a class - then you may be with non team members.

It depends on your schedule. The clinics have both team and non-team participants but since team members are usually at different ability levels than the team swimmers. If you can't make the clinic that's the best fit skill wise you may end up with swimmers who are not on the team. Hope that answers your question.

[Anonymous]

Meant ^^^^ team members are usually at different ability levels from non-team swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^just to clarify 8 and unders and 9-10 also practice as a team - not just random endurance classes that are mixed. All team members are required to take a stroke class. They are usually just with other team members unless you are making up a class - then you may be with non team members.

It depends on your schedule. The clinics have both team and non-team participants but since team members are usually at different ability levels than the team swimmers. If you can't make the clinic that's the best fit skill wise you may end up with swimmers who are not on the team. Hope that answers your question.

This is very confusing.

[Anonymous]

The Toll program can be very confusing. Team members have a few practices a week. They are also required to take a "stroke class" in addition to the team practices.

Anyone can sign up for a stroke class.

[Anonymous]

Most swim clubs, even the small ones, have swim team members only practice with other swim team members.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The Toll program can be very confusing. Team members have a few practices a week. They are also required to take a "stroke class" in addition to the team practices.

Anyone can sign up for a stroke class.

Looking at the website, it seems that the team has their own stroke class time (at least for some of the groups).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Most swim clubs, even the small ones, have swim team members only practice with other swim team members.

Most swim clubs don't offer stroke classes.

[Anonymous]

Is this true? Nations capital does, sds, fish

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is this true? Nations capital does, sds, fish

I know RMSC and Lowell do not have stroke classes.