Most supportive, kind coaching at RMSC?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not have a good experience at the Rockville site and switched to a team with better stroke instruction and individual attention. All teams are essentially a business and I think you get what you pay for. DC refers to RMSC as the hunger games -- for both the kids' and coaches' attitudes. But it may depend on which group as the more elite ones got more attention.

I don't know if the more elite get more attention. At our practice, there is one coach who sits there with a white board that tells the kids what laps to swim and barely engages them. We don't see any engagement or correction. Our coaches try but there are just too many kids. Hunger Games is a great term for it.

[Anonymous]

Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

Old news. And they will - give it time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

To some degree this is true. I have a now elite HS swimmer. Kid came up through the RMSC ranks and was not an early star. Strokes were crummy (at least some of them) until about age 12. My kid moved up out of the "advanced juniors" groups, and THEN got excellent stroke instruction. Combined with maturity, my kid was able to quickly implement the changes. Other clubs definitely teach stroke technique more in the younger years and don't do as much endurance training. For my kid, RMSC has worked well and he's out swimming many summer club friends who have trained at NCAP or other smaller clubs. I've noticed a number of kids that moved from RMSC to NCAP have not swum particularly well there. If you are going into one of their lower level groups, don't expect it to make your kid an elite swimmer. That's not to say it's not a better fit than the lower level groups at RMSC, it may well be. But, as an NCAP friend told me, there is definitely NCAP "retail" and NCAP "elite." They are reportedly two different experiences.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

To some degree this is true. I have a now elite HS swimmer. Kid came up through the RMSC ranks and was not an early star. Strokes were crummy (at least some of them) until about age 12. My kid moved up out of the "advanced juniors" groups, and THEN got excellent stroke instruction. Combined with maturity, my kid was able to quickly implement the changes. Other clubs definitely teach stroke technique more in the younger years and don't do as much endurance training. For my kid, RMSC has worked well and he's out swimming many summer club friends who have trained at NCAP or other smaller clubs. I've noticed a number of kids that moved from RMSC to NCAP have not swum particularly well there. If you are going into one of their lower level groups, don't expect it to make your kid an elite swimmer. That's not to say it's not a better fit than the lower level groups at RMSC, it may well be. But, as an NCAP friend told me, there is definitely NCAP "retail" and NCAP "elite." They are reportedly two different experiences.

Is the difference between "retail" and "elite" based on location? I would love to hear more about this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We did not have a good experience at the Rockville site and switched to a team with better stroke instruction and individual attention. All teams are essentially a business and I think you get what you pay for. DC refers to RMSC as the hunger games -- for both the kids' and coaches' attitudes. But it may depend on which group as the more elite ones got more attention.

+1

"Coaching" was awful at Rockville.

If you must stick with RMSC, look at Olney.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

To some degree this is true. I have a now elite HS swimmer. Kid came up through the RMSC ranks and was not an early star. Strokes were crummy (at least some of them) until about age 12. My kid moved up out of the "advanced juniors" groups, and THEN got excellent stroke instruction. Combined with maturity, my kid was able to quickly implement the changes. Other clubs definitely teach stroke technique more in the younger years and don't do as much endurance training. For my kid, RMSC has worked well and he's out swimming many summer club friends who have trained at NCAP or other smaller clubs. I've noticed a number of kids that moved from RMSC to NCAP have not swum particularly well there. If you are going into one of their lower level groups, don't expect it to make your kid an elite swimmer. That's not to say it's not a better fit than the lower level groups at RMSC, it may well be. But, as an NCAP friend told me, there is definitely NCAP "retail" and NCAP "elite." They are reportedly two different experiences.

Is the difference between "retail" and "elite" based on location? I would love to hear more about this.

You qualify and/or sign up for different groups, with different commitments. Submit your kids’ best times, go for a tryout and go from there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

To some degree this is true. I have a now elite HS swimmer. Kid came up through the RMSC ranks and was not an early star. Strokes were crummy (at least some of them) until about age 12. My kid moved up out of the "advanced juniors" groups, and THEN got excellent stroke instruction. Combined with maturity, my kid was able to quickly implement the changes. Other clubs definitely teach stroke technique more in the younger years and don't do as much endurance training. For my kid, RMSC has worked well and he's out swimming many summer club friends who have trained at NCAP or other smaller clubs. I've noticed a number of kids that moved from RMSC to NCAP have not swum particularly well there. If you are going into one of their lower level groups, don't expect it to make your kid an elite swimmer. That's not to say it's not a better fit than the lower level groups at RMSC, it may well be. But, as an NCAP friend told me, there is definitely NCAP "retail" and NCAP "elite." They are reportedly two different experiences.

Or - growth spurt?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Both those clubs are the exact same, except RMSC doesn't have any coaches in jail for ....

with that said, you are going to swim back and forth back and forth. at least 6 people per lane, the attention goes to the top kids and the slower more crowded lanes are just there for revenue.

To some degree this is true. I have a now elite HS swimmer. Kid came up through the RMSC ranks and was not an early star. Strokes were crummy (at least some of them) until about age 12. My kid moved up out of the "advanced juniors" groups, and THEN got excellent stroke instruction. Combined with maturity, my kid was able to quickly implement the changes. Other clubs definitely teach stroke technique more in the younger years and don't do as much endurance training. For my kid, RMSC has worked well and he's out swimming many summer club friends who have trained at NCAP or other smaller clubs. I've noticed a number of kids that moved from RMSC to NCAP have not swum particularly well there. If you are going into one of their lower level groups, don't expect it to make your kid an elite swimmer. That's not to say it's not a better fit than the lower level groups at RMSC, it may well be. But, as an NCAP friend told me, there is definitely NCAP "retail" and NCAP "elite." They are reportedly two different experiences.

Or - growth spurt?

Both in fact. The stroke improvement is obvious and was intentional. My kid reported getting individual instruction to "fix" certain strokes. My kid also reports that other kids get such instruction and ignore it or refuse to make the suggested change (in some instances because they think they know better than the coach what works for them).

[ling-fu]

RMSC Rockville is one of the least child friendly RMSC sites, with low retention rate. They produced few good swimmers of their own, getting by hiring faster swimmers from other clubs into invitational groups. Young children are training in crowded lanes, hardly improving times as stroke quality is low. Look elsewhere if you wish your child well

[Anonymous]

In addition to NCAP, I'd look at ASA if you haven't already. I know of a few families that have made that switch in previous years and have been really happy with it.

[Anonymous]

ling-fu wrote:RMSC Rockville is one of the least child friendly RMSC sites, with low retention rate. They produced few good swimmers of their own, getting by hiring faster swimmers from other clubs into invitational groups. Young children are training in crowded lanes, hardly improving times as stroke quality is low. Look elsewhere if you wish your child well

RMSC has the monopoly because of price. Many families choose RMSC and end up with private lessons for strokes. Kids times are improving but could be better with stroke help. Many of these kids need more hands on coaching, not a coach screaming from the side when they can barely hear the coaches between all the kids, and large/loud environment. You either do RMSC/private swim lessons or a smaller group that has more coaching and the price is about equal. RMSC is fine and like anywhere it coach dependent but they don't have the luxury to keep it small like private groups do.

[Anonymous]

RMSC has the pools, and the main advantage of this club is offering a lot of time in water. Small private clubs who rent facilities don't offer sufficient training distances/intervals, or only begin offering it at senior level groups (which are all wait-listed unless you are a top swimmer already). Kids in small clubs age groups would get a lot of stroke instruction, but how would you make your kid swim 5K in one practice? A private coach would not do it, either. Which is why many families opt for a screaming coach at RMSC who does distance/intervals+private lessons for stroke instruction on a side. Of course, children don't benefit from such duplicate coaching, but what else remains, where there is a monopoly?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:RMSC has the pools, and the main advantage of this club is offering a lot of time in water. Small private clubs who rent facilities don't offer sufficient training distances/intervals, or only begin offering it at senior level groups (which are all wait-listed unless you are a top swimmer already). Kids in small clubs age groups would get a lot of stroke instruction, but how would you make your kid swim 5K in one practice? A private coach would not do it, either. Which is why many families opt for a screaming coach at RMSC who does distance/intervals+private lessons for stroke instruction on a side. Of course, children don't benefit from such duplicate coaching, but what else remains, where there is a monopoly?

Some of us don't make our kids go and they want to go and enjoy RMSC. I haven't seen screaming coaches. They instruct from the sidelines which is not great but they are not screaming at the kids. The monopoly is because they get free or low cost pool privileges from the county that no one else gets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:RMSC has the pools, and the main advantage of this club is offering a lot of time in water. Small private clubs who rent facilities don't offer sufficient training distances/intervals, or only begin offering it at senior level groups (which are all wait-listed unless you are a top swimmer already). Kids in small clubs age groups would get a lot of stroke instruction, but how would you make your kid swim 5K in one practice? A private coach would not do it, either. Which is why many families opt for a screaming coach at RMSC who does distance/intervals+private lessons for stroke instruction on a side. Of course, children don't benefit from such duplicate coaching, but what else remains, where there is a monopoly?

Some of us don't make our kids go and they want to go and enjoy RMSC. I haven't seen screaming coaches. They instruct from the sidelines which is not great but they are not screaming at the kids. The monopoly is because they get free or low cost pool privileges from the county that no one else gets.

Wow! What site are you going to? Perhaps, we should switch there, as there is certainly a lot of screaming at our site, and even name calling in practice. My kid still forces himself to train as it's all about being fast and looking at the scoreboard at meets when he drops time. He has "love and hate" relationship with his RMSC coach, but the desire to be fast is still above everything, which seems sick to me. Looking for another program now. I want to cut this love and hate thing, but can't even persuade my child to go to tryouts elsewhere.