College divisions and time cuts - swimming

[Anonymous]

I think doubles are standard at the college level. You do need to consider the burn out. You DS is not even in HS yet and already burned out. That's not good. I myself was burned out after HS and choose to swim Division III instead of Division I because I wanted the freedom to quit in college (never did quit but would have hated to have the pressure of a partial scholarship). It's a high burn out sport and not a life you want if you're already burned out in 8th grade.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think doubles are standard at the college level. You do need to consider the burn out. You DS is not even in HS yet and already burned out. That's not good. I myself was burned out after HS and choose to swim Division III instead of Division I because I wanted the freedom to quit in college (never did quit but would have hated to have the pressure of a partial scholarship). It's a high burn out sport and not a life you want if you're already burned out in 8th grade.

Yes, I understand. My son swims at a very fast team (many older kids are faster already than those Division 1 conferences finalists). But he refuses to wake up mornings, and is telling he can’t do it anymore, as it’s been 4 years. He says he could do it for college if there is a goal for Olympic trials and a great trainer, but at the moment he primarily wants to train at a smaller team without morning wake-ups, at least for a few years. I found an intense program for him that trains 4-5 hours on weekends instead of extra mornings before school. But do think my son would be able to switch back to mornings in college if he stops training mornings in middle-high school?

[Anonymous]

I would highly recommend that you get in touch with a college recruiter that specializes in swimming. You are not going to find blanket cut times for all D1 schools. Every school has its own cuts. Also, there are many different divisions in D1 and some D3 programs have faster swimmers than some D1 programs.Also a conference championship is not the same as NCAA championships. Not all college programs practice exclusively in the mornings, but you almost have to reach out to every college that you are interested in and talk to the coach. And that for cuts too. One D1 school was not interested in DS because he only had two walk-on cuts, they require three. Another D1 school was interested in DS mostly because they saw an upward trend in his times. It is school by school and you would have to talk to the coaching staff to learn more. Most are more than willing to talk and meet with you.

[Anonymous]

PP is correct about teams varying. However, as of last year, Division I coaches can not talk to prospective athletes until their Junior year and I would not adivce running those communications through a parent. Coaches want the swimmers to show interest when they are juniors.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think doubles are standard at the college level. You do need to consider the burn out. You DS is not even in HS yet and already burned out. That's not good. I myself was burned out after HS and choose to swim Division III instead of Division I because I wanted the freedom to quit in college (never did quit but would have hated to have the pressure of a partial scholarship). It's a high burn out sport and not a life you want if you're already burned out in 8th grade.

Yes, I understand. My son swims at a very fast team (many older kids are faster already than those Division 1 conferences finalists). But he refuses to wake up mornings, and is telling he can’t do it anymore, as it’s been 4 years. He says he could do it for college if there is a goal for Olympic trials and a great trainer, but at the moment he primarily wants to train at a smaller team without morning wake-ups, at least for a few years. I found an intense program for him that trains 4-5 hours on weekends instead of extra mornings before school. But do think my son would be able to switch back to mornings in college if he stops training mornings in middle-high school?

Of course. If he's motivated, he can set his alarm. If he's not, he wont. I have heard that the swimming schedule is hardest on boys when they are in the throws of puberty. Post puberty, it may get easier.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:PP is correct about teams varying. However, as of last year, Division I coaches can not talk to prospective athletes until their Junior year and I would not adivce running those communications through a parent. Coaches want the swimmers to show interest when they are juniors.

Yes, and plus my son is still too young and doesn't even know yet which range of schools he's interested in. I only needed to get a general idea whether conference times matter, or those NCAA published times, to see if he's potentially "hirable".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think doubles are standard at the college level. You do need to consider the burn out. You DS is not even in HS yet and already burned out. That's not good. I myself was burned out after HS and choose to swim Division III instead of Division I because I wanted the freedom to quit in college (never did quit but would have hated to have the pressure of a partial scholarship). It's a high burn out sport and not a life you want if you're already burned out in 8th grade.

Yes, I understand. My son swims at a very fast team (many older kids are faster already than those Division 1 conferences finalists). But he refuses to wake up mornings, and is telling he can’t do it anymore, as it’s been 4 years. He says he could do it for college if there is a goal for Olympic trials and a great trainer, but at the moment he primarily wants to train at a smaller team without morning wake-ups, at least for a few years. I found an intense program for him that trains 4-5 hours on weekends instead of extra mornings before school. But do think my son would be able to switch back to mornings in college if he stops training mornings in middle-high school?

Of course. If he's motivated, he can set his alarm. If he's not, he wont. I have heard that the swimming schedule is hardest on boys when they are in the throws of puberty. Post puberty, it may get easier.

Yes, he was a "perfect baby" at 10-11 and could train before school no problem. But after age of 12, he started eating and sleeping way more, and it became impossible to get him go to bed at 8pm: too much homework, dad likes to have a long family dinner with grown up son etc. But he still trains well in the evenings, does good times and is committed to sport, as long as he is not required to wake up at 4am. I have a choice to continue pressing him (and enduring lots of abuse myself in the process), or just accept it the way it is, move him to a team with less demanding schedule and at least give him a chance to sleep well for couple of years, until it hopefully changes.