We started at a smaller club and moved to one of the big clubs when my swimmer went to high school. Their smaller club was ok until then. We ended leaving the small club because they didn’t have quality training partners for my swimmer. I think the kids push each other in practice each day and that is how they all improve. I honestly think most of coaches my kid had at the smaller club were fine, but in the end they lacked the competition in practice. |
This would probably make a much better new topic, but I will add that cohorts matter. You see really good swimmers in small clubs and they are the top dog there. But they will/are not reaching their potential there could be more but they are not training appropriately. The most these clubs can do is move them inwith older kids, which is not appropriate training. The other big kicker is the quality of the coaching. NCAP really works on improving the strokes of its top performers. They are trying to make three events for the swimmer. They focus on Nationals and college as their end game, whereas most smaller clubs will focus on making an all around decent swimmer. Both of these goals are correct for the swimmer they are targeting. Most kids will not be elite swimmers, so you want them to be good. |
This is such BS. The best female swimmers right now are at ASA not NCap. What NCap is good at doing is pretending it’s the best when it no longer is. With the exception of NCap West that is- that site is run really well across all age groups |
Tell that to Daniel Dhiel (IYKYK) |
Swimming rankings say otherwise. ASA definitely has some strong female swimmers but they are not the best. The swim cloud rankings for PVS this season has 3 ASA girls in the top 30 and NCAP has 9. The team rankings also have NCAP 1st and ASA 7th. |
As a PP said earlier - smaller clubs can have a superstar swimmer. No one is arguing that. But that superstar might not be realizing their potential or hitting a plateau. That swimmer would benefit from an NCAP or RMSC. |
PP- I know who Daniel is, my swimmer is not a generational talent like Daniel. He is a one in million type of swimmer with an amazing unique story. |
There’s a superstar girl at that club too. |
Are there other club options out in Cumberland? Just because a club is a Y club doesn’t mean it isn’t good. There was a Y club from Connecticut at NCI this weekend and they had some great swimmers. |
A tell for what? Being able to acknowledge different things work for different people? Grow up. |
Leah Shackley is at a different YMCA. But the fact that two elite swimmers came out of that area from two different really small teams in the same year is doubly incredible. |
Some swimmers benefit from being the fastest swimmer in the group and others benefit from a strong cohort. Fast girls at a smaller club can train with boys. You cannot tell whether a club is good for your swimmer by looking at meet mobile results. |
We have a superstar swimmer at our small club. She is younger (11-12) and her parents are fighting with the club constantly to move the kid up to the senior group to train. This is the type of family that would benefit from an NCAP where she would get plenty of cohorts in her age group that are also superstars. In reality, she should not be training with the senior group at that age and the club is right to fight back on the issue. |
Agreed. And these practices are strictly prohibited at IMX. IMX is all business, not antics. You can’t be fooling around right before the ultimate test of endurance swimming grit and ability |
ASA has 1 site. So 3 swimmers ranked in the top 30 per site. NCAP has 13 sites. .69 ranked swimmers in the top 30 per site. |