Frustrated with how our swim team takes over the pool

[Anonymous]

FWIW, we love going to the pool on away meet days. We often have it to ourselves! That would be a great day to bring your friends!

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Blame the working parents who were pissy their kids couldn’t do morning swim team. The evening swim practices are a direct result of this.

Why not just do PM practice? Families with young kids could go in the morning, then go home to lunch/nap. Older kids would likely start showing up around noon, as the babies/toddlers are leaving, and stay through swim practice. Kids who are in camp would show up for swim practice, and stay until close.

Because not every family, including those whose parents work, has the same schedule you do.

Our a.m. practice takes the entire pool for 3 hours. Fold in the kids who come to p.m. practice and we'd need to close the pool for 4 or 5 hours. That means that many families wouldn't be able to go at all, to accommodate the small number of SAHM families who want morning.

Plus, we can get lifeguards for morning hours, because they are swim team kids who want to be part of the swim team. But getting teenagers to come at 9 a.m. for lifeguard shifts is going to be hard otherwise.

Finally, there is this weird idea on DCUM that there are two kinds of families, those where both parents work full time exactly 9 - 5 who send their kids to camp, and those with a SAHP. The reality is that the working world is much more diverse than that a.m. practice works for a lot of people. When I think of the families I know who do a.m. practice, we have families whose parents do shift work, or who use grandparents or teenagers as childcare and want that time broken up, or who have parents who are WFH, and kids at an age where a partial day at home works and a full day doesn't, or kids like mine with other significant commitment to a sport or art form or job in the afternoon. Both parents working full time, and using camps all summer is only the norm in a certain UMC bubble.

Sorry to break it to you but swim team is the definition of UMC bubble. Even having a pool membership and everything OP described is peak UMC.

Having parents who work the night shift, or using grandma or a teen sibling babysit to instead of paying for camp each week is UMC bubble?

I think PP meant paying a $1000 “initiation fee”, plus an $800 annual club membership was UMC.

Our pool is a $400 one time membership, and $660 annual, plus $270 for both kids to be on the team. That $930 a year is much less than many people pay for camps.

What do you think is a range for initial cost to join a club? So far I’ve seen anywhere from $675 to $1,800.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there was a pool that the team didn’t practice in the evening I’d consider switching.

But yeah summer swim dominates all pools.

How old are you? Sounds like a retirement community is what you need.

I’m a PP who said we ended up joining a country club. It’s wonderful, and the swim team only practices in the afternoon but only uses half of the pool and none of the baby pool. Meets are rare (2 home ones a season). I think the best part is there are no crazy parent swim volunteers who get off on little power trips. Instead the practices and meets are staffed with paid coaches and college students. It’s so much better all around. I should add that my kids did swim team at our previous pool and now this one, and getting the insane swim parents out of the picture makes all the difference. OP look at country clubs. Not all of them are expensive, and they’re worth every penny

Wait, so no parents have to do any volunteering at all??? No timing, judging, etc.? That kind of sounds like a dream!

[Anonymous]

I'm baffled by everyone advising to "just join a different pool". There are so many waitlists, and the pools aren't all very close to where you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame the working parents who were pissy their kids couldn’t do morning swim team. The evening swim practices are a direct result of this.

Why not just do PM practice? Families with young kids could go in the morning, then go home to lunch/nap. Older kids would likely start showing up around noon, as the babies/toddlers are leaving, and stay through swim practice. Kids who are in camp would show up for swim practice, and stay until close.

Because not every family, including those whose parents work, has the same schedule you do.

Our a.m. practice takes the entire pool for 3 hours. Fold in the kids who come to p.m. practice and we'd need to close the pool for 4 or 5 hours. That means that many families wouldn't be able to go at all, to accommodate the small number of SAHM families who want morning.

Plus, we can get lifeguards for morning hours, because they are swim team kids who want to be part of the swim team. But getting teenagers to come at 9 a.m. for lifeguard shifts is going to be hard otherwise.

Finally, there is this weird idea on DCUM that there are two kinds of families, those where both parents work full time exactly 9 - 5 who send their kids to camp, and those with a SAHP. The reality is that the working world is much more diverse than that a.m. practice works for a lot of people. When I think of the families I know who do a.m. practice, we have families whose parents do shift work, or who use grandparents or teenagers as childcare and want that time broken up, or who have parents who are WFH, and kids at an age where a partial day at home works and a full day doesn't, or kids like mine with other significant commitment to a sport or art form or job in the afternoon. Both parents working full time, and using camps all summer is only the norm in a certain UMC bubble.

Sorry to break it to you but swim team is the definition of UMC bubble. Even having a pool membership and everything OP described is peak UMC.

Having parents who work the night shift, or using grandma or a teen sibling babysit to instead of paying for camp each week is UMC bubble?

I think PP meant paying a $1000 “initiation fee”, plus an $800 annual club membership was UMC.

Our pool is a $400 one time membership, and $660 annual, plus $270 for both kids to be on the team. That $930 a year is much less than many people pay for camps.

What do you think is a range for initial cost to join a club? So far I’ve seen anywhere from $675 to $1,800.

I don’t know but obviously I think it includes $400.

[Anonymous]

I’m not dismissing or validating the OP’s complaint. But curious if their pool is run by a board. If so, just remember that it’s therefore run by volunteers. No one is entitled to anything in this scenario, outside of a safe place to swim. Don’t complain about a situation if you’re not willing to volunteer to help run it yourself. I’m not a pool board member myself, but people really underestimate what it takes to run a board-led community pool. I’m grateful for the pool board members in my community. Someone has to do this thankless job, or there’d be no pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame the working parents who were pissy their kids couldn’t do morning swim team. The evening swim practices are a direct result of this.

Why not just do PM practice? Families with young kids could go in the morning, then go home to lunch/nap. Older kids would likely start showing up around noon, as the babies/toddlers are leaving, and stay through swim practice. Kids who are in camp would show up for swim practice, and stay until close.

Because not every family, including those whose parents work, has the same schedule you do.

Our a.m. practice takes the entire pool for 3 hours. Fold in the kids who come to p.m. practice and we'd need to close the pool for 4 or 5 hours. That means that many families wouldn't be able to go at all, to accommodate the small number of SAHM families who want morning.

Plus, we can get lifeguards for morning hours, because they are swim team kids who want to be part of the swim team. But getting teenagers to come at 9 a.m. for lifeguard shifts is going to be hard otherwise.

Finally, there is this weird idea on DCUM that there are two kinds of families, those where both parents work full time exactly 9 - 5 who send their kids to camp, and those with a SAHP. The reality is that the working world is much more diverse than that a.m. practice works for a lot of people. When I think of the families I know who do a.m. practice, we have families whose parents do shift work, or who use grandparents or teenagers as childcare and want that time broken up, or who have parents who are WFH, and kids at an age where a partial day at home works and a full day doesn't, or kids like mine with other significant commitment to a sport or art form or job in the afternoon. Both parents working full time, and using camps all summer is only the norm in a certain UMC bubble.

Sorry to break it to you but swim team is the definition of UMC bubble. Even having a pool membership and everything OP described is peak UMC.

Having parents who work the night shift, or using grandma or a teen sibling babysit to instead of paying for camp each week is UMC bubble?

I think PP meant paying a $1000 “initiation fee”, plus an $800 annual club membership was UMC.

Our pool is a $400 one time membership, and $660 annual, plus $270 for both kids to be on the team. That $930 a year is much less than many people pay for camps.

What do you think is a range for initial cost to join a club? So far I’ve seen anywhere from $675 to $1,800.

I don’t know but obviously I think it includes $400.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I was asking if that's a general range ($675-$1800) for a first year cost to join a club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame the working parents who were pissy their kids couldn’t do morning swim team. The evening swim practices are a direct result of this.

Why not just do PM practice? Families with young kids could go in the morning, then go home to lunch/nap. Older kids would likely start showing up around noon, as the babies/toddlers are leaving, and stay through swim practice. Kids who are in camp would show up for swim practice, and stay until close.

Because not every family, including those whose parents work, has the same schedule you do.

Our a.m. practice takes the entire pool for 3 hours. Fold in the kids who come to p.m. practice and we'd need to close the pool for 4 or 5 hours. That means that many families wouldn't be able to go at all, to accommodate the small number of SAHM families who want morning.

Plus, we can get lifeguards for morning hours, because they are swim team kids who want to be part of the swim team. But getting teenagers to come at 9 a.m. for lifeguard shifts is going to be hard otherwise.

Finally, there is this weird idea on DCUM that there are two kinds of families, those where both parents work full time exactly 9 - 5 who send their kids to camp, and those with a SAHP. The reality is that the working world is much more diverse than that a.m. practice works for a lot of people. When I think of the families I know who do a.m. practice, we have families whose parents do shift work, or who use grandparents or teenagers as childcare and want that time broken up, or who have parents who are WFH, and kids at an age where a partial day at home works and a full day doesn't, or kids like mine with other significant commitment to a sport or art form or job in the afternoon. Both parents working full time, and using camps all summer is only the norm in a certain UMC bubble.

Sorry to break it to you but swim team is the definition of UMC bubble. Even having a pool membership and everything OP described is peak UMC.

Having parents who work the night shift, or using grandma or a teen sibling babysit to instead of paying for camp each week is UMC bubble?

I think PP meant paying a $1000 “initiation fee”, plus an $800 annual club membership was UMC.

Our pool is a $400 one time membership, and $660 annual, plus $270 for both kids to be on the team. That $930 a year is much less than many people pay for camps.

What do you think is a range for initial cost to join a club? So far I’ve seen anywhere from $675 to $1,800.

I don’t know but obviously I think it includes $400.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I was asking if that's a general range ($675-$1800) for a first year cost to join a club.

Well, you quoted me saying that my club cost $400 to join, and said that the lowest you'd seen was $675, which seems odd to say in response to my comment.

I have no idea what the range is. I've only joined one club and it was a long time ago. But whatever the range is, I figure it includes $400, so it can't be $675 - $1800.

[Anonymous]

OP, you should have posted this in Recent Topics. You have all the fanatical swim team parents weighing in because you put it in Swimming and Diving.

I am with you. I am fed up with it, frankly.

Our pool is 345 to 615 Mon to Fri plus morning swim, plus most Saturday mornings and some Sunday mornings it shuts for meets. AND Wednesday afternoons and evenings. And yes, they will shut the pool down for annoying stuff like the Swim Team Banquet.

Here is what really annoys me - they are talking about instituting a volunteer requirement! Including for people who aren't on swim team. So swim team parents can get their volunteer hours in by volunteering for swim team but the rest of us - who financially subsidize swim team since it only costs something like 150 a season to be on swim team so it's not like the pool is making money of it - are supposed to do stupid shit like plant flowers I don't care about and plan dumb events I don't even want to go to.

I'm there to swim, period. And now the pool has been overtaken by PTA type parents who are trying to make demands on the rest of us.

I'd drop out and go to the Y instead but this pool is a short walk to my house. Otherwise, I'd be out of there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Blame the working parents who were pissy their kids couldn’t do morning swim team. The evening swim practices are a direct result of this.

Why not just do PM practice? Families with young kids could go in the morning, then go home to lunch/nap. Older kids would likely start showing up around noon, as the babies/toddlers are leaving, and stay through swim practice. Kids who are in camp would show up for swim practice, and stay until close.

Because not every family, including those whose parents work, has the same schedule you do.

Our a.m. practice takes the entire pool for 3 hours. Fold in the kids who come to p.m. practice and we'd need to close the pool for 4 or 5 hours. That means that many families wouldn't be able to go at all, to accommodate the small number of SAHM families who want morning.

Plus, we can get lifeguards for morning hours, because they are swim team kids who want to be part of the swim team. But getting teenagers to come at 9 a.m. for lifeguard shifts is going to be hard otherwise.

Finally, there is this weird idea on DCUM that there are two kinds of families, those where both parents work full time exactly 9 - 5 who send their kids to camp, and those with a SAHP. The reality is that the working world is much more diverse than that a.m. practice works for a lot of people. When I think of the families I know who do a.m. practice, we have families whose parents do shift work, or who use grandparents or teenagers as childcare and want that time broken up, or who have parents who are WFH, and kids at an age where a partial day at home works and a full day doesn't, or kids like mine with other significant commitment to a sport or art form or job in the afternoon. Both parents working full time, and using camps all summer is only the norm in a certain UMC bubble.

Sorry to break it to you but swim team is the definition of UMC bubble. Even having a pool membership and everything OP described is peak UMC.

Having parents who work the night shift, or using grandma or a teen sibling babysit to instead of paying for camp each week is UMC bubble?

I think PP meant paying a $1000 “initiation fee”, plus an $800 annual club membership was UMC.

Our pool is a $400 one time membership, and $660 annual, plus $270 for both kids to be on the team. That $930 a year is much less than many people pay for camps.

What do you think is a range for initial cost to join a club? So far I’ve seen anywhere from $675 to $1,800.

I don’t know but obviously I think it includes $400.

I'm not sure what you mean by this. I was asking if that's a general range ($675-$1800) for a first year cost to join a club.

Well, you quoted me saying that my club cost $400 to join, and said that the lowest you'd seen was $675, which seems odd to say in response to my comment.

I have no idea what the range is. I've only joined one club and it was a long time ago. But whatever the range is, I figure it includes $400, so it can't be $675 - $1800.

I understood you to say that it costs about $1,060 initially (you wrote $400 and $660 annual dues). Another said their cost is $675 and another mentioned $1,800. So I was curious to ask if that's basically a low-high range if a family is looking to join a club.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If there was a pool that the team didn’t practice in the evening I’d consider switching.

But yeah summer swim dominates all pools.

How old are you? Sounds like a retirement community is what you need.

I’m a PP who said we ended up joining a country club. It’s wonderful, and the swim team only practices in the afternoon but only uses half of the pool and none of the baby pool. Meets are rare (2 home ones a season). I think the best part is there are no crazy parent swim volunteers who get off on little power trips. Instead the practices and meets are staffed with paid coaches and college students. It’s so much better all around. I should add that my kids did swim team at our previous pool and now this one, and getting the insane swim parents out of the picture makes all the difference. OP look at country clubs. Not all of them are expensive, and they’re worth every penny

For comparison, could you give an example? Thanks

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I'm on a pool board for one of these pools and there are (I'll say this probably unkindly) some cranks who have OP's attitude and I'll say I don't give it any credence. It's a NEIGHBORHOOD pool and we have lots of constituents and we do a really good job of balancing all the competing demands, but here's the rub: About 200 families out of around 400 member families are there BECAUSE OF THE SWIM TEAM. Over half the membership is tied to the swim team, and probably another 20% are older members whose kids went through swim team. So swim team is kind of at the core DNA of the neighborhood pools. The problem we see time and again is the small portion of lap swimmers who want the entirety of the pool to themselves, 8 at a time. And then the few members who expect it to be the quiet pool at a posh resort and don't like the family hustle and bustle. Join a country club if you want to avoid the swim team, but otherwise stop being a crank.

Our pool has a long wait list. We could cut swim team out entirely and still have plenty of demand for memberships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I'm on a pool board for one of these pools and there are (I'll say this probably unkindly) some cranks who have OP's attitude and I'll say I don't give it any credence. It's a NEIGHBORHOOD pool and we have lots of constituents and we do a really good job of balancing all the competing demands, but here's the rub: About 200 families out of around 400 member families are there BECAUSE OF THE SWIM TEAM. Over half the membership is tied to the swim team, and probably another 20% are older members whose kids went through swim team. So swim team is kind of at the core DNA of the neighborhood pools. The problem we see time and again is the small portion of lap swimmers who want the entirety of the pool to themselves, 8 at a time. And then the few members who expect it to be the quiet pool at a posh resort and don't like the family hustle and bustle. Join a country club if you want to avoid the swim team, but otherwise stop being a crank.

Thanks PP this sounds exactly like our pool. I do think a neighborhood pool is just a different animal than a pool at a fitness club, country club, etc. Agree re "at the core DNA" - it provides a lot of the spirit and community of the pool a neighborhood, in addition to our local elementary.

OP here - I am not going to attempt to respond to all the assumptions and things I already addressed in this thread but this last comment really sums up my biggest issue with the intense core group of our swim team that causes all these issues. Swim team is fun and creates a great environment for the members of the swim team ONLY. It is the opposite of spirit building for the community at large- it’s annoying and generally directly at odds with what they want their own experience to be like. Which is fine, people can have different preferences although a community pool would typically make some effort to balance those preferences! But acting like having a swim team is some kind of public good for the community and choosing not to participate in it (or being unable to participate) makes you somehow less part of the community is ridiculous.

THANK YOU, Op. I agree completely.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

So then 1/2 are not connected to the swim team. People don’t join for swim team - they join the pool first and then the swim team. Kids may join because friends . . .

Completely wrong at our pool. Many families join ONLY for the swim team. This is a significant source of revenue for the pool and without it the pool may have to close.

That is SUCH BS. Pools are in high demand and it's NOT because of swim team. PLENTY of people would still want to join. We are considering dropping our membership BECAUSE of swim team.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like OP and maybe a few others should be looking for a new pool. There are so many pools to pick from. Maybe you need to trade proximity for a pool that better meets your needs.