Summer swim kids swimming in “wrong” age group

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:No, an August cutoff would mean that only kids that are 9 and 10 are competing in an age group that is labeled…wait for it….9 and 10. I could also say that the people pushing this hard for a June cutoff which enables 11 year olds to swim in a 9/10 age group must have kids with summer birthdays.

An August cutoff would mean that my 8 year old with an end of July birthday would need to compete in the 9-10 age group. The only way to have only kids in the 9-10 age group be only 9 or 10 would be to have a cutoff age date for each meet. It would make it tough for those 8 year old with summer birthdays. One week you're swimming 25s and the next week you're swimming 50s. If your birthday falls just before all-stars but after divisional you no longer qualify because you've never even had the opportunity to swim the new event. Does that sound more fair?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The brutal age group appears to be 11/12 but only for the 11 year olds, some of who still can swim the pants off of the older 11s that might be turning 12 in the summer.

Based on the freestyle all-star example above, 11s can obviously swim the pants off most 9s too.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No, an August cutoff would mean that only kids that are 9 and 10 are competing in an age group that is labeled…wait for it….9 and 10. I could also say that the people pushing this hard for a June cutoff which enables 11 year olds to swim in a 9/10 age group must have kids with summer birthdays.

An August cutoff would mean that my 8 year old with an end of July birthday would need to compete in the 9-10 age group. The only way to have only kids in the 9-10 age group be only 9 or 10 would be to have a cutoff age date for each meet. It would make it tough for those 8 year old with summer birthdays. One week you're swimming 25s and the next week you're swimming 50s. If your birthday falls just before all-stars but after divisional you no longer qualify because you've never even had the opportunity to swim the new event. Does that sound more fair?

Your 8y.o. is really no different than a kid born in May the same year. Shifting the date just eliminates the "fairness" argument that he won the 8&u all-star or divisional meet as a 9y.o.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 2 arguments regularly being ignored in this thread.

1. 24 months is 24 months regardless of when the cutoff is set. Therefore there is never more than 24 months between the youngest and oldest in the division.

2. The June 1st cutoff has been used by summer swim leagues around the country for DECADES. It’s not something new or some conspiracy to screw over kids born on May 31st. It’s done to keep the age brackets consistent through a super compact swim Season where there are 12 regular season meets in 5 weeks.

Except that the top age bracket in the NVSL is 15-18, so you can have a have a kid who turns 15 on 5/31 swimming against one who turns 19 on 6/2. That’s a lot more than 24 months. I personally don’t care when the cutoff is you can’t ignore that it can/does have an impact.

15 -18 is a different ballgame. These kids are swimming against eachother all year, in high school and club. Many 15 year olds are faster than 19 year olds. They’re all past puberty, the age matters much less.

The brutal age group appears to be 11/12 but only for the 11 year olds, some of who still can swim the pants off of the older 11s that might be turning 12 in the summer.

15 year old boys are not past puberty.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only way to have only kids in the 9-10 age group be only 9 or 10 would be to have a cutoff age date for each meet.

In NVSL, there are already plenty of kids "swimming up" in age group on a weekly basis. One even set a record while doing so a few weeks ago. I say this because some seem to be under the mistaken impression that as things stand today everyone swimming in a given age group meets the lower age threshold. That's not the case, and the rules specifically allow for "swimming up" in dual meets, but not divisional relays, divisionals, or all-stars. If the age as of date shifted to August, you'd have more "underage" kids in dual meets, but no "overage" kids in any of the age groups for any dual meets, divisional meets, or all-star meets. It's a trade off.

[Anonymous]

I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

[Anonymous]

You parents are the actual problem with youth sports.

Just shut the F up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

You know that the people posting in favor of the June 1 cutoff are also way. too. invested., right? Because if they moved the cutoff to August they would be freaking out, which is actually why NVSL changed the deadline to June 1. The swim culture in this area is kind of crazy, this is summer rec league swim which should be fun for kids, but it has turned into something akin to club where people/teams are working every possible advantage to win. I actually enjoy my kid’s club season more because everyone knows what it is, no one is trying to cloak it as a splash and giggle while being ridiculously competitive.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

You know that the people posting in favor of the June 1 cutoff are also way. too. invested., right? Because if they moved the cutoff to August they would be freaking out, which is actually why NVSL changed the deadline to June 1. The swim culture in this area is kind of crazy, this is summer rec league swim which should be fun for kids, but it has turned into something akin to club where people/teams are working every possible advantage to win. I actually enjoy my kid’s club season more because everyone knows what it is, no one is trying to cloak it as a splash and giggle while being ridiculously competitive.

The stuff on this forum about NVSL is so wildly different from my kids' experience swimming in NVSL that it makes me wonder if it is even the same league. It really isn't some sort of ridiculously competitive situation. Maybe this is because our team bounces around in the middle of the divisions not division one. But it really is about the kids having fun, improving their times, and cheering on the other kids. The coaches coach everyone. No one gets upset about the kid who turns 11 the day before divisionals. The big deal is the snow cone machine at meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

You know that the people posting in favor of the June 1 cutoff are also way. too. invested., right? Because if they moved the cutoff to August they would be freaking out, which is actually why NVSL changed the deadline to June 1. The swim culture in this area is kind of crazy, this is summer rec league swim which should be fun for kids, but it has turned into something akin to club where people/teams are working every possible advantage to win. I actually enjoy my kid’s club season more because everyone knows what it is, no one is trying to cloak it as a splash and giggle while being ridiculously competitive.

The stuff on this forum about NVSL is so wildly different from my kids' experience swimming in NVSL that it makes me wonder if it is even the same league. It really isn't some sort of ridiculously competitive situation. Maybe this is because our team bounces around in the middle of the divisions not division one. But it really is about the kids having fun, improving their times, and cheering on the other kids. The coaches coach everyone. No one gets upset about the kid who turns 11 the day before divisionals. The big deal is the snow cone machine at meets.

Yup. I spent 4 years as NVSL team rep and never once heard this raised by a single family or at an NVSL team reps meeting. I feel like this entire thread is being driven by a couple self-absorbed (probably NVSL D1 and D2) parents whose DDs and DSs have been "affected" by a teammate or competitor with a June/July birthday, egged on by the board's usual anti-NVSL trolls.

[Anonymous]

The timing of this thread is perfect. We belong to an NVSL D1 pool and were thinking of trying for another baby this month. We decided to wait so our precious little one will have a better chance to make the 8&u A meets and all stars when they turn 9 in summer 2032.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The timing of this thread is perfect. We belong to an NVSL D1 pool and were thinking of trying for another baby this month. We decided to wait so our precious little one will have a better chance to make the 8&u A meets and all stars when they turn 9 in summer 2032.

Well played!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

You know that the people posting in favor of the June 1 cutoff are also way. too. invested., right? Because if they moved the cutoff to August they would be freaking out, which is actually why NVSL changed the deadline to June 1.

Why do you keep saying this? Do you have a copy of the NVSL rules where it is based on birthday and not June 1? Because both the 1956 and 1965 handbook say age is determined by June 1st.

Look for yourself: https://www.mynvsl.com/documents?folder_id=19998

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think most of the people posting here who are upset about this age group thing should just stop worrying. Your kids are going to quit swimming before they get to the elite level due to burnout because their parents are way. too. invested.

You know that the people posting in favor of the June 1 cutoff are also way. too. invested., right? Because if they moved the cutoff to August they would be freaking out, which is actually why NVSL changed the deadline to June 1.

Why do you keep saying this? Do you have a copy of the NVSL rules where it is based on birthday and not June 1? Because both the 1956 and 1965 handbook say age is determined by June 1st.

Look for yourself: https://www.mynvsl.com/documents?folder_id=19998

I think it’d be really crappy for a 8 year old to have to switch to 50’s halfway through the summer. Or....even worse... do 50’s the whole summer when they don’t turn 9 until the end of July.
Seems like the current way makes perfect sense and I don’t get why people are mad. That’s just how sports go. Guess swimming could go by grade but then when kids started reclassifying seems like that would really make some of you mad.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Or....even worse... do 50’s the whole summer when they don’t turn 9 until the end of July.

The horrors! Instead of beating up on 6 and 7 year olds in 25's they'd have to learn to turn around and go back across the pool ... just like the kids born in May of the same year already do.