Frustrated with how our swim team takes over the pool

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look around for a different pool. We were at more of a neighborhood pool, and it was this same nightmare. The part that drove me nuts was the swim team moms who acted like they owned the place. They would literally roll on wagons and stake areas for the entire day (so they’d also have their prime position in the afternoon) and leave the pool yet keep their stuff there until returning for afternoon practice. Their older kids were the life guards and rules didn’t apply to them or their friends.
We switched and now pay a premium to go to an actual club. It’s run by full time employees, the swim team is respectful - other than 2 home meets and another one if they make the championship, the entire pool is never closed. No one can stake out areas, etc. It’s worth every penny

NP, our pool is like Ops and this summer it’s so bad. we literally just left because there was nowhere for my kids to play. only the baby pool and shallow end were open. They took over all of the deep end with extra lanes and the well area they used to practice diving. My kids are older so no use for shallow end or baby pool. it’s like this every weeknight. We live in the rockville area though and it seems all pools here are like this. any suggestions for ones near us that aren’t? We can’t afford a country club-even the “affordable” ones are way above what we can swing.

This sounds like my pool (in Rockville), it will get substantially better when school gets out! Unfortunately, that's very late this year.

Oh and also, look at their B meet schedule, if they are away on a Wednesday night, the pool is wide open. Ours happens to have many of those this June.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Look around for a different pool. We were at more of a neighborhood pool, and it was this same nightmare. The part that drove me nuts was the swim team moms who acted like they owned the place. They would literally roll on wagons and stake areas for the entire day (so they’d also have their prime position in the afternoon) and leave the pool yet keep their stuff there until returning for afternoon practice. Their older kids were the life guards and rules didn’t apply to them or their friends.
We switched and now pay a premium to go to an actual club. It’s run by full time employees, the swim team is respectful - other than 2 home meets and another one if they make the championship, the entire pool is never closed. No one can stake out areas, etc. It’s worth every penny

NP, our pool is like Ops and this summer it’s so bad. we literally just left because there was nowhere for my kids to play. only the baby pool and shallow end were open. They took over all of the deep end with extra lanes and the well area they used to practice diving. My kids are older so no use for shallow end or baby pool. it’s like this every weeknight. We live in the rockville area though and it seems all pools here are like this. any suggestions for ones near us that aren’t? We can’t afford a country club-even the “affordable” ones are way above what we can swing.

This sounds like my pool (in Rockville), it will get substantially better when school gets out! Unfortunately, that's very late this year.

Oh and also, look at their B meet schedule, if they are away on a Wednesday night, the pool is wide open. Ours happens to have many of those this June.

Maybe it’s the same pool-this is also in Rockville. But regardless, I’d be fine if it was just a couple of weeks but it’s the entirety of time between the pool opening for the summer and when the kids get out of school-And then they go to camp. The evenings are the only time we can go during the week before school gets out and unless you are a very young kid-the pool is basically unusable for 2.5 hours-the entire time most families would use it after school. But it’s not just the practice-it’s the whole thing. They have very loud chants they do. They then after practice stay and then the pool is so crowded for the 30 minutes between them being done and the pool closing. Plus, they don’t remove the extra lap lanes they added that took over the deep end of the pool. So really even for the short amount of time practice is over on weekends, the pool is still basically useless.

We paid so much into the pool that I can’t imagine having to do that somewhere else all over again. And again, it seems all the pools near us seem to be similar per conversations with others. it sucks.

[Anonymous]

Pools stay afloat (pun intended) because of swim team member families. Without them, there wouldn’t e enough dues to keep the pool open, maintained and staffed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Pools stay afloat (pun intended) because of swim team member families. Without them, there wouldn’t e enough dues to keep the pool open, maintained and staffed.

Agree. Once the swim season is over, our pool is kind of dead.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Pools stay afloat (pun intended) because of swim team member families. Without them, there wouldn’t e enough dues to keep the pool open, maintained and staffed.

Agree. Once the swim season is over, our pool is kind of dead.

That’s why mid July through August is a great time to enjoy the pool. You still get half the summer, yet you want to take the pool away from the families who pay the lion’s share of the dues? Or are you taking your family vacation in August and you want others to work around your schedule?

[Anonymous]

We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason.

How terrible for working parents of younger kids. Yuck.

[Anonymous]

Families would still go to the pool and pay dues without swim team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason.

How terrible for working parents of younger kids. Yuck.

Or older kids who don't live super close or have means of getting themselves there.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason.

How terrible for working parents of younger kids. Yuck.

Or older kids who don't live super close or have means of getting themselves there.

Giving the benefit of the doubt "We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason". Maybe PP's pool doesn't have a setup conducive to having lap lanes AND a rec area in the afternoon, pool board dictates that things be run that way, or they don't have enough coaches on hand for the afternoons. There are valid reasons that this is the case even if the PP might know know, but results in an outcome that aligns with the "anti-swim team takeover" viewpoint.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Families would still go to the pool and pay dues without swim team.

Of course they would. But could a pool stay open if half or more of its member families disappear? Even if they do, maintenance and improvements will be delayed unless they can find other sources of income (eg heated pools rent to clubs for winter practices, facility rentals to schools or other sports like tennis, etc).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We don't have afternoon practice at our pool specifically for this reason.

How terrible for working parents of younger kids. Yuck.

I’ve seen pools have early morning practices for campers instead (eg 7 am). Honestly that may be easier for some working families to manage than trying to commute home and haul it over to the pool at 6 pm just in time for a summer thunderstorm. It would absolutely be easier for us.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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.

You have no idea what you are talking about. There a ton of pools in NoVa with no waitlist.

Well, I live in Montgomery county and my pool has about a five-year waitlist. Swim team is very annoying and I feel confident that even if we had no swim team, we would still have tons of demand.

Our MCSL team raises more than it needs to cover its expenses and embraces a huge proportion of the pool families. I'd recommend that you check on the proportion of team involvement among current pool membership and consider how many people on the waiting list are hoping to join the team. You probably also have pool members that are team alumni families. The teams are often the lifeblood of the pools because of the community building that they do. That doesn't mean you can't wish for quiet, but it might mean that you have to game your attendance against a schedule in order to find it if you want your pool's finances to stay stable. The numbers can be surprising when you run them.

[Anonymous]

At our pool, the swim team takes 4 of 7 lanes and the dive team takes the well from 3:30-6:30. Useless for anyone not on those teams.

[Anonymous]

This feels like a lot. The pool I go to has morning practices and then practices like 4-6 pm several days per week. So that leaves mid-day (good for all the early releases or half day camps) and evening. There is a meet every other Saturday(ish), but then the pool opens around 12 or 1 until the evening. And there are away meets, some Saturdays are wide open. I don’t think we’ve ever had a closure on a Sunday.

There are also some times the dive well is closed for dive practice/competitions, but the rest of the pool is open.

And long weekends (Memorial Day, 4th, and Labor Day) are always open to regular members with no swim team events.

I’ve never once heard a bull horn while I’m there, and this is at a fairly popular Northern VA pool with one of the big swim teams in the area. So I think there is definitely a better way to manage the schedule so all members can enjoy it.