Summer Swim Canceled

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Virginia doesn’t have public county swim teams. I have never heard of those.

Town of Herndon Parks & Rec has a public team that competes in the Herndon Swim League.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

One or both of us is at every practice and every meet. You make lots of assumptions. We've made it to divisional. My child who swims has multiple interests so divisionals is great but not a priority for that child vs. the other activity. If ours cannot come to day practices they go to night so there really is no excuse not to do practices when there are both day and night practices. We switch between day and night but go 5 days a week. Older kids take the bus, bike or walk or get rides. You sound pretty judgmental and I don't get parents like you but I do agree with you about our team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I agree with this PP that year round swimmers should do their summer team practice if the times don't conflict. I grew up swimming and used to do my club team's practice at 5:30 am then go to the summer league practice at my summer pool at 8 am or whatever it was. It was so easy compared to the club practice and I would get to see friends that didn't swim year round. It was swimming just for the fun of it. Oh and despite my deep involvement with the sport, my parents never for certified to do stroke and turn or any of that stuff. My mom would be a timer sometimes or maybe the snack bar and that was it. I think I stuck with it so long because my parents were not super involved... just supportive.

It’s not really fair to say they should go to practice if they don’t have a conflict. For us, it would mean, kids swimming 2 hours in a long course pool from 6-8 am 5 days a week and then one kid swimming from 9-10 and another kids swimming from 10-11 with those two practices way too easy. AND then swimming Monday evenings at a meet, Saturday mornings at a meet and several evenings for an hour each practice. My kids definitely go to summer swim practice but I don’t make them go based on no conflicts because they’d be at swim way too much or at way too easy practices over practices that are more level-appropriate for them. I think they should go 2 times a week or so to their summer practice.

If your kids cannot practice and participate on the team, they should not be on team. Doing meets is taking away from other kids who actually are practicing with the team and active members. You are selfish and only in it to win. You have no idea what people say about families like you and its not good. If you just do meets, you are NOT part of the team. You are using the team for meets. You have a winter team with meets so there is no reason to take away slots from other kids who are actually participating.

Did I say my kids can’t practice with the team? I said mine go 2x a week. That means my kids are at the B meet Monday, a practice Tuesday, a practice Wednesday, a pot luck Wed, a pep rally Friday, a meet Sat, (then add IM carnival, divisional relays, divisional all stars, social outings, etc), and they participate with the mentoring program with the new swimmers (showing and staying during their strokes at the b meets AND cheering them on and coming for the mini practices -meaning my kids are there from 11-11:30 most day without pay cheering little kids on) But, uh, yeah, I’m using the team for the meets. Just because my kids aren’t at the practices 5 days a week doesn’t meet we aren’t heavily invested in the team. We are and love it. That still doesn’t mean I’m making them practice 5 days a week with the team. I think two is sufficient. It’s not as if we show up for time trials and a meets and you don’t see us again. If that’s not enough in your eyes, I can live with it.

Without pay... how is this even part of the discussion. there is no teaching at B meets and most pools don't allow anyone on the side of the pool. Maybe we should start a go fund me so your elite kids can get "paid."

Our junior coaches (teens) go to our practices for our younger kids every day for extra moral support and eyes on deck and they are paid to be there for every minute. Our team also pays those same kids to come to b meets and cheer kids and instruct kids, as well.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

One or both of us is at every practice and every meet. You make lots of assumptions. We've made it to divisional. My child who swims has multiple interests so divisionals is great but not a priority for that child vs. the other activity. If ours cannot come to day practices they go to night so there really is no excuse not to do practices when there are both day and night practices. We switch between day and night but go 5 days a week. Older kids take the bus, bike or walk or get rides. You sound pretty judgmental and I don't get parents like you but I do agree with you about our team.

Well, practice attendace is not required, so you should perhaps stop resenting kids who aren’t breaking any rules and just focus on whether you want to be a part of your team or not. If you are at practice every day, your child is likely a 10 and under (I certainly hope so anyway). Part of your assumptions just don’t make sense for older swimmers who are training elsewhere. The delta in abilities expands and the impact of including all of these kids at practice would just make practice less productive for summer swimmers who are using summer practice as their primary practice. Kids do specialize as they get older. It changes the way summer swimming fits into their lives but at our pool it’s a beloved part of the lives for kids who specialize at swimming and are college-bound swimmers and for those that just do it for fun. Our reps are ever-conscious to focus on the fun and inclusion not just the competition.

[Anonymous]

Different poster:

Practice isn’t required and swim is a fair sport because it is purely based on times. Your kid makes the best times, he makes the a meets, relays, divisionals, IMs, all stars. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It’s not about how much mom does, how much a coach likes you or you family donates. It’s purely about times. We really enjoy the social aspect of summer swim but some kids don’t. That doesn’t take away from the fact that if their kids are better swimmers, their kids should take the best spots away from mine. This is true regardless if mine work harder, attend more events, are better sports, etc. If theirs perform better at time trials or meets, theirs “win.”

Not sure why some of you feel differently. It’s uniform across all pools. It’s not a warm fuzzy feeling reason. It’s based on a solid reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

+1. Same at our pool. Glad we don’t have attendance police/pool issues like above!

[Anonymous]

^^ ditto to the above. And to respond to the PS where someone said your kid isn’t helping out when they are there bc they just hang out with their friends - you’re wrong. Our coach specifically has them all up and cheering, esp the younger kids and even more so if it’s their first meet or first time doing a stroke/are nervous doing a stroke.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:^^ ditto to the above. And to respond to the PS where someone said your kid isn’t helping out when they are there bc they just hang out with their friends - you’re wrong. Our coach specifically has them all up and cheering, esp the younger kids and even more so if it’s their first meet or first time doing a stroke/are nervous doing a stroke.

Depends on the pool. I am at every practice and sit there the entire time. The teens are goofing off more than helping.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Different poster:

Practice isn’t required and swim is a fair sport because it is purely based on times. Your kid makes the best times, he makes the a meets, relays, divisionals, IMs, all stars. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It’s not about how much mom does, how much a coach likes you or you family donates. It’s purely about times. We really enjoy the social aspect of summer swim but some kids don’t. That doesn’t take away from the fact that if their kids are better swimmers, their kids should take the best spots away from mine. This is true regardless if mine work harder, attend more events, are better sports, etc. If theirs perform better at time trials or meets, theirs “win.”

Not sure why some of you feel differently. It’s uniform across all pools. It’s not a warm fuzzy feeling reason. It’s based on a solid reason.

Part of being on the team is practicing. Otherwise you aren't on the team and just doing it to win/meets and no that's not fair to the other kids who are participating on the team, showing up, etc. If they are practicing with their winter team, then they should stick with that and not take a spot on the summer team, especially on teams where other kids cannot get on the team as those kids are holding spots.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

One or both of us is at every practice and every meet. You make lots of assumptions. We've made it to divisional. My child who swims has multiple interests so divisionals is great but not a priority for that child vs. the other activity. If ours cannot come to day practices they go to night so there really is no excuse not to do practices when there are both day and night practices. We switch between day and night but go 5 days a week. Older kids take the bus, bike or walk or get rides. You sound pretty judgmental and I don't get parents like you but I do agree with you about our team.

Well, practice attendace is not required, so you should perhaps stop resenting kids who aren’t breaking any rules and just focus on whether you want to be a part of your team or not. If you are at practice every day, your child is likely a 10 and under (I certainly hope so anyway). Part of your assumptions just don’t make sense for older swimmers who are training elsewhere. The delta in abilities expands and the impact of including all of these kids at practice would just make practice less productive for summer swimmers who are using summer practice as their primary practice. Kids do specialize as they get older. It changes the way summer swimming fits into their lives but at our pool it’s a beloved part of the lives for kids who specialize at swimming and are college-bound swimmers and for those that just do it for fun. Our reps are ever-conscious to focus on the fun and inclusion not just the competition.

My child swims 5 days a week and takes private lessons in the winter and summer is 5 days plus a private lesson and sometimes swims other days as well.. Mine is very serious and younger. But, I'm not looking for a college scholarship and think as parents as long as we can afford to pay for college we will. That's the big difference. You are looking for a scholorship and only care about the competition as things like paying for college aren't your priority.

Practice should be required to be part of the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster:

Practice isn’t required and swim is a fair sport because it is purely based on times. Your kid makes the best times, he makes the a meets, relays, divisionals, IMs, all stars. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It’s not about how much mom does, how much a coach likes you or you family donates. It’s purely about times. We really enjoy the social aspect of summer swim but some kids don’t. That doesn’t take away from the fact that if their kids are better swimmers, their kids should take the best spots away from mine. This is true regardless if mine work harder, attend more events, are better sports, etc. If theirs perform better at time trials or meets, theirs “win.”

Not sure why some of you feel differently. It’s uniform across all pools. It’s not a warm fuzzy feeling reason. It’s based on a solid reason.

Part of being on the team is practicing. Otherwise you aren't on the team and just doing it to win/meets and no that's not fair to the other kids who are participating on the team, showing up, etc. If they are practicing with their winter team, then they should stick with that and not take a spot on the summer team, especially on teams where other kids cannot get on the team as those kids are holding spots.

Are you saying that if a kid attends all social events with the summer team, does summer practice a few times a week and is a star swimmer, he shouldn’t be on the team because he doesn’t practice daily and a kid who is a mediocre swimmer but is there daily should get the a meet spot?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Different poster:

Practice isn’t required and swim is a fair sport because it is purely based on times. Your kid makes the best times, he makes the a meets, relays, divisionals, IMs, all stars. If he doesn’t, he doesn’t. It’s not about how much mom does, how much a coach likes you or you family donates. It’s purely about times. We really enjoy the social aspect of summer swim but some kids don’t. That doesn’t take away from the fact that if their kids are better swimmers, their kids should take the best spots away from mine. This is true regardless if mine work harder, attend more events, are better sports, etc. If theirs perform better at time trials or meets, theirs “win.”

Not sure why some of you feel differently. It’s uniform across all pools. It’s not a warm fuzzy feeling reason. It’s based on a solid reason.

Part of being on the team is practicing. Otherwise you aren't on the team and just doing it to win/meets and no that's not fair to the other kids who are participating on the team, showing up, etc. If they are practicing with their winter team, then they should stick with that and not take a spot on the summer team, especially on teams where other kids cannot get on the team as those kids are holding spots.

Those who make the team rules are the ones who decide these things. Why you think you are in a position to tell other families that they shouldn’t take a spot on a team isn’t clear. Kids “should do” what the coaches say it’s ok to do.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

One or both of us is at every practice and every meet. You make lots of assumptions. We've made it to divisional. My child who swims has multiple interests so divisionals is great but not a priority for that child vs. the other activity. If ours cannot come to day practices they go to night so there really is no excuse not to do practices when there are both day and night practices. We switch between day and night but go 5 days a week. Older kids take the bus, bike or walk or get rides. You sound pretty judgmental and I don't get parents like you but I do agree with you about our team.

Well, practice attendace is not required, so you should perhaps stop resenting kids who aren’t breaking any rules and just focus on whether you want to be a part of your team or not. If you are at practice every day, your child is likely a 10 and under (I certainly hope so anyway). Part of your assumptions just don’t make sense for older swimmers who are training elsewhere. The delta in abilities expands and the impact of including all of these kids at practice would just make practice less productive for summer swimmers who are using summer practice as their primary practice. Kids do specialize as they get older. It changes the way summer swimming fits into their lives but at our pool it’s a beloved part of the lives for kids who specialize at swimming and are college-bound swimmers and for those that just do it for fun. Our reps are ever-conscious to focus on the fun and inclusion not just the competition.

My child swims 5 days a week and takes private lessons in the winter and summer is 5 days plus a private lesson and sometimes swims other days as well.. Mine is very serious and younger. But, I'm not looking for a college scholarship and think as parents as long as we can afford to pay for college we will. That's the big difference. You are looking for a scholorship and only care about the competition as things like paying for college aren't your priority.

Practice should be required to be part of the team.

You’re making a lot of assumptions. When your kids get older, you will learn that those kids (who you wrongly think are mine) whose parents are motivated by scholarships . . . they quit or are no longer standout swimmers by junior year in HS. Kids have to be self-motivated to become an elite swimmer beyond the age of 12. It’s an unforgiving, grueling sport. You can’t make a 16 year old go to swim practice and work hard. They set their alarm at 4:15, drive themselves, work their ass off, then go to school, then go back to the pool, then home for homework (repeat). Tthey only do that if they want to. We too saved for college and want our college-bound swimmer to pick the best college for her. That means it has the academic major she wants and she can swim and contribute to the team. That may be a division III school or Ivy League school where there is no scholarship money. BTW, she could go to UMD cheaper than any of the school’s she is considering to swim at because they are all OOS or private with partial scholarships only (if any after the COVID-19 damage to universities is accounted for).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Just told my A meet summer swimming only 10 year old and she was sad but not surprised. I hope these tough conversations go well for others too. Kids are showing remarkable resilience in the face of sadness.

This is a weird response. What difference does it make if she's an A meet swimmer. Nobody cares.

The parent cares. A meet/ B meet hierarchy is important.

If her non year round swimmer goes to a meets, she’ll likely go every year bc of the type of team she has or the team’s age group makeup. The child also doesn’t swim year round. That means that it could easily not be that big of a deal to a child like this. A child who loves swimming, swims year round, would be at the top of his/her age group this year, loves summer swim friends, has a good shot at all stars, etc would be more upset. So saying that information about her kid tells the reader to take her kid’s reaction with a grain of salt.

I'm still not following. The PP seemed to go out of her way to bring up that her DD was an A swimmer like anyone on this board really cared. All we wanted was summer swim to take place...no one on this board cares about this one child who swims A meets. That's not why we're all here.

My year round team swimmer is not a fast swimmer but does it for the enjoyment and exercise. I feel bad for the kids whose parents push and make such a big deal out of winning and meets as it takes the fun out of it. Summer team is for fun. Most of the All starts and divisional kids aren't even participating on the summer teams except meets which should not be allowed. The teams use them for the wins and they use the teams for the meets. Its pretty sad. They should be required to practice at least 3 days a week if they want to go to meets and actually be a part of the team.

I think you are wrong about the elite swimmers not participating except for meets. They may not be at many practices, but mine are at every "dine out", they go to the B meets to support the team even if they are not swimming, they volunteer to help with the pre-team, they are at the banquet, and every Friday night spirit events!. And they usually come from the club practice to summer practice a couple of days a week just to see their friends. Swim practice doesn't work well with outliers in terms of speed. HS teams function the same way with the faster club swimmers doing their club practice. You can't run a practice that challenges three very fast kids unless you give them their own lane (and honesly, you'd probably complain if that was done at summer league practices)

Curious, . . . are you a stroke and turn official, a team rep, a referree, head timer, a starter, automation operator? Parents of non-year around swimmers can certainly do those jobs (and are often asked to), but in my experience they rarely do. They rely on the parents of yea-round swimmers, who draw on their knowledge of the sport, to make the summer league run smoothly. So if you want to do summer swimming without them, you'd need to be prepared to step it up in a mjor way.

We are year round swimmers. Why do you assume we aren't? People like you are exhausting. We let our kids enjoy swimming. You should try it. Yes, we are certified in several areas and my spouse does every A and B meet when they let us. We would love to be team rep or more involved but we have a team parent whose kids are no longer on the team refuse to let others help which is a huge issue on the team. We do as much as we are allowed and are at every meet, A and B and do anything ask, even last minute.

And, you proved the point, they should be made to do practices or they should not be allowed to compete. They aren't part of the team if they are not practicing with the team. You want your kids treated as more special. Our team gives lanes to the top A kids (low A kids don't get it) only so there are tons of kids in all the lanes and a few kids get the two A meet kid lanes.

P.S. your kids aren't actually helping at pre-team. Usually they are goofing off and hanging out together.

I’m glad you are involved. I find it strange that you resent some kids being on the team. Our team has many elite swimmers and many that aren’t. They all have fun together. It sounds like your pool has some issues, perhaps you should look into switching teams. We have two types of kids that don’t come to practices regularly (1) kids of working parents who might do their club practice early in the am and then go to camp and (2) 14 and ups who are swimming at a high level and will show up inconsistently, but they are also often the leaders and junior coaches. We are happy to have them all be a part of our community. It sounds like to me you are just a bit bitter your kid doesn’t get to swim at Divisionals.

One or both of us is at every practice and every meet. You make lots of assumptions. We've made it to divisional. My child who swims has multiple interests so divisionals is great but not a priority for that child vs. the other activity. If ours cannot come to day practices they go to night so there really is no excuse not to do practices when there are both day and night practices. We switch between day and night but go 5 days a week. Older kids take the bus, bike or walk or get rides. You sound pretty judgmental and I don't get parents like you but I do agree with you about our team.

Well, practice attendace is not required, so you should perhaps stop resenting kids who aren’t breaking any rules and just focus on whether you want to be a part of your team or not. If you are at practice every day, your child is likely a 10 and under (I certainly hope so anyway). Part of your assumptions just don’t make sense for older swimmers who are training elsewhere. The delta in abilities expands and the impact of including all of these kids at practice would just make practice less productive for summer swimmers who are using summer practice as their primary practice. Kids do specialize as they get older. It changes the way summer swimming fits into their lives but at our pool it’s a beloved part of the lives for kids who specialize at swimming and are college-bound swimmers and for those that just do it for fun. Our reps are ever-conscious to focus on the fun and inclusion not just the competition.

My child swims 5 days a week and takes private lessons in the winter and summer is 5 days plus a private lesson and sometimes swims other days as well.. Mine is very serious and younger. But, I'm not looking for a college scholarship and think as parents as long as we can afford to pay for college we will. That's the big difference. You are looking for a scholorship and only care about the competition as things like paying for college aren't your priority.

Practice should be required to be part of the team.

You’re making a lot of assumptions. When your kids get older, you will learn that those kids (who you wrongly think are mine) whose parents are motivated by scholarships . . . they quit or are no longer standout swimmers by junior year in HS. Kids have to be self-motivated to become an elite swimmer beyond the age of 12. It’s an unforgiving, grueling sport. You can’t make a 16 year old go to swim practice and work hard. They set their alarm at 4:15, drive themselves, work their ass off, then go to school, then go back to the pool, then home for homework (repeat). Tthey only do that if they want to. We too saved for college and want our college-bound swimmer to pick the best college for her. That means it has the academic major she wants and she can swim and contribute to the team. That may be a division III school or Ivy League school where there is no scholarship money. BTW, she could go to UMD cheaper than any of the school’s she is considering to swim at because they are all OOS or private with partial scholarships only (if any after the COVID-19 damage to universities is accounted for).

That’s all she able except how do you know that kids whose parents are scholarship motivated are necessarily not motivated themselves ? and all of them would “quit and longer standout swimmers in high school”?