Summer Swim Team Coaching- tell me about yours

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Wow, our college age coaches charge $40 for a 30 min lesson.

At our pool, the HS coach charges $40 for 30 minutes.

[Anonymous]

Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

[Anonymous]

The assistant coach calls every family in the preliminary lineup to make sure they are available on Saturday. Inevitably somebody is sick or has last minute weekend plans.

Our coach is really good at making last minute morning of lineup adjustments when kids don't show up for the A meet. We have a few families that bring along siblings and they are put in the meets in place of the missing kids. One boy was not scheduled in a single a meet lineup, but he came with his family to every meet with his swim suit and ended up swimming in every single meet in some capacity.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.

That's not good. Your team reps need to work with the coaches to make sure that doesn't happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.

That's not good. Your team reps need to work with the coaches to make sure that doesn't happen.

I’m the poster at the pool that’s having the parent meeting and I can assure you that the coaches and parent reps are constantly hustling to chase everyone down who says they’re going to be at a meet after kids have bailed for:

-Little League All-Stars
-traffic
-weather too hot
-weather too wet
-weather too cold
-parents forgot to arrange rides

To the head coach’s credit, he lost it on an A swimmer parent that didn’t sign their kid out and caused 2 relays to be scratched in a row. After the first relay, Coach read A swimmer the riot act. Parent meeting scheduled after the second one. Coach was furious because it was a B swimmer’s first chance to swim on that A relay and the same family ruined it for him twice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.

That's not good. Your team reps need to work with the coaches to make sure that doesn't happen.

I’m the poster at the pool that’s having the parent meeting and I can assure you that the coaches and parent reps are constantly hustling to chase everyone down who says they’re going to be at a meet after kids have bailed for:

-Little League All-Stars
-traffic
-weather too hot
-weather too wet
-weather too cold
-parents forgot to arrange rides

To the head coach’s credit, he lost it on an A swimmer parent that didn’t sign their kid out and caused 2 relays to be scratched in a row. After the first relay, Coach read A swimmer the riot act. Parent meeting scheduled after the second one. Coach was furious because it was a B swimmer’s first chance to swim on that A relay and the same family ruined it for him twice.

that is awful. What division is this? I'm pretty sure that a kid who didn't show and was in a relay wouldn't get to swim another a meet at our pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.

That's not good. Your team reps need to work with the coaches to make sure that doesn't happen.

I’m the poster at the pool that’s having the parent meeting and I can assure you that the coaches and parent reps are constantly hustling to chase everyone down who says they’re going to be at a meet after kids have bailed for:

-Little League All-Stars
-traffic
-weather too hot
-weather too wet
-weather too cold
-parents forgot to arrange rides

To the head coach’s credit, he lost it on an A swimmer parent that didn’t sign their kid out and caused 2 relays to be scratched in a row. After the first relay, Coach read A swimmer the riot act. Parent meeting scheduled after the second one. Coach was furious because it was a B swimmer’s first chance to swim on that A relay and the same family ruined it for him twice.

Whoa. We are not a div 1 or 2 team, but parents/kids understand the impact to the team and definitely dont just not show up unless the kid wakes up sick. Our team does opt in to availability instead of opt out.

To answer OP, our team has a mix of club and summer only swimmers. Both get equal attention and enthusiasm from all of our coaches. Our head coach is in the water every day and many of our older swimmers stay to help our 8& U and mini team kids because they want to help the team. Our coaches stated goal this season was to win the spirit award, and that has made for an excellent season. There isnt a ton of time for stroke instruction, but it is summer swim, and that’s not what morning practices during summer swim really accomplishes. If anything, our 8&u and first time A meet participants get the most instruction and biggest cheers.

You mentioned other parents being okay w your coach. Maybe your pool isnt the right fit for your summer swim philosophy. We have a community pool closer to us than our current pool, but we drive a little further to be at the “fun but still competitive pool” because that fits with what we want.

[Anonymous]

Ours is a middle division team with 200+ swimmers. A and B practice together by age group. Workouts are almost all endurance except teaching the youngest kids breast and fly. If your kid needs technical help, that’s what winter team and private lessons are for.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our coaches are pretty great. 175 kids but the head coach knows them all by name and the assistant coaches give pep talks to each swimmer before and after each event, regardless of whether it’s an A meet or B meet. They’re competitive (especially the head coach) and push the kids, but also have a lot of fun. I don’t know that there’s a ton of time for individual instruction, but my kids have improved tons each season and really enjoy the team.

Our swim team is exactly the same--wonder if it's the same one! I respect the coaching team and so do my kids. It's a great team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:“Our team also called out people making their kids available for the A meet and then pulling out last minute.”

That sounds really odd. Unless it is Covid why would people not know what they can or cannot swim way ahead of time.

By last minute you mean the day of or after the line up is out which is usually a few days before?
I know some people mark availability at the beginning of the season and then forget to change it but agree that pulling out at the last minute, aka that morning, seems odd and inconsiderate and in our team's case it's been kids who are showing signs of illness like they wake up with a fever or stomach problems.

I mean day of withdrawals, and they weren’t related to sickness on that day. Think the kids aren’t that into swimming and just didn’t feel like it that morning, or the weather wasn’t great so they didn’t post.

That's not good. Your team reps need to work with the coaches to make sure that doesn't happen.

I’m the poster at the pool that’s having the parent meeting and I can assure you that the coaches and parent reps are constantly hustling to chase everyone down who says they’re going to be at a meet after kids have bailed for:

-Little League All-Stars
-traffic
-weather too hot
-weather too wet
-weather too cold
-parents forgot to arrange rides

To the head coach’s credit, he lost it on an A swimmer parent that didn’t sign their kid out and caused 2 relays to be scratched in a row. After the first relay, Coach read A swimmer the riot act. Parent meeting scheduled after the second one. Coach was furious because it was a B swimmer’s first chance to swim on that A relay and the same family ruined it for him twice.

Are you saying it's just selfish parents? Are you in DC, Maryland or VA? I'm surprised that many kids bail and wonder what is up with the culture of the pool or the system that makes them think that's okay.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Rays?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Rays?

Rockville Rays' head coach is a 'she', newest mcsl hall of fame inductee.

[Anonymous]

Most of our coaches are really good. We have two club coaches that are not very good. They don't cheer or show emotion, barely know the kids, and definitely favor the A meet kids over the kids that only swim B meets. They are not very well liked. Our head coach is in college and is universally loved. He cares for every single kid and it is apparent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Could you or your swimmer ask to attend the earlier practice? Our club team swims 11 months out of the year and it just turns out that the club summer practices are at our summer team pool. We pay for these practices. It might appear as favoritism to sum, but some folks forget it was part of the registration for the club team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Could you or your swimmer ask to attend the earlier practice? Our club team swims 11 months out of the year and it just turns out that the club summer practices are at our summer team pool. We pay for these practices. It might appear as favoritism to sum, but some folks forget it was part of the registration for the club team.

That's exactly what it is, and the kids who do it are the obvious favorites. We're not asking to do it because our kids aren't part of that club.