Club + school

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My HS/club swimmer (Montgomery County public) doesn't practice at all with her HS team, and that is 100% OK with the HS coach (who is also a club coach, but not hers). She misses one HS meet in December for a "higher level" meet, I think only one miss for another meet is allowed per HS season.

This is what our team says on paper as well, but I think it's a coach rule with some wiggle room because I can tell you our team didn't sit the best swimmers who missed 2-3 HS meets due to big USA swim meets when it came to metros or state.

[Anonymous]

The practices being described must make for a really weird atmosphere during meets and a 2-tier culture of athletes. I swam at a HS where club swimmers pause their club workouts during Hs season. HS season (and practices!) was intensely competitive and challenging and the teams were more closely bonded than any other sport at school because of it.

VA teams sound like summer league, where some kids stroll in just for the meet, other kids show up whenever, and a few kids are at every practice and meet.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The practices being described must make for a really weird atmosphere during meets and a 2-tier culture of athletes. I swam at a HS where club swimmers pause their club workouts during Hs season. HS season (and practices!) was intensely competitive and challenging and the teams were more closely bonded than any other sport at school because of it.

VA teams sound like summer league, where some kids stroll in just for the meet, other kids show up whenever, and a few kids are at every practice and meet.

This is the case for Fairfax County. I do not know if it is the same for Arlington High Schools, since they have their own pools it might be more inclusive. There is just not enough pools to make it happen in Fairfax. Also, a lot of the HS coaches are not necessarily club coaches. They are just teachers willing to coach and do their best (this is the case for Dive as well). The good coaches know that their best swimmers need to be able to get decent practices in and they can do that at club. Some kids will swim morning with club and then swim in the afternoons with their HS team (for fun, since it is not hard).

But if you have one rec center and three HS teams running practice at the same time, it is limited space.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My HS senior swims club all year round and swims for his HS team when the club schedule allows. He does not practice with the HS team at all (they're so slow, he'd need a lane to himself to get anything done). He will swim a few HS meets to qualify for National Catholics and METROS, but his recruiting all came from the club side of things.

My HS Senior swims club and deals with the same. HS is more of a fun and hang out with friends if he is able, but club got him into D1.

[Anonymous]

HS kid goes to both practices during the HS swim season since he likes both teams. He isn't looking to swim in college and isn't uber competitive, just enjoys it.

HS practice 4:00p-5p
Gets back to school 5:30ish
Home for 90m or so
Club practice 8p-9p

This is 2x/week - the 2 other days he does HS dryland + club swim

HS meets are Friday evenings. Club meets are Saturdays and/or Sundays.

[Anonymous]

OP as you can see it really depends on where you live. Different states/regions handle this differently. I grew up in a state where everyone who swam club only went to club practices, but competed in the HS meets. HS practice was a joke and for people who didn’t swim year round. Our HS coach encouraged us to go to club practice only. It created a weird dynamic where we would all show up to meets and take up most of the spots on the lineup, but we won the state championship all four years (plus a couple before that) so no one complained too much. But we bordered a neighboring state where HS swim was handled totally differently. It was more like what the Ohio poster described where club swimmers would train with the HS team during the season. They probably did morning practices with the club team a couple times a week but all afternoon practices where with the HS team. Just a totally different approach.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A lot of the best swimmers do not swim HS because they are more likely to be recruited through Club and not HS.

How do they gain the varsity experience colleges want, then? I have a teen who wants to go to the Air Force Academy. Shouldn't he focus on high school?

Swimming is all about times, not a “varsity experience”. High school swim lasts 2 months and the rest of the year the kids that aspire to swim in college are competing with their clubs. Colleges all know that club swim is far more competitive, they are not recruiting swimmers based off of their high school resume.

This isn't about recruiting. It's about putting "varsity" on an application where 80% and up of admitted applicants played a varsity sport.

If you want to swim in college, you are recruited by your club times.

You don't need varsity for college applications, when you can say you swam competitively year round.

This is absolutely incorrect for service academies.

🙄 I doubt whether a kid swam HS varsity or competed year round for a club is making the difference in getting into a service academy.

When 80% of admitted applicants did a varsity sport, yep, you're drastically lowering your chances by doing club only. They don't care about times. They want the letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A lot of the best swimmers do not swim HS because they are more likely to be recruited through Club and not HS.

How do they gain the varsity experience colleges want, then? I have a teen who wants to go to the Air Force Academy. Shouldn't he focus on high school?

Our public high schools have 2, 1hr practices per week, that isn’t going to train anyone to get the times to get on team at AF or any other academy. The kids train with their clubs and swim most of the HS meets.

For recruiting at these schools, coaches are looking at best times in sanctioned meets. Only a few HS meets per season are official sanctioned times.

Additionally, there are school districts and private HS that don’t have swim teams, so obviously, those kids can only club swim.

This Tiger Mom is actually not talking about a kid being recruited to swim, she is asking about being able to put on a college application that the kid was a varsity swimmer, like any other throwaway EC that she has forced her kid to participate in solely for the purpose of putting it on an application.

Enjoy Radford, I guess.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A lot of the best swimmers do not swim HS because they are more likely to be recruited through Club and not HS.

How do they gain the varsity experience colleges want, then? I have a teen who wants to go to the Air Force Academy. Shouldn't he focus on high school?

Our public high schools have 2, 1hr practices per week, that isn’t going to train anyone to get the times to get on team at AF or any other academy. The kids train with their clubs and swim most of the HS meets.

For recruiting at these schools, coaches are looking at best times in sanctioned meets. Only a few HS meets per season are official sanctioned times.

Additionally, there are school districts and private HS that don’t have swim teams, so obviously, those kids can only club swim.

This Tiger Mom is actually not talking about a kid being recruited to swim, she is asking about being able to put on a college application that the kid was a varsity swimmer, like any other throwaway EC that she has forced her kid to participate in solely for the purpose of putting it on an application.

Enjoy Radford, I guess.

Please see yourself back to college and university forum where you can argue about this nonsense ad nauseum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
A lot of the best swimmers do not swim HS because they are more likely to be recruited through Club and not HS.

How do they gain the varsity experience colleges want, then? I have a teen who wants to go to the Air Force Academy. Shouldn't he focus on high school?

Swimming is all about times, not a “varsity experience”. High school swim lasts 2 months and the rest of the year the kids that aspire to swim in college are competing with their clubs. Colleges all know that club swim is far more competitive, they are not recruiting swimmers based off of their high school resume.

This isn't about recruiting. It's about putting "varsity" on an application where 80% and up of admitted applicants played a varsity sport.

If you want to swim in college, you are recruited by your club times.

You don't need varsity for college applications, when you can say you swam competitively year round.

This is absolutely incorrect for service academies.

🙄 I doubt whether a kid swam HS varsity or competed year round for a club is making the difference in getting into a service academy.

When 80% of admitted applicants did a varsity sport, yep, you're drastically lowering your chances by doing club only. They don't care about times. They want the letter.

They don't care about the letter. You could swim club and make zone cuts and they will understand the work put into it more than a letter. They want you active. You could be an Eagle Scout and that will carry more weight than a letter.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the Swimming for Dummies explanation of how club and school swimming work together (or conflict). Calendar, schedules, etc? We're leaving the DMV before DD is in middle school, so general is more helpful than specific.

I can give you an answer for outside DC, with the caveat that this doesn't apply to the kids who definitely know they'll have trials times and are basically on track for the Olympics. I can think of 1-2 of those kids here and I don't even know if they do HS swim.

Kids are affiliated with their club year-round. The HS meet season where we are does not overlap with the important part of the club swimming season and when HS season concludes, that's when club really ramps up. Most of the HS coaches have affiliations with a club and coach there the rest of the year, so training is fairly aligned and coordinated. HS championships are dominated by club swimmers in the biggest division in our state, with the exception of a few rare athletes who do HS water polo + one more HS sport in their off-season and club workouts in the summer.

This part is not true. HS coaches generally are also club coaches BUT the HS practices are way too short and way too easy for competing club swimmers. Because of this + HS lane crowding, our HS coach requires only one HS practice a week to be on the team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the Swimming for Dummies explanation of how club and school swimming work together (or conflict). Calendar, schedules, etc? We're leaving the DMV before DD is in middle school, so general is more helpful than specific.

I can give you an answer for outside DC, with the caveat that this doesn't apply to the kids who definitely know they'll have trials times and are basically on track for the Olympics. I can think of 1-2 of those kids here and I don't even know if they do HS swim.

Kids are affiliated with their club year-round. The HS meet season where we are does not overlap with the important part of the club swimming season and when HS season concludes, that's when club really ramps up. Most of the HS coaches have affiliations with a club and coach there the rest of the year, so training is fairly aligned and coordinated. HS championships are dominated by club swimmers in the biggest division in our state, with the exception of a few rare athletes who do HS water polo + one more HS sport in their off-season and club workouts in the summer.

This part is not true. HS coaches generally are also club coaches BUT the HS practices are way too short and way too easy for competing club swimmers. Because of this + HS lane crowding, our HS coach requires only one HS practice a week to be on the team.

The OP asked for examples in different areas. I am the PP you’re replying to and I have you an example from a different stage. It is 100% true. Not everything is about the tiny bubble you live in!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can someone give me the Swimming for Dummies explanation of how club and school swimming work together (or conflict). Calendar, schedules, etc? We're leaving the DMV before DD is in middle school, so general is more helpful than specific.

I can give you an answer for outside DC, with the caveat that this doesn't apply to the kids who definitely know they'll have trials times and are basically on track for the Olympics. I can think of 1-2 of those kids here and I don't even know if they do HS swim.

Kids are affiliated with their club year-round. The HS meet season where we are does not overlap with the important part of the club swimming season and when HS season concludes, that's when club really ramps up. Most of the HS coaches have affiliations with a club and coach there the rest of the year, so training is fairly aligned and coordinated. HS championships are dominated by club swimmers in the biggest division in our state, with the exception of a few rare athletes who do HS water polo + one more HS sport in their off-season and club workouts in the summer.

This part is not true. HS coaches generally are also club coaches BUT the HS practices are way too short and way too easy for competing club swimmers. Because of this + HS lane crowding, our HS coach requires only one HS practice a week to be on the team.

The OP asked for examples in different areas. I am the PP you’re replying to and I have you an example from a different stage. It is 100% true. Not everything is about the tiny bubble you live in!

I was confused that you were exclusively talking about where you live. The sentence said, “Most of the HS coaches have affiliations with a club and coach there the rest of the year, so training is fairly aligned and coordinated.” I thought you meant most coaches overall, not most coaches where you live.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:HS kid goes to both practices during the HS swim season since he likes both teams. He isn't looking to swim in college and isn't uber competitive, just enjoys it.

HS practice 4:00p-5p
Gets back to school 5:30ish
Home for 90m or so
Club practice 8p-9p

This is 2x/week - the 2 other days he does HS dryland + club swim

HS meets are Friday evenings. Club meets are Saturdays and/or Sundays.

I’m confused by a 1 hr club practice. I’ve never seen that before except for very young kids. Which club is that?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:HS kid goes to both practices during the HS swim season since he likes both teams. He isn't looking to swim in college and isn't uber competitive, just enjoys it.

HS practice 4:00p-5p
Gets back to school 5:30ish
Home for 90m or so
Club practice 8p-9p

This is 2x/week - the 2 other days he does HS dryland + club swim

HS meets are Friday evenings. Club meets are Saturdays and/or Sundays.

I’m confused by a 1 hr club practice. I’ve never seen that before except for very young kids. Which club is that?

Not the PP, but our club offers a 'high school conditioning' track whet you choose 60 minute or 90 minute practices 2-4 times a week.