Mini-team swim lessons?

[Anonymous]

Long Branch Swim and Racquet Club in Annandale has this - it's called the Little Dolphins and essentially is daily swim lessons. But the swim season is almost over. You do have to be a member of the pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

I think this also depend on the team size and how competitive the team is. I know pools like Overlee have so many kids that they are more strict on requirement to be on the team or pre-team.

At our pool to be on 8U/real swim team they need to be able to swim across the entire pool and keep up with the pace of practice.

For mini team then need to be comfortable in the water- tread water, float on back and front, jump in deep end, do some backstroke and front crawl.

DP, with that relatively low requirement to be on the real swim team - the 8&U on our team mostly stick to their own lane, with a separate coach. They’re not doing the same practice as older kids or stronger swimmers. Our coaches adjust practice as needed for the swimmers who attend that given practice. Our team and coaching staff are large enough that we’re able to group similarly-skilled kids together, with minimal, if any, detriment to swimmers.

We’re mid-range MCSL, though, and I know some of the higher level teams are much more intense. Good information to suss out before joining a pool, if possible.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:It's interesting that many posters are saying if a child can do a single 25 they make the team. One of our considerations for determining pre-team or regular team is whether the child appears to be able to handle an 8U practice which is 45min long.

I think this also depend on the team size and how competitive the team is. I know pools like Overlee have so many kids that they are more strict on requirement to be on the team or pre-team.

At our pool to be on 8U/real swim team they need to be able to swim across the entire pool and keep up with the pace of practice.

For mini team then need to be comfortable in the water- tread water, float on back and front, jump in deep end, do some backstroke and front crawl.

DP, with that relatively low requirement to be on the real swim team - the 8&U on our team mostly stick to their own lane, with a separate coach. They’re not doing the same practice as older kids or stronger swimmers. Our coaches adjust practice as needed for the swimmers who attend that given practice. Our team and coaching staff are large enough that we’re able to group similarly-skilled kids together, with minimal, if any, detriment to swimmers.

We’re mid-range MCSL, though, and I know some of the higher level teams are much more intense. Good information to suss out before joining a pool, if possible.

We are also midrange MCSL and we have separate practices. So 8U has its own time, minus gave their own time etc . . . 8U is not “intense”. You need to be legal in one stroke to move from mini to 8U but it’s important to note that the definition of “legal” freestyle is basically go forward without touching the bottom, side, or rope. That’s why it’s called “freestyle”. What we call freestyle is just the most efficient way to swim.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For my pool mini had to swim across the diving well. Any stroke or stoke attempt that got them across would would do it.

That seems slightly dangerous. What happens to the kids who don’t make it across the well?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my pool mini had to swim across the diving well. Any stroke or stoke attempt that got them across would would do it.

That seems slightly dangerous. What happens to the kids who don’t make it across the well?

DP. In our pool they have swim team members there to rescue them.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For my pool mini had to swim across the diving well. Any stroke or stoke attempt that got them across would would do it.

That seems slightly dangerous. What happens to the kids who don’t make it across the well?

There is a teenage member of the swim team within arms reach of the little kids at all times and they help out if the minis start to struggle.

[Anonymous]

check https://weaquatics.com/locations/