Youngest age for competitive swimmer

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:This Metro area, I swear.

No.

People will tell you 5s can compete. But they shouldn't.

Eh, my kids started at 5 after lessons at a rec center for a few years. Almost grown and they still love it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

Why would you swim an 8-9 up that high? If they're that stupendously good, they should be traveling to meets elsewhere in the country at that time of year. If it's just to fill lanes at an A meet, your summer team has a spirit/recruitment problem or your pool is too small to field a summer team and should pair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

Why would you swim an 8-9 up that high? If they're that stupendously good, they should be traveling to meets elsewhere in the country at that time of year. If it's just to fill lanes at an A meet, your summer team has a spirit/recruitment problem or your pool is too small to field a summer team and should pair.

They swim up because the other team might DQ or might not be able to fill all of their lanes. I’ve seen quite a few teams do that if they have empty lanes.

Our team has about 90 swimmers, not counting the mini group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

Why would you swim an 8-9 up that high? If they're that stupendously good, they should be traveling to meets elsewhere in the country at that time of year. If it's just to fill lanes at an A meet, your summer team has a spirit/recruitment problem or your pool is too small to field a summer team and should pair.

They swim up because the other team might DQ or might not be able to fill all of their lanes. I’ve seen quite a few teams do that if they have empty lanes.

Our team has about 90 swimmers, not counting the mini group.

What league and division? I've never seen this happen in our summer swim orbit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

Why would you swim an 8-9 up that high? If they're that stupendously good, they should be traveling to meets elsewhere in the country at that time of year. If it's just to fill lanes at an A meet, your summer team has a spirit/recruitment problem or your pool is too small to field a summer team and should pair.

They swim up because the other team might DQ or might not be able to fill all of their lanes. I’ve seen quite a few teams do that if they have empty lanes.

Our team has about 90 swimmers, not counting the mini group.

What league and division? I've never seen this happen in our summer swim orbit.

NVSL
We’ve seen that happen between divisions 7-14.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If the team has an empty lane and the 4 year old can swim it, sure. Why not?

Not unless the 4yo can finish at roughly the same times as everyone else.

We have older swimmers that don’t finish roughly the same time as everyone else. To fill lanes we swim up swimmers that are much slower. What’s the difference?

4-hour B meets if it gets out of hand.

Won’t make much difference in a A meet. It doesn’t happen enough to make a difference.

As far as finishing at roughly the same time, it’s not unusual for that to not happen. If we swim an 8 or 9 year old up in a 13-14 event for example, or even a 15-18 event, there is a good sized difference in finishing times.

Why would you swim an 8-9 up that high? If they're that stupendously good, they should be traveling to meets elsewhere in the country at that time of year. If it's just to fill lanes at an A meet, your summer team has a spirit/recruitment problem or your pool is too small to field a summer team and should pair.

They swim up because the other team might DQ or might not be able to fill all of their lanes. I’ve seen quite a few teams do that if they have empty lanes.

Our team has about 90 swimmers, not counting the mini group.

What league and division? I've never seen this happen in our summer swim orbit.

NVSL
We’ve seen that happen between divisions 7-14.

We swam a 9-10 up to 13-14 because he was the next fastest available swimmer and then he got a chance to get a faster time rather than just have an empty lane.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Can a 4.5 year old compete?

You are behind, the 3.5 year olds have already made the team no more space, try next year.

IKR, didn't start at 3.5yrs, won't ever make the Olympics. Its already too late.