Waiting to start club swim?

[Anonymous]

OP, if you were reluctant to allow him to do club swim why did you let him try out? If the practice schedule is something you are able to make work, the practice site isn’t inconvenient and it’s your swimmer (not your DH) that really wants to do it, I would let him. The only way your swimmer is going to discover whether he enjoys year round club swim is to actually do it. FWIW, I think 9 is a great age to start. The 11-12 age groups are often full of kids who’ve been in club swim since they were 8-9 (or younger) and trying to break in at that age is difficult, particularly if there is a specific club your kid is interested in. As a PP said, there are many clubs in the DMV so options will be available at that age, but it may not be the club your kid wants, or the location, or the practice times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.

My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I totally get that it's our call on the trade-offs. I'm just trying to figure out whether it's true that he'd be so far behind that he wouldn't be able to catch up within a few months or even make a club team at that point?

OP, it is highly unlikely that a qualified 10 year old couldn't make any club team. Could they definitely make a competitive training group closest to your house? Maybe not. But there are so many options for clubs. Heck, my oldest started club swim at 11, almost 12, and our team was happy to have her. We opted for a less intense training group for her first year but she could have started with a more intense one. She's moving up this year and looking forward to it. One benefit of the bigger clubs is that kids can start with a less intense training group and have the option to move up as they advance. They don't need to start in the fastest group to join the club.

If you or your DH have very specific achievement goals for your kid, that's a separate issue.

+1

[Anonymous]

I also find the posts about not being able to 'get in' later weird. This has not been my experience at all, and my kids are not very good. One of my kids joined club swim at age 11, and had plenty of options. Started out swimming 2 days a week, eventually stepped up to 3 days.
I've seen many kids who are not great swimmers switch clubs, both from small clubs to big clubs (e.g. NCAP) and from big clubs to smaller clubs. And by not great swimmers I mean might have a b cut in their best stroke, but mostly have no cuts.
The clubs like RMSC and AAC that are subsidized by the government and cheaper are harder to get into- but I have also seen kids joining these clubs- this is where it helps to be a super strong swimmer. Although it also helps to be on top of registration deadlines, etc- and move quickly.
I had another kid who opted to join club swimming at 7. For this kid, they loved going to meets and motivated from meets. So club was a real advantage over a stroke clinic. Its really about what works for your kid and your family- but in my opinion, FOMO is always a bad reason to join something- although it is often the prevailing reason here in the slightly crazy DMV.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.

My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

PP. In retrospect, it was a good experience for my then 10 year old and now that he has some success, I can see that he learned patience, grit, and how to set goals without comparing himself to faster swimmers while he was catching up. I guess I should say, not getting obsessed with comparing himself to faster swimmers, because a certain amount of comparison is unavoidable.

I do think finding out whether your kid loves the grind and discipline of club swim earlier rather than later is important, even if just from a planning perspective. Kids have to love both the social and solitary aspects of practice. The solitary piece take a while to get used to, but if they are just into the social part, they will be unhappy.

[Anonymous]

People are very focused on what's appropriate for a 10 yo, but I think you have to take this year by year and see how it goes.

For my kid, 3x a week would have been too much when they were an 8-turning-9 yo who hadn't done club swim before. I'd call around and look for a 2x a week program for a gentler entry into the sport. Going in with so much intensity from the start would have made my swimmer quit.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:People are very focused on what's appropriate for a 10 yo, but I think you have to take this year by year and see how it goes.

For my kid, 3x a week would have been too much when they were an 8-turning-9 yo who hadn't done club swim before. I'd call around and look for a 2x a week program for a gentler entry into the sport. Going in with so much intensity from the start would have made my swimmer quit.

Yes, I think it's a lot to jump into 3 * per week the first year. Much better to ease the child into it the first year with 1-2 per week. Some kids will complain about going to practice, which means it's probably not going to be for them, whereas others will want to take it to the next level and go to 3+ the following year.

[Anonymous]

1x/week might maintain some form for kids who are legal in strokes, but it will not increase endurance or speed. If what a kid wants is to just stay in touch with the sport through a busy winter full of other things, that could be totally the right choice. But if a kid wants to get faster for summer swim, for example, more than 1x/week will likely be needed.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

Really well said. It’s about what’s right for your individual kid.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.

+100. I've never been sorry we did swim early (and earlier for DC2 than DC1 in a variety of ways). If they want to stop they are completely able to do so, but they wouldn't have been able to have options if they'd started later.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

+100. I've never been sorry that we started swim early (and earlier for DC2 than for DC1 in some ways). They can always stop whenever they want to, but they wouldn't even have had the option to start if we'd waited.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

+100. I've never been sorry that we started swim early (and earlier for DC2 than for DC1 in some ways). They can always stop whenever they want to, but they wouldn't even have had the option to start if we'd waited.

DP - Where are people living that there is no option to start club swimming for kids older than 9 years? I'll acknowledge that it may be harder to get your first choice of club teams, but none at all? In the DC area?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

+1. I think when people say it’s harder to break into club swimming at an older age they mean break in at a more competitive club. It’s great that there are so many clubs of varying levels in the DMV, but if your swimmer is interested in trying to compete at a high level, breaking in at 10-11 is harder than 8-9. And yes, you can excel at one of the less competitive clubs and switch to a more competitive one if your kid ends up being fast, but that is disruptive if it’s less convenient or your kid has friends they don’t want to leave.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:If he doesn’t like 3 times a week as a 9 year old, he will really hate 4 times a week as an 11 year old. I would find out now if this is something he loves. Even though it seems logical that a 10/11 year old would find it easier to adjust to swim practice than a 9 year old, it is actually the opposite. By 10/11, many kids have been swimming for 2-3 years. I had one kid join at age 7 and one kid join at age 10, and it was harder for my 10 year old to catch up to his age group.



My 7 year old played academy soccer twice a week and swam twice a week and loved both. When he turned 9, he moved from academy to a club team that practiced 2-3 times a week, and he swam 2-3 times a week. He wanted to swim more, but couldn’t because of soccer. He is now turning 13, and is giving up club soccer so he can focus on swim, but I’m glad he did both for 4 years, even though it was clear that he loved swim more than soccer. It kept him from being burned out and focused at swim practice. He will still play soccer at a lower level, but didn’t want to continue soccer practice 3 times a week.

That’s not to say that starting at age 10/11 won’t work - my older kid played basketball with club swim until 12 and is now 15. It took him longer, but he is now achieving the AAA times he has been dreaming about since he was 10. But it was harder for him than it was for my younger one.

This is what my DH is arguing.

DP - it may be harder, but what are the trade-offs? How important is it to your family that your kid excel at swim? What's it worth? Those are questions only you and your DH can answer, OP. It's okay to prioritize family time or downtime or whatever else over optimizing your kid's swimming. Humans typically can't optimize everything.

I am the earlier poster and I agree everyone makes own priorities and no singular right answer. My post reflects my experience that my kids got locked out of teams they wanted to join (not just swimming) bc I couldn’t believe they would have to play year round already and resisted.

Maybe this was better in the end - we will never know - my kids mostly turned out fine, lol, but I do have one kid in particular who wishes I would have allowed her to do stuff earlier and thinks it held her back in an activity she loves (she never got on the team she wanted despite putting up stats to earn it) and I was not expecting that as a parent. And Insoet of broke on the youngest, allowing her to ramp up earlier than her siblings and ahe is the happiest in her sport by far.

I am just offering a nuanced perspective here to counter those who say only the crazies let their kids join teams young. I thought that too and I realized I sort of wish I had allowed it based on their reactions to me later in life and the positive experience of my kid who I relented more on. In hindsight, trying stuff and quitting later may have been better, but then again, who knows.

100% agree. We have four kids and our younger ones are definitely getting into sports - and at a more serious level - at a younger age than our two older ones. With my older ones I wanted to give them the gift of trying out different sports and just being a kid, rather than specializing. I was worried about them burning out, plus I thought it was a little crazy to invest so much time/energy/money into one thing. But in the end, it felt like my older kids were locked out of sports (not just swim) at the level they wanted because we didn't get them in early enough. Things like travel ball - the teams often keep the same rosters as the year before, so it's much harder to break in at an older age even if your kid is really good. Or swimming, it feels like it's so much harder to break in at say age 10 than it is at age 8.

+1. I think when people say it’s harder to break into club swimming at an older age they mean break in at a more competitive club. It’s great that there are so many clubs of varying levels in the DMV, but if your swimmer is interested in trying to compete at a high level, breaking in at 10-11 is harder than 8-9. And yes, you can excel at one of the less competitive clubs and switch to a more competitive one if your kid ends up being fast, but that is disruptive if it’s less convenient or your kid has friends they don’t want to leave.

And that kind of club switch is _extremely_ low percentage and requires breakout-level talent of the kind that makes competitive teams recruit you without a tryout. It's impossible to count on that when you're debating whether to start club at age 7 or age 10. If the kid has the slightest interest, start early and then stop or change clubs or groups if you have to. But don't wait for them to be "readier" at the beginning or you're make it harder _on them_ to get in.