What is "swim culture" like?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worth it to clarify summer swim volunteering: it’s largely required and necessary for one parent with a swimmer in the meet to work in some capacity. Preparing gift bags (wtf?) and other extraneous mid-weekday miscellany is not required at the vast majority of teams, and absurd.

Agreed. My husband and I both volunteer at every A and B meet, but I have never done anything related to gift bags and that sounds super dumb.

[Anonymous]

i'm gonna guess there's a gift bag at the end of season party, not at any other point -- it's not part of our team's culture, but doesn't seem nuts for end of season schwag.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:i'm gonna guess there's a gift bag at the end of season party, not at any other point -- it's not part of our team's culture, but doesn't seem nuts for end of season schwag.

I was thinking maybe they meant swim buddies giving each other little treats. That’s a weekly thing for us.

[Anonymous]

Winter swim is very boring. Swimming has only worked for us as a second sport. The 6 weeks in the summer is great but the rest of the year is too boring and your kid will miss out on all the other great sports. York swim club had some retreats that were fun. That was about it. If your kid isn't in the top group they will have random classmates and not a lot of team building.

I guess it depends where you live but in our area kids are pretty nice to each other on group sports teams. I think one individual sport and one team sport is a great way to balance sports culture and keep fit and coordinated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:i'm gonna guess there's a gift bag at the end of season party, not at any other point -- it's not part of our team's culture, but doesn't seem nuts for end of season schwag.

I was thinking maybe they meant swim buddies giving each other little treats. That’s a weekly thing for us.

Either of these are perfectly fine if they are team traditions. They’re also unacceptable reasons to make parents volunteer at a random ass time during the week.

[Anonymous]

Counter to above: My child LOVES everything about swim. Her best friends are there. She loves the coaches, the early and late practices, the meets, etc. So, it really is child-driven. Culture wise, we have met our best friends during club season. We are involved parents, I officiate, my husband occasionally times, and we never miss a meet. We sit with our friends, whose kids have swum with our child since they were 7. Luckily, the friends are mostly similar swimmers, so they moved into the same group together for the next year. A few best friends have moved or left the sport, and that’s been really hard for my child because she loves these girls so much. She likes club swim better than summer swim in many ways, but she swims long course too, so there’s no break from club friends. The parents are lovely. I have seen far more competitive parents in other areas (not just sports, but the arts and academics), and I adore the parents are our club. Only occasionally can I walk in and sit to watch practice, but I never end up watching because it’s an adult catch-up fest.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Winter swim is very boring. Swimming has only worked for us as a second sport. The 6 weeks in the summer is great but the rest of the year is too boring and your kid will miss out on all the other great sports. York swim club had some retreats that were fun. That was about it. If your kid isn't in the top group they will have random classmates and not a lot of team building.

I guess it depends where you live but in our area kids are pretty nice to each other on group sports teams. I think one individual sport and one team sport is a great way to balance sports culture and keep fit and coordinated.

I love watching swimming, and my best advice is to start leaning it and watching professional meets (not just the Olympics). That makes meets more palatable. As for kids being bored, I suspect that may be when you move to a new sport and drop swim. For us, we make it work where our child has an arts area of her extracurricular life (eg, theatre, dance, music, etc) and a swim area, so that keeps things fresh. Sounds like you are doing that too!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Counter to above: My child LOVES everything about swim. Her best friends are there. She loves the coaches, the early and late practices, the meets, etc. So, it really is child-driven. Culture wise, we have met our best friends during club season. We are involved parents, I officiate, my husband occasionally times, and we never miss a meet. We sit with our friends, whose kids have swum with our child since they were 7. Luckily, the friends are mostly similar swimmers, so they moved into the same group together for the next year. A few best friends have moved or left the sport, and that’s been really hard for my child because she loves these girls so much. She likes club swim better than summer swim in many ways, but she swims long course too, so there’s no break from club friends. The parents are lovely. I have seen far more competitive parents in other areas (not just sports, but the arts and academics), and I adore the parents are our club. Only occasionally can I walk in and sit to watch practice, but I never end up watching because it’s an adult catch-up fest.

+1, DP and I could have written this. My DD started her swim journey with summer swim and now it is a 6 day a week activity with a goal to swim in college. Her best friends are her club teammates and she loves meeting other fast swimmers from around the country at travel meets. It’s like they all speak the same language and gravitate to each other. She enjoys summer swim because it’s a low key environment to hang out with her club friends in, but it is not a priority for her. Winter swim or club swim is not for everyone, just like club basketball, soccer or baseball are not for everyone, but for those that commit to it it’s all consuming. I love my fellow club swim parents and I truly enjoy cheering their kids on as well as mine.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Winter swim is very boring. Swimming has only worked for us as a second sport. The 6 weeks in the summer is great but the rest of the year is too boring and your kid will miss out on all the other great sports. York swim club had some retreats that were fun. That was about it. If your kid isn't in the top group they will have random classmates and not a lot of team building.

I guess it depends where you live but in our area kids are pretty nice to each other on group sports teams. I think one individual sport and one team sport is a great way to balance sports culture and keep fit and coordinated.

I love watching swimming, and my best advice is to start leaning it and watching professional meets (not just the Olympics). That makes meets more palatable. As for kids being bored, I suspect that may be when you move to a new sport and drop swim. For us, we make it work where our child has an arts area of her extracurricular life (eg, theatre, dance, music, etc) and a swim area, so that keeps things fresh. Sounds like you are doing that too!

My kid is a club college swimmer and I still love watching and working swim meets. You get it or you don't.

[Anonymous]

Atmosphere is much better than travel soccer. Parents are more chill. Kids are trying to beat their best time.