Does your Summer Team Charge Extra for All-Star Swimmers

[Anonymous]

Ours doesn’t charge any extra, but the swimmers don’t get anything extra beyond the practice for a week after Divisionals.

[Anonymous]

Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

[Anonymous]

Our team just keeps holding practices aa normal. Anyone who wants to come can come. Same team breakfast the morning before divisionals as always. Same fun week. Mini meet instead of B meet, but that's the only change.

After divisionals a lot of people leave on vacation, but I think anyone who wanted to come to practice before all-stars could do so. Team breakfast out the day before, everyone paying their own way. Everyone also buys their own T-shirts. No money from the team gets directed towards all-stars, except the coaches' pay. The real investment is the time and energy from those who organize and those who come to cheer in support.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

[Anonymous]

No but we don't do a dinner for them either.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

DP. If a team has swimmers in AS, it makes the team look good. That said, the top division teams send quite a few swimmers, while lower division teams may only send 1-2 swimmers.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Ours bends over backwards to accommodate non-divisionals swimmers: they continue to get practices up until day before divisionals, despite no more meets .... no yard signs for us and they axed high point awards to avoid hurt feelings so it can go the opposite way too.

None of this is bending over backwards to accommodate non-divisional swimmers. Allowing them to practice causes your divisional swimmer what hardship? No yard signs for you (never heard of a team doing this but ok) is just not an extra thing paid for and coordinated for you. Feel free to jump in and coordinate, pay for, and order your own yard signs. As for no high point awards, that's one kid per age group per gender right? Hey guess what if your kid is at the All Star meet or divisionals, the whole team knows they are the best swimmers! They are being recognized and rewarded and it's fantastic and fun. The kids all know. The parents all know. The coaches all know. We all know.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

DP. If a team has swimmers in AS, it makes the team look good. That said, the top division teams send quite a few swimmers, while lower division teams may only send 1-2 swimmers.

It makes the team look good to who? I'm being sincere. To NVSL? The other coaches? Other parents? And what is the point of this? Bragging rights?

[Anonymous]

Aren’t all star swimmers all club swimmers? Whats the value to them of another week of summer practice? I assumed going to summer practice at all just interfered with their more intensive club training schedule.

A little swag like caps seem reasonable but the dinner is too much.

[Anonymous]

Our NVSL team. All stars get special caps, practice for an extra week, and a happy ad in the All Star program. The extra practice is actually just one practice for all age groups. The reduced hours/number of practices are written into the coaches contracts.

All stars breakfast is paid for by the kids/families.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

DP. If a team has swimmers in AS, it makes the team look good. That said, the top division teams send quite a few swimmers, while lower division teams may only send 1-2 swimmers.

It makes the team look good to who? I'm being sincere. To NVSL? The other coaches? Other parents? And what is the point of this? Bragging rights?

To the pre-team parents and new families looking to join a swim team. AS is the summer swim championship, so sending people there means you have top swimmers to whom younger swimmers can look up and ask advice.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

DP. If a team has swimmers in AS, it makes the team look good. That said, the top division teams send quite a few swimmers, while lower division teams may only send 1-2 swimmers.

It makes the team look good to who? I'm being sincere. To NVSL? The other coaches? Other parents? And what is the point of this? Bragging rights?

To the pre-team parents and new families looking to join a swim team. AS is the summer swim championship, so sending people there means you have top swimmers to whom younger swimmers can look up and ask advice.

This is delusional. Pre-team families are not at all paying attention to all-star swim meets. Who even knows about all-stars until they are on the team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Short of the insane backpacks and a 30 person dinner, none of this sounds like a big ask for AS swimmers. AS is good for the entire team, whether you go or not.

Why is it good for the entire team?

DP. If a team has swimmers in AS, it makes the team look good. That said, the top division teams send quite a few swimmers, while lower division teams may only send 1-2 swimmers.

It makes the team look good to who? I'm being sincere. To NVSL? The other coaches? Other parents? And what is the point of this? Bragging rights?

To the pre-team parents and new families looking to join a swim team. AS is the summer swim championship, so sending people there means you have top swimmers to whom younger swimmers can look up and ask advice.

Yep. Mine aren’t AS level but I hired one for a few private stroke lessons for my young teen DS. Worked well for everyone and DS really focused on learning from someone he looked up to.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Aren’t all star swimmers all club swimmers? Whats the value to them of another week of summer practice? I assumed going to summer practice at all just interfered with their more intensive club training schedule.

A little swag like caps seem reasonable but the dinner is too much.

All star swimmers are not all club swimmers, especially the 8 & unders.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The AS swimmers at our team get a lot of recognition and extras - all-star specific cap, yard sign, all-star dinner, extra practice for a week, etc. Is the team picking up these costs? Genuinely curious because I believe our team does and it seems to take away from things they could do for the entire team. For example, the dinner last year was at a nice Italian restaurant and we generally send 30 kids to all-stars. That adds up...

Are you sure the team paid for the dinner and caps? Our IAS swimmers pay for their own caps and any extra events (dinners out, etc.). Parents of participants are expected to volunteer on top of their regular season volunteer requirements (same approach for divisionals, ASR, and relay carnival).

+1

Former rep at a D1 pool. Yes to all of the above. The only thing covered by the team for both Divisionals and All Stars was the extra coaching and practices, which were covered by fixes-rate contracts negotiated pre-season.