swim team - my kid's disappointed, didn't make the cut

[Anonymous]

First, the requirements to make the team should have been listed online, emailed, said by the coach beforehand, etc. You can and should verify this with someone team related (rep or coach). But…I would be very certain before you do so that it will work. We’ve had parents push their kids to be on the team and the kids are the slowest by far and/or cannot finish practices. As a result, they are passed the entire time, get almost no break at the wall bc by the time they finish, it’s time to go again, and are known by their friends as the one who leaves 20 minutes into it. It’s also very cold in the outdoor pools for a few weeks still which adds to the discomfort.

Only you know how slow he was and what his stamina is. Only you know what his confidence level is with peers. Summer swim is tons of fun with a wide range of abilities but I would tread carefully pushing for something and your kid refuses to go or hates it. Since his friends made the team, do any have older siblings you can ask?

And…please don’t say the only reason he didn’t make it is bc MoCo is so competitive with swim. Tons of places are. My guess is he probably could be on it if you pushed (and yes, you are pushing but sometimes you need to advocate for your kids) but I also can see how he could end up hating the experience (which is usually fun).

- parent of swimmers and coaches and I have seen lots of kids resist/quit swim

[Anonymous]

He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

DP. We are also an NVSL D1 team. Our only requirement to join the regular team is to get across one lap, any way you can, without touching the bottom. The 8U practice has a dedicated lane for brand new swimmers, with appropriate drills and volume of swimming appropriate for that level, with coaches in the water helping. This is how it all begins. This is summer swim. Everyone is welcome.
This would not work for a club swim team, but that’s not this.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

DP. We are also an NVSL D1 team. Our only requirement to join the regular team is to get across one lap, any way you can, without touching the bottom. The 8U practice has a dedicated lane for brand new swimmers, with appropriate drills and volume of swimming appropriate for that level, with coaches in the water helping. This is how it all begins. This is summer swim. Everyone is welcome.
This would not work for a club swim team, but that’s not this.

Yes…but at 7 he would likely be separated from friends who made the team and be in the slow lane. He would struggle in a way they would not. It’s fine…as long as he is fine with it and won’t get discouraged, upset, unhappy, etc.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

DP. We are also an NVSL D1 team. Our only requirement to join the regular team is to get across one lap, any way you can, without touching the bottom. The 8U practice has a dedicated lane for brand new swimmers, with appropriate drills and volume of swimming appropriate for that level, with coaches in the water helping. This is how it all begins. This is summer swim. Everyone is welcome.
This would not work for a club swim team, but that’s not this.

Yes…but at 7 he would likely be separated from friends who made the team and be in the slow lane. He would struggle in a way they would not. It’s fine…as long as he is fine with it and won’t get discouraged, upset, unhappy, etc.

And the better solution is to not let him on at all and make him go to pre team practice with the 5 and 6 year olds? Our pre team doesn't even start until school's over.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

DP. We are also an NVSL D1 team. Our only requirement to join the regular team is to get across one lap, any way you can, without touching the bottom. The 8U practice has a dedicated lane for brand new swimmers, with appropriate drills and volume of swimming appropriate for that level, with coaches in the water helping. This is how it all begins. This is summer swim. Everyone is welcome.
This would not work for a club swim team, but that’s not this.

Yes…but at 7 he would likely be separated from friends who made the team and be in the slow lane. He would struggle in a way they would not. It’s fine…as long as he is fine with it and won’t get discouraged, upset, unhappy, etc.

And the better solution is to not let him on at all and make him go to pre team practice with the 5 and 6 year olds? Our pre team doesn't even start until school's over.

I said it’s fine as long as he won’t be unhappy. She knows how he performed and knows how his friends performed. She knows her kid, we don’t. Ever see a kid quit or refuse to go or hate an activity?

I used to be a team rep (NVSL). This kid would be on our team as described but would likely be in a lane away from his friends (as described). Add to that he will be with kids who are likely 4-8, it CAN cause a kid to hate it and resist it.

From a team perspective, he would be welcomed. It is more his own perspective that I want you to think about. We love swim and love when other kids do also. I dislike when kids fight going and I just want to prevent that.

[Anonymous]

OP said, "..didn't make the team ".

I still don't know what team means in her context...

At our NVSL pool, we have minis and non-minis, but for meets and activities, those groups are treated one and the same team. Everyone is encouraged to do B-meets. Minis can always move up to 8U during the course of the season.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:He swam across the pool width ways?
Or along the pool, like an entire lap?

He doesn't sound ready for swim team, doesn't matter what county you are in. So much of swim team is back and forth laps, the kids share lanes too, could be 3-6 kids in one lane. If your kid is struggling after one lap it messes the whole lane up.

DP. We are also an NVSL D1 team. Our only requirement to join the regular team is to get across one lap, any way you can, without touching the bottom. The 8U practice has a dedicated lane for brand new swimmers, with appropriate drills and volume of swimming appropriate for that level, with coaches in the water helping. This is how it all begins. This is summer swim. Everyone is welcome.
This would not work for a club swim team, but that’s not this.

Great but teams differ. Our pools pre-team is stroke instruction from the deck and requires what you describe above. Kids that can’t swim a length of the pool are instructed to take learn to swim lessons. We don’t have a lane 1 experience on the swim team. That’s what our pre team is.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 year old barely made the big team this year after a year on pre-team. At our MCSL pool they just have to make it across confidently to be in 8U. Practices until school is out are 30 min. I will say he came out completely exhausted after the first practice yesterday. Like collapse tired.
We do have 6,7,8 year olds on pre team as well.

How is one 30 minute swim team practice getting him to collapse tired if he’s been in 30 minutes lessons?

Tell me you’ve never been to a swim team practice without telling me you’ve never been to a swim team practice. . .

[Anonymous]

You said he crossed the pool, “very slowly (but confidently) freestyle and back, but didn't make the team cuz coach didn't think he could survive the hour-long practices (fair). We've taken swim classes during spring and summer since age 5 but he definitely doesn't have the stamina at the moment to do many laps.

How many can he do? In his swim lessons is he able to complete the whole lesson? How long did it take for him to cross the pool at the try out?

[Anonymous]

Why would OP not return and repond?

[Anonymous]

Our pool rule is you must do one lap across pool. Doesn’t have to be pretty. Plenty of parents are trying to get around this rule (their kids cannot stay afloat even with kickboard).

I’d go back to the coach and ask if your son can give it a try. Sometimes it takes a week or so for kids to get in the swing of things and improve their stamina.
If you have the resources, get an older kid on the team who swims year round to work on stamina.

I bet he will be swimming the full practice soon.

Good luck.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 year old barely made the big team this year after a year on pre-team. At our MCSL pool they just have to make it across confidently to be in 8U. Practices until school is out are 30 min. I will say he came out completely exhausted after the first practice yesterday. Like collapse tired.
We do have 6,7,8 year olds on pre team as well.

How is one 30 minute swim team practice getting him to collapse tired if he’s been in 30 minutes lessons?

Tell me you’ve never been to a swim team practice without telling me you’ve never been to a swim team practice. . .

But OP said 30 minutes, not even an hour. A 30 minute swim practice is exhausting? Please explain.

Mine is joining a pre team and all year he has been doing 1x-2x/week lessons each 25 minute lesson is laps over and over, with 1 break to tread water. This is considered swim lessons 1 level under being able to even try out for a team. Even the slowest kids are not stopping for breaks or to use the bathroom or anything. These are 6-7 year olds. The rec team (non competitive summer team) my kid is joining runs 1.5 hour practices. The more competitive club team runs 2.5 hour practices at this age.

All swim teams I’ve seen run for at least an hour. I would not have expected any realistic joiners to be absolutely exhausted after just 30 minutes. Lots of the kids I know who swim also do another sport.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My 6 year old barely made the big team this year after a year on pre-team. At our MCSL pool they just have to make it across confidently to be in 8U. Practices until school is out are 30 min. I will say he came out completely exhausted after the first practice yesterday. Like collapse tired.
We do have 6,7,8 year olds on pre team as well.

How is one 30 minute swim team practice getting him to collapse tired if he’s been in 30 minutes lessons?

Tell me you’ve never been to a swim team practice without telling me you’ve never been to a swim team practice. . .

But OP said 30 minutes, not even an hour. A 30 minute swim practice is exhausting? Please explain.

Mine is joining a pre team and all year he has been doing 1x-2x/week lessons each 25 minute lesson is laps over and over, with 1 break to tread water. This is considered swim lessons 1 level under being able to even try out for a team. Even the slowest kids are not stopping for breaks or to use the bathroom or anything. These are 6-7 year olds. The rec team (non competitive summer team) my kid is joining runs 1.5 hour practices. The more competitive club team runs 2.5 hour practices at this age.

All swim teams I’ve seen run for at least an hour. I would not have expected any realistic joiners to be absolutely exhausted after just 30 minutes. Lots of the kids I know who swim also do another sport.

No club is running a 2.5 hour practice for 7 year olds.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s right that the coach mentioned he wouldn’t be able to make it through practices. I would want my kid to have an enjoyable first swim team experience, not one where is the slowest dragging practice down and having to take breaks while his friends are all completing practice fine.

My guess is if you said you still wanted to have him join, the coach would let him. But would that be fun for him? IMO you should spend the summer doing more intensive swim lessons that are lap heavy and designed to get kids ready to tryout for a team.