Summer swim brings out the crazy

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My favorite summer swim story is when my 7 year old daughter — who attended every single practice and swam every single B meet — got excited about getting a trophy at the end of summer banquet. And then they only gave trophies to A meet swimmers.

She said to me that night, “I guess I wasn’t good enough for a trophy.” 😢

Well, she’s correct.

I assume this was meant to be inflammatory, but it makes zero sense that random A meet swimmers get a trophy and B meet swimmers don’t. Either give high point or give to all swimmers across the board. These are kids this is a recreational swim league I’m not a big participation trophy person but this is 100% the place for it. Kids going to practice daily should get acknowledged for their efforts. Especially the little kids who are the ones who improve by leaps and bounds through the summer.

Ours does medals for all and high point trophy for division.

OP said she wasn't sure, but thought everyone who scored a point (finished 1-2-3 in an A meet) got a trophy. That's an earned thing, not a participation trophy for some but not all.

I’m awards lady from previous post.

Kids that swim in A meets and place 1-2-3 get ribbons. Why do they also need a trophy too? That’s ridiculous in my opinion.

This is true, plus they get medals if they place top six at relay divisionals, relay all stars, individual divisionals, and/or all stars, so they don’t need anything more than that. Save the trophy for the kids who make great progress but do not swim in these meets (or for the kids that started as a B meet swimmer and moved into A meets by hard work and grit).

Why not organize an NFT meet or a similar event for kids who don’t make it to the divisional meet ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OKM recruits-and everyone knows it. You don’t go from Div 15 to 1 in 8 years with local neighborhood talent. But hey, enjoy another year of 0-5 in D1.

Many years ago we swam against Sideburn Run. It had moved up like 7 spaces to Division 3 or 4 very quickly. It was a small team, but did have some large swim families move over from Fairfax. All it takes is 1-2 swim families with lots of fast kids spread across all the age groups to make a points difference. Then, when those kids graduate or leave, the team sinks and moves back down.

Also, teams like OKM and Sideburn and Fairfax Station are not neighborhood pools, per se. Swimmers come from neighborhoods close by. (This is different than South Run and Little Rocky Run, which do not allow people outside the neighborhood.) Our family doesn’t live in a neighborhood, so we drive to a pool. Does that mean our pool recruits? No. But it does allow those of us without any neighborhood/HOA options to join pools.

Burke/Springfield/Fairfax/Fairfax Station are heavily military. You’ll see a lot of kids pop up on teams in these areas but similarly see good swimmers vanish from these teams (and from NVSL) due to PCS. Our team will lose 4-5 club swimmers (maybe more) in 2026 due to PCS.

Further, by your account, LRR should not be consistently good year to year because it only allows swimmers from the neighborhood. Yet it is a very good D3/D2 team year to year.

Stop with the unfounded allegations of recruitment. It’s stupid and conflates people choosing to join a nearby pool with going out and offering membership to specific swimmers who live nowhere near the pool.

What is Pcs ?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OKM recruits-and everyone knows it. You don’t go from Div 15 to 1 in 8 years with local neighborhood talent. But hey, enjoy another year of 0-5 in D1.

Many years ago we swam against Sideburn Run. It had moved up like 7 spaces to Division 3 or 4 very quickly. It was a small team, but did have some large swim families move over from Fairfax. All it takes is 1-2 swim families with lots of fast kids spread across all the age groups to make a points difference. Then, when those kids graduate or leave, the team sinks and moves back down.

Also, teams like OKM and Sideburn and Fairfax Station are not neighborhood pools, per se. Swimmers come from neighborhoods close by. (This is different than South Run and Little Rocky Run, which do not allow people outside the neighborhood.) Our family doesn’t live in a neighborhood, so we drive to a pool. Does that mean our pool recruits? No. But it does allow those of us without any neighborhood/HOA options to join pools.

Burke/Springfield/Fairfax/Fairfax Station are heavily military. You’ll see a lot of kids pop up on teams in these areas but similarly see good swimmers vanish from these teams (and from NVSL) due to PCS. Our team will lose 4-5 club swimmers (maybe more) in 2026 due to PCS.

Further, by your account, LRR should not be consistently good year to year because it only allows swimmers from the neighborhood. Yet it is a very good D3/D2 team year to year.

Stop with the unfounded allegations of recruitment. It’s stupid and conflates people choosing to join a nearby pool with going out and offering membership to specific swimmers who live nowhere near the pool.

What is Pcs ?

I think it’s when military families get orders to move.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OKM recruits-and everyone knows it. You don’t go from Div 15 to 1 in 8 years with local neighborhood talent. But hey, enjoy another year of 0-5 in D1.

Many years ago we swam against Sideburn Run. It had moved up like 7 spaces to Division 3 or 4 very quickly. It was a small team, but did have some large swim families move over from Fairfax. All it takes is 1-2 swim families with lots of fast kids spread across all the age groups to make a points difference. Then, when those kids graduate or leave, the team sinks and moves back down.

Also, teams like OKM and Sideburn and Fairfax Station are not neighborhood pools, per se. Swimmers come from neighborhoods close by. (This is different than South Run and Little Rocky Run, which do not allow people outside the neighborhood.) Our family doesn’t live in a neighborhood, so we drive to a pool. Does that mean our pool recruits? No. But it does allow those of us without any neighborhood/HOA options to join pools.

Burke/Springfield/Fairfax/Fairfax Station are heavily military. You’ll see a lot of kids pop up on teams in these areas but similarly see good swimmers vanish from these teams (and from NVSL) due to PCS. Our team will lose 4-5 club swimmers (maybe more) in 2026 due to PCS.

Further, by your account, LRR should not be consistently good year to year because it only allows swimmers from the neighborhood. Yet it is a very good D3/D2 team year to year.

Stop with the unfounded allegations of recruitment. It’s stupid and conflates people choosing to join a nearby pool with going out and offering membership to specific swimmers who live nowhere near the pool.

What is Pcs ?

Military term “permanent change of station.” Half our street in Springfield/Burke area gets PCSed every 2-3 years.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OKM recruits-and everyone knows it. You don’t go from Div 15 to 1 in 8 years with local neighborhood talent. But hey, enjoy another year of 0-5 in D1.

Many years ago we swam against Sideburn Run. It had moved up like 7 spaces to Division 3 or 4 very quickly. It was a small team, but did have some large swim families move over from Fairfax. All it takes is 1-2 swim families with lots of fast kids spread across all the age groups to make a points difference. Then, when those kids graduate or leave, the team sinks and moves back down.

Also, teams like OKM and Sideburn and Fairfax Station are not neighborhood pools, per se. Swimmers come from neighborhoods close by. (This is different than South Run and Little Rocky Run, which do not allow people outside the neighborhood.) Our family doesn’t live in a neighborhood, so we drive to a pool. Does that mean our pool recruits? No. But it does allow those of us without any neighborhood/HOA options to join pools.

Burke/Springfield/Fairfax/Fairfax Station are heavily military. You’ll see a lot of kids pop up on teams in these areas but similarly see good swimmers vanish from these teams (and from NVSL) due to PCS. Our team will lose 4-5 club swimmers (maybe more) in 2026 due to PCS.

Further, by your account, LRR should not be consistently good year to year because it only allows swimmers from the neighborhood. Yet it is a very good D3/D2 team year to year.

Stop with the unfounded allegations of recruitment. It’s stupid and conflates people choosing to join a nearby pool with going out and offering membership to specific swimmers who live nowhere near the pool.

I remember that year. A bunch of families with really fast swimmers (and lots of kids) from Makos left Fairfax and Wakefield Chapel to join some other fast Makos swimmers at Sideburn. Lots of chatter. And Sideburn got crazy good overnight. I think it rose the fastest of any team in NVSL history, or that was the word on the street.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OKM recruits-and everyone knows it. You don’t go from Div 15 to 1 in 8 years with local neighborhood talent. But hey, enjoy another year of 0-5 in D1.

There are other pools in NVSL that are rising similar to OKM. Are you saying these former division 15 and 16 pools are also recruiting?

[Anonymous]

Kent Gardens definitely is . Rep kids swim for Machine and they recruit them to that pool and they are now D2.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kent Gardens definitely is . Rep kids swim for Machine and they recruit them to that pool and they are now D2.

Is this a joke? Come on. If you look hard enough you’ll find conspiracies everywhere.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kent Gardens definitely is . Rep kids swim for Machine and they recruit them to that pool and they are now D2.

Is this a joke? Come on. If you look hard enough you’ll find conspiracies everywhere.

Also is there really anything wrong with the team rep trying to get kids to join? We are a very non competitive pool and you can only join if you live within the boundary so I have no dog in this fight but it seems obvious that a team rep would try to get their kids' friends to join the pool and swim with them in the summer.

[Anonymous]

The truth is, every summer, when young kids have fun, swim well, and see older kids swimming exceptionally, they ask where they can swim during the winter. Some of our teams have winter swim options. OKM is five minutes from NCAP-Burke and 10 or 15 minutes from Mason Makos. Our team reps have swimmers on both teams. Does that mean they are recruiting to NCAP-Burke and Makos? No. Similarly, does that mean Kent Gardens is recruiting to Machine? No. Are Overlee and Chesterbrook recruiting to York? No. It just means we love where we swim, others are seeking a winter swim/club location, and they go where our kids already swim. Then they become great swimmers and the team gets better. Wash, rinse, repeat. And that’s the answer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, every summer, when young kids have fun, swim well, and see older kids swimming exceptionally, they ask where they can swim during the winter. Some of our teams have winter swim options. OKM is five minutes from NCAP-Burke and 10 or 15 minutes from Mason Makos. Our team reps have swimmers on both teams. Does that mean they are recruiting to NCAP-Burke and Makos? No. Similarly, does that mean Kent Gardens is recruiting to Machine? No. Are Overlee and Chesterbrook recruiting to York? No. It just means we love where we swim, others are seeking a winter swim/club location, and they go where our kids already swim. Then they become great swimmers and the team gets better. Wash, rinse, repeat. And that’s the answer.

Meant to add: The reverse would also be fine. We found our pool because our DS wanted to swim at the same pool as his club friends. There is nothing wrong with that. We bought a membership and joined the team. So if a KG rep is asking people at Machine to join KG, how is that any different than putting out a blast on social media and saying “share with your friends, join our pool”?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kent Gardens definitely is . Rep kids swim for Machine and they recruit them to that pool and they are now D2.

Is this a joke? Come on. If you look hard enough you’ll find conspiracies everywhere.

Also is there really anything wrong with the team rep trying to get kids to join? We are a very non competitive pool and you can only join if you live within the boundary so I have no dog in this fight but it seems obvious that a team rep would try to get their kids' friends to join the pool and swim with them in the summer.

This.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kent Gardens definitely is . Rep kids swim for Machine and they recruit them to that pool and they are now D2.

They’ve been a top division pool for years. Also, don’t they have a waitlist?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, every summer, when young kids have fun, swim well, and see older kids swimming exceptionally, they ask where they can swim during the winter. Some of our teams have winter swim options. OKM is five minutes from NCAP-Burke and 10 or 15 minutes from Mason Makos. Our team reps have swimmers on both teams. Does that mean they are recruiting to NCAP-Burke and Makos? No. Similarly, does that mean Kent Gardens is recruiting to Machine? No. Are Overlee and Chesterbrook recruiting to York? No. It just means we love where we swim, others are seeking a winter swim/club location, and they go where our kids already swim. Then they become great swimmers and the team gets better. Wash, rinse, repeat. And that’s the answer.

+1. My DD loved summer swim so we signed up for club based on where her teammates went. When we are at practice for that, people who are new to the neighborhood (we live somewhere with a lot of that because of military people) ask about summer swim and where to go. It's probably not that deep.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The truth is, every summer, when young kids have fun, swim well, and see older kids swimming exceptionally, they ask where they can swim during the winter. Some of our teams have winter swim options. OKM is five minutes from NCAP-Burke and 10 or 15 minutes from Mason Makos. Our team reps have swimmers on both teams. Does that mean they are recruiting to NCAP-Burke and Makos? No. Similarly, does that mean Kent Gardens is recruiting to Machine? No. Are Overlee and Chesterbrook recruiting to York? No. It just means we love where we swim, others are seeking a winter swim/club location, and they go where our kids already swim. Then they become great swimmers and the team gets better. Wash, rinse, repeat. And that’s the answer.

I think some summer league team/pools are clearly better at placing kids in clubs. For example: employing club coaches for their summer league offering lessons on "racing blocks", that wouldn't otherwise be available to most summer league swimmers. Having less crowded lanes -and- higher quality coaching. (some teams I'm sure don't have crowding problems or good coaching).