Pre swim team useless?

[Anonymous]

My son is doing pre team at a MoCo private pool this summer. It's a complete disorganized mess and it seems the coaches are middle schoolers. Is this typical, or just our bad luck?

FWIW he did Fins over the winter, which is more like a stroke clinic, and it was so much better. That's my only experience with swim teams.

[Anonymous]

At our pool, pre swim team is basically cheap swim lessons. What do you expect? Once the kids can swim freestyle and backstroke they can move to the regular team and swim in the 8 and under category.

[Anonymous]

IDK, this is our first pre team experience. DD has a good coach (young, but not MS! Maybe senior in HS or college student) and a little unorganized, but overall it is okay.

They let a lot of younger kids join preteam, even though they couldn't swim the required length. The moms of the not-so-strong swimmers kept making the kids do it over and over again until they "got it" but the kids never did. Instead of saying "That's okay junior, we will do swim lessons and try again next year" they begged to have their kids put on preteam, so our preteam has turned more into swim lessons than actually learning strokes and getting stronger, which is annoying.

[Anonymous]

Ours is run by a college student who has middle school and high school kids who work with the different level groups in the water. It is cheap swim lessons. Last year, both my kids did pre-team and I thought it was extremely disorganized. We had just joined the pool and didn't know anything about the program. This year it seems much better organized (FWIW, my kids moved up to swim team this summer).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:My son is doing pre team at a MoCo private pool this summer. It's a complete disorganized mess and it seems the coaches are middle schoolers. Is this typical, or just our bad luck?

FWIW he did Fins over the winter, which is more like a stroke clinic, and it was so much better. That's my only experience with swim teams.

Maybe ask to get involved to help run it if you are dissatisfied. At our prior pool it was awesome: each mini was paired with a teen for private "lessons". The kids (older) volunteered but took it seriously. We are at a new pool now and I'm not sure how this mini team is run b/c we are on the full team, but if I thought it was disorganized, I'd offer to suggest a new format for the program.

[Anonymous]

Our pool has about 4-5 kids per instructor. It's about what you'd expect from swim lessons through the rec centers plus they can swim in some meets and they have a lot of fun team building activities for the kids. Parents seem happy with the program.

[Anonymous]

Ours is simliar, the 13-14 year olds on ST "coach" the pre-swim team. There are 3-4 kids per "coach" and so most parents use it as cheap swim lessons ($75/summer). I held off putting DD(5) in it this year. We are continuing private lesson with one of the guards which are still dirt cheap. She makes more progress with the individual attention. I figure there are plenty of years for swim team.

[Anonymous]

The idea of pre team is to get kids used to the water, feel part of the big swim team (the pre teamers are always part of our team's pep rally's), make friends with kids their age and get to commect with the older kids on the swim team.

It is not meant at all for serious swim learning. Some pre teamers can make it across the pool by the end of the season adn will particpate in the last B meet. The look on their faces when they do it is priceless and gives them so much confidence.


We did both swim lessons and pre team. It was a great experience and we are still doing summer swim team after 10 years.

Also-keep in mind that summer swim team is much different than competitve swim teams during the year. Yes, there is lots of competition but even the serious swimmers will tell you that they love summer swimming because it is fun and helps them form lifelong friendships.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The idea of pre team is to get kids used to the water, feel part of the big swim team (the pre teamers are always part of our team's pep rally's), make friends with kids their age and get to commect with the older kids on the swim team.

It is not meant at all for serious swim learning. Some pre teamers can make it across the pool by the end of the season adn will particpate in the last B meet. The look on their faces when they do it is priceless and gives them so much confidence.


We did both swim lessons and pre team. It was a great experience and we are still doing summer swim team after 10 years.

Also-keep in mind that summer swim team is much different than competitve swim teams during the year. Yes, there is lots of competition but even the serious swimmers will tell you that they love summer swimming because it is fun and helps them form lifelong friendships.

OP here. Maybe I put him in the wrong thing, then. ? He can swim across the pool easily, but more like a doggie paddle or underwater. His crawl stroke is almost nonexistent, so I didn't think regular swim team was an option. He also hates competition,which is fine with me. I want him to have fun and in the process, become a stronger swimmer.

But listening to some middle schooler yell at my kid is annoying. The pre team coach, who I think is in college, actually stopped by for the first time last night, to see what was going on, and at that point they got some good instruction.

I would offer to help. But I've never done swim team and don't know what they are supposed to be doing. I envisioned something more like working on kicks for a bit, crawl stroke for a bit, breathing for a bit. Informal races or games?

[Anonymous]

Our pre-team info says kids must "be able to swim unassisted the length of the pool with alternating arm stroke" and it makes the point that the team "is NOT a replacement for swim lessons."

I'd venture to guess that your son needs a little more swim instruction before pre-team is a good fit. But the yelling at the kids--regardless of their level!--seems over-the-top for summer pre-team. Ours is much more low-key and celebratory of the kids' successes.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Our pre-team info says kids must "be able to swim unassisted the length of the pool with alternating arm stroke" and it makes the point that the team "is NOT a replacement for swim lessons."

I'd venture to guess that your son needs a little more swim instruction before pre-team is a good fit. But the yelling at the kids--regardless of their level!--seems over-the-top for summer pre-team. Ours is much more low-key and celebratory of the kids' successes.

OP again. Our preteam requirements were swimming across half the pool without touching the bottom. No focus on strokes. Your requirements make more sense to me.

He is also taking private lessons. I don't know what I thought preteam would be like....this just isn't it. Oh well. Lesson learned.

[Anonymous]

I agree withthe PP who explained what pre team is about. There are many kids atour pool on pre team and their parents think they should be on the A team.

Pre team is to build confidence, get the kids used to the water and have fun, and be part fo the team. The older kids embrace them as team members and it is sort of like a right of passage.

the kids who are swimming a 100 free on saturday under 1 min are the same kids who couldn't swim at age 4-6 but kept at it. I rememeber my daughter doing her first 25 under a minute, it was a big deal and now she is off to college swimming there.

enjoy it try to understand they are having fun and it doesn't matter if the coach is in MS they are probably a better coach than you would be.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:The idea of pre team is to get kids used to the water, feel part of the big swim team (the pre teamers are always part of our team's pep rally's), make friends with kids their age and get to commect with the older kids on the swim team.

It is not meant at all for serious swim learning. Some pre teamers can make it across the pool by the end of the season adn will particpate in the last B meet. The look on their faces when they do it is priceless and gives them so much confidence.


We did both swim lessons and pre team. It was a great experience and we are still doing summer swim team after 10 years.

Also-keep in mind that summer swim team is much different than competitve swim teams during the year. Yes, there is lots of competition but even the serious swimmers will tell you that they love summer swimming because it is fun and helps them form lifelong friendships.

OP here. Maybe I put him in the wrong thing, then. ? He can swim across the pool easily, but more like a doggie paddle or underwater. His crawl stroke is almost nonexistent, so I didn't think regular swim team was an option. He also hates competition,which is fine with me. I want him to have fun and in the process, become a stronger swimmer.

But listening to some middle schooler yell at my kid is annoying. The pre team coach, who I think is in college, actually stopped by for the first time last night, to see what was going on, and at that point they got some good instruction.

I would offer to help. But I've never done swim team and don't know what they are supposed to be doing. I envisioned something more like working on kicks for a bit, crawl stroke for a bit, breathing for a bit. Informal races or games?

Here is what our pre teaa literature says"

"The  pre­team is for younger swimmers who are beginner swimmers and eager 
to learn how to swim a length of the pool and eventually swim in a B Meet."

So your son is where he is supposed to be since he cannot do a crawl stroke. The yelling should not be happening. It is supposed to be fun. I would also recommend doing some swim lessons. Once he can swim the length of the pool doing a crawl stroke, he can then do the regular swim team. Most kids by 7 or 8 are able to do that.

[Anonymous]

They must be different at different pools. Ours requires kids to swim across a shorter end of the pool non-doggie style and then tread water for a bit. About half the effort of a patch test.

[Anonymous]

Ours just requires that the kid be willing to put face in water and wear goggles.