Pools that recruit should be in their own division

[Anonymous]

I've heard the environment in the top 3 divisions in MCSL is toxic. The competition to get a spot in A meets is cutthroat. A new recruit arrives, bumps a swimmer from A to B meets and parents are pissed, talking about you behind your back. It's toxic!

[Anonymous]

We are in Princemont and the A division and some B division teams recruit. It’s weird.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I've heard the environment in the top 3 divisions in MCSL is toxic. The competition to get a spot in A meets is cutthroat. A new recruit arrives, bumps a swimmer from A to B meets and parents are pissed, talking about you behind your back. It's toxic!

Maybe some pools but don’t generalize to all. There are boundaried pools in the B division at least, and definitely in the C division. No recruiting going on there if you have to live in a specific neighborhood.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I do not believe this happens. I have a top PVS swimmer who has been going to NVSL all stars every year since they were 7 and we have never been contacted by one of those pools. Those top 3 pools are where they are because of geography combined with large memberships.

Their memberships aren't any larger than other pools in the top 10 divisions and there is nothing in the water that makes their kids faster. Their dominance is long enough standing that anyone who believes they don't recruit or that their waiting lists don't move for fast swimmers probably believes that the WWE is real

Almost all the pools in the top 2 divisions are from a very small geographical area - mostly Arlington and McLean. These pools are not getting kids from Springfield or further out in Nova. The area happens to have a large proportion of families that try to get their kids into swim and have them participate in club swim at a young age. The other pools with as large or larger memberships (including HOAs) likely don’t have nearly the proportion that do year round swim.

If that was true other pools in that area would compete with the top 3, but they don't

Which other pools in the area do you think should ? Look at the map on the NVSL website. The pools in that area are:
Donaldson Run - check
Highlands Swim. - check
Chesterbrook - check
Kent Gardens - check (amazing they can be here despite their small pool)
Tuckahoe - Check
Overlee - check

Others on the periphery are Langley, Arlington Forest, Dominion Hills and High Point. Langley is Div 2, High Point is Div 3 .

Tuckahoe, Cheterbrook, and Overlee have dominated for years now. McLean finished in third in 2015 and 2012 (the other three were 1,2, and 4 those years). No other pool cracked the top three since 2009 and 2007 for the top two. The last pool outside of those three to win was in 2005 (2, 3, 4 was Chesterbrook, Overlee, Tuckahoe). You have to go back to 1989 for the last time none of those pools were in the top 3. If they aren't recruiting or manipulating their waitlists, how is it that Donaldson Run, Highlands, Kent Gardens, Langley, Arlington Forest, Dominion Hills, Highpoint, Langley can't compete?

I haven’t been to every pool on this list (including Tuckahoe) but I’ve been to most. Compared to the others i have seen , Overlee and Chesterbrook are head and shoulders larger and better facilities which also likely means they have far larger memberships. Donaldson Run is beautiful and in a great location but you have to live in a certain area to be able to join. Dominion Hills and Arlington Forest are in less desirable parts of Arlington and I think AF is restricted to only people living in a certain geographical area.

In the course of my child’s meets I have been to a number of other clubs which are also very impressive but just aren’t in the same small area.

I’m going to throw a Burke team into the mix. We aren’t at Old Keene Mill but we aren't far from them and I’m curious to see how they do in Div 1 next year. (I doubt they’ll stay where they are.) Just 8 years ago they were in Division 15. Our team has stayed pretty steady between 13 and 16 and it’s crazy how fast they’ve moved up.

There are a few other pools that seem to be following in OKM from out of nowhere if you look at how the divisions have change. Springboard and Parklawn have had a rapid rise. I would imagine these teams would like to slow down their rise. Running from a division 16 team up the ranks, is a lot.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:I do not believe this happens. I have a top PVS swimmer who has been going to NVSL all stars every year since they were 7 and we have never been contacted by one of those pools. Those top 3 pools are where they are because of geography combined with large memberships.

Their memberships aren't any larger than other pools in the top 10 divisions and there is nothing in the water that makes their kids faster. Their dominance is long enough standing that anyone who believes they don't recruit or that their waiting lists don't move for fast swimmers probably believes that the WWE is real

Almost all the pools in the top 2 divisions are from a very small geographical area - mostly Arlington and McLean. These pools are not getting kids from Springfield or further out in Nova. The area happens to have a large proportion of families that try to get their kids into swim and have them participate in club swim at a young age. The other pools with as large or larger memberships (including HOAs) likely don’t have nearly the proportion that do year round swim.

If that was true other pools in that area would compete with the top 3, but they don't

Which other pools in the area do you think should ? Look at the map on the NVSL website. The pools in that area are:
Donaldson Run - check
Highlands Swim. - check
Chesterbrook - check
Kent Gardens - check (amazing they can be here despite their small pool)
Tuckahoe - Check
Overlee - check

Others on the periphery are Langley, Arlington Forest, Dominion Hills and High Point. Langley is Div 2, High Point is Div 3 .

Tuckahoe, Cheterbrook, and Overlee have dominated for years now. McLean finished in third in 2015 and 2012 (the other three were 1,2, and 4 those years). No other pool cracked the top three since 2009 and 2007 for the top two. The last pool outside of those three to win was in 2005 (2, 3, 4 was Chesterbrook, Overlee, Tuckahoe). You have to go back to 1989 for the last time none of those pools were in the top 3. If they aren't recruiting or manipulating their waitlists, how is it that Donaldson Run, Highlands, Kent Gardens, Langley, Arlington Forest, Dominion Hills, Highpoint, Langley can't compete?

I haven’t been to every pool on this list (including Tuckahoe) but I’ve been to most. Compared to the others i have seen , Overlee and Chesterbrook are head and shoulders larger and better facilities which also likely means they have far larger memberships. Donaldson Run is beautiful and in a great location but you have to live in a certain area to be able to join. Dominion Hills and Arlington Forest are in less desirable parts of Arlington and I think AF is restricted to only people living in a certain geographical area.

In the course of my child’s meets I have been to a number of other clubs which are also very impressive but just aren’t in the same small area.

I’m going to throw a Burke team into the mix. We aren’t at Old Keene Mill but we aren't far from them and I’m curious to see how they do in Div 1 next year. (I doubt they’ll stay where they are.) Just 8 years ago they were in Division 15. Our team has stayed pretty steady between 13 and 16 and it’s crazy how fast they’ve moved up.

There are a few other pools that seem to be following in OKM from out of nowhere if you look at how the divisions have change. Springboard and Parklawn have had a rapid rise. I would imagine these teams would like to slow down their rise. Running from a division 16 team up the ranks, is a lot.

How does that happen? Have the neighborhoods changed? Younger families? Coaching? Moving up 15 divisions in 7 or 8 years is quite amazing.

[Anonymous]

I know of one team in division A that recruits and does additional $$ lesssons on top of practice. It’s actually insane. It’s summer swim. But kids get recruited by winter coaches.