Tell me about Swim Team

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.

My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.

They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.

Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.

This also totally true. Not to step on the proud parents of the 8Us but on many teams, particularly lower division ones, if you are just legal in those strokes you will be at A meets and have a chance at Divisionals. That said I’ve never seen a kid start legal and drop 40 seconds over a few weeks. I have seen kids go from not legal to legal and making A meets and Divisionals though.

No one is claiming their 6 yo is the next Michael Phelps. The comments have all been that they parents underestimated the intensity and level of commitment. Having both A meets, B meets and 5 days of practice per week is a ton for a 6-7 yo.

There are multiple parents of new 8 and under swimmers posting proudly in this thread about their kids making all the A meets and Divisionals. Also a poster claimed a kid dropped 40 seconds over a week or 2 in a 25 meter race, which as multiple posters pointed out is unlikely to have happened.

We give an award for the most time dropped from prior season times. This year the winner dropped 5 minutes across all strokes plus IM. They are still far away from ever swimming an A meet let alone divisionals or all stars, but they went from kid everyone clapped for to being able to easily finish. I can totally see a slow swimmer dropping 40 seconds - look at the bottom of your teams ladder and there are going to be 8 and unders with times of 2 or 3 minutes. Just learning how to get across the pool more easily will drop 40 seconds

Time dropped from a previous season is not the same as claiming a kid dropped 40 seconds in a 1-2 week span in a 25 meter race. I’ve been a swim parent for a long time and have not seen that. Huge drops from season to season, absolutely, especially if the kid did a stroke and turn clinic in the winter/spring.

Kid panics or gets exhausted and hangs out on the lane line for a minute vs. gutting it out. That happens all the time.

That kid gets DQd, so they don’t get a time.

Actually- that’s not a DQ.

Well... it depends on what they do when they leave the lane line...

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

And they aren't winning.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.

My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.

They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.

Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.

This also totally true. Not to step on the proud parents of the 8Us but on many teams, particularly lower division ones, if you are just legal in those strokes you will be at A meets and have a chance at Divisionals. That said I’ve never seen a kid start legal and drop 40 seconds over a few weeks. I have seen kids go from not legal to legal and making A meets and Divisionals though.

No one is claiming their 6 yo is the next Michael Phelps. The comments have all been that they parents underestimated the intensity and level of commitment. Having both A meets, B meets and 5 days of practice per week is a ton for a 6-7 yo.

There are multiple parents of new 8 and under swimmers posting proudly in this thread about their kids making all the A meets and Divisionals. Also a poster claimed a kid dropped 40 seconds over a week or 2 in a 25 meter race, which as multiple posters pointed out is unlikely to have happened.

We give an award for the most time dropped from prior season times. This year the winner dropped 5 minutes across all strokes plus IM. They are still far away from ever swimming an A meet let alone divisionals or all stars, but they went from kid everyone clapped for to being able to easily finish. I can totally see a slow swimmer dropping 40 seconds - look at the bottom of your teams ladder and there are going to be 8 and unders with times of 2 or 3 minutes. Just learning how to get across the pool more easily will drop 40 seconds

Time dropped from a previous season is not the same as claiming a kid dropped 40 seconds in a 1-2 week span in a 25 meter race. I’ve been a swim parent for a long time and have not seen that. Huge drops from season to season, absolutely, especially if the kid did a stroke and turn clinic in the winter/spring.

Kid panics or gets exhausted and hangs out on the lane line for a minute vs. gutting it out. That happens all the time.

That kid gets DQd, so they don’t get a time.

Actually- that’s not a DQ.

It's hard to maintain simultaneous arm and leg action, stay on stroke cycle and keep elbows in the water while hanging on the lane line. Lots of ways this can be a DQ.

As long as they don't push off, it's not a DQ for free style

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.

My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.

They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.

Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.

This also totally true. Not to step on the proud parents of the 8Us but on many teams, particularly lower division ones, if you are just legal in those strokes you will be at A meets and have a chance at Divisionals. That said I’ve never seen a kid start legal and drop 40 seconds over a few weeks. I have seen kids go from not legal to legal and making A meets and Divisionals though.

No one is claiming their 6 yo is the next Michael Phelps. The comments have all been that they parents underestimated the intensity and level of commitment. Having both A meets, B meets and 5 days of practice per week is a ton for a 6-7 yo.

There are multiple parents of new 8 and under swimmers posting proudly in this thread about their kids making all the A meets and Divisionals. Also a poster claimed a kid dropped 40 seconds over a week or 2 in a 25 meter race, which as multiple posters pointed out is unlikely to have happened.

We give an award for the most time dropped from prior season times. This year the winner dropped 5 minutes across all strokes plus IM. They are still far away from ever swimming an A meet let alone divisionals or all stars, but they went from kid everyone clapped for to being able to easily finish. I can totally see a slow swimmer dropping 40 seconds - look at the bottom of your teams ladder and there are going to be 8 and unders with times of 2 or 3 minutes. Just learning how to get across the pool more easily will drop 40 seconds

Time dropped from a previous season is not the same as claiming a kid dropped 40 seconds in a 1-2 week span in a 25 meter race. I’ve been a swim parent for a long time and have not seen that. Huge drops from season to season, absolutely, especially if the kid did a stroke and turn clinic in the winter/spring.

Kid panics or gets exhausted and hangs out on the lane line for a minute vs. gutting it out. That happens all the time.

That kid gets DQd, so they don’t get a time.

Actually- that’s not a DQ.

It's hard to maintain simultaneous arm and leg action, stay on stroke cycle and keep elbows in the water while hanging on the lane line. Lots of ways this can be a DQ.

As long as they don't push off, it's not a DQ for free style

Breaststroke was the stroke in question.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

You think it's that extraordinary that a kid dropped 6 seconds at Divisionals as an 8U that you can suss out the data? It's not going to have B meet times for the bigger time drop.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

You think it's that extraordinary that a kid dropped 6 seconds at Divisionals as an 8U that you can suss out the data? It's not going to have B meet times for the bigger time drop.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Those bigger time drops don't exist. The data is all there to show the seed times regardless of where they came from.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

You think it's that extraordinary that a kid dropped 6 seconds at Divisionals as an 8U that you can suss out the data? It's not going to have B meet times for the bigger time drop.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Those bigger time drops don't exist. The data is all there to show the seed times regardless of where they came from.

You tracked back times for each kid for their A meet and B meet times for the week before Divisionals for each league? The PP didn't say their kid dropped 40 seconds at Divisionals, but dropped 40 seconds to make Divisionals. That's not possible to track in any reasonable way. Those cuts could have been across a few meets (B meet + A meet + B meet). You're talking nonsense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

You think it's that extraordinary that a kid dropped 6 seconds at Divisionals as an 8U that you can suss out the data? It's not going to have B meet times for the bigger time drop.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Someone said there was a swimmer that dropped 40 seconds in a 25 breaststroke over 1-2 weeks, which just didn’t happen.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

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Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.

My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.

They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.

Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.

This also totally true. Not to step on the proud parents of the 8Us but on many teams, particularly lower division ones, if you are just legal in those strokes you will be at A meets and have a chance at Divisionals. That said I’ve never seen a kid start legal and drop 40 seconds over a few weeks. I have seen kids go from not legal to legal and making A meets and Divisionals though.

No one is claiming their 6 yo is the next Michael Phelps. The comments have all been that they parents underestimated the intensity and level of commitment. Having both A meets, B meets and 5 days of practice per week is a ton for a 6-7 yo.

There are multiple parents of new 8 and under swimmers posting proudly in this thread about their kids making all the A meets and Divisionals. Also a poster claimed a kid dropped 40 seconds over a week or 2 in a 25 meter race, which as multiple posters pointed out is unlikely to have happened.

We give an award for the most time dropped from prior season times. This year the winner dropped 5 minutes across all strokes plus IM. They are still far away from ever swimming an A meet let alone divisionals or all stars, but they went from kid everyone clapped for to being able to easily finish. I can totally see a slow swimmer dropping 40 seconds - look at the bottom of your teams ladder and there are going to be 8 and unders with times of 2 or 3 minutes. Just learning how to get across the pool more easily will drop 40 seconds

Time dropped from a previous season is not the same as claiming a kid dropped 40 seconds in a 1-2 week span in a 25 meter race. I’ve been a swim parent for a long time and have not seen that. Huge drops from season to season, absolutely, especially if the kid did a stroke and turn clinic in the winter/spring.

Kid panics or gets exhausted and hangs out on the lane line for a minute vs. gutting it out. That happens all the time.

No it doesn't "happen all the time".

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There was an 8 year old on our team who dropped about 25 seconds in breast stroke over just two weeks, earning a first place in divisionals.

Funny because all the 8&u division winners in our league were posting consistently fast times in the weeks leading up to Divisionals.

If you really took the time to look that up then I can only assume you are in a different league. You also don’t have access to B times because they aren’t publicly available. There are also some kids in divisionals with NT for the stroke in question.

Reachforthewall has the seed times for divisional meets across multiple leagues. The events described above are easily verifiable or refuted. If it really happened, it would be so unusual that it would probably make the Washington Post.

You think it's that extraordinary that a kid dropped 6 seconds at Divisionals as an 8U that you can suss out the data? It's not going to have B meet times for the bigger time drop.

Some people have way too much time on their hands.

Those bigger time drops don't exist. The data is all there to show the seed times regardless of where they came from.

This +1000.

It's just really silly that these people are choosing this as fantasy.

[Anonymous]

Wow this thread has really gone off the rails, but to the OPs question swim team is so much fun! And a lot of volunteer work but that is what comes with being a part of a great community. They don't happen without lots of parents working on it I am a former swim kid with deeply fond memories of my summers on swim team, whose oldest just did his first summer on a "developmental" team (called the "minis") at our pool. We hired a college summer sitter for the weeks from school to when swim team ended, worked great. He loved it. And improved so much - is now water safe, can swim in the deep end etc and swim a basic freestyle and backstroke. Cheapest swim lessons you will ever find, plus they have fun. I asked my son recently if he wanted to do it next year, his response was: DEFINITELY. There is no better way to get your kid a strong swimmer. They don't have to do it through high school, many peter off in middle school etc which is totally fine - worth the few years!

Summer swim is unique in my opinion from others sports I played as a kid - like others mentioned, everyone gets the same points. An 8 year old is just as important for the team as a 16 year old. Mixed gender team. More than one person gets points in every race, it isn't all about being #1. Both an individual aspect and a team aspect so your team can have a hard loss, but you might have a great swim where you beat your own time, just lots of opportunities to challenge yourself in different ways. The different ages all being on the team together - very unique. Older kids take care of younger and then your kid grows up to be the older kid and learns those skills too.

The community work for the team, we didn't do as much as a "mini" parent because our kid wasn't always swimming in meets but I remember my parents volunteering a huge amount. They are still close friends with many of those parents today. In my opinion, community takes work. Sometimes people want community to just come to them. People that have community give their time, money, and talents to make the community great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

In NVSL, two 7 year old girls "narrowly" missed All Stars in 8&u breaststroke (i.e., they were within about 1.5 seconds of the cut line). One added time at Divisionals and the other dropped less than a second.

It's great that th kids improved so much but 1.5 seconds is in no way a "narrow" miss in a 25 m race.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Some teams are really chill and fun, some are really intense. See if you can find out the vibe for your neighborhood team.

I’m this PP. This thread is turning into a perfect example. I promise not all swim teams act like this IRL.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.

What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.

Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.

You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.

Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.

That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?

OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.

I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.

When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.

Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.

No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.

In NVSL, two 7 year old girls "narrowly" missed All Stars in 8&u breaststroke (i.e., they were within about 1.5 seconds of the cut line). One added time at Divisionals and the other dropped less than a second.

It's great that th kids improved so much but 1.5 seconds is in no way a "narrow" miss in a 25 m race.

Meh. It can be a narrow miss in 8U. We had under 10s dropping 4+ seconds at divisionals. In the younger ages, you’re not shaving off fractions of a second.