Less competitive swim teams in Down County Montgomery

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

RMSC coaches are hit or miss. We've had really really bad ones, ok ones and good ones.

[Anonymous]

Try Sea Devils

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

What HS?

[Anonymous]

I suspect the competitive talk is wide spread. Teen boys are notoriously posturing. Some are worse than others. While I can understand why this might be a turnoff to some, I see this as sort of typical teen stuff. Learning opportunity to learn how to shut this down, or ignore and worry about yourself, or be happy for your teammates’ success. Lots of options depending on circumstances.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I suspect the competitive talk is wide spread. Teen boys are notoriously posturing. Some are worse than others. While I can understand why this might be a turnoff to some, I see this as sort of typical teen stuff. Learning opportunity to learn how to shut this down, or ignore and worry about yourself, or be happy for your teammates’ success. Lots of options depending on circumstances.

This went way beyond that. The coach basically encouraged bullying of the slower kids. Could say a lot more but don't want to identify the school. I only mention it just to warn other parents to keep an eye out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the clubs, including RMSC have lower level clubs. The county has a stroke and turn and I'm forgetting the name of the class but another pre-team class. City of Rockville has classes too.

RMSC is not a non-competitive club. It is probably one of the most competitive clubs in Montgomery County.

That's true but they do have various groups at different ages that accommodate a range of skill/ability. Only the best will be invited to NTG but depending on ability and spot availability there might be room in one of the base level senior groups.

DP - aren't the lower level senior groups for experienced swimmers who don't want to practice as often? Kids who've swum at RMSC for a while and who, for whatever reason, aren't super fast or committed? Knowing how RMSC works, it doesn't seem like the kind of club that would welcome new HS-age swimmers unless they're super fast.

This. RMSC is less competitive for boys, but, he is going to need to know all his strokes at a minimum to be placed in the senior group. They also simply may not have any spots open in the senior group because the senior group is going to be filled with kids who can't make the higher level groups and have been in the club for years. They do not kick kids out of the club.

Did you mean to say the boys are more competitive? On a national level, the RMSC boys are ranked higher than the girls.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the clubs, including RMSC have lower level clubs. The county has a stroke and turn and I'm forgetting the name of the class but another pre-team class. City of Rockville has classes too.

RMSC is not a non-competitive club. It is probably one of the most competitive clubs in Montgomery County.

That's true but they do have various groups at different ages that accommodate a range of skill/ability. Only the best will be invited to NTG but depending on ability and spot availability there might be room in one of the base level senior groups.

DP - aren't the lower level senior groups for experienced swimmers who don't want to practice as often? Kids who've swum at RMSC for a while and who, for whatever reason, aren't super fast or committed? Knowing how RMSC works, it doesn't seem like the kind of club that would welcome new HS-age swimmers unless they're super fast.

This. RMSC is less competitive for boys, but, he is going to need to know all his strokes at a minimum to be placed in the senior group. They also simply may not have any spots open in the senior group because the senior group is going to be filled with kids who can't make the higher level groups and have been in the club for years. They do not kick kids out of the club.

Did you mean to say the boys are more competitive? On a national level, the RMSC boys are ranked higher than the girls.

I'm guessing they meant "competitive for space". I don't know how things really shake out in the older groups, but way back in the younger groups, they do try for some gender balance. This can make it a little easier for boys to get in then because there can be fewer boys trying out at those ages.

I don't know what seniors looks like at my site (or across the board), I have NTG swimmers and this particular era cohort is very boy heavy (and amazingly fast and competitive!). I would guess that in other groups, boy dropout rate is greater and may leave some space for a new boy vs. a new girl, but again, I really don't know if clubs care much about gender balance if they even have an available space in a senior group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:All the clubs, including RMSC have lower level clubs. The county has a stroke and turn and I'm forgetting the name of the class but another pre-team class. City of Rockville has classes too.

RMSC is not a non-competitive club. It is probably one of the most competitive clubs in Montgomery County.

That's true but they do have various groups at different ages that accommodate a range of skill/ability. Only the best will be invited to NTG but depending on ability and spot availability there might be room in one of the base level senior groups.

DP - aren't the lower level senior groups for experienced swimmers who don't want to practice as often? Kids who've swum at RMSC for a while and who, for whatever reason, aren't super fast or committed? Knowing how RMSC works, it doesn't seem like the kind of club that would welcome new HS-age swimmers unless they're super fast.

This. RMSC is less competitive for boys, but, he is going to need to know all his strokes at a minimum to be placed in the senior group. They also simply may not have any spots open in the senior group because the senior group is going to be filled with kids who can't make the higher level groups and have been in the club for years. They do not kick kids out of the club.

Did you mean to say the boys are more competitive? On a national level, the RMSC boys are ranked higher than the girls.

They are talking about the Senior's group, which is generally the lowest level and laid back. They need more than all four strokes at that age and it's still competitive because of very few spots. There are some very competitive kids in Seniors but most are just swimming for fun and exercise and don't care about the competition or moving up (or at least that is how it is with my kid). But, we know good swimmers who could not get a spot (assuming it was a space issue).

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

Interesting- in our division, most of the top rmsc (and other club) swimmers aren’t really trying until either metros or states. As a parent that volunteers at almost every high school meet, I rarely, if ever, see any club swimmers bragging about times. What high school does your child attend?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

Interesting- in our division, most of the top rmsc (and other club) swimmers aren’t really trying until either metros or states. As a parent that volunteers at almost every high school meet, I rarely, if ever, see any club swimmers bragging about times. What high school does your child attend?

Don't feel comfortable saying the school. Your reply touches on the vibe though. These kids can easily go way faster without even trying! HS team is mostly RMSC swimmers, cliquey and made the whole thing a miserable experience. Obviously these serious club swimmers are working really hard and good for them but unfortunately made it no fun for anyone else.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

Interesting- in our division, most of the top rmsc (and other club) swimmers aren’t really trying until either metros or states. As a parent that volunteers at almost every high school meet, I rarely, if ever, see any club swimmers bragging about times. What high school does your child attend?

Don't feel comfortable saying the school. Your reply touches on the vibe though. These kids can easily go way faster without even trying! HS team is mostly RMSC swimmers, cliquey and made the whole thing a miserable experience. Obviously these serious club swimmers are working really hard and good for them but unfortunately made it no fun for anyone else.

you really don't want to race hard all the time - it's about scoring points and many swimmers have to swim multiple events

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Teen DC has joined the high school swim team, loves it. They are now thinking about joining summer swim team but are convinced that club swimming is not an option. Are there less competitive clubs in close-in Montgomery County MD that would welcome/accommodate a new to competitive swimming teen?

Glad your kid is having a good HS experience. Mine quit MCPS HS even though they are a pretty good club swimmer. The coach was horrible and the RMSC kids were constantly bragging about their times.

Interesting- in our division, most of the top rmsc (and other club) swimmers aren’t really trying until either metros or states. As a parent that volunteers at almost every high school meet, I rarely, if ever, see any club swimmers bragging about times. What high school does your child attend?

Don't feel comfortable saying the school. Your reply touches on the vibe though. These kids can easily go way faster without even trying! HS team is mostly RMSC swimmers, cliquey and made the whole thing a miserable experience. Obviously these serious club swimmers are working really hard and good for them but unfortunately made it no fun for anyone else.

My kid swam for RMSC and I am sure that it seems cliquey for others. They spend about 20 hours a week together swimming and don’t participate in anything else.