NCAP Prep swimmers to skip Metros for Altitude Camp

[Anonymous]

For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

[Anonymous]

My kid is a club swimmer. They get in for high school practice, go to team socials, lunches. They are part of the team and don’t consider themself a ringer.

[Anonymous]

NCAP OTC trip (open to all NCAP swimmers) is not the weekend of Metros. Not sure what OP is talking about. Carry on.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I don’t know any Olympic swimmers who prioritize altitude camp. Seems like this is just a way for NCAP to get families to pay more money and drink the coolaid before the kid burns out at 16.

[Anonymous]

I could see the Olympic training center being a fun experience. It does seem to me from outsiders perspective that ncap should schedule these trips not during high school season. Or mcsl season. The cynical part of me thinks that it’s intentionally trying to steer kids away from the fun parts of swimming.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I could see the Olympic training center being a fun experience. It does seem to me from outsiders perspective that ncap should schedule these trips not during high school season. Or mcsl season. The cynical part of me thinks that it’s intentionally trying to steer kids away from the fun parts of swimming.

🙄 My kid would consider the opportunity to train at OTC the fun part of competitive swimming. But you’re essentially saying it shouldn’t be between November and the end of February or between the end of May and August. An intense training camp is not ideal at the beginning of the season, SC champs meets are in March, and April and August are the times the club kids get a bit of rest. It’s an application based training trip, no kid is being forced to do it.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I don’t know any Olympic swimmers who prioritize altitude camp. Seems like this is just a way for NCAP to get families to pay more money and drink the coolaid before the kid burns out at 16.

Yeah, Olympic swimmers would never prioritize training at the …..wait for it….Olympic Training Center. Never change bitter NCAP troll. Stay on message.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I don’t know any Olympic swimmers who prioritize altitude camp. Seems like this is just a way for NCAP to get families to pay more money and drink the coolaid before the kid burns out at 16.

NP with a kid who went to OTC….actually agree with above. Kid had a good time, but NCap is not what I’d call a nurturing environment

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I don’t know any Olympic swimmers who prioritize altitude camp. Seems like this is just a way for NCAP to get families to pay more money and drink the coolaid before the kid burns out at 16.

Yeah, Olympic swimmers would never prioritize training at the …..wait for it….Olympic Training Center. Never change bitter NCAP troll. Stay on message.

A little 3rd party fact check:
U.S. Olympic Training Camps:
2024 Raleigh + Croatia
2021 Hawaii
2016 San Antonio + Puerto Rico
2012 Knoxville + Vichy
2008 Palo Alto
2004 Palo Alto + Mallorca (which is at 4,500 ft, mountainous but no training effect)
2000 Pasadena

It appears NCAP going 3-4 times a year to altitude is far more often than the U.S. Olympic team, which has trained at moderate altitude once in a quarter century. I’m sure Tom Ugast is 2 steps ahead of Eddie Reese, Dave Durden, Todd DeSorbo, Bob Bowman, Gregg Troy, Greg Meehan and Dave Marsh.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:There is a PVS meet this weekend that conflicts with HS swim so it’s not just OTC trips. The horror! And yes, the school keeps track of the 2 meet rule so after missing two HS meets for NCI, my swimmer will go to the HS meet after the PVS meet. It would be awesome if next year PVS wouldn’t have the older kids swim in the evening so we could avoid and the conflict.

And no one is “made” to go on these trips.

You might avoid the conflict, but my MCPS kid has a high school meet in the morning before the PVS meet. It’s pretty much impossible to make it work for everyone.

My understanding is that the two meet rule applies to just the 5 regular season meets in MCPS. Our club coach is very cognizant of the high school schedules and does their best to help resolve conflicts. At the beginning of the season he lays it all out so kids can plan accordingly and make choices of choices must be made.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For the parents who think the kids should be able to miss multiple high school meets for club conflicts, how many meets would you say is okay to skip? Would it be fine if the top swimmers just showed up at metros? At what point do you say, yeah my kid is basically a ringer and not part of the team?

Let’s call a spade a spade, all of the top club kids are ringers for their HS teams. They attend maybe 1 practice a week and show up for meets when they don’t conflict with club meets.

Of course they are ringers. They are paying for good quality coaching and tons of lane time. High School coaches for the most part are not great. It is a low paying part time job and they tend to be disorganized, have limited lane space (with WAY too many swimmers per lane), and finite resources.

If high school swim didn't allow the "ringers" meets would look very different. Let's be honest most of the good high school athletes are not playing the sport for the first time, they belong to club teams, travel teams, etc, the difference is that soccer, football, etc have to practice with one another because they have to be a TEAM. Swim, you get in and do your thing. Practice the relay teams a bit and you are good to go.

I see lots of kids buy into the aspect of being on a high school team. Swimming with an RMSC cap or NCAP cap means nothing to these kids. When swimming for the school you get some crazy performances the kids themselves probably didn’t think were possible. The power of TEAM is special. More so than any magic altitude camp adventure

I know club kids that float through HS season because they can win without having to summon their best stuff. You are way overestimating the importance of HS swim to the elite club swimmers. Do they enjoy HS swim, absolutely, but it is not some magical experience for them. And it’s not “altitude camp”, it’s an opportunity to train for a week at the Olympic Training Center. For the kids at that level it absolutely outranks swimming at a HS meet. Sorry to burst your bubble.

I don’t know any Olympic swimmers who prioritize altitude camp. Seems like this is just a way for NCAP to get families to pay more money and drink the coolaid before the kid burns out at 16.

Yeah, Olympic swimmers would never prioritize training at the …..wait for it….Olympic Training Center. Never change bitter NCAP troll. Stay on message.

A little 3rd party fact check:
U.S. Olympic Training Camps:
2024 Raleigh + Croatia
2021 Hawaii
2016 San Antonio + Puerto Rico
2012 Knoxville + Vichy
2008 Palo Alto
2004 Palo Alto + Mallorca (which is at 4,500 ft, mountainous but no training effect)
2000 Pasadena

It appears NCAP going 3-4 times a year to altitude is far more often than the U.S. Olympic team, which has trained at moderate altitude once in a quarter century. I’m sure Tom Ugast is 2 steps ahead of Eddie Reese, Dave Durden, Todd DeSorbo, Bob Bowman, Gregg Troy, Greg Meehan and Dave Marsh.

Why are you so hung up on the fact that the OTC is located in Colorado Springs, which happens to be at altitude? The purpose of the trip isn’t “altitude training”, if the OTC was located in Omaha the trip would still happen.