I wasn’t but WOW. I’ll ignore the hypocrisy in your attitude. So my kid, who never gets to swim their best events in A meets, because they’re happily competing where their team needs them, should skip Divisionals because theyre going to scratch all- stars, so another kid - who won’t make all stars - can swim in divisionals instead of them? Got it. |
But my kid is going to Divisionals knowing it's the last meet of their summer swim season and so it is important to them. Why would they not swim their last meet so that another slower teammate can have a last meet? Divisionals is the last divisional meet of summer swim, not prelims to IAS. Also kids go to Divisionals to set team records. |
Yes. Period, end of story. If your kid is truly a very good swimmer they are more focused on their long course season anyway. You just said they were happy to swim wherever their team needed them for A meets. Something tells me YOU care more about showing off how fast your kid is to your friends and neighbors. You're missing an opportunity to teach your child how to be a good teammate in an environment where that is supposed to be an emphasis. |
Why does divisionals exist? To qualify for all stars. It's called explaining to your child that kids who know they won't be at all starts aren't supposed to sign up for divisionals -- thus the final A meet is their last meet. But you clearly don't care about that you have an individual mindset in a setting where it is supposed to be more about the team. You are missing the point of summer swim, which is not surprising with all the over-invested parents here. |
I think you're missing the point of summer swim if you think it's all about qualifying for all stars. |
It sure isn’t about whatever brings the most individual glory to your child I can tell you that. |
My kids aren’t year round swimmers, and divisionals has been the end of their summer swim season every year. The idea that divisionals is only about all stars and shouldn’t be swum by anyone who couldn’t do all stars is ridiculous. |
Exactly. |
The amount of 15-18s that scratch every year tells me the prevailing attitude is that the kids who have earned a spot at Divisionals....swim at Divisionals. |
Pretty sure this person is a troll at this point. |
The real answer in most cases is the 5 or so best swimmers per age group (perhaps only 4 best in 8u) on each team swim at NVSL Divisionals. Occasionally another team won’t fill all their slots or someone from your own team will miss Divisionals allowing someone else to sneak in. |
When do kids typically find out (and decide which events they want to do if they are the fastest in more than two?).
It’s my kids first year (8 and under) and don’t totally trust the coaches to guide my kid correctly. There are favorites (who are a bit slower than my DS) and i worry that they could persuade him certain ways to benefit these other kids VS what my child earned and would like to do. |
It is going to vary by team. On our team, we have an A meet this Saturday, and then an IM carnival on Monday. So Tuesday will be the day they start making the lineups for Divisionals, and asking the kids, which stroke do you prefer to do. For our team, as a parent of an 8 and under, you could get ahead of the process, by saying to the coach something like "If there is a choice of strokes, Larla would like to do backstroke and fly at Divisionals" on Monday or Tuesday morning at practice. |
As usual I find it fascinating to read about how other leagues work (seems this thread is primarily NVSL, but also reading about MCSL on other threads).
I love how "chill" PMSL is comparatively! Even in division A. Our coaches do all the Divisional selections. There is no kid choice at all. But I have never heard of a kid opting out of Divisionals even if they knew they wouldn't go to All-Stars. For PMSL (maybe this is different for other leagues?), Divisionals IS a team event and there's a healthy (maybe not always healthy) competition to see if you can beat teams at Divisionals that you may have lost to in a dual meet. |
In NVSL, which the original poster asked about, Divisionals is an individual event. Team standings are final as of the last dual meet which will be this weekend. After that it is individuals competing against their peers in the division and the league for medals (top 6 at divisionals) per event or an IAS bid (top 18 league-wide plus 2 alternates) per event. |