Regular Cancelations of Swim Practices

[Anonymous]

Multiple people have shared frustration about the practice cancellations. Pretending it’s just “one angry parent posting repeatedly” doesn’t make those concerns disappear. Your behavior here honestly isn’t normal. You say you “don’t care what people talk about,” yet you keep jumping in to lecture people about what they should post. This is a forum—if you don’t like the thread, don’t read it. Stop trying to police what other people discuss. 🙄

[Anonymous]

So what’s your solution? Should Machine just shut the UMD & Fairland locations down? The meets for PVS swimmers at these pools impact more than Machine. PAC, Suburban, FAST… if you ask any of them they are frustrated with the amount of meets booked last minute into these facilities.

For UMD in particular, their spring break schedule is subject to what students they can get to work. This is why Machine and PAC aren’t “sure” the schedule impacts. Not enough lifeguards- no practices and facility is closed. I know this because my child works there as a lifeguard.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:^^ Machine is not perfect, as no swim club is. But slander is not okay.

I assume you mean libel? They have cancelled 20 UMD practices this year since the beginning of the year. And they said at the beginning of the year, not to bring your kids to other days as make-ups. There are other clubs that have a "you can come any night model," but Machine does not do that. Maybe they make exceptions for older kids, don't know. At other clubs in NoVa, they have make-up weeks, or have enough coaches that even if there is a meet for older/faster kids, the other kids can still practice. Machine is also very expensive compared to some other clubs. With the pricetag, it is reasonable to expect that they allow for drop-in or offer stroke and turn or some other way of indicating that they understand the financial sacrifice parents are making. Instead, they do not hire enough coaches or timers at any meet, and yell at parents for not wanting to time miss their kids' events and time. The Machine qualifier meets are always a mess.

If you’re timing, how exactly are you missing your kid’s event? You’re literally on deck watching the pool.

How was the qualifier a mess? You already stated you are a machine parent and the qualifier was 90% machine swimmers and you are saying not enough timers, so you are relying on the rest of us to time your kid so you can watch them swim? Guessing it is fair to assume you are missing you are apart of the problem here.

Machine has more coaches on deck than almost any other club at almost every meet and I appreciate it. Maybe Machine just isn’t the place for you and you should try out another Maryland team and have those parents time your child.

The Qualifier was objectively a mess. There were not enough coaches on deck, such that some kids did not get in their lanes, the board didn’t work, the app didn’t work, and Machine is already charging parents a fee for not volunteering- which some of us have to pay out of necessity. Not every family looks like yours - or has your family wealth, health, multiple family members able to attend, etc.

You do understand that Machine, or any other team, can’t control a facilities scoreboard?? Meet Mobile is a 3rd party platform that no club or meet admin has jurisdiction over. No club can help the fails of meet mobile. As an official who gets the nasty comments from parents sitting in the stands- I wish parents understood this. I encourage you to go join the various social media groups about the challenges meet director are having with MM. Or do a quick search of Active Network and Meet Mobile and you will see the program has no IT support.

I was an official at the qualifier and there were very few missed swims and the ones that did were 13 & Over, but it is clear your child was one that missed. I also know any child who missed, ended up swimming. We are there for the kids and ensure they can swim.

As an official, we get “paid” in tuition credit for our sessions worked by Machine, many clubs don’t do this. You also get the volunteer refunded to you as soon as you complete the volunteer hours.

All clubs have challenges and room for improvements, but Machine runs some of the best meets in our LSC in my opinion and I work lots of meets.

There were a lot of missed races in the morning events. Sounds like you were not there. Everyone is biased by their own experiences.

[Anonymous]

PP asked the question about 20 cancelled practices? Is that true or an exaggeration?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Multiple people have shared frustration about the practice cancellations. Pretending it’s just “one angry parent posting repeatedly” doesn’t make those concerns disappear. Your behavior here honestly isn’t normal. You say you “don’t care what people talk about,” yet you keep jumping in to lecture people about what they should post. This is a forum—if you don’t like the thread, don’t read it. Stop trying to police what other people discuss. 🙄

Oh, the irony.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This sounds infuriating! I can’t imagine receiving a monthly email outlining all the practice cancellations and reschedules, especially given how much you’re paying for the privilege.

No, the monthly email doesn’t lay out all of the practice changes and cancellations, that would be nice. It lays out what it is anticipated at the beginning of the month - and there are many many changes after that initial email - time, date, location, etc. This is our lived experience over several years at Machine. Yours may be -different - but doesn’t negate the experiences of others.

Why on Earth would you continue to pay for something that has infuriated you for many years?

[Anonymous]

The only people using words like furious or infuriated in this thread are the ones rushing to defend Machine.

Machine is a great program. Solid coaches, well organized, nice people. But things aren’t binary. Something can be a good program overall and still need some restructuring around how cancelled practices are handled.

I haven’t calculated the exact number of cancelled practices for my swimmer, but there have definitely been a lot of schedule changes and cancellations.

I understand they’re trying to get kids in the water, but two things stand out to me. First, the idea that Machine is financially compensated by UMD when the pool isn’t available while families are not. Second, the April 10 closure for a staff meeting. My kid doesn’t even swim on Fridays and that just seemed like an unnecessary choice.

It’s okay for parents to raise concerns without people acting like the program is under attack. Forums are a place for that — “Hey, I’m experiencing this, interesting in this, is anyone else?” Reasonable people can like a program and still want it to improve.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only people using words like furious or infuriated in this thread are the ones rushing to defend Machine.

Machine is a great program. Solid coaches, well organized, nice people. But things aren’t binary. Something can be a good program overall and still need some restructuring around how cancelled practices are handled.

I haven’t calculated the exact number of cancelled practices for my swimmer, but there have definitely been a lot of schedule changes and cancellations.

I understand they’re trying to get kids in the water, but two things stand out to me. First, the idea that Machine is financially compensated by UMD when the pool isn’t available while families are not. Second, the April 10 closure for a staff meeting. My kid doesn’t even swim on Fridays and that just seemed like an unnecessary choice.

It’s okay for parents to raise concerns without people acting like the program is under attack. Forums are a place for that — “Hey, I’m experiencing this, interesting in this, is anyone else?” Reasonable people can like a program and still want it to improve.

How do you know that the planned UMD closures weren’t factored into your tuition?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:The only people using words like furious or infuriated in this thread are the ones rushing to defend Machine.

Machine is a great program. Solid coaches, well organized, nice people. But things aren’t binary. Something can be a good program overall and still need some restructuring around how cancelled practices are handled.

I haven’t calculated the exact number of cancelled practices for my swimmer, but there have definitely been a lot of schedule changes and cancellations.

I understand they’re trying to get kids in the water, but two things stand out to me. First, the idea that Machine is financially compensated by UMD when the pool isn’t available while families are not. Second, the April 10 closure for a staff meeting. My kid doesn’t even swim on Fridays and that just seemed like an unnecessary choice.

It’s okay for parents to raise concerns without people acting like the program is under attack. Forums are a place for that — “Hey, I’m experiencing this, interesting in this, is anyone else?” Reasonable people can like a program and still want it to improve.

If you want to have a reasonable discussion, it helps to get the facts right. The bolded is inaccurate. And when you phrase things as “rushing to defend Machine,” you don’t start from a place of good faith. When people are accused of being Machine staff and of “weird boosterism,” it doesn’t foster reasonable discussion. I have no idea if you’re the PP who used those phrases, but when they’re thrown around, people are going to correct the record.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Machine at UMD is cancelled often and then rescheduled for Sunday morning at Fairland which doesn’t work for us. In general, the priority is not kids who are younger or not on elite track. They should rebate back to parents, particularly when no practice due to weather, but they do not.

But are you saying younger kids are offered makeups on Sun mornings but since you can’t do that, you should get a rebate?

I’m saying practices are regularly cancelled on Saturday, sometimes they will reschedule for Sundays - sometimes not. Weekday practices are also frequently cancelled - we lost a week for snow, there are no practices on holidays where MD is closed- they were not rescheduled at all. If you are paying for three classes a week on certain days - you should get those days, especially since they discourage you from bringing them on their non-assigned days. Machine itself gets compensated from university when they don’t get the lanes. They should pass this on to parents. Because there is a big jump in tuition from 2-3 times per week.

I agree with this and am a Machine parent.

[Anonymous]

The pools cancel and there’s no excess space.