Summer Swim Team Coaching- tell me about yours

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Could you or your swimmer ask to attend the earlier practice? Our club team swims 11 months out of the year and it just turns out that the club summer practices are at our summer team pool. We pay for these practices. It might appear as favoritism to sum, but some folks forget it was part of the registration for the club team.

That's exactly what it is, and the kids who do it are the obvious favorites. We're not asking to do it because our kids aren't part of that club.

I’m not quite sure how this is favoritism. He is coaching his club swimmers at their club practice, the fact that this club uses your pool for summer practice doesn’t make it favoritism. If this practice was being held at a different pool, would you still consider it favoritism?

He's also selecting swimmers for A meets though. That's were the favoritism comes in

Are you saying that some of the non-club swimmers have posted faster times and he is ignoring those times and just putting the club swimmers in the A meets anyway? Because if the club swimmers have the fastest times that’s not favoritism, they are just faster because they swim 11 months out of the year.

Yes

I’m MCSL team rep, you have to have swam in an A meet to be eligible for divisionals. Swimmers also can’t be seeded in on anything but A meet times from this year. In the rule book.

False. You can enter divisionals in McsL with no time. Just have to have been on the team roster that season and can’t be seeded with non a meet times

[Anonymous]

What is this A and B meet thing? We only have Saturday meets, is it one and then the other?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Worst swimming experience ever so far. Little Falls penguins

Please explain? We have considered joining that pool/team.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Could you or your swimmer ask to attend the earlier practice? Our club team swims 11 months out of the year and it just turns out that the club summer practices are at our summer team pool. We pay for these practices. It might appear as favoritism to sum, but some folks forget it was part of the registration for the club team.

That's exactly what it is, and the kids who do it are the obvious favorites. We're not asking to do it because our kids aren't part of that club.

I’m not quite sure how this is favoritism. He is coaching his club swimmers at their club practice, the fact that this club uses your pool for summer practice doesn’t make it favoritism. If this practice was being held at a different pool, would you still consider it favoritism?

He's also selecting swimmers for A meets though. That's were the favoritism comes in

Are you saying that some of the non-club swimmers have posted faster times and he is ignoring those times and just putting the club swimmers in the A meets anyway? Because if the club swimmers have the fastest times that’s not favoritism, they are just faster because they swim 11 months out of the year.

Yes

I’m MCSL team rep, you have to have swam in an A meet to be eligible for divisionals. Swimmers also can’t be seeded in on anything but A meet times from this year. In the rule book.

False. You can enter divisionals in McsL with no time. Just have to have been on the team roster that season and can’t be seeded with non a meet times

You can swim an event at divisionals with NT but have to have swam in an A meet once during the season. Check the rule book

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:What is this A and B meet thing? We only have Saturday meets, is it one and then the other?

A meets are competitive meets between two teams, where one team wins. These meets are commonly called Saturday meets because that is when most are held. The times achieved for individual swimmers are official league times, the number of swimmers is limited (generally one heat per event), and teams will almost always choose their fastest swimmers to swim in these meets. B meets are developmental meets open to all team swimmers. The times achieved at B meets can be used by the team to choose the fastest swimmers for A meets, but they are not official league times. B meets are usually held on weeknights, and many teams call them “Monday” or “Wednesday” meets, for example.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this A and B meet thing? We only have Saturday meets, is it one and then the other?

A meets are competitive meets between two teams, where one team wins. These meets are commonly called Saturday meets because that is when most are held. The times achieved for individual swimmers are official league times, the number of swimmers is limited (generally one heat per event), and teams will almost always choose their fastest swimmers to swim in these meets. B meets are developmental meets open to all team swimmers. The times achieved at B meets can be used by the team to choose the fastest swimmers for A meets, but they are not official league times. B meets are usually held on weeknights, and many teams call them “Monday” or “Wednesday” meets, for example.

Our B meets also involve another team, but the teams may not be in our division, generally we swim B meets against pools close by regardless of what division they are in.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this A and B meet thing? We only have Saturday meets, is it one and then the other?

A meets are competitive meets between two teams, where one team wins. These meets are commonly called Saturday meets because that is when most are held. The times achieved for individual swimmers are official league times, the number of swimmers is limited (generally one heat per event), and teams will almost always choose their fastest swimmers to swim in these meets. B meets are developmental meets open to all team swimmers. The times achieved at B meets can be used by the team to choose the fastest swimmers for A meets, but they are not official league times. B meets are usually held on weeknights, and many teams call them “Monday” or “Wednesday” meets, for example.

Oh OK. Our league has I think up to three freestyle heats and two heats of everything (unless not enough swimmers for that) which is enough to accommodate our team on Saturdays. Does splitting it up like that affect team cohesion or chemistry? Do kids not swimming in A meets still attend them to cheer?

[Anonymous]

* two heats of everything ELSE

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Huge team, but he's also a club coach so he knows what he's doing. On the other hand, his club kids swim with him at our pool before it opens and the favoritism is obvious.

Could you or your swimmer ask to attend the earlier practice? Our club team swims 11 months out of the year and it just turns out that the club summer practices are at our summer team pool. We pay for these practices. It might appear as favoritism to sum, but some folks forget it was part of the registration for the club team.

That's exactly what it is, and the kids who do it are the obvious favorites. We're not asking to do it because our kids aren't part of that club.

I’m not quite sure how this is favoritism. He is coaching his club swimmers at their club practice, the fact that this club uses your pool for summer practice doesn’t make it favoritism. If this practice was being held at a different pool, would you still consider it favoritism?

He's also selecting swimmers for A meets though. That's were the favoritism comes in

Are you saying that some of the non-club swimmers have posted faster times and he is ignoring those times and just putting the club swimmers in the A meets anyway? Because if the club swimmers have the fastest times that’s not favoritism, they are just faster because they swim 11 months out of the year.

Yes

I’m sorry but I’m finding this very hard to believe. I’ve never heard of a summer swim team saying oh look Larla swam the 50 breast in 43 seconds, but Karla is one of my club swimmers so even though she posted 46 seconds, into the A meet she goes. If this was actually happening, this is something pretty easily taken to the reps to get an explanation. Even when a club doesn’t publish the ladder, the reps have it.

I would definitely go to the reps if this is happening. The coaches work for the team/reps and would most certainly be held accountable for that kind of thing.

Seeding a slower swimmer over a faster one bc the slower swimmer is a year-round swimmer would never fly at our pool. The only possible time it happens is when the coach has to run the best lineup for a team (so maybe a kid isn’t swimming their best stroke bc they are needed elsewhere). But then it is pretty transparent and benefits entire team. If anything, the coach who coached club makes an effort to give non/club kids a chance - but again that would only be done in situations where the team would absolutely win.

Also, the only carry-forward times are in time trials. After that, only this year’s times are considered.

I would look at team by-laws. I would be surprised if the coach could take out a faster swimmer to out in a slower as you described. Unless there was some sort of disciplinary issue.

A similar thing happened at our pool but the favoritism was not a club swimmers but just favorites of the coach. A lot of the favoritism is kids who bond with the coach because they have similar backgrounds of being white people.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is this A and B meet thing? We only have Saturday meets, is it one and then the other?

A meets are competitive meets between two teams, where one team wins. These meets are commonly called Saturday meets because that is when most are held. The times achieved for individual swimmers are official league times, the number of swimmers is limited (generally one heat per event), and teams will almost always choose their fastest swimmers to swim in these meets. B meets are developmental meets open to all team swimmers. The times achieved at B meets can be used by the team to choose the fastest swimmers for A meets, but they are not official league times. B meets are usually held on weeknights, and many teams call them “Monday” or “Wednesday” meets, for example.

Oh OK. Our league has I think up to three freestyle heats and two heats of everything (unless not enough swimmers for that) which is enough to accommodate our team on Saturdays. Does splitting it up like that affect team cohesion or chemistry? Do kids not swimming in A meets still attend them to cheer?

At our pool for the home meets yes some of kids who are not in the A meets come and cheer and hang out. It's great.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worst swimming experience ever so far. Little Falls penguins

Please explain? We have considered joining that pool/team.

Did they switch coaches recently? It's always been a bit of a clique-y pool.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worst swimming experience ever so far. Little Falls penguins

Please explain? We have considered joining that pool/team.

Did they switch coaches recently? It's always been a bit of a clique-y pool.

We're going to stay club members bc it's impossible to get in and we're giving up our spot. That being said, we dropped out of swim team and not a single person had checked on on us. My kid went every day for 3 weeks and they still didn't know the kids' names. 15 year old coaches positioned on either end of the pool and screaming at the kids to Swim! Swim! is not good coaching.

This is for nestling/pre team so if your kid can already swim and knows all The Strokes they'll probably be fine. I had gone on with the assumption that nestling's or pre team would help the kids join the team. But what appears to be untrained highschoolers teaching little kids is not the way. My kid can swim, but doesn't respond well to being yelled at.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worst swimming experience ever so far. Little Falls penguins

Please explain? We have considered joining that pool/team.

Did they switch coaches recently? It's always been a bit of a clique-y pool.

We're going to stay club members bc it's impossible to get in and we're giving up our spot. That being said, we dropped out of swim team and not a single person had checked on on us. My kid went every day for 3 weeks and they still didn't know the kids' names. 15 year old coaches positioned on either end of the pool and screaming at the kids to Swim! Swim! is not good coaching.

This is for nestling/pre team so if your kid can already swim and knows all The Strokes they'll probably be fine. I had gone on with the assumption that nestling's or pre team would help the kids join the team. But what appears to be untrained highschoolers teaching little kids is not the way. My kid can swim, but doesn't respond well to being yelled at.

Wow, we have not had that experience at Little Falls at all and have really enjoyed all levels of swim instruction. Lots of kids are in and out all summer. There are over 200 kids on the swim team so I highly doubt anyone would reach out if you didn't come to practice - they don't expect everyone to be at all practices. If you really have an issue, maybe reach out to the reps or the head coach(es) to discuss rather than post on an anonymous forum.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:15 year old coaches positioned on either end of the pool and screaming at the kids to Swim! Swim! is not good coaching. This is for nestling/pre team so if your kid can already swim and knows all The Strokes they'll probably be fine. I had gone on with the assumption that nestling's or pre team would help the kids join the team. But what appears to be untrained highschoolers teaching little kids is not the way. My kid can swim, but doesn't respond well to being yelled at.

FWIW, my teen has been a coach for our pre-team at a different pool. At our pool, the pre-team coaches often start out as volunteers one summer, then can get a paid position the next year. The head coaches of the pre-team are also teens, learning the ropes of coaching. I'm sure the quality and tone of the instruction vary by individual coach and from pool to pool. But from the coaches' side of things, it's a real challenge to teach large groups of young kids how to swim better! My teen initially felt that the coaches had to be focused on keeping the kids moving so that they could stay afloat! Some of the coaches also teach group swim lessons at our pool, where it's much easier to make progress with one kid or a small group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Worst swimming experience ever so far. Little Falls penguins

Please explain? We have considered joining that pool/team.

Did they switch coaches recently? It's always been a bit of a clique-y pool.

We're going to stay club members bc it's impossible to get in and we're giving up our spot. That being said, we dropped out of swim team and not a single person had checked on on us. My kid went every day for 3 weeks and they still didn't know the kids' names. 15 year old coaches positioned on either end of the pool and screaming at the kids to Swim! Swim! is not good coaching.

This is for nestling/pre team so if your kid can already swim and knows all The Strokes they'll probably be fine. I had gone on with the assumption that nestling's or pre team would help the kids join the team. But what appears to be untrained highschoolers teaching little kids is not the way. My kid can swim, but doesn't respond well to being yelled at.

Wow, we have not had that experience at Little Falls at all and have really enjoyed all levels of swim instruction. Lots of kids are in and out all summer. There are over 200 kids on the swim team so I highly doubt anyone would reach out if you didn't come to practice - they don't expect everyone to be at all practices. If you really have an issue, maybe reach out to the reps or the head coach(es) to discuss rather than post on an anonymous forum.

I'm getting a tone from you that I should not be posting about my experience. Someone specifically asked for details so I gave them. The rep and head coaches DGAF so I'm not going to reach out to them. And, while I'm sure others have loved their expedited, many others feel the same way I do.