Waiting to start club swim?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find the posts about not being able to 'get in' later weird. This has not been my experience at all, and my kids are not very good. One of my kids joined club swim at age 11, and had plenty of options. Started out swimming 2 days a week, eventually stepped up to 3 days.
I've seen many kids who are not great swimmers switch clubs, both from small clubs to big clubs (e.g. NCAP) and from big clubs to smaller clubs. And by not great swimmers I mean might have a b cut in their best stroke, but mostly have no cuts.
The clubs like RMSC and AAC that are subsidized by the government and cheaper are harder to get into- but I have also seen kids joining these clubs- this is where it helps to be a super strong swimmer. Although it also helps to be on top of registration deadlines, etc- and move quickly.
I had another kid who opted to join club swimming at 7. For this kid, they loved going to meets and motivated from meets. So club was a real advantage over a stroke clinic. Its really about what works for your kid and your family- but in my opinion, FOMO is always a bad reason to join something- although it is often the prevailing reason here in the slightly crazy DMV.

PP, as a swim parent this strikes me as leaving out some key details. I’m not doubting that you found plenty of options for your “not very good” kid at age 11, but there is no way that any of these were top clubs in the area. More likely these were the clubs that take everyone.

Well I think the 'best clubs' and 'top clubs' criteria is pretty meaningless- but NCAP is ranked 2nd in the nation and the top club in the PVS by USA swimming's virtual club championship. https://www.usaswimming.org/times/vcc

I am aware of 4 kids transferring to NCAP this year ranging in age from 12-16. One of them has a couple b cuts and a one bb cut. One of them has an a cut, a couple bb cuts and a could b cuts. the other two have a couple b cuts.

Basically, if the club has room in a practice group- they will take the kid. The clubs want to fill their spots.

I have a 13YO who is still short of B cuts despite years of steady work, including meets - just not fast (but is realistic and just enjoys the sport). A kid with those times almost can't change clubs.

have you tried? why do you want to change clubs? I see people saying you can't get into a group with performance standards if you don't meet the standards- that's true, but that is true if you started swimming at 7 or if you started at 13.... Now is the assumption that if you had started at 7 the kid would have the performance standards? I guess that's possible. It's also possible that the kid wouldn't- like the PP above who says their kid has had years to steady work.....

Is it realistic for a kid to have A cuts at 11 if they’ve been doing FINS or two days a week TOLL as a 9-10? I think that would be a very rare kid.

We just had our LC champs. It’s rare but occasionally you have a huge 11 year old who has a biological age of 14. And yes, they can be very fast because they have a lot of mass, strength, and perhaps even some technique. Look at the A finals be the B finals of any championship meet for 9/10 or 11/12 year olds. With a few exceptions, the A final outweighs and is taller than the B final by quite a bit. I have 12 year old who weighs 90 lbs, which is in the normal range for a 12 year old, but in his finals, everyone outweighed him by 30-40 lbs. The B finals kids looked more like him.

For every fast kid, ask yourself, would they be nearly as fast if they were average height and weight? Some kids, yes because they have great technique. But many in the 9/10 and 11/12 group are getting a huge boost from their size and strength. Some kids have all of the above, and they will stay fast, but not if they finish growing earlier. We have an 11 year old in our LSC who has all of the above - looks like a 14 year old and has great technique. It’s clear that he has started puberty given that he has musculature that does not form without testosterone. In the next few years, the other kids will reach puberty and I expect things to even out.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I also find the posts about not being able to 'get in' later weird. This has not been my experience at all, and my kids are not very good. One of my kids joined club swim at age 11, and had plenty of options. Started out swimming 2 days a week, eventually stepped up to 3 days.
I've seen many kids who are not great swimmers switch clubs, both from small clubs to big clubs (e.g. NCAP) and from big clubs to smaller clubs. And by not great swimmers I mean might have a b cut in their best stroke, but mostly have no cuts.
The clubs like RMSC and AAC that are subsidized by the government and cheaper are harder to get into- but I have also seen kids joining these clubs- this is where it helps to be a super strong swimmer. Although it also helps to be on top of registration deadlines, etc- and move quickly.
I had another kid who opted to join club swimming at 7. For this kid, they loved going to meets and motivated from meets. So club was a real advantage over a stroke clinic. Its really about what works for your kid and your family- but in my opinion, FOMO is always a bad reason to join something- although it is often the prevailing reason here in the slightly crazy DMV.

PP, as a swim parent this strikes me as leaving out some key details. I’m not doubting that you found plenty of options for your “not very good” kid at age 11, but there is no way that any of these were top clubs in the area. More likely these were the clubs that take everyone.

Well I think the 'best clubs' and 'top clubs' criteria is pretty meaningless- but NCAP is ranked 2nd in the nation and the top club in the PVS by USA swimming's virtual club championship. https://www.usaswimming.org/times/vcc

I am aware of 4 kids transferring to NCAP this year ranging in age from 12-16. One of them has a couple b cuts and a one bb cut. One of them has an a cut, a couple bb cuts and a could b cuts. the other two have a couple b cuts.

Basically, if the club has room in a practice group- they will take the kid. The clubs want to fill their spots.

I have a 13YO who is still short of B cuts despite years of steady work, including meets - just not fast (but is realistic and just enjoys the sport). A kid with those times almost can't change clubs.

have you tried? why do you want to change clubs? I see people saying you can't get into a group with performance standards if you don't meet the standards- that's true, but that is true if you started swimming at 7 or if you started at 13.... Now is the assumption that if you had started at 7 the kid would have the performance standards? I guess that's possible. It's also possible that the kid wouldn't- like the PP above who says their kid has had years to steady work.....

Is it realistic for a kid to have A cuts at 11 if they’ve been doing FINS or two days a week TOLL as a 9-10? I think that would be a very rare kid.

To be honest it would be extremely unrealistic for a kid to have A cuts at 11 based off of doing just FINS. As a PP said maybe there’s a big strong 11 year old that can power through a 50 free at an A time, but that would probably be it. If you’re only in FINS you’re not getting the endurance for anything more than a 50, and you’re not really getting the greatest technical instruction in breast and fly. The 2 days at TOLL, if it was say an endurance class and a stroke and turn, is better than FINS, especially for teaching the correct technique, but anything over a 50 would still be a struggle to do at an A time. 11-12 is the last age group where 50s are done (outside of the 50 free) so that is another area where a swimmer is getting behind the 8 ball if they don’t start club until 12. My swimmer’s training group uses the 11-12 age group to get kids comfortable with doing the 200s of each stroke (the 200 fly usually isn’t until 12 unless a flyer wants to do it at 11) and introducing the 400 IM.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here, should have been clearer. He's 8 now, but turns 9 in October. He was offered a spot in the 9-10 group, which requires 3 per week.

If he is enjoying his other sports, I'd stick with FINS for now.