Question about summer swim/progress

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:OP here-thank you for all the information. I guess not being a swimmer myself I didn't really understand that all the swim team practicing would not help them without outside lessons as well. I guess they were just practicing every day the wrong way. The team has a lot of coaches but also a lot of kids. My younger child could care less but my older one is competitive and would be frustrated not seeing her time get faster after the meets.

It took us two seasons to figure things out. I also had a frustrated almost 10 year old who was ready to quit last summer. We invested in a real winter swim program last year and saw a huge difference this summer. He just needed someone to teach him the technique, which doesn't happen during summer swim practice. The good winter swim programs are expensive, but you can almost guarantee that all the top summer ladder kids in the NVSL pools are doing Machine, AAC, York, etc. during the winter. At our pool, we also noticed that the coaches spent more time with the A meet kids and pretty much assumed the B meet kids were just there for fun so they got almost no coaching. When my son started to make A meet times this summer, he was suddenly getting more instruction during practice. That fact still annoys me because all families pay the same fees for the summer swim team, but it is the reality at most pools. The coaches focus on winning the A meets, not what happens at B meets.

which winter one did you do where you thought you got real stroke instruction? And how many days were you in the water? I keep on getting ready to pull the trigger on a more expensive winter swim, and then hear someone say that there are like 10 kids in a lane with teenage coaches doing laps. I can get that much cheaper through some of the pool 1 day a week winter swim programs?

Try the Stroke Mechanics program through Machine Swim. It is one day a week (Sept-May) and focuses on technique and getting the kids legal in all four strokes before the summer swim season. They taught my 9 yo Fly and flip turns, and got him legal in Breast last winter. We are in an mid-tier NVSL pool and he swam A meets all summer, after not making a single A meet last year. He's certainly not Olympic material, but he had a much better experience in summer swim this year when he wasn't DQing at every B meet. At least in our Machine class, it ranged from 5-6 kids in a lane and they definitely got good instruction. Remember that some of it is on your kid though to take it seriously-- do they listen and incorporate the coaching into their stroke, or are they goofing around with their head under the water when the coach is talking?

Arent they in Vienna ?

There are 2 Machine programs. Machine Aquatics is the completive swim team and has locations though the area. . Machine Swim school - is that school that teaches you how to swim and yes, its in Vienna and many swimmers feed in to the Machine Aquatics. Both offer a stroke mechanic class. Machine Aquatics requires a 9 month commitment while Machine Swim has a new session every 2 months (roughly). Both my girls did the program through Machine Swim and learned a lot. I recommend that you plan on doing it the entire year even though each session is inidependent.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So I can barely swim, please be nice to me if this is a stupid question. My 10 yo and 8 yo dds did swim team at our neighborhood pool for the first time this year. Its a big swim team-around 200 kids. From the time tryouts to the last B meet yesterday, they both improved around 3 seconds each in freestyle and backstroke. Is this a normal amount of progress? They only missed a few practices and went to all the meets. They started as the slowest 10, 8 year old and also ended as the slowest. For instance the 8 year old started backstroke at 59 seconds and ended the season at 56 seconds (for one way).

If your kids swim at MCSL (Montgomery County), check this site to see how everyone's progress: summerswim.org. Enter any swimmers you know who swim at A meets and you will see their progress.

[Anonymous]

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Anonymous wrote:Yes. Did great.

Hmm, I kinda disagree. The one time given, the 8 yo's backstroke---with decent instruction, a reasonably athletic child should have improved down to around 35 seconds for 25 meters. The little kids with these high times are usually going criss cross instead of straight and that's a pretty simple fix if anyone is paying attention.

This is a summer kid, so the goal is to drop and beat their own time. They did great.

+1
They should be proud! At our pool they emphasize that it's about beating yourself, not in one meet or another but that the overall trend should be going down. The smiles on these kids faces when they do that is really priceless. One year, a 14-year-old swimmer was jumping up and down telling me how much time she dropped. This was a B meet and she's a summer swimmer and she was having fun.

Again, OP's question wasn't about why her kids didn't have fun at swim team. It was a technical question about why her children basically didn't improve at all after swimming 5/days a week for two months.

[Anonymous]

Is there something similar to the Stroke Mechanics class in northern VA but offered on Sundays or Saturday evenings? We just can't get places early on weekdays or during the day on Saturdays.

[Anonymous]

ETA-It looks like the Machine Swim program that you can sign up for a few months at a time is only offered at UMD. The Vienna program is a yearlong commitment. Just FYI.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there something similar to the Stroke Mechanics class in northern VA but offered on Sundays or Saturday evenings? We just can't get places early on weekdays or during the day on Saturdays.

Fish has a winter conditioning program on Saturday evenings that works on strokes. It is a great value with good instruction at Audrey Moore Rec Center.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there something similar to the Stroke Mechanics class in northern VA but offered on Sundays or Saturday evenings? We just can't get places early on weekdays or during the day on Saturdays.

Not weekend, but York has a group that meets Wednesday evenings at Oak Marr:

This workout emphasizes skills training and stroke work for swimmers eight and over who are not proficient in all four competitive strokes. Swimmers must join United States Swimming for insurance purposes but will not be eligible to participate in swim meets or social activities. Swimming Dues and the USS Registration fee are paid in full at the time of registration.

9/18/19 - 5/20/20
Wednesday 7:30-8:30 pm

[Anonymous]

Thank you!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Is there something similar to the Stroke Mechanics class in northern VA but offered on Sundays or Saturday evenings? We just can't get places early on weekdays or during the day on Saturdays.

Fish has a winter conditioning program on Saturday evenings that works on strokes. It is a great value with good instruction at Audrey Moore Rec Center.

Very helpful, thanks!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Is there something similar to the Stroke Mechanics class in northern VA but offered on Sundays or Saturday evenings? We just can't get places early on weekdays or during the day on Saturdays.

As I posted above, looks Machine Swim school. We did their might mechanics class on Sunday late afternoon. Its in Vienna. And, its not a year long commitment - 2 months at a time.