Summer swim brings out the crazy

Anonymous
Summer swim just isn't this deep
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim just isn't this deep

This. These threads are so ridiculous. What drives someone to be this obsessed with an 8 week rec swimming league?!
Anonymous
As a new family to summer swim I’m so over how competitive the 8 and under kids are. Especially the moms!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim just isn't this deep

This. These threads are so ridiculous. What drives someone to be this obsessed with an 8 week rec swimming league?!


Just wait - there will invariably be a thread about the unfairness of the June 1 bday cutoff too. Several years ago some stated my kid who aged up the day bf all stars should have been booted from the relay team she qualified with (my kids are not year round swimmers).

I see these threads every year about parents involved in seeding. I genuinely don’t get it - times are public, the 6 fasted freestylers and 3 fastest in the other groups who are in town for the meet, swim in the meet it’s not even subjective.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is absolutely wild to stumble onto this thread as a parent who is brand new to MCSL (second summer for kiddo) but very much not brand new to Swimming (both parents mediocre D1 swimmers, co-founder and manager of a 200+ swimmer USMS team, etc. etc.). A few stray observations FWIW:

1. We have now been to several away meets -- the other teams have all been gracious and welcoming hosts, and I literally cannot picture some of the animus and nonsense depicted here. Maybe we haven't been around long enough to see it or maybe it's not an MCSL thing, but if you are bringing any negativity, poor sportsmanship, or meanness to this you are doing it wrong. All of it.

2. Lineups can be tricky, feelings get involved, and I have never been around a swim team entirely devoid of politics, in-groups, etc. But my hunch is that a huge percentage of the lineup paranoia reflected on here is unwarranted. I help write relay lineups that we absolutely have to stand behind (think, 14 separate Mixed Medley Relays using FINA cumulative age groups). I can't imagine having to explain or justify that kind of lineup to some of the folks participating and/or described in this thread.

3. I am beyond impressed by the coaches and team reps who make this incredibly condensed schedule work (including all of the meets, socials, team-building events, season-end stuff). From the outside, I marvel at the organization, execution, and commitment of our coaches and team reps who are dealing with a truly breathless timeline. The communications are impossibly prompt and timely, the adjustments for weather are nimble and smart, and they are responsive at corporate speed. I don't know how they do it, and it would take something truly beyond the pale to convince me that I need to feel anything more than gratitude to these folks.


I was you in year #2 of kid on swim team (also MCSL). Just wait.


DP, and also an MCSL parent - I am guessing, as someone raised in MoCo, that the level of crazy and lineup shenanigans varies widely across Divisions and teams. Teams with higher proportions of wealthy, entitled parents probably leads to more shenanigans, particularly when you're dealing with a young, inexperienced coach. We're in our fifth year with our mid-level MCSL team, have three kids swimming, and the shenanigans have been minimal (knock wood). There's certainly been drama here and there, but nothing like what's described here. We're lucky to have a mostly reasonable group of parents and a strong, adult coach who works year round at a local club.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim just isn't this deep

This. These threads are so ridiculous. What drives someone to be this obsessed with an 8 week rec swimming league?!


Just wait - there will invariably be a thread about the unfairness of the June 1 bday cutoff too. Several years ago some stated my kid who aged up the day bf all stars should have been booted from the relay team she qualified with (my kids are not year round swimmers).

I see these threads every year about parents involved in seeding. I genuinely don’t get it - times are public, the 6 fasted freestylers and 3 fastest in the other groups who are in town for the meet, swim in the meet it’s not even subjective.


MCSL parent, and I think the June 1 birthday cutoff is dumb. Why not have it September 1 so everyone is actually the age they swim during the season? That said, it's the rule and we all live by it. It's just quizzically dumb.

Also, it's not always the fastest swimmers that get the spot in A nor should it be. The coaches have to maximize points for the team, and that doesn't always align with top 3 for each event, especially since there are caps on events swum.

Now, if a coach is moving swimmers for politics and not points, that's another issue.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim just isn't this deep

This. These threads are so ridiculous. What drives someone to be this obsessed with an 8 week rec swimming league?!


Just wait - there will invariably be a thread about the unfairness of the June 1 bday cutoff too. Several years ago some stated my kid who aged up the day bf all stars should have been booted from the relay team she qualified with (my kids are not year round swimmers).

I see these threads every year about parents involved in seeding. I genuinely don’t get it - times are public, the 6 fasted freestylers and 3 fastest in the other groups who are in town for the meet, swim in the meet it’s not even subjective.


MCSL parent, and I think the June 1 birthday cutoff is dumb. Why not have it September 1 so everyone is actually the age they swim during the season? That said, it's the rule and we all live by it. It's just quizzically dumb.



But, by this logic, kids that don't age up until August would have to swim the entire season as 9, even if they are 8. It just needs to be fair, and all abide by the same rule. Someone is always going to have a "good" or "bad" birthday, no matter what the age cutoff is.
Anonymous
I agree with a July 1 cut off. Whatever age you are 1/2 way through the season is the age you swim the entire season.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:6/30 12:18 here -

I think you are missing some nuance. I didn't say that there are no swim team politics (indeed, I said that I had never been around a swim team devoid of politics and in-groups). Nor did I say that lineup shenanigans never occur (I mean, they have happened on Olympic relays!). My claim is that a huge percentage (not 100%, but a lot) of the lineup paranoia scattered across these 44 pages is likely unwarranted.

The mechanism is one that I have observed in swim parents over four decades in the sport: passionate advocacy for their children mapped onto an incomplete grasp of the variables and moving pieces involved in optimizing lineups. One does not have to strain to see the latter in several of the posts ITT; many of those posts raise more questions than answers, but seem to lack awareness that those questions exist. I am not trying to be argumentative or insulting - just naming what I see.

Your DC may in fact have suffered terribly from favoritism by a rogue coach or self-dealing team rep, but my claim is that a small fraction of complaints of this type are legitimate. And I once again express gratitude to the coaches and team reps who have to absorb them.

extremely well said, both of your posts!
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim just isn't this deep

This. These threads are so ridiculous. What drives someone to be this obsessed with an 8 week rec swimming league?!


Just wait - there will invariably be a thread about the unfairness of the June 1 bday cutoff too. Several years ago some stated my kid who aged up the day bf all stars should have been booted from the relay team she qualified with (my kids are not year round swimmers).

I see these threads every year about parents involved in seeding. I genuinely don’t get it - times are public, the 6 fasted freestylers and 3 fastest in the other groups who are in town for the meet, swim in the meet it’s not even subjective.


MCSL parent, and I think the June 1 birthday cutoff is dumb. Why not have it September 1 so everyone is actually the age they swim during the season? That said, it's the rule and we all live by it. It's just quizzically dumb.



But, by this logic, kids that don't age up until August would have to swim the entire season as 9, even if they are 8. It just needs to be fair, and all abide by the same rule. Someone is always going to have a "good" or "bad" birthday, no matter what the age cutoff is.


What? No. If you are 8, you swim as an 8. You'd be an old 8, but you'd still be 8.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is absolutely wild to stumble onto this thread as a parent who is brand new to MCSL (second summer for kiddo) but very much not brand new to Swimming (both parents mediocre D1 swimmers, co-founder and manager of a 200+ swimmer USMS team, etc. etc.). A few stray observations FWIW:

1. We have now been to several away meets -- the other teams have all been gracious and welcoming hosts, and I literally cannot picture some of the animus and nonsense depicted here. Maybe we haven't been around long enough to see it or maybe it's not an MCSL thing, but if you are bringing any negativity, poor sportsmanship, or meanness to this you are doing it wrong. All of it.

2. Lineups can be tricky, feelings get involved, and I have never been around a swim team entirely devoid of politics, in-groups, etc. But my hunch is that a huge percentage of the lineup paranoia reflected on here is unwarranted. I help write relay lineups that we absolutely have to stand behind (think, 14 separate Mixed Medley Relays using FINA cumulative age groups). I can't imagine having to explain or justify that kind of lineup to some of the folks participating and/or described in this thread.

3. I am beyond impressed by the coaches and team reps who make this incredibly condensed schedule work (including all of the meets, socials, team-building events, season-end stuff). From the outside, I marvel at the organization, execution, and commitment of our coaches and team reps who are dealing with a truly breathless timeline. The communications are impossibly prompt and timely, the adjustments for weather are nimble and smart, and they are responsive at corporate speed. I don't know how they do it, and it would take something truly beyond the pale to convince me that I need to feel anything more than gratitude to these folks.


I was you in year #2 of kid on swim team (also MCSL). Just wait.


DP, and also an MCSL parent - I am guessing, as someone raised in MoCo, that the level of crazy and lineup shenanigans varies widely across Divisions and teams. Teams with higher proportions of wealthy, entitled parents probably leads to more shenanigans, particularly when you're dealing with a young, inexperienced coach. We're in our fifth year with our mid-level MCSL team, have three kids swimming, and the shenanigans have been minimal (knock wood). There's certainly been drama here and there, but nothing like what's described here. We're lucky to have a mostly reasonable group of parents and a strong, adult coach who works year round at a local club.


My takeaway from this board is that even MCSL at its craziest is nothing compared to NVSL. Holy crap.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:It is absolutely wild to stumble onto this thread as a parent who is brand new to MCSL (second summer for kiddo) but very much not brand new to Swimming (both parents mediocre D1 swimmers, co-founder and manager of a 200+ swimmer USMS team, etc. etc.). A few stray observations FWIW:

1. We have now been to several away meets -- the other teams have all been gracious and welcoming hosts, and I literally cannot picture some of the animus and nonsense depicted here. Maybe we haven't been around long enough to see it or maybe it's not an MCSL thing, but if you are bringing any negativity, poor sportsmanship, or meanness to this you are doing it wrong. All of it.

2. Lineups can be tricky, feelings get involved, and I have never been around a swim team entirely devoid of politics, in-groups, etc. But my hunch is that a huge percentage of the lineup paranoia reflected on here is unwarranted. I help write relay lineups that we absolutely have to stand behind (think, 14 separate Mixed Medley Relays using FINA cumulative age groups). I can't imagine having to explain or justify that kind of lineup to some of the folks participating and/or described in this thread.

3. I am beyond impressed by the coaches and team reps who make this incredibly condensed schedule work (including all of the meets, socials, team-building events, season-end stuff). From the outside, I marvel at the organization, execution, and commitment of our coaches and team reps who are dealing with a truly breathless timeline. The communications are impossibly prompt and timely, the adjustments for weather are nimble and smart, and they are responsive at corporate speed. I don't know how they do it, and it would take something truly beyond the pale to convince me that I need to feel anything more than gratitude to these folks.


I was you in year #2 of kid on swim team (also MCSL). Just wait.


DP, and also an MCSL parent - I am guessing, as someone raised in MoCo, that the level of crazy and lineup shenanigans varies widely across Divisions and teams. Teams with higher proportions of wealthy, entitled parents probably leads to more shenanigans, particularly when you're dealing with a young, inexperienced coach. We're in our fifth year with our mid-level MCSL team, have three kids swimming, and the shenanigans have been minimal (knock wood). There's certainly been drama here and there, but nothing like what's described here. We're lucky to have a mostly reasonable group of parents and a strong, adult coach who works year round at a local club.


My takeaway from this board is that even MCSL at its craziest is nothing compared to NVSL. Holy crap.


Haha - yeah that, too. But admittedly I have little experience with top MCSL teams, other than B meets with the ones close to us. And in that experience, those teams are way more entitled than ours.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Why do summer teams like mine use SwimTopia rather than Meet mobile?


MeetMobile only posts meet results. Swimtopia handles registration, meet entries, team emails, volunteer lists etc.
Anonymous
Our competitive 8 and under moms are rampant this season. It is so cringe.
Anonymous
Anonymous wrote:Our competitive 8 and under moms are rampant this season. It is so cringe.


Do tell.
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