Summer Swim Team for Club Swimmer - Question

[Anonymous]

Question for experienced swimmers and parents of swimmers. My 9 year old DD completed her first season on a year round swim team this past June. She decided to join a local summer team to keep busy during the summer.
There has been some confusion as to what age group she should compete against in meets. Her coach said she has to swim a year up because she's a club swimmer, however she's 9 so he said she still falls into the 9-10 category.
At a meet this past weekend, she had been marshalled and was next up to race and the meet manager pulled her off and said someone complained about her and they want her to swim an age group up, so 11-12 year old category.
They ended up letting her finish the meet as a 9-10 year old swimmer. But the other parents were pissed. They were complaining out loud about how pathetic my DD's parents are. I really had nothing to do with it.
DD has one final meet this coming weekend and I'm wondering what would you do? Let her finish out as 9-10 or ask to put her in 11-12? I'm fine with challenging her to swim up. She's a strong swimmer but she'd definitely be at a huge disadvantage competing against 8th graders and older club swimmers. I felt she was competitive in the 9-10 category. She finished top 3 in every meet but not always gold or silver, so she did have competition.

[Anonymous]

Sounds like a weird league. On rare occasions, in our league, I have seen a kid swim up an age group, but it’s not because of it not being fair to other kids - it’s if that would gain the most points for the team for whatever reason.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a weird league. On rare occasions, in our league, I have seen a kid swim up an age group, but it’s not because of it not being fair to other kids - it’s if that would gain the most points for the team for whatever reason.

OP here. I agree it is weird. She's swimming for our country club team, in whatever summer league meets they register in with other city teams. I was caught off guard and did not expect it.

[Anonymous]

As a coach, the only time I swam kids up was if I literally had no other kids in that age group to put in the event...and even then, it wouldn't have been my top competitor from the younger age group unless I was basically guaranteed the top places in that age, as well. This seems like weird catering to jealous parents...

[Anonymous]

Bizarre. It’s the other parents who are pathetic, and jealous to boot. They should take it up with coaches if they have a problem, not bad mouth swimmers and other parents over a rule that they question and don’t seem to understand. I’ve never heard of such rules, btw. In my kid’s summer league kids swim with their age group, period, although I suppose they would be allowed to swim up. The only age related rule that is controversial is kids who age up after June 1 get to continue swimming with the group they just aged out of.

[Anonymous]

Your league should have rules that are publicly available. Most likely there is no rule requiring her to swim up. In our league I have seen kids swim up in two situations: (1) the team doesn't have enough swimmers in an older age group and needs to fill a lane; or (2) the swimmer is very strong and chooses, in consultation with a coach, to swim up so she faces tougher competition.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Your league should have rules that are publicly available. Most likely there is no rule requiring her to swim up. In our league I have seen kids swim up in two situations: (1) the team doesn't have enough swimmers in an older age group and needs to fill a lane; or (2) the swimmer is very strong and chooses, in consultation with a coach, to swim up so she faces tougher competition.

This. Your league should have clearly stated rules about how a swimmer's age group is determined. We are at an NVSL swim club and the rule is however old the child is on June 1st. We have kids with late June birthdays, who as a result end up swimming "down" from the age they are for most of the season because their swim age is a year younger.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:As a coach, the only time I swam kids up was if I literally had no other kids in that age group to put in the event...and even then, it wouldn't have been my top competitor from the younger age group unless I was basically guaranteed the top places in that age, as well. This seems like weird catering to jealous parents...

Agree 100%.

[Anonymous]

I'm pretty sure our league only allows swim ups if your team doesn't have enough swimmers in the older age group.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Bizarre. It’s the other parents who are pathetic, and jealous to boot. They should take it up with coaches if they have a problem, not bad mouth swimmers and other parents over a rule that they question and don’t seem to understand. I’ve never heard of such rules, btw. In my kid’s summer league kids swim with their age group, period, although I suppose they would be allowed to swim up. The only age related rule that is controversial is kids who age up after June 1 get to continue swimming with the group they just aged out of.

This is not controversial. For summer swim, the age of the child on June 1 dictates what age group the child swims in. The child does not "age out" of a group if his birthday is on June 2. The child is validly swimming in the age group in which he belongs based on his age on June 1. Summer leagues elect to do it this way, versus winter swim where a child "ages up" on his birthday. It benefits some kids, as does any calendar day cutoff for any sport. That doesn't make it controversial or unfair.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Sounds like a weird league. On rare occasions, in our league, I have seen a kid swim up an age group, but it’s not because of it not being fair to other kids - it’s if that would gain the most points for the team for whatever reason.

Agree, this isn't normal. Our summer swim team have a number of club swimmers on it and they always swim in their age group. Once in a while a middle schooler will swim in an older age group if we don’t have enough swimmers for that event.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:As a coach, the only time I swam kids up was if I literally had no other kids in that age group to put in the event...and even then, it wouldn't have been my top competitor from the younger age group unless I was basically guaranteed the top places in that age, as well. This seems like weird catering to jealous parents...

Agree 100%.

OP Here. Thanks! This was my thinking as well. We are given meet packages before each meet. Each one is different and with the wording isn't clear. It could be interpreted either way. I asked the coach and he said it was swim one year up, not one age group up.
I thought it was pretty crazy that they tried to get a 9 year old kid kicked out of a summer fun league race! Pretty intense.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your league should have rules that are publicly available. Most likely there is no rule requiring her to swim up. In our league I have seen kids swim up in two situations: (1) the team doesn't have enough swimmers in an older age group and needs to fill a lane; or (2) the swimmer is very strong and chooses, in consultation with a coach, to swim up so she faces tougher competition.

This. Your league should have clearly stated rules about how a swimmer's age group is determined. We are at an NVSL swim club and the rule is however old the child is on June 1st. We have kids with late June birthdays, who as a result end up swimming "down" from the age they are for most of the season because their swim age is a year younger.

OP Here. This is one example from one meet package:

3. Age of the swimmers is to be determined as of August 17, 2018. Swimmers must swim in the same category for all individual races for the entire meet. Club swimmers must swim up one age year (for example: a 12 year old would swim as a 13 year old if a club swimmer) and all swimmers must swim in the same age category for the entire meet including relays.

- Each swimmer may swim three individual events, plus IM and Relay
- Swimmers ages are determined as of August 17th, 2018
- Club swimmers must swim up one age group in order to compete, otherwise
They will be disqualified from the swim event
- High school swimmers remain in their age category

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your league should have rules that are publicly available. Most likely there is no rule requiring her to swim up. In our league I have seen kids swim up in two situations: (1) the team doesn't have enough swimmers in an older age group and needs to fill a lane; or (2) the swimmer is very strong and chooses, in consultation with a coach, to swim up so she faces tougher competition.

This. Your league should have clearly stated rules about how a swimmer's age group is determined. We are at an NVSL swim club and the rule is however old the child is on June 1st. We have kids with late June birthdays, who as a result end up swimming "down" from the age they are for most of the season because their swim age is a year younger.

OP Here. This is one example from one meet package:

3. Age of the swimmers is to be determined as of August 17, 2018. Swimmers must swim in the same category for all individual races for the entire meet. Club swimmers must swim up one age year (for example: a 12 year old would swim as a 13 year old if a club swimmer) and all swimmers must swim in the same age category for the entire meet including relays.

- Each swimmer may swim three individual events, plus IM and Relay
- Swimmers ages are determined as of August 17th, 2018
- Club swimmers must swim up one age group in order to compete, otherwise
They will be disqualified from the swim event
- High school swimmers remain in their age category

My kids swim NVSL and USA swimming during the year and I’ve never seen anything like that. Seems weird. Are there any other summer leagues around you that she could try next summer?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Your league should have rules that are publicly available. Most likely there is no rule requiring her to swim up. In our league I have seen kids swim up in two situations: (1) the team doesn't have enough swimmers in an older age group and needs to fill a lane; or (2) the swimmer is very strong and chooses, in consultation with a coach, to swim up so she faces tougher competition.

This. Your league should have clearly stated rules about how a swimmer's age group is determined. We are at an NVSL swim club and the rule is however old the child is on June 1st. We have kids with late June birthdays, who as a result end up swimming "down" from the age they are for most of the season because their swim age is a year younger.

OP Here. This is one example from one meet package:

3. Age of the swimmers is to be determined as of August 17, 2018. Swimmers must swim in the same category for all individual races for the entire meet. Club swimmers must swim up one age year (for example: a 12 year old would swim as a 13 year old if a club swimmer) and all swimmers must swim in the same age category for the entire meet including relays.

- Each swimmer may swim three individual events, plus IM and Relay
- Swimmers ages are determined as of August 17th, 2018
- Club swimmers must swim up one age group in order to compete, otherwise
They will be disqualified from the swim event
- High school swimmers remain in their age category

My kids swim NVSL and USA swimming during the year and I’ve never seen anything like that. Seems weird. Are there any other summer leagues around you that she could try next summer?

I will look into it! This is our first year and I had no idea this would be an issue.