Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t have a direct stake because my kids are all 12U.
That said, I am baffled by the willful ignorance and those being intentionally obtuse. People care for the same reason they care about the club swimmers coming in and dominating all the A meets. There are a lot of people across the metro area who cannot pay thousands for club swim or $600 for a suit that is only good for a few wears. Both the suit and access to club swim give kids a significant advantage over the traditional summer swim only kids whose family dues and swim team membership are several hundred dollars combined.
All the posts justifying wearing these suits, prove my point. “My kid only wears it to qualify for all stars or in a close meet.”
This is a recreational league, allowance of expensive swimsuits that give an advantage to a swimmer is certainly unfair, even if it is within the rules.
You don’t think this same discrepancy between the haves / have nots are in every other sports? Come on. At the Olympic level there was just a story about a woman’s team that didn’t have cleats. It’s everywhere and in every sport.
DP. USA swimming specifically banned tech suits for 12U because they didn’t want them to be a barrier to entry to a sport that otherwise does not require expensive equipment.
How would you feel if 7 and 8 year olds in rec summer swim were wearing $500 tech suits? Is that ok because every sport has rich kids and poor kids? The only reason there are no tech suits to be purchased in toddler sizes is because USA swimming made a good decision by banning those suits for 12u. That is the only reason why manufacturers don’t make them. It can be a good thing when organizations make rules to emphasize accessibility and discourage throwing money at youth sports, rec or otherwise. I bet there are plenty of dance, gymnastics and cheer parents who wish someone would curb how expensive the uniforms and costumes are.
Agree with this. Summer swim has traditionally been like recreational insert sport - soccer, baseball, etc. It is designed to teach and increase interest in the sport. Expensive gear, private professional coaching etc is not in the spirit of the rec level.
I have zero problems putting equipment boundaries on summer swim. No tech suits? Fine with me. No kneeskins of any kind? Feels a little like overkill to me given that there are plenty of ultracheap ones out there under $30, but I'm glad to support a ban if it matters to others.
Where I do pause for more thought, however, is over the suggestion that kids who are deeply committed to swimming outside the summer are somehow ruining the summer experience for those who aren't. Here is my thought process. Yes, if you want to swim MCSL A meets in a higher division after about age 12 (YMMV), you would probably do well to consider winter swim. But if you don't prefer winter swim over other activities, that's why summer B meets are supposed to exist - so that everyone has the chance to race. If a given team's B meets are never-ending, chaotic, low priority, not celebrated, or not fun, that's on the reps and the boosters, and it _can_ change.
So that feels like a pretty comfortable stance until I move on to thoughts of economic equity. A kid who doesn't do winter swim because they are doing (for example) travel hockey has in theory just chosen one sport over another, along with the possibility of swimming only B meets in the summertime. But a kid who doesn't do winter swim not because they don't want to but because they can't afford any form of it, well, that bothers me - completely independent of summer swim. MoCo has access-oriented pricing for lessons (although registering for them requires a game-on internet race that might be a luxury for some families) and for RMSC, but many kids who fall in between those poles might not have a approachable way to swim regularly during the winter. I'd question that over the tech suits any day, and I wish I knew an answer for it.
If this is what the majority of the parents who support summer swim with their volunteer hours and club dues want, then there are ways to make it happen. Forbid club swimmers outright, make summer swim practice mandatory to participate in meets, stipulate that kids who qualify for age group champs/sectionals are not able to swim A meets, etc. Another way to do it would be to have club and non club winners, but that’s pretty messy. I think the practice requirement is a good one - club swimmers who are aiming for championship meets and higher won’t (or shouldn’t) swim rec practice instead of/on top of club practice, and the club swimmers who decide to skip their LC season to swim rec are mostly kids who are not the fastest club swimmers. You could also forfeit the past results for any swimmer that misses the all stars/divisionals because they are preparing for or swimming a club meet.
I have club swimmers who did summer swim when they were 7/8, but as soon as they started swimming for their club, they preferred the LC season to summer swim, and we wouldn’t have been able to commit because of weekend travel for leisure and meets anyway.
There’s enough discord about this topic that I think the leagues should sincerely revisit their mission and whether it aligns with what the majority of the parents want. It’s glorious to boast that you have former olympians and really fast records all over the place, but the leagues need to be honest with themselves and reexamine their mission, as any good organization should from time to time.
If their mission is to facilitate a lively and competitive league while prioritizing teaching kids to swim, fostering team spirit, breaking records, and having the fastest kids, then they are doing it right. If their mission is to create a fun, recreational experience where all kids have a chance to compete, while prioritizing teaching kids to learn to swim in a team setting and promoting a level playing field, then it’s pretty clear that allowing club swimmers to skip practices and sweep the meet doesn’t align well.
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