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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]What's wonderful about swimming, as compared to classic team sports, is how objective it is. 
You know your exact times on the races, and you know everyone else's exact time. No arguing over whose better or worse.
With that said, [b]swim team coaches preach non-stop about "dropping time", and can, and will, put swimmers with slightly lower scores into A meets if they're improving, over someone with better scores that have plateaued. 
[/b]TL;DR version...the more practice you go to the better, but if you miss a few it won't kill you. [/quote]

Bs - please do tell the name of the team that does this. We’ve been at 3 summer pools and I’ve never seen this. Pool Name, please. [/quote]

Each kid can only swim two individual events at a meet.  Often the same child is in the top 2 or 3 swimmers in all four strokes, so they have to strategically decide which events they want their top one or two swimmers in, versus the other events.  [/quote]

This!

If a kid is NOT already swimming in 2 events and has one of the top three times in another even then that kid will swim. There is no coach that would choose to have a kid with a slower time swim over kid who have faster times. Swimming just doesn't work that way; kids who earn the spot to swim swim.[/quote]

I’m the bs poster. I agree with how this is stated. I disagree that, as the above poster claimed, “With that said, swim team coaches preach non-stop about "dropping time", and can, and will, put swimmers with slightly lower scores into A meets if they're improving, over someone with better scores that have plateaued.”  That would never happen. [/quote]

Also in regards to coaches pushing "dropping time"...dropping significant time will really depend on the swimmer and the level they come in performing at. If you have a kid who is fairly new to swimming or who only really swims in the summer, they will likely see bigger drops in time from day 1 to the end of the season. Same is true for anyone new to a sport; you tend to improve quickly. however, for a someone who is already performing at a high level those drops are not going to be as dramatic.[/quote]

That doesn’t matter. If a kid can do a 50 meter free in 32 seconds (and hasn’t improved all season), never goes to practice and never participated in swim team stuff is compared to another kid who attends all practices and started the season with a 45 second free and now swims a 34 second free)- the latter kid will never be placed in a meet above the former. [/quote]

you are comparing too [b]totally[/b] different things here. Yes, I agree that if a kid shows up for time trials, but doesn't go to practice and so forth, then yes, that kid shouldn't be put into meets. On our team you only get your swim team pin if you show up for at least 75% of practices. But if you take the same 2 kids with the times you posted above and both are active swim team participants, then the kid with the faster time, even if that time hasn't improved all season is the one who will and should swim in the A meet. It's great that a kid's time has improved, but to win meets you need the fastest times and seeding for swim meets is based on times, not who tries the hardest. I really don't understand why this is such a hard concept.

As I mentioned above, it is also much harder to drop time if you are already performing at a high level. If an 8 yr old comes in swimming 25m free in 17 seconds it will be much harder to take significant time off that than a kid who comes in swimming a 40 s free. [/quote]

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