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[quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous][quote=Anonymous]+1 Big difference between year round swimmers who participate in mentoring or coaching other kids, participating in team events like pep rallies and might not swim a lot but are otherwise engaged with the team versus... kids who don't do any of that and just do the Saturday A meets.

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Maybe, but I got to say, as the parent of an 18 year old coach who practices exclusively with summer club but is obviously very involved with summer team as a junior coach. Should she not swim at the A meets?  This arbitrary judgment some of you want to apply to decide who is a "good enough summer team member is absurd."  it's "competitive swimming," the fastest swimmers will swim the A meets.  It's pretty simple. This is not a "trophy for trying" situation.  Furthermore, you may not see the whole picture if you have not known these kids for years. Things change over time, their interests change, they get jobs, take driver's ed, take summer school, go to sleep away camp, become camp counselors. I don't see any reason to "kick them off the island" when this stuff happens. The summer team community is important to many of them, even if they just dabble in and out for a few years and don't want to give it up because the memories are important.  So what???  They aren't taking anything from your kids that they haven't earned by being faster. Being faster is the criteria for swimming at A meets.  I don't think you'll find many pools that use another criteria, but feel free to create your own club that assigns lanes based on practice attendance. (I'm not sure enough parents would agree with you to form a team, but maybe there are like-minded folks out there).[/quote]

I think this is where you and many other parents differ. Summer swim for many swim teams is a trophy for trying type of activity. You have legitimate reasons to disagree but please check your condescending attitude.[/quote]

I don't mean to be condescending, just stating the obvious fact.  Competitive swimming is competitive. 
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The PP's complaints about the year-round swimmers sound like an effort to eliminate the competition, so their kid can get in the A meets. Isn't it that being hyper-competitive?  If you don't care about the competition, you should participate in the B meets and not worry about getting bumped out of the A meets.  The great thing about swimming is that you can focus on both personal improvement and on the competitive aspect of the races.  This is true at both A and B meets.  Kids are racing to improve their strokes and their personal best times and they are racing other swimmers. Most kids who swim have been bumped out of an A meet, blocked out of divisionals, bumped off the relay, etc. That is part of the experience and it can be disappointing. When faced with this sort of disappointment for my kid, I try to remind myself that "lessons in managing disappointment" are very valuable. Kids need them to develop resilience.  Complaining that the other kids are too good and shouldn't be allowed to compete, sends the wrong message.[/quote]

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