Thanks for all the responses. My kid is only nine, so I think growth is still factoring in heavily. He did well in his first meet, dropped a lot of time in his longer events but added a tiny bit on the 50s compared to summer league champs times and converted long course times. He managed to get several new A times so was pretty encouraged. As far as practice, he says he’s making the intervals just fine so hopefully in a good-fit group. We’re fairly new to club swimming (this is his second year) so the feedback is really helpful!

It also depends on the kid and the kid's growth during that time. Some kids - around puberty - shoot up in height from the spring to the fall. That makes a huge difference. Was your kid active during the time off? That also makes a difference. How is his endurance now that practice resumed? Is he making the intervals?

How old is your kid? My kid’s experience has been he was able to see gains compared to his March JO times each fall. By the time October meets come around, times were comparable/better to converted LC times (and faster than the previous winter). I am guessing this will end at some point as his growth tapers off and his times get faster - there is probably only so much improvement a kid can eek out at a certain point.

But I am not a coach so this is a very novice guess based on the anecdotal experience of one kid and I would be interested in other experiences too.

Do you mean like back to racing times they were doing at the end of LC season or back to practicing at the same pace as before they started tapering for end of LC season meets? Those are two different things. The winter season is generally built around tapering for the end of season meets in March or April. Coaches don’t expect kid to hit their best times on the fall. Fall and winter are for hard training where you essentially break the muscle fibers down, so they can get built back up during taper time. If your kid is younger, hitting best times is more random throughout the season and not worth worrying about as a parent. If your child is older enough to be a really serious swimmer they need to trust their coach’s plan and not get down on themselves if they aren’t swimming really fast at meets in fall and winter. If they’re training hard they are broken down. Swimming involves training for months in order to peak at one or two meets in the spring. It’s more about getting good training in and making intervals at practice that they weren’t able to make last year (and improving technique of course).

Expect about six weeks. But as the PP said the times will improve over the year. The October meet is the baseline for the year.

And, that long break is really important. Have fun.

Race speed? Much longer.

Depends on age of child as well, but as a rule of thumb, do not expect best times in October. It is best to compare October 2021 to October 2020, of course Covid messed this up too, but that’s what the fair comparison for improvement is in normal times.

The older they are or more swimming a kid has done, the more true this is. kids who are growing a lot will improve because of size and strength. You might see best SCY times compared to last spring.

Just out of curiosity, how long does it typically take kids who swim year round to bounce back to their previous level of performance after the August break (post LC championship)? This is our first year swimming all the way through the long course season and my DC was getting some great personal bests and making some strides at the end of the summer season. Then the whole club went on break for 5-6 weeks, and then started back practicing the second week of September. Is it reasonable to be back up to speed after 3-4 weeks of practice? Or does it usually take longer?