I agree--I always stop by to see what is new here when I visit DCUM. The summer drama is a popcorn moment for me because our summer team is like someone's Pleasantville fantasy dream world and we love every second of it, but I learn a great deal from the conversations about winter/club swim since DCs haven't been doing that for as long. Thank you for creating this forum!

Agree it's just this time of year is a weird lull for swimming -- summer swim is over and families that do club swim are already settled, but it's too early for much drama or questions around meets, development, levels, etc.

This happens in other sport forums too -- there are times of the year with the lacrosse forums are busy and times when they are not.

One reason I think a swimming/diving forum is so useful is that the forum attracts not only parents whose kids are already heavily involved and highly competitive, but also people who are like "where should I take my 4 yr old to learn to swim?" or "would the Y team be a good fit for my 8 yr old who loves to swim but isn't that fast?" A unique thing about swimming compared to other sports is that swimming is considered a life skill that pretty much all kids will participate in at some point, even if never on a competitive basis. This distinguishes it from all other kids sports, even soccer, where many kids may never play at all.

I think it's really nice to have a forum that can serve as a one stop shop for all things swimming and diving, and where parents can get insight from families who have a lot more experience in the sport. I'm really glad it's here and have gotten good info from it already!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So there used to be a lot of discussions on the swimming forum, now not so much.

I wonder if most of the respondents were not really swim folks.

In the summer there are what seems like hundreds of threads with petty summer swim issues that are very specific to summer swim (“the ladder”, volunteers, team reps, etc.). Club season just started and as another poster said the first meets are this weekend. I also don’t necessarily consider the summer swim only people to be swim people, it’s an 8 week a year rec sport.

Those are fighting words!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much happens in fall and winter because it is more of an individual sport whereas summer swim is a team sport and with so many parents involved, there is a ton of drama.

In summer swim, there is so much parent involvement, there’s drama everywhere because some parents just suck.

We are still dealing with summer swim drama and it is almost October! Ugh!

I'm really intrigued about what summer swim drama lingers into October- do tell.

The fall is often when clubs decide to replace some or all of their coaching staff. That often brings significant drama.

Then there is the general pool board of directors drama - capital improvements, budgets, who's on/off the board, etc...

Yup, parents with unreasonable expectations for coaching want the coach fired and want a new coach. We’ve had a new coach every year for the past few years. No coach is good enough. There must be the perfect coach out there for our small team but we don’t have a lot of money. Parents who don’t understand pre team is taught by SSL volunteers. They want a professional swimmer to get in the water and teach the strokes. They want dryland. And why do the kids just swim back and forth all the time. We want more team activities but no one wants to volunteer. They just want to show up. We have drama into the Fall also. Because we have parents that suck also. They ruin a lot for the kids. The kids have fun and don’t know all the crap going on.

The grass is not always greener.

Don't forget about parents changing pools after the summer so that their kid can get to swim A meets. Or those parents who switch because their kid has been the fastest in their age groups for years on a lower division team, who suddenly want bragging rights about their kid being on a upper division team.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much happens in fall and winter because it is more of an individual sport whereas summer swim is a team sport and with so many parents involved, there is a ton of drama.

In summer swim, there is so much parent involvement, there’s drama everywhere because some parents just suck.

We are still dealing with summer swim drama and it is almost October! Ugh!

I'm really intrigued about what summer swim drama lingers into October- do tell.

The fall is often when clubs decide to replace some or all of their coaching staff. That often brings significant drama.

Then there is the general pool board of directors drama - capital improvements, budgets, who's on/off the board, etc...

Yup, parents with unreasonable expectations for coaching want the coach fired and want a new coach. We’ve had a new coach every year for the past few years. No coach is good enough. There must be the perfect coach out there for our small team but we don’t have a lot of money. Parents who don’t understand pre team is taught by SSL volunteers. They want a professional swimmer to get in the water and teach the strokes. They want dryland. And why do the kids just swim back and forth all the time. We want more team activities but no one wants to volunteer. They just want to show up. We have drama into the Fall also. Because we have parents that suck also. They ruin a lot for the kids. The kids have fun and don’t know all the crap going on.

The grass is not always greener.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Swimming is in a lull right now because summer swim has ended and club swim is just getting started. The first meets are this weekend.

I'm glad there's a separate swimming forum. I check in every time I visit this site.

+1. It's like people complaining about the real estate market being dead in August.

+2 We're a new club swim family and I always check this forum!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not much happens in fall and winter because it is more of an individual sport whereas summer swim is a team sport and with so many parents involved, there is a ton of drama.

In summer swim, there is so much parent involvement, there’s drama everywhere because some parents just suck.

We are still dealing with summer swim drama and it is almost October! Ugh!

I'm really intrigued about what summer swim drama lingers into October- do tell.

The fall is often when clubs decide to replace some or all of their coaching staff. That often brings significant drama.

Then there is the general pool board of directors drama - capital improvements, budgets, who's on/off the board, etc...

Anonymous wrote:Not much happens in fall and winter because it is more of an individual sport whereas summer swim is a team sport and with so many parents involved, there is a ton of drama.

In summer swim, there is so much parent involvement, there’s drama everywhere because some parents just suck.

We are still dealing with summer swim drama and it is almost October! Ugh!

I'm really intrigued about what summer swim drama lingers into October- do tell.

Not much happens in fall and winter because it is more of an individual sport whereas summer swim is a team sport and with so many parents involved, there is a ton of drama.

In summer swim, there is so much parent involvement, there’s drama everywhere because some parents just suck.

We are still dealing with summer swim drama and it is almost October! Ugh!

Anonymous wrote:I agree that it’s a timing thing - summer swim is over and everyone has chosen their winter clubs so there’s little drama.

Give it time.

Yep. Wait til June, July. This forum will be on fire.

Anonymous wrote:So there used to be a lot of discussions on the swimming forum, now not so much.

I wonder if most of the respondents were not really swim folks.

In the summer there are what seems like hundreds of threads with petty summer swim issues that are very specific to summer swim (“the ladder”, volunteers, team reps, etc.). Club season just started and as another poster said the first meets are this weekend. I also don’t necessarily consider the summer swim only people to be swim people, it’s an 8 week a year rec sport.

Anonymous wrote:Swimming is in a lull right now because summer swim has ended and club swim is just getting started. The first meets are this weekend.

I'm glad there's a separate swimming forum. I check in every time I visit this site.

+1. It's like people complaining about the real estate market being dead in August.

I agree that it’s a timing thing - summer swim is over and everyone has chosen their winter clubs so there’s little drama.

Give it time.

Swimming is in a lull right now because summer swim has ended and club swim is just getting started. The first meets are this weekend.

I'm glad there's a separate swimming forum. I check in every time I visit this site.

So there used to be a lot of discussions on the swimming forum, now not so much.

I wonder if most of the respondents were not really swim folks.