Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

Our club recommends at least 1 per month, but ideally 2 if available. This is for Age group swimmers and we are far from an intense team.

That is interesting. Most clubs are a 1 per month is ideal and sometimes in January and February will do two meets a month - but those are the off training months where results are not expected.

I have talked to coaches that even say having meets to close together (ie two weeks) will ultimately have poor results unless the kid is working on their off strokes and not repeating the same strokes/events. Don't let the summer meet mentality influence you either with weekly meets. Those are easy sprints and very different.

There are some PVS 9 year-olds who have already competed in six meets this fall and are signed up for two over the next two weekends. That's eight meets over 10 weeks. All, for what? Just to make 1 event + a bonus at the NCAP Invite? Don't be that parent.

Quickest way to burn out a kid is to go to that many meets. Meet weekends are exhausting for all involved. Breaks are necessary.

Usually the coach/club issues a meet schedule for each group at the beginning of short course and long course season. Those are the meets you attend. When they are little there are not a ton of opportunities for meets and they are exhausting for little kids.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

Our club recommends at least 1 per month, but ideally 2 if available. This is for Age group swimmers and we are far from an intense team.

That is interesting. Most clubs are a 1 per month is ideal and sometimes in January and February will do two meets a month - but those are the off training months where results are not expected.

I have talked to coaches that even say having meets to close together (ie two weeks) will ultimately have poor results unless the kid is working on their off strokes and not repeating the same strokes/events. Don't let the summer meet mentality influence you either with weekly meets. Those are easy sprints and very different.

There are some PVS 9 year-olds who have already competed in six meets this fall and are signed up for two over the next two weekends. That's eight meets over 10 weeks. All, for what? Just to make 1 event + a bonus at the NCAP Invite? Don't be that parent.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much for the advice! From what I can see on the team schedule DC's age group has one last scheduled meet in March and then everything else is 10U championships, etc. based on cuts after that. DC isn't at those kinds of times yet as of this moment (but would like to be and is practicing diligently). As a brand-new 9 right now I think DC will just have to try to keep dropping time from now until March and then wait until summer swim. Which obviously won't be the end of the world.

Do I have the general curve of the winter season correct? It's hard to figure out sometimes so I'm mainly trying to watch and learn (and count on all of you for advice!)

OP does DC have one meet a month? Most clubs will add a meet in March and sometimes even one in April, but they have to decide what works for their various swim groups. So my one swimmer usually will make a JO meet in March, but my other swimmers will not so they will end up in an invitational championship meet (for the slower swimmers) in March.

You can see those meets on the PVS meet schedule. Odds are your team will choose one of those meets to attend.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

Our club recommends at least 1 per month, but ideally 2 if available. This is for Age group swimmers and we are far from an intense team.

That is interesting. Most clubs are a 1 per month is ideal and sometimes in January and February will do two meets a month - but those are the off training months where results are not expected.

I have talked to coaches that even say having meets to close together (ie two weeks) will ultimately have poor results unless the kid is working on their off strokes and not repeating the same strokes/events. Don't let the summer meet mentality influence you either with weekly meets. Those are easy sprints and very different.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much for the advice! From what I can see on the team schedule DC's age group has one last scheduled meet in March and then everything else is 10U championships, etc. based on cuts after that. DC isn't at those kinds of times yet as of this moment (but would like to be and is practicing diligently). As a brand-new 9 right now I think DC will just have to try to keep dropping time from now until March and then wait until summer swim. Which obviously won't be the end of the world.

Do I have the general curve of the winter season correct? It's hard to figure out sometimes so I'm mainly trying to watch and learn (and count on all of you for advice!)

Most clubs have more meets between now and March, even for the youngest/newest swimmers. There are the winter champs meets taking place over the next couple weekends, there are a bunch of meets in January, and then most clubs participate in some type of meet in February as a last chance for kids to qualify for JOs in March. I’m the PP whose DD started with mini meets at age 9, and she had meets in December, January and February that year.

It's also likely that your kid's coaches just haven't picked the meets their group might attend in January, February, April, and May. I suspect they'll update the schedule once they once more of those meet announcements are published.

Anonymous wrote:OP here - thanks so much for the advice! From what I can see on the team schedule DC's age group has one last scheduled meet in March and then everything else is 10U championships, etc. based on cuts after that. DC isn't at those kinds of times yet as of this moment (but would like to be and is practicing diligently). As a brand-new 9 right now I think DC will just have to try to keep dropping time from now until March and then wait until summer swim. Which obviously won't be the end of the world.

Do I have the general curve of the winter season correct? It's hard to figure out sometimes so I'm mainly trying to watch and learn (and count on all of you for advice!)

Most clubs have more meets between now and March, even for the youngest/newest swimmers. There are the winter champs meets taking place over the next couple weekends, there are a bunch of meets in January, and then most clubs participate in some type of meet in February as a last chance for kids to qualify for JOs in March. I’m the PP whose DD started with mini meets at age 9, and she had meets in December, January and February that year.

The club’s coaches decide what meets each particular age group/training group is doing. When my DD was 9 and brand new to club swimming she was placed in a training group that did all the 10 and under mini meets, no PVS Opens or big meets like that. It ended up being about a meet every 6 weeks or so. The next season she moved up a training group (no more mini meets even though she was only 10) and did 1-2 meets a month. I thought it was great for her as a new club swimmer to get some experience through mini meets, build her confidence, etc. She also wanted to do more meets, but she got to do that the following season.

OP here - thanks so much for the advice! From what I can see on the team schedule DC's age group has one last scheduled meet in March and then everything else is 10U championships, etc. based on cuts after that. DC isn't at those kinds of times yet as of this moment (but would like to be and is practicing diligently). As a brand-new 9 right now I think DC will just have to try to keep dropping time from now until March and then wait until summer swim. Which obviously won't be the end of the world.

Do I have the general curve of the winter season correct? It's hard to figure out sometimes so I'm mainly trying to watch and learn (and count on all of you for advice!)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

Our club recommends at least 1 per month, but ideally 2 if available. This is for Age group swimmers and we are far from an intense team.

Does your team host all these meets and getting $ from them? Is your child skipping practices to make these meets? It isn't best practice to race so much at the expense of practice, and also at 9YO that is too much with school and hopefully other interests. Shouldn't burn the kid out.

Anonymous wrote:How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

Our club recommends at least 1 per month, but ideally 2 if available. This is for Age group swimmers and we are far from an intense team.

You're understanding correctly, OP - the coach/team decide which meets your club will attend. Trust them to do what's best for your kid. Some clubs seem to race their kids every.single.weekend and that gets to be a lot.

How many meets is your child able to do? More than one a month is too much and interferes with training - even for older kids.

You do the meets the coach decides to do

Do not, I repeat, do not ask the coach to do more meets!!!!! I only say this bc you will be blackballed as an insane parent and I can tell you are trying very hard to avoid this!

Little kids shouldn't be doing too many meets- they should be focusing on learning. If they love meets, do summer swim!

Good luck!

I have a brand-new 9yo who is in their first season of a more competitive club (after a previous year of winter swim with a different club), and who might be willing/able to swim more meets than their team age group is doing. My understanding, however, is that this is not a thing: teams decide what meets a given age group will enter, and individual swimmers cannot just hop around at will. Am I correct, or is this a 'talk to the coach' situation? DC really loves to race and would likely do more given the chance. (And yes, I know that with improvement in times many more meet opportunities would come later in DC's swim career, too!) Gratitude in advance for helping me learn the ropes better.