Anonymous wrote:It was a full hour of swimming once a week. The kids go nonstop. It was great exercise, and the kid was doing better in school academics. Finally our kid became too talented and he was graduated from the school entirely. (It felt like being suddenly kicked out - I almost cried publicly with the disappointment). In contrast, the summer swim teams have all these weird schedules and volunteer commitments so we never did it. I very much miss the swim force days, and I wish they had something like goldfish swim force for teenagers.

You can get moderate-involvement swim conditioning for teens with most winter clubs. Most of them have multiple levels for that age group.

It was a full hour of swimming once a week. The kids go nonstop. It was great exercise, and the kid was doing better in school academics. Finally our kid became too talented and he was graduated from the school entirely. (It felt like being suddenly kicked out - I almost cried publicly with the disappointment). In contrast, the summer swim teams have all these weird schedules and volunteer commitments so we never did it. I very much miss the swim force days, and I wish they had something like goldfish swim force for teenagers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience or know anything about it? This is after kid moves up from pro 2. They say quarterly meet opportunities are provided but what does this mean? Is it a real swim team or are different goldfish franchise swim force teams just "competing" against each other? Is it good prep for a real swim team?

we had never made to swim force. we started when my kid was 4 all the way up to pro2 after pandemic. then my wife noticed there's no improvement for a year and a half and the site swim force never took off, so she signed up for county stroke and turn and we stopped doing goldsfish. then joined summer team. all in all, but all that helped was endurance. breast and fly were still not legal. i had to coach kid myself for breast/fly so he eventually made to a year around club around 9 yo. but you know, its fairly difficult for a 9 yo joins a serious swim club.

looking back, you don't need to do goldfish for swim team. if we were doing it again, i would have probably only let him swim with gold fish for one or two years then with summer team at age 6 with some private lessons and join a real swim club before 8, starting at mini.

+1 - My kids did gf for too long. They make swimming fun for little kids but they do not teach proper technique. I second this rec to use them until your kids are comfortable in the water, but if they’re serious about swim, move them to stroke & turn with a club. Mine have developed bad habits from gf that are now hard to break.

Anonymous wrote:Anyone have experience or know anything about it? This is after kid moves up from pro 2. They say quarterly meet opportunities are provided but what does this mean? Is it a real swim team or are different goldfish franchise swim force teams just "competing" against each other? Is it good prep for a real swim team?

we had never made to swim force. we started when my kid was 4 all the way up to pro2 after pandemic. then my wife noticed there's no improvement for a year and a half and the site swim force never took off, so she signed up for county stroke and turn and we stopped doing goldsfish. then joined summer team. all in all, but all that helped was endurance. breast and fly were still not legal. i had to coach kid myself for breast/fly so he eventually made to a year around club around 9 yo. but you know, its fairly difficult for a 9 yo joins a serious swim club.

looking back, you don't need to do goldfish for swim team. if we were doing it again, i would have probably only let him swim with gold fish for one or two years then with summer team at age 6 with some private lessons and join a real swim club before 8, starting at mini.

My child is currently enrolled on "the Force" at the SS branch.

I'd call it a stepping stone between lessons and real swim team.
Pros
* the kids do swim length of 25 yards as opposed to the width they swim during lessons
* the practices have lots of instructors (at least 6 last practice), some in the water and some out so your child will get lots of individual feedback.

Cons
* they don't hit all the strokes consistently, I think they've done butterfly once in the last month
* they never dive so starts are a no go
* at 200 bucks a month it's not cheap for what you get. I plan on having my child stay on until MCSL practice starts and then looking into something different in the fall.
* the meets are against other kids from the same branch. And honestly if your child has any summer league experience they'll be pretty far ahead of their peers.

Anyone have experience or know anything about it? This is after kid moves up from pro 2. They say quarterly meet opportunities are provided but what does this mean? Is it a real swim team or are different goldfish franchise swim force teams just "competing" against each other? Is it good prep for a real swim team?