Colleges care about your top times. Period. Whether it’s at a meet in June, early July, or august. You don’t need to attend ncsa for college swimming.

Anonymous wrote:It’s a pretty simple choice. Go to NCSAs and finish 110th/200 at a boring meet far from home with no atmosphere. Or you could swim a local meet like all stars with passionate fans and a tight knit swim community rooting you on while you represent a TEAM, not a club. The choice is easy in my head.

If it was all stars vs juniors I’d say juniors 100%. But not for a nondescript meet like NCSA.

Lol unless you plan to swim in college

Anonymous wrote:If your swimmer enjoys summer swim and feels they can do both, let them. Olympians like Jack Conger and Andrew Seliskar managed to do both, so your kid could too. Let them have fun and enjoy the meets they like. It's possible to do both despite what club coaches or swim parents tell you. signed-non Olympic swimmer who managed to do both

Just FYI, Jack Conger graduated in 2013. MCSL’s all stars was 7/27-28 that year. NCSAs started 7/30. He didn’t fly home for the all stars meet…he hadn’t left for Indy yet. There’s no issue doing both. Lately it hasn’t been possible to do both since the dates overlap. No one is flying home in the middle of NCSAs to swim all stars.

It’s a pretty simple choice. Go to NCSAs and finish 110th/200 at a boring meet far from home with no atmosphere. Or you could swim a local meet like all stars with passionate fans and a tight knit swim community rooting you on while you represent a TEAM, not a club. The choice is easy in my head.

If it was all stars vs juniors I’d say juniors 100%. But not for a nondescript meet like NCSA.

Anonymous wrote:but to some, it's as important. If you look at all star results, you will see many ncsa level swimmers and faster that are competing

Not really, especially with older swimmers. That's why divisional times are usually faster.

Anonymous wrote:but to some, it's as important. If you look at all star results, you will see many ncsa level swimmers and faster that are competing

“As” important, no. I’m sorry but if a serious, elite swimmer had to choose between an elite club meet and All Stars they are going to the elite club meet. I don’t mean the swimmers that do both because the schedules don’t conflict, I mean where the swimmer has to choose between an elite meet their club is participating in and All Stars.

but to some, it's as important. If you look at all star results, you will see many ncsa level swimmers and faster that are competing

Anonymous wrote:some elite swimmers also choose all stars over ncsa. i don't like the characterization that all stars is just "rec league"

But it is….

Depends on their age, but I would definitely pick one over the other. My 10th grader is focusing on college swim, so this year it is NCSA. It might be a different choice for an 11th grader that has already committed.

Or if they already have the times they are looking for this season, skip the travel and have fun with their rec team.

Both in one week with the travel is a lot. These kids are great athletes, but not machines.

some elite swimmers also choose all stars over ncsa. i don't like the characterization that all stars is just "rec league"

Anonymous wrote:If your swimmer enjoys summer swim and feels they can do both, let them. Olympians like Jack Conger and Andrew Seliskar managed to do both, so your kid could too. Let them have fun and enjoy the meets they like. It's possible to do both despite what club coaches or swim parents tell you. signed-non Olympic swimmer who managed to do both

Is it possible, sure, but I would not pay for my kid to travel all the way to Indianapolis for 2 days of a 5 day high level meet, so that they could then come home early to swim 2 events at a rec league All Star meet. Other elite swimmers have competed in both high level club meets and All Stars but I don’t think it involved bailing midway through the high level meet in order to come home and swim All Stars.

If your swimmer enjoys summer swim and feels they can do both, let them. Olympians like Jack Conger and Andrew Seliskar managed to do both, so your kid could too. Let them have fun and enjoy the meets they like. It's possible to do both despite what club coaches or swim parents tell you. signed-non Olympic swimmer who managed to do both

My swimmer will skip divisionals and IAS for these meets. Goal is college swim.

I don’t understand how this is feasible. All Stars is July 27th and the summer NCSA meet is July 24th-28th in Indianapolis. Your swimmer plans to swim NCSAs July 24th-25th, return home the 26th, and then do all stars on the 27th? That seems ridiculous quite frankly.

My swimmer would like to do both but I think that IAS is a long day in the sun and then to add travel, etc, will compromise performance. Does anyone have experience with this? Good arguments either way?