Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are very very few sports where anything at all important is done before age 15. Maybe gymnastics and figure skating. Maybe. Swimming would be right there in the “no one cares” catagory unless they are swimming x times when they are 16/17. No one cares. It does not matter. Pretending there are “important” events does not actually make them important.

Better tell Katie Ledecky that she shouldn’t have gone to the Olympics at age 15, since “no one cares”😂. I’m sure Phoebe Bacon got nothing out of going to Olympic Trials at age 13 either. Nope, that definitely didn’t prepare her for future top-level national and international meets.

Swim the time and you are in. You can do that at “anywhere/anytime meet” as long as time keeping is accurate. Lots of pools everywhere meet the standards - even in a good many high schools now.

As a parent of a kid who was on a youth soccer team built to win a youth national championship I feel pretty good in saying - the travel is not needed - and boy did we travel. It was stupid then and even more stupid now.

Anonymous wrote:There are very very few sports where anything at all important is done before age 15. Maybe gymnastics and figure skating. Maybe. Swimming would be right there in the “no one cares” catagory unless they are swimming x times when they are 16/17. No one cares. It does not matter. Pretending there are “important” events does not actually make them important.

Better tell Katie Ledecky that she shouldn’t have gone to the Olympics at age 15, since “no one cares”😂. I’m sure Phoebe Bacon got nothing out of going to Olympic Trials at age 13 either. Nope, that definitely didn’t prepare her for future top-level national and international meets.

My kids are not at a high elite level and I’m fine with them missing a day or a couple days here and there if needed. They need to make up the work and if possible, coordinate before. I tell them it’s not the teacher’s responsibility to catch them up. They are older than your child.

Anonymous wrote:I would never have a kid miss 3 weeks in a school year. That’s crazy! Unless they are competing at Olympic level events but usually at that level they are homeschooled. For a regular kid that’s somewhat good, I would say 3-5 days per year would be the max that I’d allow. My kid is D1 level good and that is the max that we allow to miss. So I guess I’m agreeing to the Moco regulation listed above.

I’d posted above that my kid (not a swimmer) missed several weeks of school most years in MS and HS. It was very clear he was a D1 level player from a young age. It was definitely stressful for him to make up the work in some of the classes, but he was able to do so without any difficulty other than the long hours it required. If you end up playing a D1 sport for 4 years, you’ll also need to be excellent at time management and making up missed work, and the discipline and focus it takes to do so is helpful after college too.

Anonymous wrote:There are very very few sports where anything at all important is done before age 15. Maybe gymnastics and figure skating. Maybe. Swimming would be right there in the “no one cares” catagory unless they are swimming x times when they are 16/17. No one cares. It does not matter. Pretending there are “important” events does not actually make them important.

Not sure what your point is here but I hope you feel better after your little rant!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dd misses a few days/half days a year for swim meets. She’s a good student and catches up quickly. She goes out of her way to choose events that will get her out of school 500 fly? Why yes, sounds awesome!

Lol, this is so true. My DD has not caught on yet that the distance events are more likely to get her out of school, but I’m sure when she does she will suddenly have an interest in doing distance fly (she avoids fly to the extent possible now, so it will be an easy tell!).

The longest fly is the 200 fly. It’s a killer so kids rarely volunteer to do it at a young age (or even older) because it’s extremely difficult.

Yeah, that’s the joke.

200 fly isn't considered "distance". There is no 500 fly.

There are very very few sports where anything at all important is done before age 15. Maybe gymnastics and figure skating. Maybe. Swimming would be right there in the “no one cares” catagory unless they are swimming x times when they are 16/17. No one cares. It does not matter. Pretending there are “important” events does not actually make them important.

Around here, it is pretty typical for a swimmer to miss a Friday in December, a Friday in March, and up to a week in March/April for a big travel meet. I have teens who have done this since your child’s age and it’s fine. Especially in elementary school. Communicate and make up the work.

I am one who has always told the truth to school, sometimes this was more trouble than it was worth, but it is the example I believe in setting. By the time it was middle school, I worked with the principal for an excused absence and the kids worked with their teachers to make up work, it’s a good learning experience. Out in the real world, we also have to miss work from time to time and figure it out.

We are doing it for the 1st time next week. We will miss a Friday.

My son is in 2nd grade and we miss a few days a year for out of state competitions. Life is about finding joy and passions, and right now this is his. We don’t plan to miss school for a week at Disney like other families do, so I feel like it all evens out.

I teach high school, and it is really hard to miss school at that age, so I want to take advantage of it while it’s still easy. I feel like the skills he is learning by competing against adults and teens and staying resilient and humble are WELL worth missing a day or two of school a few times a year.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:School comes before sport. You are limiting their choices in life by focusing on their sport that may not work out in the future.

I mean, I’m not sure missing a few days of school here and there in fourth grade is really “limiting their choices in life.”

Nah. . . I was a college athlete. Both my kids swim, and I think it's valuable. But, the value isn't in the potential for their sport to "work out in the future." The value is in the lessons in dissapointment, time management, work ethic, life-long committment to fitness, respect for teammates when they are succeeding and you are not, team commraderie, learning to trust your coaches; experience goal setting. etc., etc. You don't have to share my belief in the value of sport, but you are way off if you think parents who support kids' sports only do it in hopes of it "working out" in some way in the future.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dd misses a few days/half days a year for swim meets. She’s a good student and catches up quickly. She goes out of her way to choose events that will get her out of school 500 fly? Why yes, sounds awesome!

Lol, this is so true. My DD has not caught on yet that the distance events are more likely to get her out of school, but I’m sure when she does she will suddenly have an interest in doing distance fly (she avoids fly to the extent possible now, so it will be an easy tell!).

The longest fly is the 200 fly. It’s a killer so kids rarely volunteer to do it at a young age (or even older) because it’s extremely difficult.

Yeah, that’s the joke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Dd misses a few days/half days a year for swim meets. She’s a good student and catches up quickly. She goes out of her way to choose events that will get her out of school 500 fly? Why yes, sounds awesome!

Lol, this is so true. My DD has not caught on yet that the distance events are more likely to get her out of school, but I’m sure when she does she will suddenly have an interest in doing distance fly (she avoids fly to the extent possible now, so it will be an easy tell!).

The longest fly is the 200 fly. It’s a killer so kids rarely volunteer to do it at a young age (or even older) because it’s extremely difficult.

Once your kids get to high school you will realize that elementary and middle school really did not matter much.
Your child missing a day of school here and there will make absolutely no difference.
Don’t think twice about it

Anonymous wrote:I would never have a kid miss 3 weeks in a school year. That’s crazy! Unless they are competing at Olympic level events but usually at that level they are homeschooled. For a regular kid that’s somewhat good, I would say 3-5 days per year would be the max that I’d allow. My kid is D1 level good and that is the max that we allow to miss. So I guess I’m agreeing to the Moco regulation listed above.

In high school this isn’t so unusual, particularly if your child is looking to compete in college. To some extent these higher level competitions are a necessary part of their collegiate package. In elementary school there really aren’t multiple meets where a they miss 4-5 days of school at a time.

Generally swimmers miss 2-3x per school year each time between 4-5 days, then junior year it’s necessary to attend college camps/visits.