Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:People seem to be mixing up swim clubs and summer swim. They are two very different animals!

Yes agreed. A summer swim is run by volunteers and probably is a mixed bag. Clubs are run by paid people and should run well.

Except that we have found the exact opposite. Our summer swim is generally a well-oiled machine. Our experience with club was good enough (York) but certainly a lot more chaotic. If I had to hazard a guess, it would be because club is ultimately worried about bottom line, and they manage expenses by shorting on paid admin side/staff. Summer swim may be volunteers, frequently people with other full-time jobs, but they are often high-functioning adults who are "all in" on making it a success and often are volunteering for positions that utilize their existing professional skills. They have also seen it more recently from the parents/family side, and have a better idea of how to make it work best.

That is not meant to be a slam on the clubs. It's just a very different business model that requires them to be more mindful of the bottom line. Also, club swim appears to be a much larger and more complicated endeavor than summer swim, which is 10 weeks of mayhem, but generally more consistent year to year, thus requiring less adjustment on the fly.

I love our club but the admin side is terrible. They will be weeks/months late in getting information out. We have been waiting for group assignments for next year so that registration can begin and they are several weeks past when they said that would happen.

They will then say registration will open on X date - and it will not. It happens most years.

It is AAC. They are a bit of a hot mess.

Anonymous wrote:People seem to be mixing up swim clubs and summer swim. They are two very different animals!

Yes agreed. A summer swim is run by volunteers and probably is a mixed bag. Clubs are run by paid people and should run well.

People seem to be mixing up swim clubs and summer swim. They are two very different animals!

Anonymous wrote:Please name your clubs if you're happy with them.

NCAP. Great communication.

Anonymous wrote:I joined our swim team board 6y ago to make changes. It was so disorganized, poor communication, etc. Ultimately, I found out that it was "run" by one parent who had been doing it for years and assumed total control of everything. When someone tried to make changes or suggestions they were essentially dismissed at best and publicly chastised at worst. I lasted 4 years trying to improve communication before bailing and just being a swim mom.

Swim team has been good for DD and she has made good friends, but I can't wait for her to age out so we can be done with swim team as a family.

Our club team is not good with the admin stuff or getting deliverables that were promised out on time. Our summer league team is a whole different story. It runs well. Very well and efficient. But it is a team that runs it and they have a lot of people in charge of the different aspects. It is like a small company.

I joined our swim team board 6y ago to make changes. It was so disorganized, poor communication, etc. Ultimately, I found out that it was "run" by one parent who had been doing it for years and assumed total control of everything. When someone tried to make changes or suggestions they were essentially dismissed at best and publicly chastised at worst. I lasted 4 years trying to improve communication before bailing and just being a swim mom.

Swim team has been good for DD and she has made good friends, but I can't wait for her to age out so we can be done with swim team as a family.

Anonymous wrote:

NCAP. It is pricey, but they run really well. As someone said you do get what you pay for. The worse tend to be county programs.

Interesting, which county? RMSC is a well oiled machine, from communicating with families to running a meet. We’ve attended meets hosted by other clubs and the difference is noticeable.

I have three swimmers with RMSC. Communication seems appropriate and effective. We receive timely information about meets, entries, policy changes (as guidelines changed due to COVID) and any general information needed. Some coaches provide more information than others. My older two swimmer’s coach is very detailed about concerns, weekly updates, reminders, and strategies moving forward into specific training cycles and meets. My youngest swimmer’s coach gets relevant information out to us but doesn’t always respond to individual emails in a timely manner, but he’s a great coach and communicates well with the kids, so we overlook his email etiquette.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Want to know how well your club does on communication, ensuring registration for returning members, putting kids in the same groups, timely communications, etc. I feel like our club is a constant sh*t show and I don't know if that is the norm. Perhaps it varies from location to location. But it is frustrating.

RMSC - I've never had a problem with the truly administrative, which I see as the bolded. From time to time, there is a registration system glitch, but it always gets communicated and sorted out. System-wide communication is limited, but timely.

Everything else - meet entries, meet schedule, meet information, rare practice changes - is coach-dependent. I have heard about some coaches who are really lacking in timely communication, fortunately, I do not have experience with them and have been happy at RMSC for multiple kids for over 10 years.

Similar here. KSAC location, communication is very good. I have kids in multiple groups.

I think NCAP may vary. We were at one location and the communication was not good. They expected new parents to know everything and it wasn't explained. You have to keep in mind each location has own team unify and runs it themselves.