I was the top 8 year old in my club, then the others all got taller and faster.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP, ASA, RMSC, Machine, AAC, Fish, Toll, etc.

Try out season is around July…great swimmers will rise to the top in any of the decent clubs. Good luck!

The RMSC Rays are a great option. You’ll get a spot for the fall if you sign up for their summer team. Looks great on a college resume.

RMSC is a year round club with five locations. The Rockville Rays is a summer MCSL swim team.

Yes, 5 locations. The RMSC Rockville site is the only one that competes in MCSL (RMSC Rays). It’s very convenient to swim for Coach Greene year round without having to switch teams for summer and it shows in the results as the rays are almost always league champs.

Does he stack his summer team with his year round swimmers? It appears so, you don’t need to swim RMSC to be on the Rockville Rays.

The Rays and RMSC are two different teams. Dave just happens to coach both at the same site. Many year round club coaches have a summer team they coach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP, ASA, RMSC, Machine, AAC, Fish, Toll, etc.

Try out season is around July…great swimmers will rise to the top in any of the decent clubs. Good luck!

The RMSC Rays are a great option. You’ll get a spot for the fall if you sign up for their summer team. Looks great on a college resume.

RMSC is a year round club with five locations. The Rockville Rays is a summer MCSL swim team.

Yes, 5 locations. The RMSC Rockville site is the only one that competes in MCSL (RMSC Rays). It’s very convenient to swim for Coach Greene year round without having to switch teams for summer and it shows in the results as the rays are almost always league champs.

Does he stack his summer team with his year round swimmers? It appears so, you don’t need to swim RMSC to be on the Rockville Rays.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For an 8 year old the best team is the one close to your house with kids they know, that keeps it fun. If your child is really that good nothing else matters yet. Save the worries about the coaching and training groups for middle school at the earliest. Maybe look for a club known for being good at teaching stroke technique. Some athletic kids can muscle through 25s with poor technique. That won’t work later.

this. My kid is 10 and the best one for us is 10 mins from our house and only requires practices twice a week. Don’t fall into the trap with an 8yo and push too hard.

I wrote that post and I am glad to see others agree. It is based on my lived experience. I tried summer swim at 8 and was quite good for a new swimmer. Didn't swim at all that winter, then signed up for a winter team after my second summer season as a 9 year old. It was a low key team with young enthusiastic coaches and tons of kids from my immediate area. I then moved to a team that was started by a couple of the coaches from the first team, which was also fun and low key. Some of the better swimmers in my area drove 30+ minutes to one of the two "best" and most intense teams in the area. They dominated kids from my team up until the teen years. Then those kids started burning out and wanting to do other things because they had spent so much time driving to the pool and doing these intense practices in order to be the best. A few of us switched to one of the intense teams in late HS when we started having the goal of high level college swimming. Those of us who had been on the fun team were able to have more success in the long run (HS and college) because we had started at a place that had instilled a love for the sport over being the fastest. By the time I was at the intense team I had the maturity to be setting my own goals and be responsible for what I was doing to get me to those goals. It wasn't forced on me by parents who were excited about my potential.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP, ASA, RMSC, Machine, AAC, Fish, Toll, etc.

Try out season is around July…great swimmers will rise to the top in any of the decent clubs. Good luck!

The RMSC Rays are a great option. You’ll get a spot for the fall if you sign up for their summer team. Looks great on a college resume.

RMSC is a year round club with five locations. The Rockville Rays is a summer MCSL swim team.

Yes, 5 locations. The RMSC Rockville site is the only one that competes in MCSL (RMSC Rays). It’s very convenient to swim for Coach Greene year round without having to switch teams for summer and it shows in the results as the rays are almost always league champs.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:NCAP, ASA, RMSC, Machine, AAC, Fish, Toll, etc.

Try out season is around July…great swimmers will rise to the top in any of the decent clubs. Good luck!

The RMSC Rays are a great option. You’ll get a spot for the fall if you sign up for their summer team. Looks great on a college resume.

RMSC is a year round club with five locations. The Rockville Rays is a summer MCSL swim team.

Anonymous wrote:For an 8 year old the best team is the one close to your house with kids they know, that keeps it fun. If your child is really that good nothing else matters yet. Save the worries about the coaching and training groups for middle school at the earliest. Maybe look for a club known for being good at teaching stroke technique. Some athletic kids can muscle through 25s with poor technique. That won’t work later.

this. My kid is 10 and the best one for us is 10 mins from our house and only requires practices twice a week. Don’t fall into the trap with an 8yo and push too hard.

Anonymous wrote:NCAP, ASA, RMSC, Machine, AAC, Fish, Toll, etc.

Try out season is around July…great swimmers will rise to the top in any of the decent clubs. Good luck!

The RMSC Rays are a great option. You’ll get a spot for the fall if you sign up for their summer team. Looks great on a college resume.

my 8 year old was the fastest swimmer in their age group for a few years, fast forward, they played multiple sports realized that they didn't enjoy swimming anymore, walked away form it and enjoyed playing 3 sports throughout high school and a club sport and enjoyed their youth.

they still did summer swim and beat many of the kids who swim year round.

My point is, don't expect them to stay with it even if they are good, let them make the choices.

I would start her on a summer swim team and see how she does. If she doesn't have a number of all-star times by July, she doesn't have any "scary" abilities.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For an 8 year old the best team is the one close to your house with kids they know, that keeps it fun. If your child is really that good nothing else matters yet. Save the worries about the coaching and training groups for middle school at the earliest. Maybe look for a club known for being good at teaching stroke technique. Some athletic kids can muscle through 25s with poor technique. That won’t work later.

+1. Good advice. Swimming is a long game, kids have to enjoy the practices in order to stay motivated. I have two swimmers, 10 and 14, and it is such hard work that if they didn’t love their team, coaches, and were happy to go to practices, I would reconsider keeping them in. Starting a kid at 8 may seem young, but she will turn 9 before long and you might be surprised by how many of her peers have been swimming club for a few years by that point. Don’t focus on her times, focus on whether she is happy and looks forward to practice.

+ another 1

My kids started swimming at the closest club to our house in first grade. They are both in HS now, swimming at the same pool, same club, with many of the same kids. Lifelong friends. Plus, when you stay local, things like carpools and having school friends on the same team fall into place easier. Some of the most fun times I've seen for these kids are when their local summer team or HS compete against each other in natural (super fun) rivalries.

Anonymous wrote:For an 8 year old the best team is the one close to your house with kids they know, that keeps it fun. If your child is really that good nothing else matters yet. Save the worries about the coaching and training groups for middle school at the earliest. Maybe look for a club known for being good at teaching stroke technique. Some athletic kids can muscle through 25s with poor technique. That won’t work later.

+1. Good advice. Swimming is a long game, kids have to enjoy the practices in order to stay motivated. I have two swimmers, 10 and 14, and it is such hard work that if they didn’t love their team, coaches, and were happy to go to practices, I would reconsider keeping them in. Starting a kid at 8 may seem young, but she will turn 9 before long and you might be surprised by how many of her peers have been swimming club for a few years by that point. Don’t focus on her times, focus on whether she is happy and looks forward to practice.

This reminds me of the mom who was convinced her 8yo was going to the Olympics and had an endless pool installed. 8yo quit swim a few months later.
Don’t be that mom, OP!

Anonymous wrote:What is the best swim team in DMV area?

I have a daughter (8 yrs) who is showing some scary abilities in swimming.

That's great, does she love it? Are you looking for swim teams to compete with or instructional swim to further develop her abilities?

Everything my kid know how to do better than me impresses me. My kid (10) isn't a great swimmer but still have a passion for it and joined year-round club swim. I'd echo opinions to find swim clubs nearest you to start with, because when they get that good they may need to be in the pool more often.

At 8 - the one closest to your house with year round swim with meets.