Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.
Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.
Depends on the age a bit. But if your kid is under 12, they all drop time a lot and occasionally hit a plateau. So, at least at the biggest clubs this sort of analysis is unlikely to bump a slower kid above a faster one.
Do clubs ever factor in how frequently a child is practicing? One of my kids likes swimming well enough, but currently likes other sports more. So swimming is more of a 2 day/week activity max right now. He's getting to an age where kids who are more committed will be swimming 3-4 days/week. If he decides in a couple years that he is burned out on other sports and wants to swim more, will the bigger/"better" clubs just not be an option because he will be too far behind the kids who committed earlier? He is pretty athletic, has a nice natural freestyle, and a good body type for swim. I think he could be good at middle to longer distance free IF he wanted to make that commitment. Not sure how much coaches factor in potential for kids who aren't training as much as some others...
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….
It’s club dependent, there are so many clubs in the DMV that any swimmer should be able to find a place to swim. However, for the bigger and more competitive clubs (RMSC, NCAP, Machine) tryouts are competitive. The other piece is that once you are in at one of these clubs, you do not lose your spot even if you do not end up developing into a champs level swimmer. As a result there are a decent number of slots in the 9 and over groups that are already taken by the kids that started with the club at 7 or 8, making it even more competitive for the kid trying to join at age 11-12.
A number of the clubs have at least two groups for kids 11 and up. One group is the serious competitive one (often requiring 4 or 5 days a week practice), and the other is not so competitive (3 days a week or so) even though they usually still go to meets.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….
It’s club dependent, there are so many clubs in the DMV that any swimmer should be able to find a place to swim. However, for the bigger and more competitive clubs (RMSC, NCAP, Machine) tryouts are competitive. The other piece is that once you are in at one of these clubs, you do not lose your spot even if you do not end up developing into a champs level swimmer. As a result there are a decent number of slots in the 9 and over groups that are already taken by the kids that started with the club at 7 or 8, making it even more competitive for the kid trying to join at age 11-12.
Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….
Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.
Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.
Depends on the age a bit. But if your kid is under 12, they all drop time a lot and occasionally hit a plateau. So, at least at the biggest clubs this sort of analysis is unlikely to bump a slower kid above a faster one.
Anonymous wrote:Not sure where all your kids swim, but my non championship kids have never had a problem getting into a club. Is this a MD thing? And no, they don’t make JO cuts….
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.
Are times the only deciding factor at any given age? I can see how they might be the primary factor, but if someone is showing significant time improvement over the past 12 months, that might indicate a higher potential versus someone whose times have not improved all that much.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Sadly, it matters at 8 too for the sites that are over enrolled (KSAC for one). If 40 8 year old girls show up, they will take the strongest 3-6 of the bunch if that's how many spots they have. They'll have them swim enough at the try out that they can easily see who's the fastest and who can do legal breaststroke and butterfly. So while your times from summer swimming don't matter at that age, your relative speed vis-a-vis others who try out will.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Times start mattering at 11/12 for girls. That is the first "cut" so to speak where you can see if there is any potential talent. That being said I would rather a pretty good 11/12 that has yet to go through puberty (girl) then one that has already grown and potentially is peaking.
Boys it is a little later than girls.
A lot of talented kids burn out and peak during the 13-15 range. I am watching our club move swimmers out of the elite track (13 year olds) to the competitive track because the times and improvements are starting to get flat. They are also accepting swimmers from other clubs with good times and trajectories.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:I’m hazarding a guess but RMSC has posted their tryout dates, which are in July. If Club B is RMSC, be realistic about your kid’s times. RMSC is tough to get into because of how many kids they have. Age matters here too, the younger you are the easier it is to get in.
Starting at what age do times really matter?
Probably as early as 10. Certainly by 11/12.