Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what do you mean no one announces your name at a meet? Are there summer meets where names are announced? I've not seen this at either our A or B meets.

We're in MCSL, and A meets always announce names. The younger kids often strike a pose or wave. It's fun. Our B meets don't always give names, but sometimes they do. The B meets have been very full this year, so I think there is some attempt to save time there, given the number of heats. One B announcer read the names while the races were in progress, which seemed to be a middle ground.

Yup, MCSL. That’s what we do also.

You do club for a reason. I’d say 2 practices at that age. Otherwise, just go to rec swim once a week. Don’t do club. You also pay for club. If you only go once a week, yes, why bother with club.

In a similar calculation and in NW DC. We can add a third day but it's a bit of strain to get to Rockville midweek. Is it worth it? It is an endurance day and stroke class sufficient? Goal is build and be ready for next year summer swim, while keeping schedule time for other activities. A lot of the swim clubs have rather late hours too.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Mako usually has one day a week for the littlest kids. My DD started there at 6 or 7 in the one day a week program. You'll see people put their kids in 2 days or 3 but 1 is fine. Keep it fun, do other activities as well. She's still swimming now at 15, but 5x a week this coming year, for the first time.

Yep— 1 day a week Makos for a 6 year old is more common than the 2 day, I think. And when I talked to the Makos coach about bumping my kid to 2 day, she actually suggested 1 Mako day and 1 day at something like Swim With Beth.

How was Makos for your 6 year old? I was thinking about looking into it for mine. Wondering how the introduction to breast and fly goes without someone in the water with them. Is Makos better if they have already worked on those strokes in a swim lesson type setting?

Anonymous wrote:Mako usually has one day a week for the littlest kids. My DD started there at 6 or 7 in the one day a week program. You'll see people put their kids in 2 days or 3 but 1 is fine. Keep it fun, do other activities as well. She's still swimming now at 15, but 5x a week this coming year, for the first time.

Yep— 1 day a week Makos for a 6 year old is more common than the 2 day, I think. And when I talked to the Makos coach about bumping my kid to 2 day, she actually suggested 1 Mako day and 1 day at something like Swim With Beth.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what do you mean no one announces your name at a meet? Are there summer meets where names are announced? I've not seen this at either our A or B meets.

We're in MCSL, and A meets always announce names. The younger kids often strike a pose or wave. It's fun. Our B meets don't always give names, but sometimes they do. The B meets have been very full this year, so I think there is some attempt to save time there, given the number of heats. One B announcer read the names while the races were in progress, which seemed to be a middle ground.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what do you mean no one announces your name at a meet? Are there summer meets where names are announced? I've not seen this at either our A or B meets.

We’re in Division 8 and swimmer names are announced at A meets

I think it's standard for the A meets in MCSL as well - at least I've never been to one where they haven't announced all the swimmers prior to their heat. Most B meets don't do this but I have been to some where they do(one was just a couple of weeks ago).

Mako usually has one day a week for the littlest kids. My DD started there at 6 or 7 in the one day a week program. You'll see people put their kids in 2 days or 3 but 1 is fine. Keep it fun, do other activities as well. She's still swimming now at 15, but 5x a week this coming year, for the first time.

Anonymous wrote:Wait, what do you mean no one announces your name at a meet? Are there summer meets where names are announced? I've not seen this at either our A or B meets.

We’re in Division 8 and swimmer names are announced at A meets

In Nova, we do Norman. For kids who can swim 8&U for a summer season, the practices are a full hour, in the lanes. They do a combination of conditioning work and stroke and turn instruction. It is on the weekends. It was the perfect way for my kid to transition from a minis/Jr team summer to 8&U the following summer. It’s swim team style workouts, but without the pressure, time commitment and cost of meets. There is a Friday/Sunday option for kids who want more conditioning and yardage, but don’t want the commitment of a club team.

For my younger child in kindergarten, Norman was more like swim lessons - although I do think he made progress faster than at BigBlue/Tom Dolan because they had the whole pool to work with. They did most of their work in the smaller tank, but often went to the “big pool” for part of each session and he got experience swimming a full 25m freestyle. He was confident and prepared for his Mini / Jr team tryout in June.

If you go to the Norman website and reach out, Matt Norman is very responsive and can tell you if he has the right program and schedule for your swimmer’s skill level and goals.

Anonymous wrote:Make sure she knows club swim isn’t as fun as summer swim.

OP here. This is totally fair haha! I was a year-round swimmer through high school so I know that but I hadn't thought to make sure to set her expectations. Thank you!

Wait, what do you mean no one announces your name at a meet? Are there summer meets where names are announced? I've not seen this at either our A or B meets.

Make sure she knows club swim isn’t as fun as summer swim.

It's also challenging to moderate some kids' expectations between summer swim and winter club. Summer swim is dazzling to a 6-year-old: the friends! the endless junk food! the parties! the costumes! the music! the cheering! the ribbons! Winter club is laps. And no one announces your name at a meet, and there is no dual-meet competition to foster team spirit. You wait 3 hours, swim 2 minutes, and go home. Kids adjust, but some of them definitely actively dislike winter swim. It is difficult to prep a first-grader for the differences, but in our house we focus on how winter swim is a healthy activity to keep them strong, and we try to enroll alongside friends so they can spend practices swimming together. We also acknowledge that winter swim makes summer swim more fun, because more stamina and faster times = more racing.

Check with the club what their requirements are for practice. I think the typical requirement/expectation for many clubs for 8u's is 2x per week.