Anonymous
07/31/2023 09:25
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:OP you really need to ask the rep at your pool.
At our pool if they can swim a lap ( 25m) of freestyle ( doesn’t have to be pretty) they are on the regular team. We are division N in MCSL so pretty low key and fun. My kid has been doing it 3 summers now and loves it.
Most neighborhood swim teams have a developmental group for 4 and 5 yr olds ("Little Swimmers" or "Little 'team mascot' ").
The lane coaches are the neighborhood teens.
it's a great social experience for parents.
Sign-ups are in April. There typically a Parent Mtg and/or a New Family FAQ session pre-season.
Depending on how organized and friendly your team rep(s) is/are they can answer all your questions or at least post info on Swimtopia or whatever platform they use to send out messages, post schedules, etc.
Anonymous
07/31/2023 09:16
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
I love swim team. It’s why I’m a team rep. I feel like you truly get a sense of community as part of swim team. I love seeing the older teens watching over and playing with the younger kids. I love that my kids are strong swimmers now. It’s a tiring 6 weeks (as a parent! The kids never get tired.) but it’s so worth it.
If you know which swim league your pool swims for, we can give you more info. Agree reaching out to your team rep is a good idea.
If you know which swim league your pool swims for, we can give you more info. Agree reaching out to your team rep is a good idea.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 20:12
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
It's a lot of fun, especially at that age on the little ones team. But oh man it will consume your life for two months.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 18:49
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.
My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.
They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.
Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.
This also totally true. Not to step on the proud parents of the 8Us but on many teams, particularly lower division ones, if you are just legal in those strokes you will be at A meets and have a chance at Divisionals. That said I’ve never seen a kid start legal and drop 40 seconds over a few weeks. I have seen kids go from not legal to legal and making A meets and Divisionals though.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 17:53
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.
My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.
They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.
Agree. Most kids in 8 and under can barely swim so any kid who manages to be legal in breast or fly has a chance at divisionals in lower division teams.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 17:50
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Not believable except if they were insanely slow/no technique but going from slow to almost all stars is not happening in 6 weeks.
Totally believable in a 6 or 7 year old.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:58
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.
My kids are 13-14 and 15-18 now, but I see something like this every year in the 8 and unders in our mid divisions nvsl team.
They will take a 6 or 7 year old who doesn’t have a clue how to do breaststroke or fly and takes over a minute to get across the pool just to dq. And a coach or other older kid will spend a few practices teaching them breast or fly and it just clicks with the kid. They get legal for the last meet of the year, then go to Divisionals and drop massive time. I’ve never seen anyone get good enough to “almost” make all stars. But we seem to have an 8 and under at Divisionals every year who couldn’t swim the stroke two weeks before.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:50
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Kids are ridiculous.Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:35
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Especially in a 25 meter race, that’s ridiculous.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:29
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Not believable except if they were insanely slow/no technique but going from slow to almost all stars is not happening in 6 weeks.
She was insanely slow in breaststroke. She hadn't really figured out how to go forward instead of up. Someone showed her what to do. The difference was really in two weeks, not over 6 weeks. She cut a bunch of time to make Divisionals, and then cut another 6+ seconds at Divisionals.
She was going to A meets for free and back, but wasn't close to making Divisionals in those strokes.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:29
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
In NVSL, two 7 year old girls "narrowly" missed All Stars in 8&u breaststroke (i.e., they were within about 1.5 seconds of the cut line). One added time at Divisionals and the other dropped less than a second.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:29
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
OP you really need to ask the rep at your pool.
At our pool if they can swim a lap ( 25m) of freestyle ( doesn’t have to be pretty) they are on the regular team. We are division N in MCSL so pretty low key and fun. My kid has been doing it 3 summers now and loves it.
At our pool if they can swim a lap ( 25m) of freestyle ( doesn’t have to be pretty) they are on the regular team. We are division N in MCSL so pretty low key and fun. My kid has been doing it 3 summers now and loves it.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:22
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Not believable except if they were insanely slow/no technique but going from slow to almost all stars is not happening in 6 weeks.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:21
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.
No one who was swimming in A meets all summer dropped 40 seconds in a week. Didn't happen.
Anonymous
07/30/2023 16:15
Subject: Tell me about Swim Team
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:My kids are 4 and 5 and just stumbled into a swim team practice in our neighborhood pool 2 weeks ago. I just found out the season is over but planning for next year.
What is swim team all about? What is pre-team and what should I expect for my kids. There is practice daily? There are meets weekly? Help me navigate this for next year. I have asked neighbors and some love it and some can’t handle it. Give me the scoop.
Dig through and read the swim related threads here over the past 2 months and you'll have a pretty good picture of summer swim.
You'll be in pre-team next year so no need to over-think this, you'll learn most of what you need to know between now and the end of next season.
Not necessarily. My 6 year old DD swam 8U this year and made every A meet and divisionals.
That's a nice humble-brag but if you are completely honest, you have to admit that this is fairly exceptional and very atypical, don't you agree?
OP seems to know nothing about about swim(hence the question) so the chances that her now 4 and 5 year olds are doing anything other than pre-team is unlikely. And there's nothing wrong with that.
I'm a NP and I had a similar experience. I know nothing about swim. My brand-new 7 yo (May birthday) had never heard of breaststroke when she started the season. She made Divisionals for the stroke, narrowly missing All Stars. Crazy stuff happens when you're first starting, like dropping 40 seconds in the week before Divisionals. She spent 30 minutes with a senior swimmer and came out of that practice with a good stroke.
When we signed up, I hadn't expected swim to take over my Saturdays. From what I'd been told, I didn't expect to go to A meets at all. That turned out not to be true. We were at nearly every A meet.
Not bragging, just trying to defend the PP. It can be a lot the first year as you figure it all out. I had no idea what to expect.