Anonymous wrote:We had a team put a bunch of 6-8 year olds in IM at a B meet. It took forever. We will never invite them back to our pool. Please be respectful of everyone else's time.

This! Looking at you Rockville!

Here's data point for a child that later(not the same year) swam MCSL all stars and long course: they swam their first B 100 IM as a 7yo - I just looked at their times at that time and when you added up their individual times there were at 1:45; that translated to their first IM time of 2:05; they were last in that heat but not by a huge margin so there was no impact to the meet/others.

I have another 7yo who is around 2:00 min if you add up the individual times and has actually done IM before(winter) but I'm going to wait and see where they are in a few weeks - they'd likely be too slow at this point so why bother...

We had a team put a bunch of 6-8 year olds in IM at a B meet. It took forever. We will never invite them back to our pool. Please be respectful of everyone else's time.

My 3 stroke A meet 8 yo asked to do it a few years ago. They wouldn’t let him until the B meet at an 8 lane pool - which made sense to me. He was definitely the youngest but he finished 9 of 12 and didn’t dq! He was so proud of himself. I was shocked he remembered the stroke order and 2 hand vs 1 hand touches.

Anonymous wrote:Another reason to hold off on IM for an 8 year old in MCSL at least: our B meets are often cut short bc too many kids try the IM, which hurts the team bc kids don’t get a chance to swim fly (and even if they do, that is late for an 8 and under) and determine if they are legal and we end up with not enough info on fly and breast.

Maybe talk to coach an determine if helpful and the coach wants kid to swim.

There are many seasons for the IM down the road too.

I should add some to this in case not clear: in MCSL, the first IM age group is 12 and under and only 3 kids swim per age/gender. So rarely, do kids younger than 10/11 make the IM in the A meet. But the coach often doesn’t have 3 legal 8 and u flyers or breaststrokers, so getting to those events at the end of a be meet - before bed time and and as early as possible so kids aren’t tired - can make a big difference. Also, there can often be a lot of movement in breast and fly 8 and unders as kids progress a ton in a season, so you want little kids to get as many chances as possible to swim at a b meet.

(of course if your pool needs IM swimmers, that is a different story and a young swimmer legal in all 4 strokes should try it).

One last thing, not relevant to OP, don’t have your kid try IM until legal in all 4 strokes. Your kid will feel more successful and often have more fun if they wait until they have a shot at a legal IM time before trying it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

Have you ever worked a B meet where there are multiple kids DQing strokes they simply don't know and.multiple kids on rhe verge of sinking because they just can't get down the pool without exhausting themselves? I'm a big believer in giving chances, but coaches have to be judicious in doing so or meets will be cut off without actually ending, and one kid's chance will create another kid's loss. Those extra seconds really add up across a meet program.

How is this relevant? We are talking about a club swimmer who is legal in all 4 strokes.

Because just wanting the extra 20-30 seconds for this kid is functionally no different from wanting the extra 20-30 seconds for a different kid who is actually not legal in a 50 breast, for example. Both of them will extend the meet time. That's why it needs to be up to the coach, not the parent.

Another reason to hold off on IM for an 8 year old in MCSL at least: our B meets are often cut short bc too many kids try the IM, which hurts the team bc kids don’t get a chance to swim fly (and even if they do, that is late for an 8 and under) and determine if they are legal and we end up with not enough info on fly and breast.

Maybe talk to coach an determine if helpful and the coach wants kid to swim.

There are many seasons for the IM down the road too.

Don't make 100+ people wait for your kid's ego to swim across the pool. They will know you are the trouble family, for the rest of the kid's swim career.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

I get that the IM will be slower than the combined times. But if there is no possibility a kid could go close to two minutes, it's a little rude for a B meet.

I feel the same for club swim-- if the 50 free isn't under a minute, they're probably not ready for the 100 yet.

Amen, sister. I wish that coaches would adhere to this type of rule, especially in those early season club meets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

Have you ever worked a B meet where there are multiple kids DQing strokes they simply don't know and.multiple kids on rhe verge of sinking because they just can't get down the pool without exhausting themselves? I'm a big believer in giving chances, but coaches have to be judicious in doing so or meets will be cut off without actually ending, and one kid's chance will create another kid's loss. Those extra seconds really add up across a meet program.

How is this relevant? We are talking about a club swimmer who is legal in all 4 strokes.

IMO unless an all star swimmer, its selfish to have an 8 year old do IM at a B meet

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

Have you ever worked a B meet where there are multiple kids DQing strokes they simply don't know and.multiple kids on rhe verge of sinking because they just can't get down the pool without exhausting themselves? I'm a big believer in giving chances, but coaches have to be judicious in doing so or meets will be cut off without actually ending, and one kid's chance will create another kid's loss. Those extra seconds really add up across a meet program.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

I get that the IM will be slower than the combined times. But if there is no possibility a kid could go close to two minutes, it's a little rude for a B meet.

I feel the same for club swim-- if the 50 free isn't under a minute, they're probably not ready for the 100 yet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:My personal annoyance threshold for 8 and unders and IM is that all their 25s added together shouldn't be over 2 minutes. They have no business signing up for a guaranteed 2+ minute IM during a B meet. It's not a super high bar.

I don’t think it works like that. My 8 year-old combined individual strokes is less than 2 mins. However, his IM is more than 2 mins. Just saying.

You should be more encouraging of little kids swimming this bigger kids event.

DP, it’s a fine balance though. It’s a 12 U event and B meets are long enough as it is that adding a bunch of 8 year olds struggling to complete a 100 IM isn’t ideal. They have 4 more years to do this event in that age group.