Move to VA if your kids are year-round swimmers. Much better club options

I am seconding several posters here: pick the house location first (MD vs VA vs DC, bunch of options everywhere) based on the commute for parents (if it is an issue), school district, etc. (whatever is important for you). Then find a club, this is where the actual hard work is done in PVS (not HS swim and definitely not summer): too many options, NCAP (VA or MS locations, do not listen to trolls here on the board about Prep or AU), Machine, RMSC, ASA, AAC, others - all are great clubs and might be a good fit for you depending on your chosen location and your swimmer's needs (distance/sprint/stroke/goals/coach style). Only after that think about your summer team: look around your neighborhood - you will have about 5 options either in NVSL or MCSL within short driving distance of anywhere. After coming to this point, post this question on this board again.

Pick your house and school and go from there…

1. Arlington…
Overleee…has a very long waitlist; a lot of families join Clubs that they can get in to while waiting…Dominion Hills, Hogh Point Pool, Highlands

Arlington Forrest…long waitlist
Donaldson Run…great team culture but have to live within the neighborhood

2. McLean
Chesterbrook…if your kids are fast they will get you in; a very good team but be aware that they are over the top intense in every way…7 year olds in kneeskins…skulls and blood painted on faces, skulls on banners as you march in etc; nice facilities

Tuckahoe..also will get you in if your kids are fast; super good…super smug…teach their 5 year olds to pound the water and spit it out of their mouths….but they do have fun; nice facilities

Highlands…been near the bottom of Division 1 for years…not deep enough to beat the top 2 teams but always good enough to stay in the top division…nice friendly team with positive vibes; short waitlist; nice facilities

McLean Swim and Tennis…can definitely get in; small pool but a fun culture; trending down in competitiveness against other local pools probably because their facilities aren’t quite as nice

Kent Gardens…can definitely get in; small pool but a big swim team; super positive culture; facilities are not great though

There are other pools in Falls Church as well as the Country Club pools and Kinghts of Columbus

I don’t know Maryland pools at all

I second the advice to find the right area and school. From there, you will be able to find a team. Some teams -- such as MVP Dolphins (but in NW DC so likely not convenient for you)-- don't require pool membership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are club swimmers (California currently) and we saw that the country clubs have some swim teams but wanted to see if their were other options, or what would be the best. We plan on trying out for NCAP and any other local clubs that would be near the areas we are looking for their club team. Kids are A and AA times. So they are good, not great.

I do not work, so I can drive a bit but hear traffic can be bad. So close is better.

Looking to move either Great Falls, North Arlington, Potomac or Bethesda area. We have not narrowed it down.

In N. Arlington you can try Knight of Columbus or Ft Myer. They both have good swim teams and no waitlists. Ft Myer is on the military base, but they allow non-millitary kids to join the swim team. If you sign up when they open, you'll get a spot without trouble in either. They are both in the Colonial Swim League.

In McLean, Chesterbrook has sign ups in January and no waitlist for summer use, but you have to put your name in right when it opens and don't find out if you got a spot until it's too late to try for other swim clubs. Chesterbrook is a very, very competitive team so don't expect your kids to swim A meets unless they are very, very good.

Get your head out of your a**… OP’s kids have AA times which means they will be easily swim ‘A’ meets for summer league team (even the best one) 🙄

Mostly yes, but does depend on the swimmer. My kid as a teenager has AAA/AAAA times in their best events. But their best events are distance events. We're at a mid-tier pool so they swim every Saturday, but I just looked and they wouldn't be top 3 in anything at Chesterbrook.

Anonymous wrote:OP, we moved here a few years ago so we went through this. Here is my advice:

1) get on summer league pool waitlists now. NVSL and MCSL both have 20? or so divisions with six teams each. The pools in the top two divisions are not what I would call fun bc they are so focused on winning, but if that's what you want, go for it. Some pools will kindly upon your application if you offer to officiate.

2) As for club swim, in VA look at AAC (Arlington) which is very affordable and has good coaching, Machine (family-run but has many locations) and NCap (the VA sites are the best for NCap). In Maryland, personally, I wish we had gone with ASA. NCap Prep and NCap AU have a spate of issues and I can't wait to get my child out of NCap. We were thinking of moving to RMSC when their pool got shut down.

Good luck!

Not to sidebar the thread, but ASA has received a number of transfers swimmers this year for various reasons (see previous posts and other threads). I'm an ASA parent and can say that it has great team cohesion with few personality issues between kids. They work hard, but they have fun (even at the meets - they often stay after their individual events to cheer on their teammates).

OP, we moved here a few years ago so we went through this. Here is my advice:

1) get on summer league pool waitlists now. NVSL and MCSL both have 20? or so divisions with six teams each. The pools in the top two divisions are not what I would call fun bc they are so focused on winning, but if that's what you want, go for it. Some pools will kindly upon your application if you offer to officiate.

2) As for club swim, in VA look at AAC (Arlington) which is very affordable and has good coaching, Machine (family-run but has many locations) and NCap (the VA sites are the best for NCap). In Maryland, personally, I wish we had gone with ASA. NCap Prep and NCap AU have a spate of issues and I can't wait to get my child out of NCap. We were thinking of moving to RMSC when their pool got shut down.

Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are club swimmers (California currently) and we saw that the country clubs have some swim teams but wanted to see if their were other options, or what would be the best. We plan on trying out for NCAP and any other local clubs that would be near the areas we are looking for their club team. Kids are A and AA times. So they are good, not great.

I do not work, so I can drive a bit but hear traffic can be bad. So close is better.

Looking to move either Great Falls, North Arlington, Potomac or Bethesda area. We have not narrowed it down.

In N. Arlington you can try Knight of Columbus or Ft Myer. They both have good swim teams and no waitlists. Ft Myer is on the military base, but they allow non-millitary kids to join the swim team. If you sign up when they open, you'll get a spot without trouble in either. They are both in the Colonial Swim League.

In McLean, Chesterbrook has sign ups in January and no waitlist for summer use, but you have to put your name in right when it opens and don't find out if you got a spot until it's too late to try for other swim clubs. Chesterbrook is a very, very competitive team so don't expect your kids to swim A meets unless they are very, very good.

Get your head out of your a**… OP’s kids have AA times which means they will be easily swim ‘A’ meets for summer league team (even the best one) 🙄

Lol, I had the same thought reading this post.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:There are 102 teams in the NVSL (Northern Virginia Swim League). If you choose to live in Virginia, chances are pretty good you will find a summer team. Some pools have long waitlists, others have none. The teams and their waitlist info can all be found on mynvsl.com. On that website you can also see how each team competed this season (and previous seasons if you are so inclined to look). This would give you an indicator on where your kids might fall on the competitive scale.

Anywhere you land, summer swim is meant to be fun and an engaging experience for your swimmers. Good luck!

This is great advice! There are some other great threads on here that break down the difference between summer and club swim. Summer swim is fun and a great way for the whole family to build relationships in a new area. I'm so glad my family had this option after a big move from out of state. One note is that the times (at least in NVSL) are short course meter (SCM) and they don't use starting blocks, so the times are incomparable to times from USA Swimming and many other leagues.

Also, could we all please try to leave the Rays, NCAP, and RMSC out of this? The humor and drama is lost on someone new to the area that doesn't have context on all the other threads and local swim politics. Fortunately, there are several other active discussions for that!

Welcome to the area and good luck with your search! I hope you check back in once you've landed on a neighborhood and we can help suggest teams that might have openings and be a good fit for what you're looking for.

Also, pick a house and a good school district. Then find your neighborhood pool. Join your neighborhood pool. Regardless of how good your kid is at swimming, they should swim summer league in their neighborhood with their friends from school

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids are club swimmers (California currently) and we saw that the country clubs have some swim teams but wanted to see if their were other options, or what would be the best. We plan on trying out for NCAP and any other local clubs that would be near the areas we are looking for their club team. Kids are A and AA times. So they are good, not great.

I do not work, so I can drive a bit but hear traffic can be bad. So close is better.

Looking to move either Great Falls, North Arlington, Potomac or Bethesda area. We have not narrowed it down.

In N. Arlington you can try Knight of Columbus or Ft Myer. They both have good swim teams and no waitlists. Ft Myer is on the military base, but they allow non-millitary kids to join the swim team. If you sign up when they open, you'll get a spot without trouble in either. They are both in the Colonial Swim League.

In McLean, Chesterbrook has sign ups in January and no waitlist for summer use, but you have to put your name in right when it opens and don't find out if you got a spot until it's too late to try for other swim clubs. Chesterbrook is a very, very competitive team so don't expect your kids to swim A meets unless they are very, very good.

Get your head out of your a**… OP’s kids have AA times which means they will be easily swim ‘A’ meets for summer league team (even the best one) 🙄

Anonymous wrote:There are 102 teams in the NVSL (Northern Virginia Swim League). If you choose to live in Virginia, chances are pretty good you will find a summer team. Some pools have long waitlists, others have none. The teams and their waitlist info can all be found on mynvsl.com. On that website you can also see how each team competed this season (and previous seasons if you are so inclined to look). This would give you an indicator on where your kids might fall on the competitive scale.

Anywhere you land, summer swim is meant to be fun and an engaging experience for your swimmers. Good luck!

This is great advice! There are some other great threads on here that break down the difference between summer and club swim. Summer swim is fun and a great way for the whole family to build relationships in a new area. I'm so glad my family had this option after a big move from out of state. One note is that the times (at least in NVSL) are short course meter (SCM) and they don't use starting blocks, so the times are incomparable to times from USA Swimming and many other leagues.

Also, could we all please try to leave the Rays, NCAP, and RMSC out of this? The humor and drama is lost on someone new to the area that doesn't have context on all the other threads and local swim politics. Fortunately, there are several other active discussions for that!

Welcome to the area and good luck with your search! I hope you check back in once you've landed on a neighborhood and we can help suggest teams that might have openings and be a good fit for what you're looking for.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you move, the answer is the Rays. We are looking to recruit the best swimmers locally, nationally, and even galactically. Only need to show up on Saturday

Never heard of them
NCAP is the best as op already knows. Chesterbrook has a very good swim team. I think you can jump the waitlist if you surgery swimmers not at overlee though.

The Rays are the summer team for RMSC, which is a stronger club than NCAP on a per swimmer basis.

The RMSC area is in a downward trend now that KSAC is closed. Saw those kids swimming in a three-lane rented pool the other day. It was sad listening to all the parents moan about Silver Spring. I doubt they are going to be very good this year. All the best that can leave have left the club, those that have stayed are likely swimming in sub optimal conditions and spending excessive amounts of time commuting. Now that they don't have a nice eight lane fifty-meter indoor pool to swim in. Montgomery County likes its swim teams, but the facilities aren't very good. I hear they have better facilities in NOVA. Richmond is ranked nationally in pools per capita for example.

It’s certainly an opportunity for ASA, Tollefson and other RMSC sites to show they are legit.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you move, the answer is the Rays. We are looking to recruit the best swimmers locally, nationally, and even galactically. Only need to show up on Saturday

Never heard of them
NCAP is the best as op already knows. Chesterbrook has a very good swim team. I think you can jump the waitlist if you surgery swimmers not at overlee though.

The Rays are the summer team for RMSC, which is a stronger club than NCAP on a per swimmer basis.

The RMSC area is in a downward trend now that KSAC is closed. Saw those kids swimming in a three-lane rented pool the other day. It was sad listening to all the parents moan about Silver Spring. I doubt they are going to be very good this year. All the best that can leave have left the club, those that have stayed are likely swimming in sub optimal conditions and spending excessive amounts of time commuting. Now that they don't have a nice eight lane fifty-meter indoor pool to swim in. Montgomery County likes its swim teams, but the facilities aren't very good. I hear they have better facilities in NOVA. Richmond is ranked nationally in pools per capita for example.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you move, the answer is the Rays. We are looking to recruit the best swimmers locally, nationally, and even galactically. Only need to show up on Saturday

Never heard of them
NCAP is the best as op already knows. Chesterbrook has a very good swim team. I think you can jump the waitlist if you surgery swimmers not at overlee though.

The Rays are the summer team for RMSC, which is a stronger club than NCAP on a per swimmer basis.

Anonymous wrote:No matter where you move, the answer is the Rays. We are looking to recruit the best swimmers locally, nationally, and even galactically. Only need to show up on Saturday

Never heard of them
NCAP is the best as op already knows. Chesterbrook has a very good swim team. I think you can jump the waitlist if you surgery swimmers not at overlee though.