Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

clubs/practice groups can have different goal meets. Don't expect the swimmers you see at open meets to be a representative sample.

Really? If anything, it highlights the divide in a program. They only focus on those with potential/fast times and who cares about everyone else... Everyone should get the same instruction.

The primary reason for attending Retriever is the prelims/finals format (which are hard to find in mid-winter in the PVS LSC), which physically and mentally prepares the swimmers for the upcoming PVS March champs meets.

It's really that simple.

The comments on this board are really quite laughable to any seasoned swim parents.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

Their stronger swimmers were mostly at the Retriever meet in Baltimore.

This. Small team and got 4th highest team points, a kid who got high point for her age and gender, and several others who were second runner up to high point for their age and gender.

I wouldn’t say that the number of Fish swimmers was small at Retriever meet. Maybe medium.

This is from the timeline for one the 12&U prelim sessions:

Team - #Entries - #Athletes
==============================
ASC Annapolis Swim Club 47 20
ACA Arena Club Aquatics 4 2
CGA Cardinal and Gold Aquatics 9 4
CAA Columbia Aquatics Association 73 25
DST Delaware Swim Team 14 5
EST Eagle Swim Team 63 25
GBSA Gbsa - Greater Baltimore Swim 17 6
JCC Jcc Swimming 9 3
RAC Retriever Aquatic Club 140 54
RMSC Rockville Montgomery SC 132 45
SMDA Southern Maryland Aquatics 7 4
FISH The Fish 56 21
UN Unattached - Maryland 3 1

After RAC and RMSC, 4 teams including Fish had 20-some swimmers in this session. Then like 7 or so teams had way less than 20 swimmers: 2, 4, 5, 6, 3, 4, 1.

Nothing against Fish at all but I wouldn’t say that they had a small number of swimmers at this particular meet.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

Their stronger swimmers were mostly at the Retriever meet in Baltimore.

This. Small team and got 4th highest team points, a kid who got high point for her age and gender, and several others who were second runner up to high point for their age and gender.

The high point little girl has only been with Fish one semester. She was really good before she transferred as well, FWIW.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

Their stronger swimmers were mostly at the Retriever meet in Baltimore.

This. Small team and got 4th highest team points, a kid who got high point for her age and gender, and several others who were second runner up to high point for their age and gender.

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

clubs/practice groups can have different goal meets. Don't expect the swimmers you see at open meets to be a representative sample.

Anonymous wrote:I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

Their stronger swimmers were mostly at the Retriever meet in Baltimore.

I was watching a lot of Fish swimmers at the January Open. Their technique leaves a lot to desired.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Kids should have the option for a less intense program, but this isn’t the case. At our site, we were told the only training group option is the more intense program. Less intense groups were completely full

Well this was a mistake on the parent for signing up for something your swimmer didn’t want/couldn’t commit to and not the clubs fault.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Kids should have the option for a less intense program, but this isn’t the case. At our site, we were told the only training group option is the more intense program. Less intense groups were completely full

The implication was Machine as a whole is too intense, that isn’t the same as the more low-key groups at a specific site being full.

The poster said it doesn’t have to be intense unless you want it to be. I commented that there isn’t always a choice at Machine for a less intense group.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Kids should have the option for a less intense program, but this isn’t the case. At our site, we were told the only training group option is the more intense program. Less intense groups were completely full

The implication was Machine as a whole is too intense, that isn’t the same as the more low-key groups at a specific site being full.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Kids should have the option for a less intense program, but this isn’t the case. At our site, we were told the only training group option is the more intense program. Less intense groups were completely full

*shrug*

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Kids should have the option for a less intense program, but this isn’t the case. At our site, we were told the only training group option is the more intense program. Less intense groups were completely full

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Machine has lots of different options in terms of training groups. It doesn’t need to be intense unless you want it to be.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, why not look at Machine which is also at Audrey Moore?

Machine is great. But they are also very intense.

Folks have mentioned this in various posts. Clubs like Machine that have multiple sites have varying cultures/coaches and this also vary by practice group as well. How well your kid adjusts/likes things may depend on these factors and possibly the group of kids he practices with. If you can, talk and try out different clubs/sites depending on your degree of scheduling flexibility.