Our family personally knows people who swim for Machine and also the MU and TY NCAP sites. We have heard more positive things about Machine than NCAP when it comes to relationships, friendship, and not being focused on individual achievement. That has just been what our friends have told us, but they are in the age range you are looking at.

We also know a few families at AAC and they have had a phenomenal experience. Arlington may not be feasible for you though.

Machine and NCAP should work out for you—both would be at the top of my list and a big fan of both. And they are both large, but in reality don’t feel that way once you are in the club. Machine does have some exceptional talent on the girl’s side in that 12 to 14 band. But objectively, if overall depth of peer groups, national reputation, and college placement (if that is a goal) are a consideration, probably tilts more towards NCAP.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP - thank you all for the feedback. Her current team is large, but not nearly as large as NCAP. We will be visiting a few times this summer to house hunt so I will look into having her drop into a few practices. It sounds like NCAP and Machine are better bets for a training cohort. I looked at times for York and there are not many strong swimmers her age.

I would reach out to any clubs you are interested in sooner rather than later. Most have already opened registrations to returning members and will open for new members in June.

+1

Machine operates on this timeline, so it makes sense to get in touch soon. We're at one of Machine's Maryland sites and are very happy with them. While there are many different locations, they run it as one program, so there's a strong, positive team culture, at least in our experience. Paris Jacobs (one of the founders/owners of Machine) also helped my DD out in a pinch at a travel meet, so I'll always be grateful to her for that.

Anonymous wrote:OP - thank you all for the feedback. Her current team is large, but not nearly as large as NCAP. We will be visiting a few times this summer to house hunt so I will look into having her drop into a few practices. It sounds like NCAP and Machine are better bets for a training cohort. I looked at times for York and there are not many strong swimmers her age.

You should definitely check out multiple NCAP sites. They’re all very different and run independently. They really only come together as ‘NCAP’ for big meets. The coaching styles and team dynamics vary a lot. Not sure where you’re moving from but traffic here is going to be a significant issue. If you’re working in Tysons but living in McLean, etc you need to maybe decide on the team first and let that drive your house hunting. All of the practice sites will allow you to join in for a practice or two to get a feel for the program and ask questions of the coaches.
https://www.ncapswim.com/location

Anonymous wrote:OP - thank you all for the feedback. Her current team is large, but not nearly as large as NCAP. We will be visiting a few times this summer to house hunt so I will look into having her drop into a few practices. It sounds like NCAP and Machine are better bets for a training cohort. I looked at times for York and there are not many strong swimmers her age.

Yes, I wouldn’t steer a 13-14 swimmer with those times in the direction of York. Another poster made a good point that you might want to start making inquiries because the registration for new families starts in a month. A club is generally going to always find room for a fast swimmer but I wouldn’t wait until say the end of July when most of the available slots have been taken. About NCAPs size, the overall size of the club only really matters with things like relays and selection for some of the training trips they offer. If your swimmer is used to being on every relay at their current club, it might be a bit of a shock how competitive it is to be on an NCAP relay. It seems like every age for the girls has swimmers that have a solid lock on relay slots (particularly the medley) when they are at the top of the age group. But the day to day experience isn’t impacted the overall size of the club.

Anonymous wrote:OP - thank you all for the feedback. Her current team is large, but not nearly as large as NCAP. We will be visiting a few times this summer to house hunt so I will look into having her drop into a few practices. It sounds like NCAP and Machine are better bets for a training cohort. I looked at times for York and there are not many strong swimmers her age.

I would reach out to any clubs you are interested in sooner rather than later. Most have already opened registrations to returning members and will open for new members in June.

The #1 backstroker/#2 freestyler in the entire U.S. (11-12 girls) swims at Machine (not sure which site — maybe Tuckahoe/will be Chesterbrook or Madeira? — and she will be 13 quite soon. There are a few superspeedy girls who will be young 12s next Fall. Not sure how Machine splits groups, but these girls have AA times already at 11. (We swim them in summer league and at NCAP-Machine meets.) Machine’s coaches are so joyful and engaged.