Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:If the divide between A meet and B meet swimmers is so painful, they should just hold two banquets. Also for the kids going to bed crying because they got a made up award, there is nothing stopping them from doing swim year round.
Except, for some, the cost. Get your head out of your bubble.
Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Our families have to pay to attend. This year it’s $200 for our family of 4.
What does that cover?
Anonymous wrote:Our families have to pay to attend. This year it’s $200 for our family of 4.
Anonymous wrote:If the divide between A meet and B meet swimmers is so painful, they should just hold two banquets. Also for the kids going to bed crying because they got a made up award, there is nothing stopping them from doing swim year round.
Anonymous wrote:If the divide between A meet and B meet swimmers is so painful, they should just hold two banquets. Also for the kids going to bed crying because they got a made up award, there is nothing stopping them from doing swim year round.
Anonymous wrote:Flashback. Every year as a mediocre swimmer I would get so irrationally hyped before the banquet would just hope and hope that I would win a real award. The coaches would push coming to the last practices even if you didn’t qualify, and I was always there like an eager fool hoping to put in the last bits of work before the banquet.
Maybe it would be the year a coach finally noticed my hard work even if my times sucked? Maybe there would be new award categories?!
Our pool awarded trophies to everyone with a base size that reflected how well you did. I always got the flat plain base participation trophy with the swimmer statue glued directly on it. Some years they did away with that and just did participation certificates. I hated my brother and the girls who got the super tall colored trophies for high points and stuff. The worst were the years when one kid would get both high points and most improved. I know trophies are a dime a dozen now and kids get them for breathing, but back then kids actually displayed and compared them and they were rare. My team wasn’t the best but somehow my age group had girls who went on to D1 and top D3s.
I quit the year after I was a 13-14 and they gave me a made-up trophy because there were only 3 girls in my age group and I didn’t get high points or most improved. For many years after 9-10s my brother was the only boy in his age group and also did dive and would be given a box for his awards at the end of the night. My parents would make me wait while they took a million photos of him on the pool steps with his hardware.
I remember crying in my bed after those stupid banquets!
Anonymous wrote:Geez I’m always shocked at how many people seem to not like their summer team and still participate
Ours is great! A meet and B meet kids are friends, A meet and B meet parents volunteer, everyone gets a paper plate award, a few kids get special awards buts its usually not the A meet kids (my kid is an A meet kid and never gets anything special and we’re all good with that)
Banquet is catered at the pool with a slideshow. It’s wonderful! We feel lucky it still feels like summer swim. Some annoying competitive parents, sure, some complain-y kids, but overall great. Sad it’s over this weekend!
Anonymous wrote:Our families have to pay to attend. This year it’s $200 for our family of 4.
Anonymous wrote:Our team does two. We have a team breakfast that is free on the Friday morning before Divisionals. It's held during the Friday morning practice time and very few parents attend. Bagels, fruit, juice and coffee. This is where the paper plate awards are given out.
Saturday night after Divisionals is the family team banquet. It's held at the pool and starts with the Family Relays. These are fun relays but some families are pretty competitive. Years ago the dinner used to be pot luck but it's been catered for probably about a dozen years. Usually BBQ. The team does cover part of the cost. I think it's been about $10 per person. After dinner they hand out the trophies and the evening ends with a slideshow. We always get a good turnout.
Yes, everyone gets a trophy but we actually give out bigger trophies to swimmers who are available for every A meet. You don't actually have to qualify and swim in an A meet - you just have to indicate that you're available to swim at every A meet. So a kid who never swims a single A meet may get a bigger trophy than the super star who misses one meet because they're at a club meet.
Anonymous wrote:Flashback. Every year as a mediocre swimmer I would get so irrationally hyped before the banquet would just hope and hope that I would win a real award. The coaches would push coming to the last practices even if you didn’t qualify, and I was always there like an eager fool hoping to put in the last bits of work before the banquet.
Maybe it would be the year a coach finally noticed my hard work even if my times sucked? Maybe there would be new award categories?!
Our pool awarded trophies to everyone with a base size that reflected how well you did. I always got the flat plain base participation trophy with the swimmer statue glued directly on it. Some years they did away with that and just did participation certificates. I hated my brother and the girls who got the super tall colored trophies for high points and stuff. The worst were the years when one kid would get both high points and most improved. I know trophies are a dime a dozen now and kids get them for breathing, but back then kids actually displayed and compared them and they were rare. My team wasn’t the best but somehow my age group had girls who went on to D1 and top D3s.
I quit the year after I was a 13-14 and they gave me a made-up trophy because there were only 3 girls in my age group and I didn’t get high points or most improved. For many years after 9-10s my brother was the only boy in his age group and also did dive and would be given a box for his awards at the end of the night. My parents would make me wait while they took a million photos of him on the pool steps with his hardware.
I remember crying in my bed after those stupid banquets!