Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age 5-7, but anytime is good.

So she is right that most kids start very young, but you’re saying kids who join later can often still be competitive?

Maybe. If by “competitive,” you mean “swim for their HS,” then yes. If you mean swim seriously with a good winter team, probably not.

Swim culture around the DMV is insane.

Swim culture is insane here but it is absolutely not true that if you are not on a team by age 7 you cannot swim seriously with good winter team. There are kids at our site of a big club that didn’t start year round swim until age 9 and started hitting sectional cuts at 13 (girls). I wouldn’t recommend waiting past age 10, but saying you have to be between the ages of 5-7 is ridiculous.

If all your kid is interested in is being able to make the HS team that is very dependent on the school. Some of the local HS swim teams are no cut, some have cuts but you don’t need to be much more than legal in the strokes to make it, and some you need to be a better than mediocre year round swimmer to make it. If you are mapping out a starting point for a young kid, I would start this winter/spring with a once a week stroke and turn type program. If the kid enjoys it, do summer swim team this summer. If your kid enjoys summer swim and participating in meets then consider whether they want to join a club team or do a non competitive year round program to stay in the water and work on their strokes. Most of the clubs around here have a mini program if your kid is 8 and under, and the meets they do have short distance options like summer swim.

It can be highly strategic to join minis if your club has limited spaces in its older levels. It will be far easier to pass the mini tryouts than the tryouts for the next group up. If you can take on the activity and are contemplating either trying out for minis or waiting a year to see if your swimmer improves, the best plan is often to go for minis.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 5.5, my DC was in their first stroke and turn clinics and had just started lap swimming, total 3x/week. The swimming was NOT pretty at that time, but DC liked it and we were aiming to help DC get ready for their first summer team experience.

Different poster but just wanted to level-set here - the above is really beyond what is actually needed to "get ready for their first summer team experience". Which is to say, following the above is not wrong, but you can do much less than this to prepare adequately for entry to summer swim.

Agreed - the bar for summer swim for little kids on our team (8U) is, "can you make it across the pool for a 25m free without needing the lifeguard?"

+1

At the beginning of their first summer, my 6 year old couldn't even make it across without taking a break in the middle of the pool.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Age 5-7, but anytime is good.

So she is right that most kids start very young, but you’re saying kids who join later can often still be competitive?

Maybe. If by “competitive,” you mean “swim for their HS,” then yes. If you mean swim seriously with a good winter team, probably not.

Swim culture around the DMV is insane.

Swim culture is insane here but it is absolutely not true that if you are not on a team by age 7 you cannot swim seriously with good winter team. There are kids at our site of a big club that didn’t start year round swim until age 9 and started hitting sectional cuts at 13 (girls). I wouldn’t recommend waiting past age 10, but saying you have to be between the ages of 5-7 is ridiculous.

If all your kid is interested in is being able to make the HS team that is very dependent on the school. Some of the local HS swim teams are no cut, some have cuts but you don’t need to be much more than legal in the strokes to make it, and some you need to be a better than mediocre year round swimmer to make it. If you are mapping out a starting point for a young kid, I would start this winter/spring with a once a week stroke and turn type program. If the kid enjoys it, do summer swim team this summer. If your kid enjoys summer swim and participating in meets then consider whether they want to join a club team or do a non competitive year round program to stay in the water and work on their strokes. Most of the clubs around here have a mini program if your kid is 8 and under, and the meets they do have short distance options like summer swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:At 5.5, my DC was in their first stroke and turn clinics and had just started lap swimming, total 3x/week. The swimming was NOT pretty at that time, but DC liked it and we were aiming to help DC get ready for their first summer team experience.

Different poster but just wanted to level-set here - the above is really beyond what is actually needed to "get ready for their first summer team experience". Which is to say, following the above is not wrong, but you can do much less than this to prepare adequately for entry to summer swim.

Agreed - the bar for summer swim for little kids on our team (8U) is, "can you make it across the pool for a 25m free without needing the lifeguard?"

Anonymous wrote:At 5.5, my DC was in their first stroke and turn clinics and had just started lap swimming, total 3x/week. The swimming was NOT pretty at that time, but DC liked it and we were aiming to help DC get ready for their first summer team experience.

Different poster but just wanted to level-set here - the above is really beyond what is actually needed to "get ready for their first summer team experience". Which is to say, following the above is not wrong, but you can do much less than this to prepare adequately for entry to summer swim.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What does "starting swim team" mean"? I'm not in the DMV anymore but we have a lot of young swimmers, too. My kid only takes lessons once a week and in his level they still work on freestyle (front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and treading. Instructors are not in the water with them.

^ I meant to be more explicit here - which strokes are they expected to know to join summer or winter swim team at these young ages? I guess at this age I assume it was more a social club scene and we didn't bother to join since we usually visit family during the summer.

For summer swim, the bar is lower - the typical "requirement" is that they are comfortable in the water, and can at least front crawl one length(25 meters).

For winter swim it's likely going to be a higher bar. You are not in the DMV so unless you are in an area w/ a similar swim culture intensity, the requirements may be lower/less demanding but around here they typically increase with age with a 6yo only needing to be passable in maybe free and back but a 8, 9, 10yo might be expected to be able to do all four strokes. This will vary by club with the more competitive clubs having a higher standard due to supply/demand; smaller clubs/less competitive clubs may be more accommodating.

Anonymous wrote:What does "starting swim team" mean"? I'm not in the DMV anymore but we have a lot of young swimmers, too. My kid only takes lessons once a week and in his level they still work on freestyle (front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and treading. Instructors are not in the water with them.

For summer swim, most teams need a kid to swim 25m comfortably in order to join the team. Some want 25m of free and back. Summer teams are generally rec level and accept all swimmers who meet the minimum. Better swimmers get picked to swim in A meets, while all swimmers can swim in B meets.

For winter swim, most teams require kids to be legal in all four strokes. They'll have practice 2-4+ times a week and swim at monthly meets.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems crazy to me. Most of the swimmers I know swim pretty much year round. All the competitive swimmers are swimming for 13 years straight? Is there loads of burnout and injury? I have the same questions about soccer.

Swimming is a year round sport. You don't generally have 5-6 year olds doing crazy stuff. My son was 5 and did a once a week learn to swim program through a USA Swimming team that also let him do 4 mini meets. He stayed at one day a week basically instruction until he was 8, then he did two nights a week. Three days at 11 and four mornings at 14. He is not hurt or burned out-- the 4th morning was his request

I know 6 year-old kids who go to practice 4 times a week. Parents are obsessed about not missing practice. As someone else said, DMV swim culture is a bit insane.

Does this translate to national results?

No.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This seems crazy to me. Most of the swimmers I know swim pretty much year round. All the competitive swimmers are swimming for 13 years straight? Is there loads of burnout and injury? I have the same questions about soccer.

Swimming is a year round sport. You don't generally have 5-6 year olds doing crazy stuff. My son was 5 and did a once a week learn to swim program through a USA Swimming team that also let him do 4 mini meets. He stayed at one day a week basically instruction until he was 8, then he did two nights a week. Three days at 11 and four mornings at 14. He is not hurt or burned out-- the 4th morning was his request

I know 6 year-old kids who go to practice 4 times a week. Parents are obsessed about not missing practice. As someone else said, DMV swim culture is a bit insane.

Does this translate to national results?

Anonymous wrote:What does "starting swim team" mean"? I'm not in the DMV anymore but we have a lot of young swimmers, too. My kid only takes lessons once a week and in his level they still work on freestyle (front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and treading. Instructors are not in the water with them.

^ I meant to be more explicit here - which strokes are they expected to know to join summer or winter swim team at these young ages? I guess at this age I assume it was more a social club scene and we didn't bother to join since we usually visit family during the summer.

What does "starting swim team" mean"? I'm not in the DMV anymore but we have a lot of young swimmers, too. My kid only takes lessons once a week and in his level they still work on freestyle (front crawl), backstroke, breaststroke, and treading. Instructors are not in the water with them.

I think this depends on your kid. Agree with PP that swim culture here is intense (assuming you are in the DC area) so people tend to start pretty young, and it could be discouraging for an older kid to feel bypassed by much smaller, younger kids. But if the child is not bothered by that, they definitely could join and catch up.

At 5.5, my DC was in their first stroke and turn clinics and had just started lap swimming, total 3x/week. The swimming was NOT pretty at that time, but DC liked it and we were aiming to help DC get ready for their first summer team experience.

Mine started at 8.5 and was caught up in a year. They already knew how to swim from swim classes but had never been on a team before the summer team at 8.5.

If your 10 year old can already swim, they can catch up with summer swim team and a private coach.

10 is pushing the boundaries of late for year round swim teams. But it is possible that they can catch up at 10. 12 is definitely late.