Anonymous wrote:At our division 1 pool my daughter made most of the weekend A meets. She goes to camp during the day so couldn't go to practices but attended the evening sessions when they weren't rained out or cancelled. I really think how many weekend meets you do is based on how fast your child swims and not much else. Everyone swims the Monday meets. I just think communication with the coaches is important so they know why your child isn't at practice

Everyone doesn't have to swim Monday, but may.

Anonymous wrote:Bring your own shade, some work to do, a bag of snacks and a ton of sunscreen.

OP here. I also have a toddler, so I guess you could consider her the "work" I'd bring.
But seriously, thanks to everyone who has replied. It sounds like things vary from pool to pool, but I think we'll give it a try.

At our division 1 pool my daughter made most of the weekend A meets. She goes to camp during the day so couldn't go to practices but attended the evening sessions when they weren't rained out or cancelled. I really think how many weekend meets you do is based on how fast your child swims and not much else. Everyone swims the Monday meets. I just think communication with the coaches is important so they know why your child isn't at practice

Anonymous wrote:The team that our kids were on in the Burke area had practice every morning, 2 meets a week (a "B" meet and an "A" meet). Honestly, our team was flexible when it came to missing an occasional practice or even missing a meets. But there was a fairly significant parent volunteer requirement so you (the parent) wound up working lots of meets. It's definitely a time consuming commitment. You'll be at the pool A LOT.

I am one of the team reps at a division B in MCSL (Mo Co.) I can not imagine that a 6 year old missing practice for vacation would be a problem. I really wouldn't fret about it. I would join, give it a try, with the intent to "dip your toe in" this year. As a PP suggested, you'll likely be on pre-team anyway, which wouldn't be subject to any team rules. Even if you are, just swim as much as it suits you and your child and let the chips fall where they may. If you love it, you'll get sucked in and schedule your vacation around it in the future. But honestly, even some of our best 13-14 swimmers miss one meet a year b/c of vacation. We are competitive and want to win, but we all recognize that summer swim team does not NEED to be everyone's priority #1. Other things in life are clearly more important. To assume otherwise is tipping towards totally crazy.

Bring your own shade, some work to do, a bag of snacks and a ton of sunscreen.

My siblings all ribboned in swim team (I hated it - I don't like swim when it's at all cold, I liked to fart around in the pool and pretend I was a dolphin or go snorkeling for fun, not compete) and then we stopped doing it because you really need a SAHP to take you all the time. My SAHM friend that does it has a self-interest - she wants to be able to take her kids out snorkeling and not worry about them in the water so much when they are at their time share in Maui.

The team that our kids were on in the Burke area had practice every morning, 2 meets a week (a "B" meet and an "A" meet). Honestly, our team was flexible when it came to missing an occasional practice or even missing a meets. But there was a fairly significant parent volunteer requirement so you (the parent) wound up working lots of meets. It's definitely a time consuming commitment. You'll be at the pool A LOT.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know how competitive the NVSL is in the boys under 8 category? We are pool members and my six year old DS has been in lessons since the Fall. He is still a developing swimmer though, and I am not sure if that would be okay. He is so proud of how far he has come with his swimming that I would not want him to be discouraged. Thanks for any information.

Don't know that league but in ours, lots of pools have pre-teams. At our pool, most 6-year-olds are on the pre-team (though the few strongest are on the regular team. Pre-team members don't race every week but have several events over the season and get to be part of the swim team experience.

Bump

Does anyone know how competitive the NVSL is in the boys under 8 category? We are pool members and my six year old DS has been in lessons since the Fall. He is still a developing swimmer though, and I am not sure if that would be okay. He is so proud of how far he has come with his swimming that I would not want him to be discouraged. Thanks for any information.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Thanks again for everyone's replies. Does anyone have experience with the Knights of Columbus swim team?

they are in the csl, not nvsl- our team swims against them in this league. seems like the csl is a little less stressful than nvsl, even though the fastest csl kids are same as fast nvsl kids.

We have exhibition heats on Sats for more chances for kids to swim then, too.

I'm sorry but I don't know much more, since it isn't our team.

Thank you. Does anyone know how this team is about a kid missing practice for vacation? I think my kid would enjoy swim team but the daily practices you aren't supposed to miss are stressing me out. Seems like a big commitment (though admittedly for a very short period of time).

Look at Ft Myer Squids.

Anonymous wrote:Thanks again for everyone's replies. Does anyone have experience with the Knights of Columbus swim team?

they are in the csl, not nvsl- our team swims against them in this league. seems like the csl is a little less stressful than nvsl, even though the fastest csl kids are same as fast nvsl kids.

We have exhibition heats on Sats for more chances for kids to swim then, too.

I'm sorry but I don't know much more, since it isn't our team.