Anonymous wrote:Machine’s Coach Evan Wrenn is fabulous with young swimmers. I believe he’ll he relocated to Chesterbrook now.

+1 according to my DC and yes the coaching staff formerly Tuckahoe is all moving to CB.

Machine’s Coach Evan Wrenn is fabulous with young swimmers. I believe he’ll he relocated to Chesterbrook now.

Can anyone say more about Fish for 9 and 10 year olds? There was a comment that Fish is great for Minis but what about when they age out of minis?

My seven year old ended his summer swim season not being legal in fly or breast. My child started with Machine that fall and by the end of the following summer, had an All Star time in fly and a decent breast. The improvements in my kid's strokes were noticeable, we had a great experience and a very hands on coach.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that Machine did not provide stroke corrections and focused only on older kids. Younger kids are just cash cows. To supplement, we did private lessons with one of the summer swim college kids. That helped with strike mechanics. We are exploring other options for next year. For us it’s really about exercising and doing hard tasks - which they could do with stroke and turn and a private lesson. Or a municipal team that takes OOB kids.

This hasn't been our experience at all with Machine, at either Maryland site. My now 8-year old has gotten lots of stroke input, as has my now 11-year old. At times over the year Dan Haines, who is the head site coach at UMD and coaches the National/National Prep groups, has been on the deck coaching the younger jkids. I've seen him give very specific, immediate feedback multiple times over the course of this year.

I know experiences across sites vary, so wanted to share ours.

This has been our experience too w/Machine.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have already done summer

How does machine compare to fish

When you say “hands on” do you mean a coach actually in the water with the swimmers? If that is the case, you are not going to get that at a club.

The coaches are in the water with the kids at Mini FISH. FISH offers Minis a 3rd practice where the coaches are on deck vs in the water to get them used to AG practices. At 8/9, most kids at FISH are moving up to Age Group practices and coaches are not in the water. Stroke corrections will occur, but they will happen from the deck. Most 8/9 year olds at most clubs will be moving to Age Group and it would be the exception—not the rule—for a coach to provide in-water stroke corrections.

The Machine Stroke Mechanics program, as I understand it, is more of a pre-team or supplemental program and therefore not an apples-to-apples comparison to an Age Group practice. Not sure if it’s even comparable to Mini FISH because Minis attend meets.

Regardless of what club you pick, it’s a good idea to grab individual lessons from a coach on your summer team to focus on stroke.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that Machine did not provide stroke corrections and focused only on older kids. Younger kids are just cash cows. To supplement, we did private lessons with one of the summer swim college kids. That helped with strike mechanics. We are exploring other options for next year. For us it’s really about exercising and doing hard tasks - which they could do with stroke and turn and a private lesson. Or a municipal team that takes OOB kids.

This hasn't been our experience at all with Machine, at either Maryland site. My now 8-year old has gotten lots of stroke input, as has my now 11-year old. At times over the year Dan Haines, who is the head site coach at UMD and coaches the National/National Prep groups, has been on the deck coaching the younger kids. I've seen him give very specific, immediate feedback multiple times over the course of this year.

I know experiences across sites vary, so wanted to share ours.

That is helpful. Was your kid there on MW? Because at some point a lot of the littles on TH moved to MW, that may color people's experiences. Because our experience with TTH at CP has not been great.

No, TTh. I don't love how small their group has been, but on the other hand, they've gotten a lot of attention. We would have moved to MW for the warmer pool, too, but it wasn't possible with our schedules. FWIW, we also like the head Gears coach at Fairland.

This isn't Machine-specific, but most club teams won't provide the same level of stroke corrections that a private lesson would because that's not logistically possible. Like PP, our main goals are exercise and learning to work hard; unlike PP, I don't think stroke and turn + private lessons suffices for meeting those goals. They're not often enough and classes aren't long/difficult enough, for the most part.

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that Machine did not provide stroke corrections and focused only on older kids. Younger kids are just cash cows. To supplement, we did private lessons with one of the summer swim college kids. That helped with strike mechanics. We are exploring other options for next year. For us it’s really about exercising and doing hard tasks - which they could do with stroke and turn and a private lesson. Or a municipal team that takes OOB kids.

+1

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that Machine did not provide stroke corrections and focused only on older kids. Younger kids are just cash cows. To supplement, we did private lessons with one of the summer swim college kids. That helped with strike mechanics. We are exploring other options for next year. For us it’s really about exercising and doing hard tasks - which they could do with stroke and turn and a private lesson. Or a municipal team that takes OOB kids.

This hasn't been our experience at all with Machine, at either Maryland site. My now 8-year old has gotten lots of stroke input, as has my now 11-year old. At times over the year Dan Haines, who is the head site coach at UMD and coaches the National/National Prep groups, has been on the deck coaching the younger kids. I've seen him give very specific, immediate feedback multiple times over the course of this year.

I know experiences across sites vary, so wanted to share ours.

That is helpful. Was your kid there on MW? Because at some point a lot of the littles on TH moved to MW, that may color people's experiences. Because our experience with TTH at CP has not been great.

Anonymous wrote:Our experience was that Machine did not provide stroke corrections and focused only on older kids. Younger kids are just cash cows. To supplement, we did private lessons with one of the summer swim college kids. That helped with strike mechanics. We are exploring other options for next year. For us it’s really about exercising and doing hard tasks - which they could do with stroke and turn and a private lesson. Or a municipal team that takes OOB kids.

This hasn't been our experience at all with Machine, at either Maryland site. My now 8-year old has gotten lots of stroke input, as has my now 11-year old. At times over the year Dan Haines, who is the head site coach at UMD and coaches the National/National Prep groups, has been on the deck coaching the younger kids. I've seen him give very specific, immediate feedback multiple times over the course of this year.

I know experiences across sites vary, so wanted to share ours.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of club swimming if what everyone is saying is true that the coaches don't actually correct their stroke mistakes? I'm considering signing up my 8 year old. It seems like everyone else on her summer team does it and if I don't sign her up next year she'll be behind.

There will be some correction, but it will vary by team, practice group, and coach. Really detailed stroke work is something that you have to seek out. Private lessons are always easiest to come by with your summer team at your summer pool, so that is a great time to dig in a little more deeply.

Private lessons with summer swim coach is probably the lowest risk option in terms of price and commitment. However, even quality of instruction of teens vary widely! So still need to do some homework!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of club swimming if what everyone is saying is true that the coaches don't actually correct their stroke mistakes? I'm considering signing up my 8 year old. It seems like everyone else on her summer team does it and if I don't sign her up next year she'll be behind.

There will be some correction, but it will vary by team, practice group, and coach. Really detailed stroke work is something that you have to seek out. Private lessons are always easiest to come by with your summer team at your summer pool, so that is a great time to dig in a little more deeply.

I was the PP that had a good experience with Mach at Audrey Moore; it was hands on with 2 coaches in the water and this was the case when they moved to the first age group tier (but 1 coach in the water sometimes but not all the time depending on what they were working on). A different poster didn’t have a good experience with Mach. Both can be true. With club swimming you will find differences across clubs and within club sites.

Now that my kids are older and still in club and talking to other parents of different club swimmers, it can be hard to generalize. If you’re looking for options best to talk to the current staff or find parents of current stroke mechanics swimmers to talk to. Good luck!

Anonymous wrote:What is the point of club swimming if what everyone is saying is true that the coaches don't actually correct their stroke mistakes? I'm considering signing up my 8 year old. It seems like everyone else on her summer team does it and if I don't sign her up next year she'll be behind.

We did this with our second grader on same logic. Again, good workout and definitely helped with endurance. But for $3000+ for us not worth for about an hour in-pool - particularly with so many cancellations or weird substitutions (go to Fairland at 8pm on a school night). We watched a few random practices and the coach barely spoke to the younger kids.