Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread as we are considering the two Gears programs at Machine Fairland. Does anyone have feedback on those?

TIA!

My child did 2x a week at Fairland last year and it was a great experience. Supportive coaches, they don’t overly stress out the kids and she improved. This year they are doing 3x a week gears.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread as we are considering the two Gears programs at Machine Fairland. Does anyone have feedback on those?

TIA!

Also wondering about this program at Dulles South, and what they’re asked to do in the evaluation?

PP you're quoting - we had the eval at Fairland earlier this week. It was low-key: they had the kids jump in a lane together (it was nearly twice as wide as a regular one) and do some swimming. My DD said they told them to start first with free, then pick their second favorite stroke, then their third favorite stroke. The coaches engaged with the kids so well. Whole thing took 10-15 minutes, maybe?

They also asked their ages and birthdays. They gave me the group recommendations while the kids were swimming and said the oldest could go with a more or less intensive group (on the fence between the two) and didn't push back at all when I said we preferred the less intensive, for multiple reasons. Overall, it was a great experience. FYI, they list the openings for each group at the different sites, which are updated in real-time. While we haven't trained with them yet, so far I've been very impressed with every interaction I've had with different staff. It's a huge improvement on some of the other programs we considered (Tollefson, JFD, SDS).

Anonymous wrote:Bumping this thread as we are considering the two Gears programs at Machine Fairland. Does anyone have feedback on those?

TIA!

Also wondering about this program at Dulles South, and what they’re asked to do in the evaluation?

Bumping this thread as we are considering the two Gears programs at Machine Fairland. Does anyone have feedback on those?

TIA!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid did Machine at Fairland at 10y. It was awesome at first. Small groups with lots of focus on technique.


Once they realized he wasn't going to win a race (or even be in the top 20 in a huge meet) they all but started ignoring him.

Is this most swimming clubs do? I know some clubs even don’t focus on strokes from the beginning. They only accept strong swimmers

Parent of kid who was ignored here - I think it depends on the club. We found a better fit for him. More laid back, focus on improving his own time vs winning, etc. Swimming for him is fun and social. He isn't going to compete after high school so we just needed to find a club that met his/our needs.

Where did you find a better fit?

Patuxent Aquatic Club. It is a big team with less technique/mechanics - but a fun atmosphere.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid did Machine at Fairland at 10y. It was awesome at first. Small groups with lots of focus on technique.


Once they realized he wasn't going to win a race (or even be in the top 20 in a huge meet) they all but started ignoring him.

Is this most swimming clubs do? I know some clubs even don’t focus on strokes from the beginning. They only accept strong swimmers

Parent of kid who was ignored here - I think it depends on the club. We found a better fit for him. More laid back, focus on improving his own time vs winning, etc. Swimming for him is fun and social. He isn't going to compete after high school so we just needed to find a club that met his/our needs.

Where did you find a better fit?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kid did Machine at Fairland at 10y. It was awesome at first. Small groups with lots of focus on technique.


Once they realized he wasn't going to win a race (or even be in the top 20 in a huge meet) they all but started ignoring him.

Is this most swimming clubs do? I know some clubs even don’t focus on strokes from the beginning. They only accept strong swimmers

Parent of kid who was ignored here - I think it depends on the club. We found a better fit for him. More laid back, focus on improving his own time vs winning, etc. Swimming for him is fun and social. He isn't going to compete after high school so we just needed to find a club that met his/our needs.

Anonymous wrote:Kid did Machine at Fairland at 10y. It was awesome at first. Small groups with lots of focus on technique.


Once they realized he wasn't going to win a race (or even be in the top 20 in a huge meet) they all but started ignoring him.

Is this most swimming clubs do? I know some clubs even don’t focus on strokes from the beginning. They only accept strong swimmers

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I’m the PP with a summer machine coach who dies a different club at Fairland. The Machine coach also “ wanted” my kid. Another PP is right, they want your money, they’re running a business. It’s like private schools. They’re businesses. I’m not trying to be a jerk but then “ wanting” your kid doesn’t mean much.

But clubs also want kids of caliber since their program/standings is based on how the kids do. They get ranked by virtual standings, etc.

They pretty much want your kid no matter what. When they do their assessments, they are not trying to see if you “make the team”. They just want to see which group to put you in. Of course they want fast swimmers, but they want slow swimmers too. They just won’t focus too much on the slow swimmers.

Does this mean not many kids try out for them? Otherwise, they can’t take everyone.

NP, I just signed up with machine as well based on a recommendation from a senior swimmer in our summer team. They are pretty big and have many different options and slots. I chose it because the swimmer on our team has excellent form and that’s what I was looking for my DS, to improve his stroke while building endurance. Just because they still have openings, doesn’t necessarily mean they have weak swimmers.

Kid did Machine at Fairland at 10y. It was awesome at first. Small groups with lots of focus on technique. Once they realized he wasn't going to win a race (or even be in the top 20 in a huge meet) they all but started ignoring him.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I’m the PP with a summer machine coach who dies a different club at Fairland. The Machine coach also “ wanted” my kid. Another PP is right, they want your money, they’re running a business. It’s like private schools. They’re businesses. I’m not trying to be a jerk but then “ wanting” your kid doesn’t mean much.

But clubs also want kids of caliber since their program/standings is based on how the kids do. They get ranked by virtual standings, etc.

They pretty much want your kid no matter what. When they do their assessments, they are not trying to see if you “make the team”. They just want to see which group to put you in. Of course they want fast swimmers, but they want slow swimmers too. They just won’t focus too much on the slow swimmers.

Does this mean not many kids try out for them? Otherwise, they can’t take everyone.

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I am the poster that just signed up my 9 year old. I am new to this so I cannot offer comparisons and I am not really familiar with other groups.
Our summer swim coach was a machine coach. My son learned a lot from him in 5 weeks. Some of the moms on the team had children swimming with Machine and they had only positive reviews to offer (I did not hear any negatives).
From my perspective, if this was a cash grab - they left a lot on the table. This was NOT a hard sell. Far from it. This was a discussion on how to introduce my son to a sport and how to help spark a passion. Instead of suggesting we do 4 or 5 days a week - the coach suggested 2 and a stroke turn clinic on Saturday Mornings, where he can work solely on his technique. He suggested 2 days a week, to help foster a love and to prevent burnout. My son is new to swimming (due to some significant health issues on my end, my son didnt participate in sports until this past year). I am not looking for a crazy competitive environment- I am looking for a team and a coach/team that is willing to nurture and develop and from everything I have observed, that is what Machine is and does.

If you are interested in Machine, schedule the evaluation and go talk to the coach to see if it is a good fit for you - I did it (a couple of weeks ago) and I am super gad I did.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I’m the PP with a summer machine coach who dies a different club at Fairland. The Machine coach also “ wanted” my kid. Another PP is right, they want your money, they’re running a business. It’s like private schools. They’re businesses. I’m not trying to be a jerk but then “ wanting” your kid doesn’t mean much.

I’m honestly struggling to find a point. My question is if machine is worthwhile not if my kid is special because she is being recommended for their competitive team. She’s not the fastest because we’ve repeatedly been told to focus on technique. So what’s your point?

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I’m the PP with a summer machine coach who dies a different club at Fairland. The Machine coach also “ wanted” my kid. Another PP is right, they want your money, they’re running a business. It’s like private schools. They’re businesses. I’m not trying to be a jerk but then “ wanting” your kid doesn’t mean much.

But clubs also want kids of caliber since their program/standings is based on how the kids do. They get ranked by virtual standings, etc.

They pretty much want your kid no matter what. When they do their assessments, they are not trying to see if you “make the team”. They just want to see which group to put you in. Of course they want fast swimmers, but they want slow swimmers too. They just won’t focus too much on the slow swimmers.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:This has been super helpful. My DD (8) made it on the DC Wave age group one but has also been recommended for machine. Machine is a lot more expensive but it’s not out of reach. Wondering if it’s worth doing Dc wave for a bit and then machine or going straight for machine! I just hear incredible things about the coaching at machine.

I’m the PP with a summer machine coach who dies a different club at Fairland. The Machine coach also “ wanted” my kid. Another PP is right, they want your money, they’re running a business. It’s like private schools. They’re businesses. I’m not trying to be a jerk but then “ wanting” your kid doesn’t mean much.

But clubs also want kids of caliber since their program/standings is based on how the kids do. They get ranked by virtual standings, etc.