This is one of the worst things about the DC area, IMO. Our kids never got the neighborhood pool experience because we moved to the area unexpectedly when they were 8 and 6 and we still aren't off the wait list and they are teens. We joined a pool further away for one summer but no one liked dealing with the drive. Where we used to live, all the pools were public and anyone could go.

Be careful what you wish for and do your research. Know what division your kid would be competitive in and then narrow down pools by waitlist length. 45 min doesn’t make sense, but driving 10-15 min while you wait for a different pool might make sense if it’s that important to you.

I have a friend who bought a house to get a membership at an NVSL D1 pool. One parent was a D1 collegiate swimmer. Their kids are decent swimmers, but not good enough to swim A meets. They are jealous that my kids swim A meets at our middle division pool. Conversely my kids are not amazing swimmers, but they work hard and are good enough for a Division 5/6/7/8 pool. We applied for Overlee when I was pregnant with my oldest and got a membership offer the spring of his 3rd grade year. Thankfully it didn’t come earlier because we may have accepted it! Fortunately we got a membership to a different pool a few years earlier and already knew our kids were not NVSL D1 material. We’d rather stay where our kids are having fun AND competitive.

But lastly summer swim is only 6-8 weeks of your year. What if your kid quits swimming when they are a teenager? Why not move close to your preferred club and apply to any convenient pool? Worst case scenario it’s a super high division number and your kid is a super superstar.

Our pool has a 5-6 year waiting list (largely because it’s the preferred pool for a chunk of DC), but has special weekday only memberships for people who actually live in the town the pool is in. You can join swim team if you have one of those. You need to reach out to your pool and ask what the deal is; there’s no uniform answer across pools in the area.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Omg - why would you get to skip the line?

Just put your name on the list as soon as possible. It may go faster than normal.

Our pool waitlist was 10 years last I heard. But I think we allow people to have a limited membership if they join the swim team.

You must not be NVSL, bc this isn't allowed.

Different poster, but we are NVSL in a top 3 division. This ABSOLUTELY happens even though it is not allowed. Our pool started implementing it to stay competitive with the other teams in our division.

You need to say which specific area your looking at. Answers will vary depending on location.

The only surefire way to jump the waitlist is to find a house selling their membership with the house. These are EXTREMELY rare but they do happen. Otherwise, yes you have to suck it up and wait.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.

RMSCs regular Juniors groups do not swim through the summer. I know that at NCAP some of the less intense high school groups also have the option to take a break for the entire summer. I’m sure there are more.

Some of the Machine training groups are 9 vs. 11 months, i.e., the former take a break during the summer.

But the Club itself does not take a break. Lower groups in all Clubs do not train during the summer - they expect swimmers to swim summer sprints for fun instead.

The point for OP is the poster who said all clubs take a break for the summer is wrong. There are some training groups within the the big clubs that are only 9 months, but others (generally the higher level training groups) that train 11 months a year with only August off.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 5 year waitlist and there are definitely people who think they can skip for having a good swimmer. Sorry, nope. Not how it works.

Found the social climber with a slow and crappy swimmer.

Says the person who doesn't understand summer swim.

Actually, it seems like they know exactly how it works.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.

RMSCs regular Juniors groups do not swim through the summer. I know that at NCAP some of the less intense high school groups also have the option to take a break for the entire summer. I’m sure there are more.

Some of the Machine training groups are 9 vs. 11 months, i.e., the former take a break during the summer.

But all of the clubs you name swim over the summer. And ncap and machine definitely offer summer options for those training groups. You may choose for your kids to not do it, but the clubs definitely keep swimming.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:We have a 5 year waitlist and there are definitely people who think they can skip for having a good swimmer. Sorry, nope. Not how it works.

Found the social climber with a slow and crappy swimmer.

Says the person who doesn't understand summer swim.

Summary: Legions of parents throw money at swim team so there are a gazillion kids on the team, practices are so packed as to be pointless, many kids don't get to swim in any kind of meaningful meet because only the year round swimmers are fast enough for the few slots at meets. And at some pools even some of them can't get in a real meet. Also, the fast kids that go to meets often don't even bother with summer practice (because its pointless). The best part is the parents that complain about the coaching because Johnny hasn't been transformed into a AAA swimmer in 5 weeks.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.

RMSCs regular Juniors groups do not swim through the summer. I know that at NCAP some of the less intense high school groups also have the option to take a break for the entire summer. I’m sure there are more.

Some of the Machine training groups are 9 vs. 11 months, i.e., the former take a break during the summer.

But the Club itself does not take a break. Lower groups in all Clubs do not train during the summer - they expect swimmers to swim summer sprints for fun instead.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.

RMSCs regular Juniors groups do not swim through the summer. I know that at NCAP some of the less intense high school groups also have the option to take a break for the entire summer. I’m sure there are more.

Some of the Machine training groups are 9 vs. 11 months, i.e., the former take a break during the summer.

Yes to advice about get on waitlist - usually it's $50-100 max to do so. Do it now versus waiting until 2024 as then many people will be in your shoes looking. Our summer pool (no boundaries, not HOA, has a waitlist) allows members to re-sell their membership to others but this means you have to know someone. I have heard of memberships going along with homes due to boundaries, etc. 2nd the move for a better quality of life and figure out a summer pool posters.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.

RMSCs regular Juniors groups do not swim through the summer. I know that at NCAP some of the less intense high school groups also have the option to take a break for the entire summer. I’m sure there are more.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:If he is swimming year round why not do club in the summer?

Huh? All the clubs take a break over summer

What clubs take a break over the summer? I cant think of any.