Anonymous wrote:I would put your kid on pre team now. At our pool there’s a range of abilities on pre team and they get 1:1 attention with the teen coaches. They get to participate in all the fun activities associated with swim team and then it inspires them to keep going!

+1 pre-team also means they are in the water everyday with the social aspect too, and that's a huge benefit.

Ours you need to "qualify" but it's a low bar.

I would ask at your pool about age range, and think about whether DS would feel ok being a little older than most pre-team kids (depending on what the mix is there).

Our 9 year old daughter took all sorts of group lessons, individual lessons and still couldn't swim last year (@ 8 years old) until she joined our neighborhood pre team (summer 2023). After she joined pre team, she learned how to swim a decent 25m freestyle in the span of 1 month. She is now on the actual swim team and can do 50m freestyle along with a legal 25m backstroke,breast,and fly.

moral of the story is:
Nothing beats the group atmosphere, peer pressure (in a good way) of swim team. that is where your child will learn the quickest.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the goal should really be to get your DS to gain confidence and proficiency as a swimmer for safety purposes. Summer swim can help reinforce the basis and build from there, but he doesn’t even have the basics down. It’s going to be like group lessons on steroids—tons of kids, little individualized attention. It’s really fun and there is certainly a variety of skill in the younger ages, but IME, it’s not the place to learn to swim. If you keep up with the private lessons, he might be in a much different place next summer where summer swim makes more sense and he can actually enjoy it.

Lastly, I’ll add that if you really want your kid to be a strong, safe swimmer, someone might have to get in the water with him to play and swim outside of the lessons. If you don’t swim, perhaps your partner or a family member could do it.

Preteam literally has a dedicated instructor helping them learn each fundamental. That was true for kids I knew at Stonebridge and at our current pool the amazing Westleigh!! You can actually do lessons there on top of pre team!!

That might be an option then! Our team doesn’t do swim lessons in that way. Even the youngest kids on our team can swim a 25 free, even if it’s not pretty or legal.

Yea this is not the case with pre team! As long as child is willing to dip their head under water they will be accepted and taught!
I was there last night and there are definitely some 8yo second graders on pre team. Your child will
Not be alone!!! Pre team practice is well after camp. No conflict.

OP, I’m the Stonebridge Sharks poster. Most kids do camp and swim team at our pool. I do plan to take my kids out a little early for days that they have camps for the pool.

At Stonebridge, you don’t need to live in the neighborhood to join the pool. You pay a non-resident membership.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP, the goal should really be to get your DS to gain confidence and proficiency as a swimmer for safety purposes. Summer swim can help reinforce the basis and build from there, but he doesn’t even have the basics down. It’s going to be like group lessons on steroids—tons of kids, little individualized attention. It’s really fun and there is certainly a variety of skill in the younger ages, but IME, it’s not the place to learn to swim. If you keep up with the private lessons, he might be in a much different place next summer where summer swim makes more sense and he can actually enjoy it.

Lastly, I’ll add that if you really want your kid to be a strong, safe swimmer, someone might have to get in the water with him to play and swim outside of the lessons. If you don’t swim, perhaps your partner or a family member could do it.

Preteam literally has a dedicated instructor helping them learn each fundamental. That was true for kids I knew at Stonebridge and at our current pool the amazing Westleigh!! You can actually do lessons there on top of pre team!!

That might be an option then! Our team doesn’t do swim lessons in that way. Even the youngest kids on our team can swim a 25 free, even if it’s not pretty or legal.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I live close to all these, Kentlands Kingfish , Westleigh or Stonebridge shark. I don't live in any of these 3 mentioned neighborhood. It seems like that I can just pay to join Westleigh, right? How about for Kentland kingfish or stonebridge shark, can I join?

All camps for this summer are fully paid already. We can only think of next summer. Thank you. His summer camp does have daily pool time, but kid just play in pool.

OP, pre team practice is after camps. It is not too long and all of the swim coaches do affordable coaching on the side. Westleigh and Stonebridge both have memberships you can pay for and you will love it. Find out if you know anyone at one pool or another and enjoy your precious summer. Never be ashamed!! You are here and you care. That is such a win!!!

Anonymous wrote:OP, the goal should really be to get your DS to gain confidence and proficiency as a swimmer for safety purposes. Summer swim can help reinforce the basis and build from there, but he doesn’t even have the basics down. It’s going to be like group lessons on steroids—tons of kids, little individualized attention. It’s really fun and there is certainly a variety of skill in the younger ages, but IME, it’s not the place to learn to swim. If you keep up with the private lessons, he might be in a much different place next summer where summer swim makes more sense and he can actually enjoy it.

Lastly, I’ll add that if you really want your kid to be a strong, safe swimmer, someone might have to get in the water with him to play and swim outside of the lessons. If you don’t swim, perhaps your partner or a family member could do it.

Preteam literally has a dedicated instructor helping them learn each fundamental. That was true for kids I knew at Stonebridge and at our current pool the amazing Westleigh!! You can actually do lessons there on top of pre team!!

Anonymous wrote:Op, there is also Kentlands Kingfish if Westleigh or Stonebridge is too far from you. They have a pre team as well. I don’t know anything about them.

Kentlands is only for Kentlands residents! You cannot join unless you live in the area. Not even if you own property you rent out!

OP, the goal should really be to get your DS to gain confidence and proficiency as a swimmer for safety purposes. Summer swim can help reinforce the basis and build from there, but he doesn’t even have the basics down. It’s going to be like group lessons on steroids—tons of kids, little individualized attention. It’s really fun and there is certainly a variety of skill in the younger ages, but IME, it’s not the place to learn to swim. If you keep up with the private lessons, he might be in a much different place next summer where summer swim makes more sense and he can actually enjoy it.

Lastly, I’ll add that if you really want your kid to be a strong, safe swimmer, someone might have to get in the water with him to play and swim outside of the lessons. If you don’t swim, perhaps your partner or a family member could do it.

Anonymous wrote:

At our pool, 9-10 are not expected to be legal in all four strokes.

Same. At our pool plenty of 9-10yo (and even older) swim freestyle and back in B meets exclusively.

Anonymous wrote:Op here. I live close to all these, Kentlands Kingfish , Westleigh or Stonebridge shark. I don't live in any of these 3 mentioned neighborhood. It seems like that I can just pay to join Westleigh, right? How about for Kentland kingfish or stonebridge shark, can I join?

All camps for this summer are fully paid already. We can only think of next summer. Thank you. His summer camp does have daily pool time, but kid just play in pool.

Op I came back to this thread and am so excited to see that someone posted a pool right near you that has a great program! I posted about a similar one in Annandale (then saw your post that you were in MD!). But I saw Westleigh was 5 minutes from the high school you mentioned and was thrilled for you.

Next summer, consider hiring a sitter for your kids for the first part of summer instead of camps. So from about mid-June to July 22 or so at least for NVSL, you can check the calendar when it comes out next year. Then you can have your kids do pre-team. Practice in the morning and then play at the pool in the afternoon. They'll meet friends and it is great. Then for the last few weeks of summer you can do camps and/or a vacation in there as swim team doesn't go past the end of July. It is easy to find college aged sitters home for the summer that are looking for this type of gig. Kids have a blast. With a couple kids it is similar in price to a couple kids in camp (we also do hours like 9-3 on days we work from home to lower costs, kids play in the basement til we're done if that's possible for you)

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Not too late at all but the kid needs very frequent 1:1 lessons. 1x/week won’t do anything.

The biggest “bang for our buck” was to put the kids in lessons at our pool for 30 min/day, 5 days a week, for 2-4 weeks. You need daily instruction with the same teacher to make a breakthrough.

8&U on our NVSL is when kids are explicitly taught breaststroke and butterfly. 9-10s they are expected to be legal in all 4 strokes and the younger kids are taught flip turns because that age group swims 50m races.

It’s not too late, but there will be a window of time, maybe age 8-11/12 where it might be hard to jump in when other kids have been doing it all along. I “walked on” to varsity swim team in HS having never swam competitively and I picked it up quickly - but I see 9-10yr olds at our pool come to swim team for the first time and not have fun because it’s hard to catch up.

At our pool, 9-10 are not expected to be legal in all four strokes.

check the pools website.. i think Westleigh is open to everyone. but yeah never too late.