Anonymous wrote:Anonymous wrote:Both my kids are competitive swimmers. I get up at the crack of dawn to take them to practice, and am at the pool late nights most days of the week. If I could start over, knowing my kids would be swimmers, I would live in Northern VA (not DC or Montgomery County). Northern VA has a much better choice of club teams, and that's where all the pools are. Your friend needs to understand that swimming is not about where you go to school; it's about your club...everywhere in the U.S., not just in DC...and, btw, that's true not just for swimming, but most sports these days.
^^^ great advice. Didn't know that about NoVa, though--interesting. Which are the best club teams there, PP?
Anonymous wrote:Your friend may be disappointed with the pool/swim team situation in the DC metro area.
In my hometown (a mid-sized city in the US), every public high school has its own pool on its campus. The school swim teams are very competitive and robust.
Here in the DC area, there are very few indoor pools relative to the dense population. It was a true shock to me when I moved here 10 years ago, but people who are from here seem to just accept it as normal. Maybe land is so expensive that it's not possible to build more indoor pools.
I prefer the robust school-affiliated swim teams myself, but I don't see a lot of that in the DC area.
Usaswimming ranks DC area in top ten of country based on various factors. I did not realize other parts of the country had much better school teams. Do you mind sharing where ?..I'm just curious,
But the usaswimming factors on their site seem to indicate we have plenty of pools and stars...look at some of the top Olympic talent coming out of DC metro area. Agree the real swimming is happening at club level in most of the country not just DC.
Anonymous wrote:Both my kids are competitive swimmers. I get up at the crack of dawn to take them to practice, and am at the pool late nights most days of the week. If I could start over, knowing my kids would be swimmers, I would live in Northern VA (not DC or Montgomery County). Northern VA has a much better choice of club teams, and that's where all the pools are. Your friend needs to understand that swimming is not about where you go to school; it's about your club...everywhere in the U.S., not just in DC...and, btw, that's true not just for swimming, but most sports these days.