Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I thought it made sense to post an update. We are having a fantastic time with NCAP. The practices aren’t crowded, and the coaches are amazing and very good with the kids. The lanes are organized and the coaches know all of the kids. There is no screaming by the coaches and the lanes are well organized. It is a very inclusive and welcoming environment. My daughter, who is shy, is making friends. The coaches also cater to each child and give them corrections on their strokes. I have seen a tremendous amount of progress on my daughter’s technique. Most importantly, she is dropping time at every meet. So - so far, so good.

My daughter couldn’t have competed with NCAP when she was 8. So don’t give up if your child doesn’t make it on their first time. So far, it is meeting up to my expectations. . Also, as part of your fees, your child gets a ton of NCAP swag.

This is a strange NCAP update on an ASA thread (clicked looking for ASA info), esp for 11-14 age group, which is particularly strong at ASA. But glad to hear your child is doing well and found a program that fits her.

I think it’s an update to the post above it where she said they left ASA.

Kids also change as they get older AND coaches can be vastly different at one club for different age groups.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I can honestly say that my daughter was bullied at ASA in the lanes especially if she tried to pass someone.

She has swam at Tollefson, RMSC and now done NCAP tryouts - it is nothing like the chaotic lanes at ASA.

Chris is a good coach but Coach Mark Lewis was phenomenal and really understood and knew my daughter and made her a stronger swimmer. Mark is the main thing we miss about ASA.

Wow- That is a lot of teams for one family. My swimmer swam 8 years at RMSC and had a mostly great experience.

My thoughts exactly. If your kid is swimming with a different team every year, maybe the club isn't the problem...

Anonymous wrote:I can honestly say that my daughter was bullied at ASA in the lanes especially if she tried to pass someone.

She has swam at Tollefson, RMSC and now done NCAP tryouts - it is nothing like the chaotic lanes at ASA.

Chris is a good coach but Coach Mark Lewis was phenomenal and really understood and knew my daughter and made her a stronger swimmer. Mark is the main thing we miss about ASA.

Wow- That is a lot of teams for one family. My swimmer swam 8 years at RMSC and had a mostly great experience.

Anonymous wrote:Does anyone know if ASA will have room in juniors this year?

We tried out this weekend . They said two spots for juniors. And likely 30-40 kids trying out. So don’t hold your breath.

Does anyone know if ASA will have room in juniors this year?

Anonymous wrote:I thought it made sense to post an update. We are having a fantastic time with NCAP. The practices aren’t crowded, and the coaches are amazing and very good with the kids. The lanes are organized and the coaches know all of the kids. There is no screaming by the coaches and the lanes are well organized. It is a very inclusive and welcoming environment. My daughter, who is shy, is making friends. The coaches also cater to each child and give them corrections on their strokes. I have seen a tremendous amount of progress on my daughter’s technique. Most importantly, she is dropping time at every meet. So - so far, so good.

My daughter couldn’t have competed with NCAP when she was 8. So don’t give up if your child doesn’t make it on their first time. So far, it is meeting up to my expectations. . Also, as part of your fees, your child gets a ton of NCAP swag.

This is a strange NCAP update on an ASA thread (clicked looking for ASA info), esp for 11-14 age group, which is particularly strong at ASA. But glad to hear your child is doing well and found a program that fits her.

Which ncap site are you referring to?

I thought it made sense to post an update. We are having a fantastic time with NCAP. The practices aren’t crowded, and the coaches are amazing and very good with the kids. The lanes are organized and the coaches know all of the kids. There is no screaming by the coaches and the lanes are well organized. It is a very inclusive and welcoming environment. My daughter, who is shy, is making friends. The coaches also cater to each child and give them corrections on their strokes. I have seen a tremendous amount of progress on my daughter’s technique. Most importantly, she is dropping time at every meet. So - so far, so good.

My daughter couldn’t have competed with NCAP when she was 8. So don’t give up if your child doesn’t make it on their first time. So far, it is meeting up to my expectations. . Also, as part of your fees, your child gets a ton of NCAP swag.

My daugher was in AG1 and AG2 and then juniors. My plan had been to stay at ASA, but I have learned a lot from my daughter trying out for teams and being on another team.

Tollefson was great and my daughter enjoyed the practices when she was trying out. The were swimming outside in the winter because of COVID. We saw lots of swimmers who had lost their slots at ASA. I think it is a good program but we had also been offered a slot at RMSC which practiced inside.

RMSC Rockville is a gem for the right person. The coaches we had were great and they will do private lessons if you want. The facility is beautiful and clean with a long course and another new pool in the back. The City of Rockville runs this site so the fees are extremely low/a bargain. This is a hard core team with very fast times. The team is mostly Asian which was a positive in that the kids were polite, very serious about swimming and kind. There wasn't any drama, and it was down to earth as compared to the Bethesda and Chevy Chase scene. My daughter improved, and I am sad that we are leaving. I wasn't able to see her swim most of the year because of COVID but she would sometimes come out upset from the practice or in tears. When things started to relax, I did watch her swim and saw how tough the practice was. Many days, they did 15 to 20 minutes kick at a fast pace. I think this is good training, but my daughter stopped wanting to go to the practices. My thought is, if she doesn't enjoy the practices, she will quit. Also, I want her to be having fun.

So we looked and tried out at different NCAP sites. Each is different, but there are more breaks during the practices and she seemed to do just fine. We have gotten invitations to a couple of the sites and will be finalizing this week. I don't know how it will go but we had to try something different.

Anonymous wrote:I can honestly say that my daughter was bullied at ASA in the lanes especially if she tried to pass someone.

She has swam at Tollefson, RMSC and now done NCAP tryouts - it is nothing like the chaotic lanes at ASA.

Chris is a good coach but Coach Mark Lewis was phenomenal and really understood and knew my daughter and made her a stronger swimmer. Mark is the main thing we miss about ASA.

I am sorry to hear that. Are you a new poster or the same poster from earlier (guessing same based on posts). Also, was your daughter in Rory’s juniors, or was this in AG2 or AG1 (guessing ag1 or ag2 if mark and Chris are coaches). Just trying by to get my head around how often this happens. We know of many swimmers who don’t feel this way (which is not meant to undercut your daughter’s experience by any means). I do think there are pros and cons to a lot of programs and glad to hear she has found programs you like better. Good luck at NCAP! It surely the most storied program in the area.