Mine are 9 & 13 and so far still excited about summer swim. But, my older kid is a rising 9th grader & plans to do marching band… band camp starts 2 days after All Stars & goes until school starts. So that’s the entire summer… not sure that will be sustainable, but he’s trying both this year. I’m also not afraid to have my kids miss a week of summer swim for a trip. Many families do this… it doesn’t have to be all or nothing.

Anonymous wrote:15. DD is a rising college athlete and had to focus on her sport - not enough time.

14. Signed up and will do the practices that they can make. Will have no availability for A meets because of basketball and has basketball practice on Mondays so no B meets either. They're looking forward to a easy morning workout and then spending the day at the pool.

15. DD is a rising college athlete and had to focus on her sport - not enough time.

I have 3 kids: one made it all they way through (had a fun social scene with the high school coaching), one quit for another sport in middle school and youngest still swims but too early to tell how long he will stick with it.

My son is only 9 and he is not excited to swim on the summer team this year. He swam for RMSC last year and started doing it again this fall, but he HATED it, so I let him drop out. He is now saying he doesn't want to swim on our summer team. He has been playing on a travel basketball team since the fall, and he really prefers basketball over swimming.

Also our summer team has terrible practice times for working parents. I have a younger son who will do pre-team, but once school ends, the pre-team practice will be at 4:00 pm. I have a full time job and I have to be in the office 3x a week, so it is pretty much impossible for me to make it to pre-team practice at 4:00 pm. The regular swim team practice times are also pretty terrible.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team rep here. We see a big drop off when they hit the 13-14 age group.

I assume it's because they're not making the HS teams.

Swimming is a no cut sport. At least in Arlington. There is no not making it.

Our FCPS had cuts based on times. So they only took kids that could swim reasonably fast. Most summer team kids would make it if they make occasional A meets.

Mine swam for the last time last summer at 13. I will miss watching them swim but man, I will not miss a lot of those parents.

My oldest is still going at 13.

My youngest did not make it past 8. She had a lot of friends on the team but liked going to camp better and didn't want to get up early for make up practices. Just not into the whole swimming part of things.

I have mixed feelings about it. I've enjoyed watching my oldest do it but won't miss some of the nutso parents and won't mind having more freedom to travel whenever in the summer.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have club swimmers who don’t do summer swim, they prefer to focus on long course season. But as an outsider, I get that rec swimmers and their parents can get frustrated with club swimmers, who have their own their own meets, after all. If it’s really inundated with club swimmers, maybe the rule should be max one or two club swimmers per team per event or no club swimmers in relays. Or no club swimmers in all stars.

Yes, absolutely. Also there should be a rule for no travel baseball players in Little League. It's not fair that kids that are good at baseball dominate little league. Let the other kids have a chance!

Probably should also ban kids that go to sport specific summer camps from high school teams while we are at it. And anyone that gets private coaching. It's just not fair.

Oh, naughty me. A big part of me did want to stir the pot with the suggestion that club swimmers be limited and someone bit right away. I honestly don’t care because we don’t participate. But I guess it’s easier to let everyone participate, just like how the Olympics is trending. Miracle on ice 1980 wasn’t that special I guess.

Lol if you are comparing the Olympics to summer rec swim you definitely are an NVSL parent.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

I have club swimmers who don’t do summer swim, they prefer to focus on long course season. But as an outsider, I get that rec swimmers and their parents can get frustrated with club swimmers, who have their own their own meets, after all. If it’s really inundated with club swimmers, maybe the rule should be max one or two club swimmers per team per event or no club swimmers in relays. Or no club swimmers in all stars.

Yes, absolutely. Also there should be a rule for no travel baseball players in Little League. It's not fair that kids that are good at baseball dominate little league. Let the other kids have a chance!

Probably should also ban kids that go to sport specific summer camps from high school teams while we are at it. And anyone that gets private coaching. It's just not fair.

Oh, naughty me. A big part of me did want to stir the pot with the suggestion that club swimmers be limited and someone bit right away. I honestly don’t care because we don’t participate. But I guess it’s easier to let everyone participate, just like how the Olympics is trending. Miracle on ice 1980 wasn’t that special I guess.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team rep here. We see a big drop off when they hit the 13-14 age group.

I assume it's because they're not making the HS teams.

Swimming is a no cut sport. At least in Arlington. There is no not making it.

DDs FCPS team definitely had cuts this past season.

Her summer team sees a big drop off around 13-14, especially with the boys. A few more, mostly non-club kids, stop when they hit 15-18. DD is 16 and will be swimming this summer.

Anonymous wrote:

I have club swimmers who don’t do summer swim, they prefer to focus on long course season. But as an outsider, I get that rec swimmers and their parents can get frustrated with club swimmers, who have their own their own meets, after all. If it’s really inundated with club swimmers, maybe the rule should be max one or two club swimmers per team per event or no club swimmers in relays. Or no club swimmers in all stars.

Yes, absolutely. Also there should be a rule for no travel baseball players in Little League. It's not fair that kids that are good at baseball dominate little league. Let the other kids have a chance!

Probably should also ban kids that go to sport specific summer camps from high school teams while we are at it. And anyone that gets private coaching. It's just not fair.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Team rep here. We see a big drop off when they hit the 13-14 age group.

I assume it's because they're not making the HS teams.

Swimming is a no cut sport. At least in Arlington. There is no not making it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids drop by 15-18 because all races are 100yd, except for fly. Which is tough if your kid is not a year round swimmer.

What league does this? NVSL is all 50s so there is not much advantage for year round swimmers compared to those that do not. It is funny watching my athletes that do not swim surpass their club swimming teammates after week two.

Maybe this pool dependent. All of the top swimmer at our pool swim year round. I can always tell the year round swimmers based on their turns. A good athlete can muscle through a 25 but rarely do they turn as quickly and come off the turn like a kid who swims year round. I'd also bet money that every 15-18 yr old who makes all stars swims year round.

Also, add breakouts from starts and turns to the list of skills that take time to pick up. I know there’s a secret (or not so secret) thrill in seeing rec swimmers outperform club swimmers. But I would be shocked if it WASN’T the case, especially at 14u and even 16u, as pp says. There are plenty of club swimmers who swim year round as a second sport and might not excel in the pool as you might expect. Finally, swimmers are not grouped into skill levels like soccer or lacrosse. Think about ALL the soccer/lax/volleyball players in your child’s year, including those on the bottom teams. Many rec players could outplay some of those players. Finally, there are some club swimmers who focus on distance and are pretty lousy at sprints.

I have club swimmers who don’t do summer swim, they prefer to focus on long course season. But as an outsider, I get that rec swimmers and their parents can get frustrated with club swimmers, who have their own their own meets, after all. If it’s really inundated with club swimmers, maybe the rule should be max one or two club swimmers per team per event or no club swimmers in relays. Or no club swimmers in all stars.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids drop by 15-18 because all races are 100yd, except for fly. Which is tough if your kid is not a year round swimmer.

What league does this? NVSL is all 50s so there is not much advantage for year round swimmers compared to those that do not. It is funny watching my athletes that do not swim surpass their club swimming teammates after week two.

Maybe this pool dependent. All of the top swimmer at our pool swim year round. I can always tell the year round swimmers based on their turns. A good athlete can muscle through a 25 but rarely do they turn as quickly and come off the turn like a kid who swims year round. I'd also bet money that every 15-18 yr old who makes all stars swims year round.