Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:You have to draw a line somewhere. Whether the cutoff is June 1 or November 1 or some other arbitrary date, it is preferable in youth sports to be older than your competition. There is no perfect way to do this. The cutoff has been and remained June 1. Everyone knows what it is. The benchmark isn’t changing. I’ve seen great May 31 bday swimmers and bad swimmers with summer birthdays. Make the best of your situation.

For swimming there is since it is an individual sport. If a swimmer is ten for that meet. They swim as a ten year old. Tomorrow next meet they are 11 they swim as an 11 year old at the next meet. It works in the year-round swimming better though since there are meets throughout the year, but even for summer swim it makes sense. You get to swim as the oldest and the youngest.

It works for year round swimming because kids swim round, so everyone gets a chance to be the oldest and the youngest, and everyone has meets that are disrupted by just having moved up. If you applied the same model to summer swim about 10% of the kids would have that experience.

Summer swim is also a rec sport, it's run primarily by parent volunteers and kid coaches. Having to redo lane assignments, and coaching groups each week because kids are moving up sounds really annoying. I have no experience with club swimming but I'm guessing there are professionals involved.

Finally, it's just not that big a deal. It's a rec sport. Kids are there to have fun.

Anonymous wrote:You have to draw a line somewhere. Whether the cutoff is June 1 or November 1 or some other arbitrary date, it is preferable in youth sports to be older than your competition. There is no perfect way to do this. The cutoff has been and remained June 1. Everyone knows what it is. The benchmark isn’t changing. I’ve seen great May 31 bday swimmers and bad swimmers with summer birthdays. Make the best of your situation.

For swimming there is since it is an individual sport. If a swimmer is ten for that meet. They swim as a ten year old. Tomorrow next meet they are 11 they swim as an 11 year old at the next meet. It works in the year-round swimming better though since there are meets throughout the year, but even for summer swim it makes sense. You get to swim as the oldest and the youngest.

This is summer swimming. It is supposed to be fun. Why are people so insane in the DMV?

Who cares if your kid goes to Divisionals or All Stars. Are they having fun? Are they making new friends and laughing on the pool deck? Awesome!!

Take the crazy intensity out of summer league swimming!!

You have to draw a line somewhere. Whether the cutoff is June 1 or November 1 or some other arbitrary date, it is preferable in youth sports to be older than your competition. There is no perfect way to do this. The cutoff has been and remained June 1. Everyone knows what it is. The benchmark isn’t changing. I’ve seen great May 31 bday swimmers and bad swimmers with summer birthdays. Make the best of your situation.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We should age up on our birthday that’s literally the only way to make it fair. For a 8yr old turning 9 going from 25m to 50m is not a big deal. What’s the rationale this hasn’t been the rule?

Great idea. Now explain what happens to kids that have a birthday between Divisionals and Allstars? What about the kids that have a birthday between Divisional Relays and All Star Relays? Are you going to force them to swim at their new age? How does that work for kids who turn 9 and only have 25 times?

Happens in winter swim when minis age up. It doesn't matter what you swam a week ago: if it's a new meet, you're a new age and you have to swim events accordingly.

Have you even been to a winter swim meet? 8Us have 50s as well as 25s.

So what is your solution for swimmers who turn 9 (or 11 for fly) between Divisionals and All Stars? They just don't get to swim in All Stars?

You will find folks who think those kids shouldn’t got to all stars. I posed this hypothetical at one point and people were all in kicking kids off relay teams why qualified on. Ridiculous.

People who care passionately about this: petition your league (whichever one it is) for a rule change. Posting here accomplishes nothing except generating the same tired thread year after year.

Anonymous wrote:My summer boy started school on time and was always among the very youngest in every year of school. Finally had an age advantage in summer swim.

lol yup! I started mine in time too. My kid was in a flag football league for teams of 3-5 graders, there was a kid on an opposing team who was a red shirted 5th grader. He was 3 years older than my son.

My 13 yo daughter has a late summer bday she’s already griping about how her friends will get there drivers licenses about a year before her.

There is no perfect birthday for anyone. This thread every year makes me laugh. The cutoff has been the same in leagues across the country for many years I grew up in the Midwest. It was June 1st in the 80s.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:
We should age up on our birthday that’s literally the only way to make it fair. For a 8yr old turning 9 going from 25m to 50m is not a big deal. What’s the rationale this hasn’t been the rule?

Great idea. Now explain what happens to kids that have a birthday between Divisionals and Allstars? What about the kids that have a birthday between Divisional Relays and All Star Relays? Are you going to force them to swim at their new age? How does that work for kids who turn 9 and only have 25 times?

Happens in winter swim when minis age up. It doesn't matter what you swam a week ago: if it's a new meet, you're a new age and you have to swim events accordingly.

Have you even been to a winter swim meet? 8Us have 50s as well as 25s.

So what is your solution for swimmers who turn 9 (or 11 for fly) between Divisionals and All Stars? They just don't get to swim in All Stars?

There has to be some kind of cutoff otherwise it would be a nightmare to manage the age groups and times for a SUMMER league.

When you have a cutoff someone has to be the oldest and someone has to be the youngest. Get over it.

Anonymous wrote:Never change, crazy swim parents. It's. A. Summer. League.

Tell that to the parents I know who keep bragging about how fast their 9 year old is, while competing against 6, 7 and 8 year olds. Like good for him but maybe don't keep posting about it.

Never change, crazy swim parents. It's. A. Summer. League.