Anonymous
Post 05/22/2026 17:44     Subject: How does your summer swim do practices?
Separating by age is better than by ability. Lanes are already separated by ability and it’s easy to move up or down a lane within the same age group. Separating by ability comes with a lot of hurt feelings kids that can’t swim with their friends and kids in the middle stuck in the wrong group with an inability to be in the next group. What could would want this kind of drama to be added to summer swim?
Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 22:00     Subject: Re:How does your summer swim do practices?
Anonymous wrote:We have all kids practice with their correct age group because it is SUMMER SWIM. Kids do get sorted into lanes by speed. A lot of our Club swimmers do their LC practice and then come to NVSL practice to hang with their friends and as a second “cool down” swim. They just like being at the pool…

I can’t even imagine calling practice groups beginner, intermediate, and advanced…sounds so incredibly obnoxious..not to mention what 12 year old is wanting to say they practice in the “intermediate” group…



+100

This. All of this. We are talking about rec league swim here. It should be fun and peer group first.
Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 20:33     Subject: Re:How does your summer swim do practices?
We have all kids practice with their correct age group because it is SUMMER SWIM. Kids do get sorted into lanes by speed. A lot of our Club swimmers do their LC practice and then come to NVSL practice to hang with their friends and as a second “cool down” swim. They just like being at the pool…

I can’t even imagine calling practice groups beginner, intermediate, and advanced…sounds so incredibly obnoxious..not to mention what 12 year old is wanting to say they practice in the “intermediate” group…

Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 16:56     Subject: How does your summer swim do practices?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ours divides by three age groups: 8U, 9-12 and 13+. In extreme circumstances, kids practice up because the same age group practice just doesn’t work. They are so much faster that they consistently get stuck if they stay in their age group.


+1. I’ve got a club swimmer with a June birthday. He wasn’t practicing with the 9-10s last year when he had just turned 11 and swimming in the 9-10 age group. He was already faster than all but one or two 11-12 swimmers.


And wasn't he swimming his club practice?

Club swimmers are at summer practice like one day a week to practice relays and such.


A huge percentage of fast 9-10s “only” swim 9 months with their club teams and do summer team only in summer months.
Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 16:07     Subject: How does your summer swim do practices?
Anonymous wrote:We divide similar to what apps have described: 8U, 9-12 and 13+. I can’t recall an 8U being moved into the 9-12 group because they were too advanced. We have moved up kids that turn 9 during the summer season and want to be in the group with their classmates who turned 9 a few months before. It is pretty common for the fast club 11-12 year olds to swim in the 13+ group. The 9-12 group is far bigger than the 13+ group, so being able to move some of the advanced 11-12 year olds out of that group is helpful.


Same. We have also moved fast kids up if they have sibling in the older group and it makes it easier for the family.
Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 14:47     Subject: How does your summer swim do practices?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ours divides by three age groups: 8U, 9-12 and 13+. In extreme circumstances, kids practice up because the same age group practice just doesn’t work. They are so much faster that they consistently get stuck if they stay in their age group.


+1. I’ve got a club swimmer with a June birthday. He wasn’t practicing with the 9-10s last year when he had just turned 11 and swimming in the 9-10 age group. He was already faster than all but one or two 11-12 swimmers.


And wasn't he swimming his club practice?

Club swimmers are at summer practice like one day a week to practice relays and such.


Maybe he wasn't part of the Xtreme Elite Cohort for club.
Anonymous
Post 05/21/2026 14:37     Subject: How does your summer swim do practices?
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Ours divides by three age groups: 8U, 9-12 and 13+. In extreme circumstances, kids practice up because the same age group practice just doesn’t work. They are so much faster that they consistently get stuck if they stay in their age group.


+1. I’ve got a club swimmer with a June birthday. He wasn’t practicing with the 9-10s last year when he had just turned 11 and swimming in the 9-10 age group. He was already faster than all but one or two 11-12 swimmers.


And wasn't he swimming his club practice?

Club swimmers are at summer practice like one day a week to practice relays and such.