Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:39     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
The reality of this is also that the entire team doesn’t participate in summer swim practice. At the more competitive pools, many of the swimmers are with clubs and don’t practice with the summer team, they just come to the meets. Since you are not really having to coordinate practice for 150 kids, there is some wiggle room to stagger practice schedules. Our pool does not block kids by 8 and under, 9-12, 13 and over, it’s basically 1 block of 12 and unders and 1 block of 13 and over. The lanes are separated by ages/ability. You don’t need to block 6 hours of pool time a day, 2 hours in the am and 1 in the evening is sufficient. Have the 13 and overs take a morning slot, the 12 and unders take another am slot, and then an evening slot for whoever can’t make morning practice and just separate the lanes by age/ability.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:23     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:Summer swim was never an option for us bc of those morning practices. Even with carpool, my kids would have been late for camp every day, missing the field trips. And even once a week wasn’t going to be ok for me to be 2+ hours late to work.


For many DC Area families with 2 working parents, they lose half of their income to taxes and another large portion to daycare/summer camps. Many would get a higher ROI from having 1 parent work part time or not at all and taking care of their kids. Most pools cost 500-600 per family to join. Open for 12-15 weeks every summer. This is the worlds most economical summer camp
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:15     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Summer swim was never an option for us bc of those morning practices. Even with carpool, my kids would have been late for camp every day, missing the field trips. And even once a week wasn’t going to be ok for me to be 2+ hours late to work.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:12     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I feel like this thread has devolved into a weird superiority complex on the part of SAHMs. Posters seem to be getting pleasure out of saying well this is an activity that only kids with SAHMs can participate in. It’s really strange. This doesn’t have to be either/or, have evening practices a few days a week and morning practices a few days a week.


Traditionally it is a SAHM sport. The kids go to swim and then hang out at the pool once it opens. That is summer for a lot of people who utilize neighborhood pools. Our kids did afternoon practice after summer camp with the other kids who had working parents. The practices didn't have our actual coach, just some teen coaches, but the kids enjoyed. Now that WFH is a thing, the kids do morning practice and then hang around the pool until lunch


Just FYI- this isn’t typical for the pools in my community. The pools close for an hour after practices so kids aren’t able to hang out.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:09     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:I think swim team are for sahps or folks with enough money to hire a private babysitter. Not the average two working parent family.


It’s not even a financial thing- if you have more than one kid, hiring a sitter is cheaper. Parents want their kids to experience everything that camps offer yet participate in traditional summer fun like swim team.

I’ve seen working parents manage it differently. Some hire sitters, others balance it with grandparents, neighbors or parents alternating who goes into work late. I took my kid to practice then dropped my kids off at camp. It’s only five weeks a year and perfectly okay if your kid misses a day here or there. If they miss an entire week, also NBD- have them attend evening practices that week.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 14:01     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Our facility accommodates the largest number of working parents by ensuring that the pools are available for their use most late afternoons and evenings. We have relaxing dinners with the occasional adult beverage, and those of us with kids on the swim team figure out how to get them to morning practices.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:59     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:I feel like this thread has devolved into a weird superiority complex on the part of SAHMs. Posters seem to be getting pleasure out of saying well this is an activity that only kids with SAHMs can participate in. It’s really strange. This doesn’t have to be either/or, have evening practices a few days a week and morning practices a few days a week.


Traditionally it is a SAHM sport. The kids go to swim and then hang out at the pool once it opens. That is summer for a lot of people who utilize neighborhood pools. Our kids did afternoon practice after summer camp with the other kids who had working parents. The practices didn't have our actual coach, just some teen coaches, but the kids enjoyed. Now that WFH is a thing, the kids do morning practice and then hang around the pool until lunch
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:58     Subject: Re:Summer swim if work in office
Oh and our pool actually does want members. And with a bigger team we've just been moving up in the rankings every year. I wouldn't even care if we were a lower rank LOL. BUT it's fun for the kids to do with all of their friends.
Everyone is together after school - for the first 3 weeks before school is out.

Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:58     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
I think swim team are for sahps or folks with enough money to hire a private babysitter. Not the average two working parent family.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:55     Subject: Re:Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:1 practice 3 days a week of mixed ages in the evening is not the equivalent to 5 day a week morning practice all at the same age. Its why a lot of two parent working families, even at pools that have an 'evening practice' option often try to figure out how to go to morning practice.
I think the ultimate answer is that pools are set up differently. My pool is a closer in pool, we have 1 pool, have a long waiting list of members, and quite frankly don't want 175 kids on the swim team. The evening practices after school are hard on the membership. Could we set up 2 lanes for a few kids in the evenings for 1 hour a few days a week? Sure- we could do that- it wouldn't have a huge impact, but it would be a lot of additional work and management for the pool volunteers, and the kids wouldn't get nearly the same experience as those coming to morning practice. Could we run the equivalent of the morning age group practices in the evenings- eg three hours of practice with 6 lanes, etc? absolutely not- we would have a membership revolt.
Now- a pool or team that is short members, and has a dedicated lap pool? totally different set of considerations.
I don't think there is a nefarious intent to either 'discriminate' against working families or 'favor' stay at home moms- different things work for different people, a summer pool can't be all things to all people.


We think it's better than nothing.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:55     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they don’t offer it, you need to push your team to have later afternoon practices for pre-team/full team as an option. Carpooling, too, and you do pick up if that’s still too early. There are ways to do it, and summer swim was great fun for our kids.


This would be a nonstarter at many/most pools. They aren’t going to shut down the pool to general membership at the busiest time of day.


It’s a smaller group that needs the evening session and you can get by with using a few lanes. Our pool is big so using a few lanes a few nights a week is NBD. But it would depend on the pool size.


Question. Are your coaches now coaching both morning and evening? That is a lot of hours. Or do your head coaches only do morning. That would be a tremendous cost to do both.


I wanted to ask the same thing. Coaches would be working 4-5 hours in the morning before the pool opens and then come back and work 5 to 8 pm? We have two head coaches and six lane coaches in the morning. I can't imagine being able to afford an evening cadre as well without doubling our fees. Even as it stands now we have to do a LOT of fundraising to pay our coaches.


It's not 5-8pm. It's one hour in the evenings - typically 3 nights a week - so yes, it is fewer days for the evening only group once school is out.
so we just joined a pool last year. Morning swim
Is 3 hours they have 8 and under go first. Then 9-12, then 13 and up. I’m not sure how you get all those ages to practice together for an hour when the poo is also open so less lap lanes available. Having said that, we both work and made the morning schedule work with a sitter that drives.


It's a smaller group in the evening and we usually don't have anyone over 13. We would consider on a case by casis basis but it hasn't been needed. It's a neighborhood pool and at that age - the kids can really get themselves there without parents.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:54     Subject: Re:Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:1 practice 3 days a week of mixed ages in the evening is not the equivalent to 5 day a week morning practice all at the same age. Its why a lot of two parent working families, even at pools that have an 'evening practice' option often try to figure out how to go to morning practice.
I think the ultimate answer is that pools are set up differently. My pool is a closer in pool, we have 1 pool, have a long waiting list of members, and quite frankly don't want 175 kids on the swim team. The evening practices after school are hard on the membership. Could we set up 2 lanes for a few kids in the evenings for 1 hour a few days a week? Sure- we could do that- it wouldn't have a huge impact, but it would be a lot of additional work and management for the pool volunteers, and the kids wouldn't get nearly the same experience as those coming to morning practice. Could we run the equivalent of the morning age group practices in the evenings- eg three hours of practice with 6 lanes, etc? absolutely not- we would have a membership revolt.
Now- a pool or team that is short members, and has a dedicated lap pool? totally different set of considerations.
I don't think there is a nefarious intent to either 'discriminate' against working families or 'favor' stay at home moms- different things work for different people, a summer pool can't be all things to all people.


Three days a week is fine. If you’re worried about it, hire a junior coach to do practices on the other days. Or bring your child to the pool and have them swim laps. Not a big deal.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:52     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Our pool has practices 7-10am, generally older kids swim first due to jobs, classes, etc, then younger kids.

M/t/Th they close down two or three lanes of the pool for practice. B meets are Wednesday evenings and a pep rally Friday evening- the reason there are only 3 evening practices per week. These practices are run by the coaches. It is expected that you attend morning practice only if you miss because of something like camp- not because you want to sleep in.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:52     Subject: Re:Summer swim if work in office
1 practice 3 days a week of mixed ages in the evening is not the equivalent to 5 day a week morning practice all at the same age. Its why a lot of two parent working families, even at pools that have an 'evening practice' option often try to figure out how to go to morning practice.
I think the ultimate answer is that pools are set up differently. My pool is a closer in pool, we have 1 pool, have a long waiting list of members, and quite frankly don't want 175 kids on the swim team. The evening practices after school are hard on the membership. Could we set up 2 lanes for a few kids in the evenings for 1 hour a few days a week? Sure- we could do that- it wouldn't have a huge impact, but it would be a lot of additional work and management for the pool volunteers, and the kids wouldn't get nearly the same experience as those coming to morning practice. Could we run the equivalent of the morning age group practices in the evenings- eg three hours of practice with 6 lanes, etc? absolutely not- we would have a membership revolt.
Now- a pool or team that is short members, and has a dedicated lap pool? totally different set of considerations.
I don't think there is a nefarious intent to either 'discriminate' against working families or 'favor' stay at home moms- different things work for different people, a summer pool can't be all things to all people.
Anonymous
Post 01/18/2022 13:43     Subject: Summer swim if work in office
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:If they don’t offer it, you need to push your team to have later afternoon practices for pre-team/full team as an option. Carpooling, too, and you do pick up if that’s still too early. There are ways to do it, and summer swim was great fun for our kids.


This would be a nonstarter at many/most pools. They aren’t going to shut down the pool to general membership at the busiest time of day.


It’s a smaller group that needs the evening session and you can get by with using a few lanes. Our pool is big so using a few lanes a few nights a week is NBD. But it would depend on the pool size.


Question. Are your coaches now coaching both morning and evening? That is a lot of hours. Or do your head coaches only do morning. That would be a tremendous cost to do both.


I wanted to ask the same thing. Coaches would be working 4-5 hours in the morning before the pool opens and then come back and work 5 to 8 pm? We have two head coaches and six lane coaches in the morning. I can't imagine being able to afford an evening cadre as well without doubling our fees. Even as it stands now we have to do a LOT of fundraising to pay our coaches.


It's not 5-8pm. It's one hour in the evenings - typically 3 nights a week - so yes, it is fewer days for the evening only group once school is out.
so we just joined a pool last year. Morning swim
Is 3 hours they have 8 and under go first. Then 9-12, then 13 and up. I’m not sure how you get all those ages to practice together for an hour when the poo is also open so less lap lanes available. Having said that, we both work and made the morning schedule work with a sitter that drives.