My son plays rec soccer. But he only plays in the spring. He wants to play on a travel team, but those spots keep going to kids who play soccer year-round and do a bunch of extra clinics and stuff. Can’t they be kicked out of the league so that we can have a travel team for spring-only players?

Isn't this how life works? Yes, our div 2 pool is dominated by year round swimmers. But shouldn't they dominate? They spend the most time becoming the best at their sport. Just like at work, those who become an expert in their subject matter typically dominate. Or those at school that study the hardest become the best students. If your kid wants to be the best, then they can swim year round. But most don't want to make that commitment and that is fine. I use it is a reason to explain to my kids that if you want to be like them, you need to commit to that level of swimming. They don't love swimming that much.

On the whole the number of days you swim depends on several factors. MOST kids should swim two days a week (or less) until age 10. This is when you move up to three days a week and in some clubs four days.

Most reputable clubs will not allow a kid under the age of 13 to swim more than that. Yes, some kids want to but they would be better served by cross training the other days. The reason for this is overuse injuries. There is a strong correlation of early intense training and shoulder injuries with swimmers.

You will see certain clubs push kids into more training way to early. Clubs that benefit significantly on the days in the water you are signed up for - push too early. Besides injuries there is more chance of burnout.

Swimming should be considered a life long sport with intense training starting in high school.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

That is probably right amount for a 6 year old. My DD is 11 and swims 4x a week, Sept - May, and then they move to long course and its 3x a week, June - July.

I agree, my kids swam once per week in Kindergarten (6), then joined a team in 1st grade and usually swam twice a week. They progressed from there: 3-4 practices in later elementary, 5 in middle school, more in HS (if they wanted to!). There is a lot of time in front of you, our goal was to keep swimming year to year as long as they enjoyed it.

3-4 times a week is a lot for 4th and 5th graders. My 9yo 4th grader does twice a week. I guess maybe that’s why she’s not winning in any meets tho lol. I’m ok with it, she’s happy.

If she is happy, that is great and probably the best metric, imo. My kid swam 3x in 4th and that was a good amount for her (except for Covid when it was much less, which she really didn’t like). There is no one formula for kids. It also probably depends on the length, intensity and social fit of practice. We are all just trying our best.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

That is probably right amount for a 6 year old. My DD is 11 and swims 4x a week, Sept - May, and then they move to long course and its 3x a week, June - July.

I agree, my kids swam once per week in Kindergarten (6), then joined a team in 1st grade and usually swam twice a week. They progressed from there: 3-4 practices in later elementary, 5 in middle school, more in HS (if they wanted to!). There is a lot of time in front of you, our goal was to keep swimming year to year as long as they enjoyed it.

3-4 times a week is a lot for 4th and 5th graders. My 9yo 4th grader does twice a week. I guess maybe that’s why she’s not winning in any meets tho lol. I’m ok with it, she’s happy.

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is that there needs to be a way to encourage summer only swimmers. If they can't ever get into the A meets because of the year round swimmers, the incentive is gone. That's why low key, small pools are fun because everyone has a chance to get into A meets. It's a doable thing.

Your second to last sentence is wrong. Most summer pools are fun - and it isn't because everyone has a chance to do A meets. Summer pools have: pep rallys, team dinners, team building activities, game night, frequent but easy practices so kids have a chance to hang out and talk (esp after practice), movie nights, etc. No kid thinks making the A meets is what makes summer swim "fun." Sure, they like making the A meets, but again, that's not what classifies their summer team as fun.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

That is probably right amount for a 6 year old. My DD is 11 and swims 4x a week, Sept - May, and then they move to long course and its 3x a week, June - July.

I agree, my kids swam once per week in Kindergarten (6), then joined a team in 1st grade and usually swam twice a week. They progressed from there: 3-4 practices in later elementary, 5 in middle school, more in HS (if they wanted to!). There is a lot of time in front of you, our goal was to keep swimming year to year as long as they enjoyed it.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

We do 4x a week

age 11

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

We do 4x a week

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

9 and twice a week for an hour each.

yes, definitely at our pool

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:I think the issue is that there needs to be a way to encourage summer only swimmers. If they can't ever get into the A meets because of the year round swimmers, the incentive is gone. That's why low key, small pools are fun because everyone has a chance to get into A meets. It's a doable thing.

There is. It’s called doing well in your b meet swim. If your b meet time is good enough they will move you up. This is a seriously confused parent probably of a very young child.

+1. Hopefully as the kid gets older the system will make more sense. FWIW, as a mom of high school swimmers, my perspective is that summer swim is one of the most fun, best value activities any of my kids have ever done. My kids lifeguard and junior coach -- even the one who doesn't swim year round and mostly swims B meets. The themes, friendships, mentoring opportunities are pretty great. It is such a fun culture that I think is unique to this area. As my kids are getting close to aging out, I realize how much I will miss these days!

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Of course the kids who practice 100 days a week will dominate. I go to a pressure cooker swim team pool. The summer kids mostly swim in B meets. They are still on the team and have fun.

It’s just unfair and it doesn’t incentivize the summer swim kiddos!!

Whoever you are. This is life. It’s totally fair. It’s called competition. The kids who study more do better. The kids who do more athletics are more athletic. How do you get through any day of life? Your problem is that you don’t feel comfortable not being at the top and don’t like seeing people better than you. That’s an internal issue to work out. Regarding swim is your kid improving and having fun and feeling part of the team? If so it’s a win in most parent’s books. What you are feeling is jealousy. Which you probably have in other areas of your life.

+100 The OP seems to think "Only the A meets are fun because they are the competitive meets, and I don't like the competition with swimmers that are faster than mine." You can't have it both ways. Either enjoy the less competitive B meets and help your kid enjoy competing against their own times. Or compete fairly for a spot in the A meet and learn to accept the you don't always win.

What do you mean dominate?
Dominate the swim team meets because they have additional swim practices in the winter to improve their skills and speed?
or do you mean dominate the pool area because the kids spend alot of time at the pool?
Some kids are just naturally athletic so they do well in sports including swimming. Not all kids are like this. Some train rigorously because they want to improve in that sport.

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:For those kids that do year round swimming, how many days do your kids practice in the winter/spring? our kid is 6 and she does 1x a week during the fall/spring.

That is probably right amount for a 6 year old. My DD is 11 and swims 4x a week, Sept - May, and then they move to long course and its 3x a week, June - July.

DD is 11 and swim 4x/week in winter and 5x/week plus meets in the summer.