Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 16:39     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.


I wish they would. But NVSL prefers us to end in July. Earlier and earlier.


They used to end in August but once school started going back before Labor Day they moved everything up.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 15:38     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.


I wish they would. But NVSL prefers us to end in July. Earlier and earlier.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 11:53     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our pool is free (hoa pool).


So HOA dues cover it. Are yours fairly low?


Yes, they are reasonable. $80/month includes pool, trash, a fulltime office person, a clubhouse, community maintenance (playgrounds etc).


Does $80/month include the swim team fees? Where is this? I pay$80 just for trash service in NoVA


$80 a month? We pay about $100 a quarter.
Club dues are $575 and swim team make $130 ish.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 10:11     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our pool is free (hoa pool).


So HOA dues cover it. Are yours fairly low?


Yes, they are reasonable. $80/month includes pool, trash, a fulltime office person, a clubhouse, community maintenance (playgrounds etc).


Does $80/month include the swim team fees? Where is this? I pay$80 just for trash service in NoVA


You need to switch trash services. You can pay half.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 10:10     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our pool is free (hoa pool).


So HOA dues cover it. Are yours fairly low?


Yes, they are reasonable. $80/month includes pool, trash, a fulltime office person, a clubhouse, community maintenance (playgrounds etc).


Does $80/month include the swim team fees? Where is this? I pay$80 just for trash service in NoVA


No, it just covers the pool costs. The HOA swim team is a separate registration fee.
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 10:06     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our pool is free (hoa pool).


So HOA dues cover it. Are yours fairly low?


Yes, they are reasonable. $80/month includes pool, trash, a fulltime office person, a clubhouse, community maintenance (playgrounds etc).


Does $80/month include the swim team fees? Where is this? I pay$80 just for trash service in NoVA
Anonymous
Post 05/10/2025 05:55     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our pool is free (hoa pool).


So HOA dues cover it. Are yours fairly low?


Yes, they are reasonable. $80/month includes pool, trash, a fulltime office person, a clubhouse, community maintenance (playgrounds etc).
Anonymous
Post 05/09/2025 20:14     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.


Heck no! There would be only 2 weeks between end of summer swimming season and start of school.



I think FCPS can do a better job of managing holidays and teacher work days so the school year doesn’t stretch into mid-June.
Anonymous
Post 05/09/2025 20:02     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.


Heck no! There would be only 2 weeks between end of summer swimming season and start of school.
Anonymous
Post 05/09/2025 18:34     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.

And adding that’s why we may not sign up this year.
Anonymous
Post 05/09/2025 18:34     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Agree with previous comments that NVSL needs to adjust the season a week later for late FCPS finish. My kids spring sports aren’t done until school is out and then they are late/not available and then not in swim shape by half way through.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2025 08:33     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:8am practices don't work for us anymore and we ar3 tired of B meets. Kid feels like it's a waste of time when he would rather sleep in


B meets are one night of the week...

but I get it, swim team isn't for everyone. This is honestly why, as a team rep, I don't bend over backwards to accommodate every family. I figure if the kids and family care enough, as we did, they will make it work. If they don't care they will make 100 excuses they they just can't do swim team.
Anonymous
Post 05/08/2025 07:12     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:8am practices don't work for us anymore and we ar3 tired of B meets. Kid feels like it's a waste of time when he would rather sleep in


Swim might not be for you and your family. That is okay.

We have not lost a lot of swimmers this year. Our numbers are up about 10%. The neighborhoods have been changing over the past five years and more homeowners retire and move out, more couples and families have been moving in.
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2025 23:22     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

8am practices don't work for us anymore and we ar3 tired of B meets. Kid feels like it's a waste of time when he would rather sleep in
Anonymous
Post 05/07/2025 20:43     Subject: NVSL: Any teams noticing drops in registrations?

Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I don’t know how our registrations are yet, but I have always thought our pool was not very accommodating for working parents (and I stay home). I try to help other families as much as I can, but feel like this summer is going to be really hard for a lot of families.

Practice schedules are “the way they always have been” rather than trying to allow for 10&u to get to summer camp by 9. Not to mention the crazy expectations for Monday and Wednesday afternoon meets.

I don’t know what the solution is, but maybe this is the year more teams will figure it out?


As someone who has always worked full time in the office with little flexibility and who is a swim team rep there really isn’t an easy solution. We struggled when our kids were little. We had summers where we had a sitter take kid to swim then to camp late. Then when we had 2 kids on swim we hired summer sitters.

So I get that it’s really tough for full time working parents. If we move younger kid practices earlier the SAH parents whine about having to get their kids out the door and to the pool by 7:30am and that still may be too early or even too late for working parents/kids headed to camp Afternoon practices are tricky because general pool members don’t want to lose pool space for swim team. Plus with B meets and dive meets they can’t happen every day. Kids also tend to be tired from long days at camp so they don’t get as much out of practice or even show up much.



All of this. Unless your pool has an additional lap pool, pool space is limited. The general membership already tends to feel like swim team gets priority, with meet closures and after school practice, and they balk at additional lanes being taken up for practice when they want to be able to relax at the pool in the early evening.



What the general membership doesn't understand is that many families wouldn't bother to join the pool if their kids weren't on the swim team. Without the swim families, many pools would not have the money to operate. As for relaxing in the early evening at the pool, do they complain about sharing the roads with commuters, waiting in line at the grocery store, etc...? Pools are open all day during the summer. Lap swimmers could get up in the morning and swim before it gets too hot.


But they can't because the pool is being used by swim and dive practice... unless they don't work and can come at

I think this also really depends on the pool. Not everyone joins for swim team. Some pools have a HUGE swim team culture where everyone is on the team and some do not. Our swim team is made up of about 180 kids, from 110 families. That is only 20-25% of the overall pool membership.



The lap swimmers I ever see are few - I can count maybe a half dozen regulars at our pool. Half of them don’t really need a dedicated lane - they could just float or walk in place elsewhere.


This is such an obnoxious perspective- I'm hoping that the clock of anonymity is making you feel free in a way that you would not actually voice. Our pool doesn't have an evening practice option- there are some families lobbying for it because of RTO. I don't think it is going to happen. I'm part of a pool with a pretty big swim team and a long multi year waitlist. The pool is doing great, the swim team may be down a few kids, but it's not a significant drop. The elderly lap swimmers that you reference are valued members of our pool. They are mostly long term members, they pay their dues, and tend to use the pool at off peak hours. The lap lanes are used in the after work hours by a variety of working members. They bring their kids to the pool after work, maybe have dinner there, and swim some laps. Why should they have to stop doing this to accommodate a few families desire for evening swim practice? The swim team already gets to close the pool Monday evenings/ Saturday mornings and dominate the pool for several weeks after school before school gets out.