Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 21:27     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Sounds like there’s drama at every pool. Is anyone at a pool where the vibe is generally relaxed and friendly?


Yes! I am on a wonderful team in division 15. It's so fun and very little drama. We don't post a ladder and coaches make all the decisions about who swims in a meet.

However, we are very small and, due to rules set by the HOA, are limited in how many outside members we can have. It's still a struggle to fill lanes



I can see how posting a ladder can take all the fun out of summer swim. What a great idea and a positive environment. I hope people are taking notes. No reason to post a team ladder so people can boast about their little swimmers.


Actually, posting the ladder provides transparency as to swims A meets and relays, and takes any potential drama out of it.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:51     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The true crazies are those that start creating their own ladder by sketching out meet results.

And yes, the overzealous parents are generally newer to swim with younger swimmers.


you don't really need to do this- nvsl does it for you- https://www.mynvsl.com/leaders
just limit it to your pool and the age group you are interested in. Of course, this will only give you A meet results- so you need to pay attention at b meets and time trials.


Really then you wonder how your kid didn’t make the mixed aged relay because the reps daughter suddenly drops 3 seconds in a slower heat at the b Meet . Why inconvenience parents to pull data if SwimTopia does it for you ?
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:46     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:We've heard that a lot of pools don't post their ladders. We've been concerned that it will be perceived as a lack of transparency and foster rumors of favoritism over times (even though the rationale for not posting one is actually well-intentioned).


Our ladder is not posted. Parents know the NVSL times and will watch B times and sort of "know" where their kid is in the line up. Parents will ask the team rep all the time where their kid and she will tell them they are number three or number seven, etc. But doesn't name the other swimmers. The idea is just to encourage the swimmer to improve their time.

Just ask the rep.


I can only imagine the amount of emails this team rep receives inquiring about their swimmers’ rankings. I definitely wouldn’t want to be the team rep of this team.


I had a kid who was on the bubble all season in one of the aforementioned D1 teams without a ladder - I can't imagine having emailed the team rep about rankings. I kept an eye on times online throughout the season, but just to figure out if we might need to be at a meet on a given Saturday or leave work at noon on a Wednesday to go to ASRs.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:30     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:The true crazies are those that start creating their own ladder by sketching out meet results.

And yes, the overzealous parents are generally newer to swim with younger swimmers.


you don't really need to do this- nvsl does it for you- https://www.mynvsl.com/leaders
just limit it to your pool and the age group you are interested in. Of course, this will only give you A meet results- so you need to pay attention at b meets and time trials.


OP here. This is what the mom in question did - her own ladder based on times for last year. She was saying her kid should make it to all the A meets unless there is someone new or my DD "knocks her out." 😳
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:24     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Don’t the majority of kids over 10 that regularly swim in A meets know their times/ seeding vs their teammates’? They know what lanes are highest seeded in the A meets, they check their posted times on the wall or on MeetMobile. The ladders are for the parents.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:23     Subject: Re:Summer swim brings out the crazy
FWIW- when I had younger swimmers, I definitely created my own ladder. Not to brag or discuss with anyone- but to help my kids pick their strokes. My kids were 'on the bubble' for being in A meets- focusing on breast and fly got them into a lot more meets as 8 and unders and even 9-10s then if they had just stuck with the ever popular free.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:20     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:The true crazies are those that start creating their own ladder by sketching out meet results.

And yes, the overzealous parents are generally newer to swim with younger swimmers.


you don't really need to do this- nvsl does it for you- https://www.mynvsl.com/leaders
just limit it to your pool and the age group you are interested in. Of course, this will only give you A meet results- so you need to pay attention at b meets and time trials.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:11     Subject: Re:Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our team publishes a ladder. I think it's a better way to do it; it makes the process a lot more transparent. Also, don't all sports in this area bring out the crazies? This is not unique to swimming.


I disagree. I think it creates a situation where swimmers are pitting themselves against teammates to "beat" them and take their position on the ladder. Swim should never be about beating your own teammate. It sets up a bad culture.


Honey…if the pool is that competitive that a ladder is necessary for transparency…swimmers are already trying to beat each other. These are **races.**

That’s not the driver for transparency. Parents accuse coaches and reps of seeding their kids and/or favorites over faster kids. Publishing the ladder removes that concern. Not publishing it creates space for those accusations. It sucks that it has to be that way.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 20:02     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
The true crazies are those that start creating their own ladder by sketching out meet results.

And yes, the overzealous parents are generally newer to swim with younger swimmers.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:51     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:I think the ladder brings transparency, because there is already a lack of transparency with timing wheels, etc. I think a good medium is posting the top 6 because it allows swimmers at the bottom of the 6 to see what they need to do. Also, given you could very well have the same top 3 swimmers in 1st, 2nd, 3rd on the ladder,r and a swimmer is only allowed to swim two Individual events in an A meet


Spoken like a true crazy parent


it takes one to know one!!
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:50     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:Guys, Tuckahoe is leading the charge on posting the ladder, right?? Because those parents are by far the craziest summer swim parents around.


OKM posts a ladder, and there aren’t crazies. It’s a lovely team with lovely families and kids. My child sometimes makes it, sometimes doesn’t, but we know it’s 100% on the up and up, particularly since we have a lot of depth in some age groups.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:47     Subject: Re:Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Our team publishes a ladder. I think it's a better way to do it; it makes the process a lot more transparent. Also, don't all sports in this area bring out the crazies? This is not unique to swimming.


I disagree. I think it creates a situation where swimmers are pitting themselves against teammates to "beat" them and take their position on the ladder. Swim should never be about beating your own teammate. It sets up a bad culture.


Honey…if the pool is that competitive that a ladder is necessary for transparency…swimmers are already trying to beat each other. These are **races.**
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:45     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:I think the ladder brings transparency, because there is already a lack of transparency with timing wheels, etc. I think a good medium is posting the top 6 because it allows swimmers at the bottom of the 6 to see what they need to do. Also, given you could very well have the same top 3 swimmers in 1st, 2nd, 3rd on the ladder,r and a swimmer is only allowed to swim two Individual events in an A meet


Spoken like a true crazy parent
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:41     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
Anonymous wrote:Why do summer teams like mine use SwimTopia rather than Meet mobile?

Those platforms serve very different purposes. Swimtopia is used to manage a team - website, registration, volunteer sign up, etc. it also stores swimmer data, including best times and time histories by swimmer. Meet Mobile just posts times for a specific meet, and they aren’t official times. Some NVSL meets do use MeetMobile to broadcast results, but not in place of SwimTopia.
Anonymous
Post 05/28/2025 19:34     Subject: Summer swim brings out the crazy
I think the ladder brings transparency, because there is already a lack of transparency with timing wheels, etc. I think a good medium is posting the top 6 because it allows swimmers at the bottom of the 6 to see what they need to do. Also, given you could very well have the same top 3 swimmers in 1st, 2nd, 3rd on the ladder,r and a swimmer is only allowed to swim two Individual events in an A meet