Swim Moms- what age did your child start year round teams?

[JulieA97]

DS is 6 and this is his 3rd year on the summer league swim team. He has talked for the past year about wanting to join the year around team. For his age group, practice is twice a week and meets are not required but offered if he wants to do one. He LOVES his summer team and looks forward to it all year long, as do I.

 

We decided last year not to do it as twice a week seemed like too much at his age and I wanted him to be able to try other things. We tried martial arts and it was way more involvement than I realized and he didn't love it.

 

Our hesitation is he is still so young and don't want him burned out. He loves to swim and we don't want to ruin that. Pros for joining the team are it would really help him improve the technique of his strokes. Its not cheap but martial arts was more expensive.

 

What age did you start? Pros and cons? Thoughts?

[OneStepAtATime]

If he is enthusiastic, the expectations are developmentally appropriate, the atmosphere is supportive, and it fits in with your schedule I don't see why it would be a bad idea. You can pull him out later, right?

[amy g.]

My youngest started at 6. She had been on the summer swim team before that.

 

Our hour practices are 5 days a week and sometimes a 2 hour practice on a 6th day.

 

She absolutely loves it.

 

I stay for every practice to make sure I know what is going on. There is no pressure at all. Her coach is very encouraging and everything she asks of them is developmentally appropriate. What I love most about her is that she does not allow any misbehavior, but she always corrects gently and with humor. It is a rare gift.

 

Dd got to swim up to the 9-10 relay yesterday. It was very thrilling but under 12 years old, our team focuses on correct technique and attitude and work ethic. They assure the kids that faster times come naturally from those habits and so far it has been true.

 

Swim team is really the highlight of our week. The girls are making amazing friends and learning a sport that they can practice for a lifetime.

[EmseB]

Twice a week is what we do for novice level year round swimming. It's pretty low pressure and going to meets is fun.

 

The biggest thing I would check on is how much commitment they want from you. Practice is twice a week for my kid and meets are optional. However, as a parent of a novice kid I am expected to volunteer the same number of hours as a parent of a kid that's swimming at the most competitive level and doing two-a-days. Being on the team means being on the team, with all that entails.

[Guest]

We never did. My friends got full rides on swim scholarships and their kids swam summer league only. They had seen so many of their own summer swim friends--excellent swimmers--burn out by high school that they encouraged their kids to swim only as they wanted and did not push. They themselves started year-round their junior years ...and that was when the scholarship awardees started looking at them.

 

It's fine if they want to swim year-round. That desire is the key. But my friends needed the scholarships and do they kept their powder dry.

[PeterPan]

There might be some differences between the summer and year round teams. Around here, summer teams are taught by teens. I'm sure they vary, just observing the instructors and tone could vary. Also, was he swimming outdoors? The year-round teams here swim indoors in pools that are kept cooler than recreational pools. For a young, very skinny dc, this can be shockingly cold! My ds is so cold in the swim team pool, he actually has to wear a 3/2 mill wetsuit to keep warm. He just gets really cold!

 

I don't think it's an issue to put him on a team two days a week at that age, but I would make sure the flavor will be the same or something he'll enjoy. And my personal opinion is to cross-train. It's what our coaches tell us. We do speed skills, tennis, gymnastics, swimming, all sorts of things. I read on the board here not to go beyond 2 days a week for swimming before age 12, and that's what we're sorta doing, seems like. The other days we do other sports. If you have a strong core, lots of overall strength, that's going to help your swimming. And of course swimming will improve your form for some other sports! Like my ds on p-bars points his toes really well. That lengthening is something he learned in swimming, and it carries over, giving him beautiful form! 

 

So if you cross train, it's not a biggee to pause one thing for a while to diverge or take a break from it.

Edited May 23, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[Tap]

Ten.  He was in a pre-swim team class for a couple of years, but the club didn't offer swim team because their pool wasn't regulation size and didn't have dive blocks.   He decided to join a team about 10yo, when his favorite coach left the club.

Edited May 23, 2017 by Tap

[bettyandbob]

We never did. My friends got full rides on swim scholarships and their kids swam summer league only. They had seen so many of their own summer swim friends--excellent swimmers--burn out by high school that they encouraged their kids to swim only as they wanted and did not push. They themselves started year-round their junior years ...and that was when the scholarship awardees started looking at them.

 

It's fine if they want to swim year-round. That desire is the key. But my friends needed the scholarships and do they kept their powder dry.

When did they get scholarships. How were they recruited. College coaches currently (like the last twenty years or so) not look at high school team performance or summer league performance. On some rare exceptional occasion a high school performance may generate interest for a coach to take a look. They pretty much just focus on club swimmers and USA Swimming meet performance. Edited May 23, 2017 by Diana P.

[bettyandbob]

I always say pay attention to who is driving the train. Your DS is enthusiastic. 2 days a week is good at his age. As he ages expectations will rise. Make sure you continue because it is what he wants. I've heard too many parents say "she wanted to quit, but she's too good." You can make a child burn out and resentful with that approach.

I also think you should stay at practice. Most people leave. At least they leave the humid pool deck. If you can, sit through practice on the pool deck bleachers. And do that occasionally when he gets older too. I've worked at several pools and been able to observe a few year round club coaches who rent pool space. Often the most inexperienced coaches are assigned to the younger swimmers. Some are good, using well planned appropriate drills and feedback. Others are like a woman I observed last year: constantly screaming (even when acoustics are bad, you can distinguish screaming from simply giving direction loudly), not being specific with feedback and unnecessarily derogatory ("your kicking sucks". The whole group didn't know what they were doing wrong or how to fix it), generally rude (yelling and calling them dumb because they didn't follow directions, when if the whole group didn't follow directions it was probably her directions that were bad).

Obviously, most coaches will not be like that woman. However, if you leave the pool area you will not hear as well as see. And 6 is young. So your child may not feel he can explain if there is a problem.

Edited May 23, 2017 by Diana P.

[Alice]

Our summer team offers a once a week practice all year.. My oldest did that at age 6 and 7 and my youngest does it now. At 8 my oldest did a once a week practice with a USA tea and then moved to twice a week. This past year (age 13) he moved to three times a week.

 

Oldest loves swimming and is very good. He could be better but chooses not to swim as much as most kids he sge and level. I feel like it has to be his choice. We hose a USA club that is less intense for that reason. The coaches are good and push him but the also recognize that a lot of kids don't want to make swimming their life. I've seen some clubs who ignore swimmers who are not the elite ones.

 

The pros of swimming are that it is a great way to exercise and it's a great sport that can be enjoyed lifelong. For a homeschooled it's a sport that you can do at the more elite levels (high school swimming is generally not as competitive as USA swimming so you don't miss out by not being on a high scjool team). I love that swimming is a sport where all ages and genders mix. On our summer team the older kids are the leaders for the younger kids. I loved that for my little kids and now that I have a teen I love that opportunity for him.

 

Cons of year round swimming are like anything else that you do. Burnout, injuries, a too busy lifestyle.

[MysteryJen]

My kids have been all over the board in when they joined year-round teams. Ds1 was 9 and dd1 was 8. It was a small team with a great coach. They practiced 3 or 4 days a week for the first few years. Next kid swam summer league for a couple of seasons and joined year round at 9. We then changed teams (pool location primarily) and dd2 joined at 5 yrs old. Ds3 was along for the ride and joined at 5 as well. We changed teams again (social reasons) when ds3 was 8 and dd2 10. Both swam 4-6 practices a week at that time. 

 

The change to year-round is a big one. My only advice is that your kid needs to be the one asking. Ds1 and ds2 both stopped swimming at different points, and that is okay. My other kids "drove the bus" on swimming and I have never once pushed them to go to practice. Dd1 is swimming on a D1 scholarship, dd2 trains 7-8 practices a week, and ds3 is at 5-6, depending on his tennis schedule.

 

Regarding the anecdotes about summer swimmers/high school only swimmers getting great scholarships, I have not seen it at all. I have seen summer swimmers move to year-round teams in high school and have great success. My anecdotes (for one team is at 6 out 7), however, are that the scholarships they earned are abandoned or lost, as they are not prepared for the demands for D1 swimming. ymmv

[Guest]

When did they get scholarships. How were they recruited. College coaches currently (like the last twenty years or so) not look at high school team performance or summer league performance. On some rare exceptional occasion a high school performance may generate interest for a coach to take a look. They pretty much just focus on club swimmers and USA Swimming meet performance.

 

It was a number of years ago, and the school they went to (an NCAA Big-Ten (then) school) discontinued to swim program a few years ago.

 

They swam with a top-tier club year round for the last two years of high school, and summer league until they were 18.  They are both in adult swim leagues now at a local club.  

 

The thing that probably still holds true is the burnout issue.  That's what we saw when my son quit swimming summer league 4 years ago (age 18).  By the time he was a junior, the best swimmers on the summer league had been swimming at the Elite Club for several years...but none of them was still swimming at all (Club or summer league) by their senior year.  My son and one other were the only kids who swam all 12 years, and my son was NOT particularly good.  He still liked it though, and completed from age 12-18 because he promised his coach he would.  (That kept commitment made me very happy.)

 

I'm not trying to be argumentative.  OBVIOUSLY there are a LOT of kids who don't burn out.  Some are now wonderful coaches at year-round swim clubs.  :0)   It's just that I thought my friends were pretty observant and thoughtful about their approach; that's why I posted.  

[blondeviolin]

My son started at 5. He swam twice a week until we moved out of state and joined a USA club. Almost five years later, he swims four or five days a week and still loves it.

[bettyandbob]

They swam with a top-tier club year round for the last two years of high school, and summer league until they were 18. They are both in adult swim leagues now at a local club.

 

 

Your first post suggested kids can never swam club and get scholarships. That is highly unlikely. Swimming club the last two years of high is entirely different. Typically two years is very late, but not too late for some people to start being noticed.

 

People who swim for several years and quit before being recruited often realize they aren't good enough to be recruited or don't want to do the work they've calculated they need to do to get recruited. I've seen that in a lot of sports--kids who seemed to be high in performance who just drop it in high school. Most often these are kids who were not permitted much decision making earlier.

 

It is not starting early that leads to burn out as much as who is driving the train. If parents are leading the charge in an activity the child can get quite good, but never develop inner drive and obsessed need to get to that upper level. There is nothing wrong with starting at a young age in a program that has appropriate age goals and coaching. The goals and the drive have to belong to the child. The child should have the ability to say they want to back off. The child should have the ability to say she's completed what she was interested in doing or say I tried and this turned out not to be what I wanted. That should permitted anytime throughout the years on the journey leading to adulthood.

Edited May 24, 2017 by Diana P.

[amy g.]

I thought about burn out all day yesterday. I typed up something really long but it didn't make sense.

 

I'm going to try again.

 

The kids I see who burn out are the ones who have parents that push them. Period.

 

One of our coaches told me that the kids who are burning up the pool at 10 are not her good swimmers at 18. They are the ones who can't handle not always being first. They are the ones who quit when they need to move up in age because they are not the leader any more.

 

She said that her best swimmers come to practice every day, have a teachable attitude and a good work ethic. She said that qualifying times will always follow those habits.

 

There are a couple of kids who I can predict are going to quit soon. One girl is very fast, but she had a 45 minute crying jag when her relay came in second. She complained about how unfair it was that the other team's anchor had practice twice a day and also had private coaches between practices.

 

I stayed out of it, but when her teammates came to me and said that they tried to cheer her up saying they could all swim 1 second faster next time, she complained that we don't have very many opportunities for relays.

 

I just told the kids that that kind of attitude is never going to bring success or happiness. There will always be someone faster and richer and luckier and you will always be miserable.

 

I'm so sick of hearing about "grit" but sometimes it is glaringly obvious that some kids have natural ability but not the fortitude to actually stay the course.

 

I'm not worried about my own kids burning out.

 

They have very reasonable goals for each race. Their coaches understand what is appropriate and their policies reflect this understanding.

 

We are not looking for scholarships. I'm not even sure I would want my kids swimming in college.

 

Our goal is physical and mental health, great friends and activities and lifelong enjoyment of swimming.

 

I forgot to add that our family did 19 years with the summer swim club in our former state. I am thankful for the coaches we had there over the years, but my older kids did develop stroke errors that were not corrected. There were just too many kids per coach for them to get the same level of instruction.

 

I know the quality of high school teams varies vastly by location, but ours sometimes practices and has meets at the pool when our USA team is practicing. I'm glad those kids get a chance to swim, and I am glad they are trying but there is no comparison as far as skill levels are concerned.

Edited May 24, 2017 by amy g.

[Guest]

Your first post suggested kids can never swam club and get scholarships. That is highly unlikely. Swimming club the last two years of high is entirely different. Typically two years is very late, but not too late for some people to start being noticed.

...snip...

 

 

I'm sorry I wasn't clearer.