Any swim parent on deck?

Shelterdog

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I've got a 7 year old girl who just joined a competitive swim team in the NYC area and I'm curious if people have thoughts/tips/advice on how to be a supportive parent (and how to get through the apparently interminable meets).
 
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Read lots of books.
Volunteer to do stuff.

My six year old son swam meets this Summer for the first time and is now taking lessons in the offseason to gear up for next year because he's really into it. The meets were so goddamn boring. He swims for like 35 seconds every hour and does it four times and then it's over. So I volunteered as a timer (unofficial just for the improvement of the players, not the competitive timers) for as many meets as I could. It beats just sitting there and there's some folks to talk to and you can kind of try to get into the "excitement" of the thing. On nights I did not do the timer thing I just brought a book and paid attention when he swam and otherwise read.
 

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I've got a 7 year old girl who just joined a competitive swim team in the NYC area and I'm curious if people have thoughts/tips/advice on how to be a supportive parent (and how to get through the apparently interminable meets).
Not a parent but I was on teams as a kid and I do some coaching:
  • Best advice for surviving a meet is a book and/or smartphone. You'll also get to know fellow parents pretty well, for better or worse.
  • Volunteer to help with timing, getting snacks, chaperone trips, etc.
  • Don't let her skip practice unless it's something really obvious (medical, family issue, etc). There's going to be no end of preteen and teen angst and you really just gotta power through it.
  • I don't know what system her team has, but something that really mattered to me growing up as a swimmer was tracking my times. I still have most of my times from my events from every meet recorded, and it was huge for me to see I was getting better.
  • Don't listen to those "if everyone celebrates, there are no winners" psychos. Celebrate improving a time even if she doesn't place well, celebrate trying a new event even if it's tough, celebrate getting in the water and doing her best.
  • Encourage her to get on relay teams. I was convinced I was absolute shit, even with the timing records saying otherwise, until I started getting on relays. Fantastic for self esteem to be part of a team with swimmers I saw as being better than me and having them cheer me on, give me tips, and celebrate when we did well together.
  • Look for swim camps or other off-season events to keep them in the water. My parents used to send me to Brown University-run swim camp which both terrified and amazed me, and I learned a lot.
  • Listen to complaints about coaches carefully. Often it's a simple "they make me do too much," sometimes it's not.
 
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BroodsSexton

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The meets are tough, particularly when they are young (it becomes a bit more entertaining later on, at least from my perspective as a spectator). The practices, as they get a little older (not much older than your daughter) are constant, and consistency really matters. Within a couple years, though, she will literally be swimming laps around you. I got in a lap pool with my daughter for the first time in a while recently, and she absolutely smoked me. Literally swam circles around me, two laps for every one I was doing. She's 10. It was impressive and intimidating.

Two pieces of advice, from what I've seen: Have your daughter pick a stroke and take ownership of it as her "favorite," (probably her best stroke), and encourage her to swim with the older/better kids when she has the opportunity.

It's a tough sport. I couldn't do what she does. Those practices are grueling.
 

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Lots of good advice in here. My daughter turned 9 this summer and joined the competitive swimming as well.
My wife handled most of the day to day stuff, but it was really cool to see my daughter be excited for so many different things and realize that the was really good with her backstroke

She really focused on that and then slowly the light clicked on for the other strokes as well

Really good confidence booster for her and the had a blast a pretty much every meet she went to

And ya, books or a smartphone are a must
I also spent a lot of time walking around with our littlest guy just to kill time
 

ehaz

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Carpool with other parents for those early 6am practices and do fun things (like go out to breakfast with her teammates, etc.) so she doesn't grow up dreading them.

Ditto on swim camps.

Also re skipping practices - don't let her do it, but if she wants to try out another sport for a season when she's older, be supportive. Even 10 and under can be ridiculously competitive in USA swimming. As someone who swam from age 7 through the NCAA, it's a sport with a ton of burnout - there are few sports that can be a bigger time commitment. If my parents didn't listen when I wanted to try out for baseball/crew/ski team/etc. at various points when I was in school, I may have grown to hate swimming. Everyone needs a break. People who grow up swimming both LCY/SCM seasons every single year lose their childhood.
 

Just a bit outside

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Gymnastics dad but the meets sound similar to swimming. 4 hours of time for a few minutes of watching your kid. A few suggestions that help me get through the gym meets. First, pack snacks and food you like. Concession stands tend to serve garbage that will just make you feel worse. Second, bring headphones and listen to podcasts or music or to reduce sound while you read. At gym meets the same music being played over and over again for the floor routines are awful. I imagine swim meets are pretty loud and headphones will help. And finally, go for a walk outside between times when your daughter is swimming. Sitting for the entire meet drives me crazy so my wife and I take walks outside to get fresh air and escape the gym for about 15 minutes a few times every meet. Good luck.
 

Shelterdog

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Thanks so much everyone. She's only been on the team for a month and but she absolutely loves it so far (even the early saturday morning practice) and we couldn't be happier.
 

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My son swam from age 8 through HS, my daughter also started at 8 and is a HS senior so I'll be wrapping up my role as swim parent unless she goes to a D3 school.

Some of your time during meets will probably be taken up by assigned jobs. I personally liked timing over most of the other options because you got to be on deck and the meet seems to fly by when you're doing it. If you end up timing, be prepared to get wet and wear appropriate footwear. You'd be amazed at the water displacement ability of a little 7 year old girl when they go off the blocks or an older kid when they do flip turns. Like someone said, find a carpool especially for meets when they have to be there for first warm up an hour + before the meet starts. If you only have to do one of those per weekend long meet it's a good thing.

It was mentioned above but a lot of swimmer satisfaction is based on beating your last times. At the early ages it tends to happen frequently and they'll drop like 10 seconds on a 50 yd swim. It gets tough when the start to plateau but that's a few years out. Whatever the case, every time they come up to see you in the stands after their race tell them "good swim" and hand them something to eat as they drip on your shoes and clothing. The coach will tell them what they're doing right or wrong, give them their splits, etc. The usual "don't be that parent" advice applies as it does with every other sport.

There are various apps that help track things during a meet (Meetmobile if the clubs in your area do that) or track a swimmer's times overall (USA swimming Deck Pass plus).

Since you just started the season I assume your daughter will be swimming through the winter. Dress in layers with shorts/t shirt if you are warm under normal circumstances because the temperature in the stands of a typical swim meet is roughly equal to the surface of the sun. You will learn there is a different fashion sense for swim meets.

Bring a book or whatever to keep occupied but also be aware of what event is going on and where your daughter will swim in said event. Most meets will have heat sheets so bring a highlighter and find her name. You'll be able to judge how much time is between her events and you can take a walk, get a snack, etc. I've got a pretty good track record of not missing events but it can suck if you sat there for 4 hours and miss one of their 30 second swims.
 

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Thread title should change "board" to "deck."

Daughter did it a couple years 7-9 years old, but also danced. Had to make a choice between 2 due to time commitment and conflicts. She chose dance - and continues to this day as a HS junior.

Competitions/recitals are similar to meets, but are better due to a) darkness hides you sleeping in cushioned auditorium chairs, and b) Low humidity and non chlorine smelling environment. Down side is the barrage of Tori Amosesque covers of all kinds of songs that were just fine in their original form. Plus you hear "Locomotion" every...single...time.
 

B H Kim

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Around here at least (Montgomery County, Maryland), there's a huge difference between winter and summer swimming. Summer swimming is a lot of fun for the kids, the practices are in the neighborhood and the meets are much quicker. Winter swimming, on the other hand, is a much bigger hassle. The meets alone are crazy (my younger daughter had to be at a meet at 6:00 am last Saturday and Sunday and was there each day for 4 or 5 hours). As others have said though, the meet organizers do a great job of publishing a timeline that allows me to leave/hang out elsewhere in the building or outside/etc. and come in just to watch her events. My wife times at most of these meets, but I generally prefer to hang out and come in for her events. My kids both swam winter and summer from ages 7 or 8 through their freshman years of high school. My older daughter swam on the high school JV team as a freshman and then, thankfully, decided to drop swimming for running* (which she's better at and enjoys a lot more). My younger daughter is a freshman now and still swims four nights a week all winter. She's probably good enough to swim varsity and she doesn't have any alternative sports, so I expect that she'll keep that up for the next few years.

________
*Running/track is a lot cheaper than swimming, too. But, track meets are actually worse than swim meets. They aren't as rigidly scheduled and can run 10 or more hours.
 

Bosoxen

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Have your daughter pick a stroke and take ownership of it as her "favorite," (probably her best stroke)
This is a really good bit of advice. I'd take it a step further, however, and if she decides freestyle is her favorite, it might help to encourage her to work on one of the others as her specialty. For two reasons:

1) I don't know about other coaches, but my coach would always do sets where you were required to pick a non-freestyle stroke for the set. If she doesn't develop one of those strokes, she will be absolutely miserable until she masters one of those.

2) If she develops a non-freestyle stroke, it really opens up her ability to join the more competitive medley relay teams. I was always a middling swimmer (ages 8-16) and never really wanted to get out of my freestyle comfort zone. But I worked at it and by the time I got to high school, I was serviceable enough at butterfly that I was the butterfly leg on the A team medley relay in our district championship meet, as a sophomore.
As someone who swam from age 7 through the NCAA, it's a sport with a ton of burnout - there are few sports that can be a bigger time commitment. If my parents didn't listen when I wanted to try out for baseball/crew/ski team/etc. at various points when I was in school, I may have grown to hate swimming. Everyone needs a break. People who grow up swimming both LCY/SCM seasons every single year lose their childhood.
This is absolutely true and pretty closely matches my experience. I was happiest when I was able to play baseball in the summer in addition to swimming. Once I had to quit baseball, my drive and desire plummeted. Add in the two-a-days that came with high school and club team practices and I was out by my junior year.

It can be a rewarding sport but the grind of the higher levels will eventually wear you down if you're not careful. You'll also want to be mindful of her school work. I was always a straight A student but the grueling practice schedule in high school made my grades slip to the point where I failed a class for the first time in my life.
 

Shelterdog

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This is a really good bit of advice. I'd take it a step further, however, and if she decides freestyle is her favorite, it might help to encourage her to work on one of the others as her specialty. For two reasons:

1) I don't know about other coaches, but my coach would always do sets where you were required to pick a non-freestyle stroke for the set. If she doesn't develop one of those strokes, she will be absolutely miserable until she masters one of those.

2) If she develops a non-freestyle stroke, it really opens up her ability to join the more competitive medley relay teams. I was always a middling swimmer (ages 8-16) and never really wanted to get out of my freestyle comfort zone. But I worked at it and by the time I got to high school, I was serviceable enough at butterfly that I was the butterfly leg on the A team medley relay in our district championship meet, as a sophomore.
Thanks for this-and thanks again to everyone for their thoughts.

According to the coach their big goal for all the swimmers under age 12 is to get every kid to develop their form and technique in every stroke; they try and avoid any specialization in distances/strokes until kids are 12. Don't know if that's a normal approach but they seem to know what they're doing and it's logical enough for me.

Next challenge for the pup: swim a 100 yards in a race! (She only did 25 yard races at her first meet).
Next challenge for the dad: get from Brooklyn Heights to West Nyack by 7:30 am on a Saturday morning!
 

Beomoose

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Thanks for this-and thanks again to everyone for their thoughts.

According to the coach their big goal for all the swimmers under age 12 is to get every kid to develop their form and technique in every stroke; they try and avoid any specialization in distances/strokes until kids are 12. Don't know if that's a normal approach but they seem to know what they're doing and it's logical enough for me.


Next challenge for the pup: swim a 100 yards in a race! (She only did 25 yard races at her first meet).
Next challenge for the dad: get from Brooklyn Heights to West Nyack by 7:30 am on a Saturday morning!
Fairly close to my experience in teams, and over the years I changed specialties/favorites more than once thanks to having that base of skill. So her coach's philosophy has got my endorsement, for what it's worth.

Good luck on the 100!
 

Shelterdog

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The update: she loves everything about swimming and swim team; she's getting much better (she just finished a 100 IM without getting DQed which-as a 7 year old--she's very proud of) she's slow as molasses. So overall a success from a parenting/holistic development of a child standpoint and perhaps less so from an athletic one but we're only 3 months into this adventure.
 

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Update 50 months later. Sitting at a Marriot between prelims and finals in now 11 year old daughter first junior Olympics. She knocked 3.5 seconds off her best time to anchor her 4x1 free relay to an upset win in the B heat (1:00.91) and also knocked 4.5 seconds off her best 200 breast time to qualify for finals. Five more individual events and thee more relays to follow. Younger sister (now 9) is making strides. And I’m almost now qualified as a USA swimming meet official
 

TheWizard

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I have a daughter who swims competitively, she is a sophomore in high school. She won four state titles this past fall. HS is the easy part, club swim is 8-9 practices a week?!?! Crazy.

The college recruiting letters have come, question is how much money does swim give?!?!? D1 coaches can't officially reach out to June 15 of your sophomore year. We shall find out.
 

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Funny seeing this bumped. My daughter just wrapped up her swim career a few weeks ago as a D3 swimmer for a NEWMAC school. She had personal bests in her 50, 100 and 200 free, time trialed a personal best in her 100 back and took part in the 4x50 free and 4x100 free relays that set school records. The only disappointing thing was that the 4x100 relay missed an invite to the NCAAs by .08.

It’s going to be weird not having any meets to attend after being swim parents for the past 16 years between our two kids.
 

Captaincoop

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I have a daughter who swims competitively, she is a sophomore in high school. She won four state titles this past fall. HS is the easy part, club swim is 8-9 practices a week?!?! Crazy.

The college recruiting letters have come, question is how much money does swim give?!?!? D1 coaches can't officially reach out to June 15 of your sophomore year. We shall find out.
Compare her times to college times to see where she comes in on the spectrum of that team. Obviously she can expect some improvement with advanced training, but it will give you a sense of where she stands at the outset (unlike in a team sport where you're kind of flying blind and relying on variable subjective evaluations).

Women's teams have 14 scholarships to break up and use - but remember that includes divers. And only the highest-level programs are fully funded. If you're looking at a mid-major program that could be more like 8 scholarships across the whole women's team.
 

TheWizard

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Compare her times to college times to see where she comes in on the spectrum of that team. Obviously she can expect some improvement with advanced training, but it will give you a sense of where she stands at the outset (unlike in a team sport where you're kind of flying blind and relying on variable subjective evaluations).

Women's teams have 14 scholarships to break up and use - but remember that includes divers. And only the highest-level programs are fully funded. If you're looking at a mid-major program that could be more like 8 scholarships across the whole women's team.
Solid advice, many thanks. This is all new to me, appreciate it.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Never even noticed this thread before now, but swim parent here (not intentionally, happened by accident and hasn't stopped).

My son is now 14 (8th grade), but has been swimming varsity since 7th grade at his school (they have a middle school and a high school at his private school, but if you're good enough in a sport like this, they'll put you on the varsity team). He came in 3rd in three events at the League Championships this year, and was only beat by seniors in high school. He swims 5 days a week year round, 2.5 hours a day, and then during the school season, you had 4 more practices a week (5:00-7:00 a.m. before school), plus meets. If my son would eat like a normal kid (never eats carbs, no pizza, no sweets, no ice cream, just steak, a burger here and there, salmon, ridiculous), he could easily put 25 pounds of muscle on his frame (he's almost 5'9, and 110 pounds), but he just can't do it. Hopefully, that'll change at some point. His times are comparable with lower end DIII college times in the free and fly (and out of nowhere, he knocked like 8 seconds off his 100 back a month ago in one meet and qualified for some big meet with his club program.

My daughter is a synchronized swimmer (11 years old, 5th grade) and she does 3 hours a day, 4x's a week, plus a couple of hour long private coaching sessions. She's on a plane once a month with my wife, and has US Junior Olympics this summer. She fucking loves everything about the sport.

My wife is a USA Swimming "official," but mainly just does timing. When my son started doing club, they require at least one parent to be certified as an official, so my wife goes to most of the meets, etc. with both kids. She can answer pretty much any question. It's a lot of time, money, etc. as parents, but the workouts, the discipline and commitment it takes from these kids will only pay off in the long run for them. My son gets down at times, because he sees his friends competing in "team" sports like baseball, hockey, football, etc. and getting the accolades, while he's a swimmer and a golfer, so that part can be a bit depressing at times. Even when at practice with other kids, it's a pretty solitary endeavor, whereas synchronized swimming is completely team oriented.
 

Shelterdog

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Never even noticed this thread before now, but swim parent here (not intentionally, happened by accident and hasn't stopped).
Welcome aboard!

Anyone going to the Sarasota Shark open in June? Team is trying to convince us to go and would enjoy meeting anyone IRL who has a swim kid.
 

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My son gets down at times, because he sees his friends competing in "team" sports like baseball, hockey, football, etc. and getting the accolades, while he's a swimmer and a golfer, so that part can be a bit depressing at times. Even when at practice with other kids, it's a pretty solitary endeavor, whereas synchronized swimming is completely team oriented.
Yeah my kids' HS swim team, despite doing really well in state meets and sending some kids off to major D1 programs, never really got the publicity from the school that team sports got. I think that's pretty common. HS swimming in general is weird as mentioned above though since it's usually a downgrade from the competition the club swimmers see. Some schools realize this (my kids' school was one) and made the club swimmers attend like one practice a week knowing they were swimming many more hours for their club teams. Some school coaches treated it as the most important thing ever and required the kids to attend all the HS practices in addition to whatever they were doing with the club team which not surprisingly led to some kids saying screw off to the HS team.

Throughout club and high school though you're right, it doesn't really feel like a "team" sport except when you had end of season meets and the points/standings mattered. I'm not sure there's anything louder than a pool during a battle for 1st/2nd on the last leg of a relay. Most of the other meets, although scores are kept, don't impact the season so it's all about how you did vs. your seed time.

When my daughter started swimming in college it still felt the same way for meets except for the year end championship but the difference in the team aspect was night and day. I didn't play a sport in college so maybe the cohesion is there for all sports but her school's team is roughly 60 kids and to say they are a close knit group would be an understatement. They have a bunch of "swim apartments" off campus and the apartments just roll to the next group of sophomores when seniors leave, it seems like every waking hour outside the pool is still spent with their swim friends and dating within the group is pretty much the norm and has the lovely term "swimcest" attached to it. Given that their schedules are a lot different than a normal college student and there's a certain mentality that goes with swimming endless laps for hours on end it kind of makes sense that they'd be a close group but I can't imagine a better environment for my daughter to have for her college career.
 

Deathofthebambino

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Yeah my kids' HS swim team, despite doing really well in state meets and sending some kids off to major D1 programs, never really got the publicity from the school that team sports got. I think that's pretty common. HS swimming in general is weird as mentioned above though since it's usually a downgrade from the competition the club swimmers see. Some schools realize this (my kids' school was one) and made the club swimmers attend like one practice a week knowing they were swimming many more hours for their club teams. Some school coaches treated it as the most important thing ever and required the kids to attend all the HS practices in addition to whatever they were doing with the club team which not surprisingly led to some kids saying screw off to the HS team.

Throughout club and high school though you're right, it doesn't really feel like a "team" sport except when you had end of season meets and the points/standings mattered. I'm not sure there's anything louder than a pool during a battle for 1st/2nd on the last leg of a relay. Most of the other meets, although scores are kept, don't impact the season so it's all about how you did vs. your seed time.

When my daughter started swimming in college it still felt the same way for meets except for the year end championship but the difference in the team aspect was night and day. I didn't play a sport in college so maybe the cohesion is there for all sports but her school's team is roughly 60 kids and to say they are a close knit group would be an understatement. They have a bunch of "swim apartments" off campus and the apartments just roll to the next group of sophomores when seniors leave, it seems like every waking hour outside the pool is still spent with their swim friends and dating within the group is pretty much the norm and has the lovely term "swimcest" attached to it. Given that their schedules are a lot different than a normal college student and there's a certain mentality that goes with swimming endless laps for hours on end it kind of makes sense that they'd be a close group but I can't imagine a better environment for my daughter to have for her college career.
I agree with every word of this. My son LOVES the meets. Just absolutely loves them. Because that's pretty much the one time where he feels like he's a part of something. None of the other kids in school care or probably even know that he got his first varsity letter as a 7th grader, but the kids on his team do, and when he has seniors and juniors that he respects cheering him on and high fiving him when he gets out of the pool, you can see the excitement. The practices are another story though. Get in the pool and swim, and swim and swim. Particularly with the pandemic where the kids were literally ushered out of the building immediately after practice, but even before that, there just isn't much comradery particularly for the club team where kids are from many, many towns (and the club team is 12 months a year, while the school team is about 2.5 months). When the school team is in season, it's really different, he's got at least one meet a week, the team gets together for a pre-meet pasta dinner, pre-meet breakfast, etc. His school coach has done a wonderful job creating an environment where they all enjoy each other's success, but also to foster a team that doesn't have bullies (swimming is weird in that kids my son's age and girls can compete with kids 3-4 years older) and the older kids aren't jealous of the younger ones who are beating them. But with the club team, there might be 1-2 straight months without a meet, it's just practice and practice and more practice. I never played an individual sport, so I can totally relate to his wanting to be a part of a team sport, but I also try to explain to him that if he sticks with it, as you said, college is a completely different environment. You'll have best friends who are your teammates, you'll share everything with them, you'll live with them, etc. He just needs to get there (and he needs to fucking eat). If he ever wanted to quit, my wife and I would absolutely let him, but we tell him if he did, it's not going to be so he can spend an extra 20 hours a week on the Xbox, and then he remembers the meets and sees the trophies and medals, and he moves on.

With my daughter and synchro, it's a completely different situation. They have to practice as a team, they have to practice duets, they have to practice solos, but they are always together, they have to work together to accomplish a common goal. My daughter has been on the squad since she was 5, she was still the youngest girl until she was 9. She's had 100 big sisters looking out for her every day, on the road, in hotels, on airplanes, in carpools, etc. She's now 11 and she's the "flyer" on the team, so she's the one they toss out of the pool, she just loves it. She's the kid waiting in the car to go to practice. And this is an extremely competitive team. Nearly every girl that stays on the team through high school gets a scholarship somewhere, 2 of the coaches are former Olympians, one is also the US National 12U coach (which my daughter should make this year), 2 girls were on the Olympic team last year, etc. Aside from the time/money/travel, it's everything you could ever want as a parent for a sport for your daughter.
 

Shelterdog

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I've got a 7 year old girl who just joined a competitive swim team in the NYC area and I'm curious if people have thoughts/tips/advice on how to be a supportive parent (and how to get through the apparently interminable meets).
Almost six years later, the 7 year old is now 13 and just swam a 4:41 400m free and a 5:23 400m IM, both pretty close to sectional cuts. I know it's been a while but from my perspective that escalated quickly...
 

BlackJack

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Almost six years later, the 7 year old is now 13 and just swam a 4:41 400m free and a 5:23 400m IM, both pretty close to sectional cuts. I know it's been a while but from my perspective that escalated quickly...
Close? Holy crap! What are the actual cut off times?!? The free time would have made the age groups for my son's league.

My 13 y/o son is on a club team and did not make the age group cut offs but he would have with that 400M time. He had a meet this past weekend (short course) where he had a 5:01:52 on the 400Y IM. He's improved dramatically since joining the club team 2 years ago. Starting next year they split the team up into gold and silver groups and because he didn't make any of the age group cut times he's in the silver. He doesn't know yet because he just went to sleep away camp on Sunday but he's going to be crushed when he finds out.
 

Shelterdog

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Close? Holy crap! What are the actual cut off times?!? The free time would have made the age groups for my son's league.

My 13 y/o son is on a club team and did not make the age group cut offs but he would have with that 400M time. He had a meet this past weekend (short course) where he had a 5:01:52 on the 400Y IM. He's improved dramatically since joining the club team 2 years ago. Starting next year they split the team up into gold and silver groups and because he didn't make any of the age group cut times he's in the silver. He doesn't know yet because he just went to sleep away camp on Sunday but he's going to be crushed when he finds out.
Sectionals are like 437 for 400m and 520 for 400 IM-it’s basically a high level meet for high school aged swimmers so getting close as a 13 year is something we’re happy with
 

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Apr 12, 2005
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Just saw this thread again, we need more swim parents. Lol. My son's high school relay team, 4x100 and 4×50 both got All Nepsac honors, finishing 3rd in each, to finish his high school season. He swam the fly for both, and because he was a freshman, he became the first freshman boy in school history in any sport to get all nepsac which is pretty cool. He hasn't done a ton of meets during long course season, because of camp, golf, etc and practices take a 4 week break. Hes back at it starting next week, 6xs a week for his club team. He's grown about 4 inches this year, so he's almost 6-1, but holding strong at 125 pounds. Coach wants to kill him, because he has the best technique of any swimmer on his club team and swims past kids, but loses ground in the turns due to a lack of strength. Wish I could lipo som shot off my waist and give it to him. Just needs to eat.

My daughter competed at the US Junior Olympics (after her team won the east coast championships in Binghampton, NY, which got them into Nationals in Buffalo where they qualified for JO's). She's only 12, and she was competing at the 15U level. In the figures (individual event for synchro), she finished 51 out of about 400, but 7th among 12 year olds nationwide, and her two team routines were 9th and 10th. She was the first alternate for the acrobatic team that finished 2nd. She's heading to Oregon and Texas in the next few months.

Onward we go.
 

doc

Member
SoSH Member
Jul 14, 2005
4,471
DOTB does he get time out of the pool and in a weight room? Sounds like he needs some squats. What's his event/distance?

Did you mention he swims in a club as well ? ( I know the Phoenix coach if he's with them)

FYI I swam in D3 college, one year before I smoked too much weed and got on academic probation for a year (hey it was 1978)
 

Shelterdog

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Feb 19, 2002
15,375
New York City
Just saw this thread again, we need more swim parents. Lol. My son's high school relay team, 4x100 and 4×50 both got All Nepsac honors, finishing 3rd in each, to finish his high school season. He swam the fly for both, and because he was a freshman, he became the first freshman boy in school history in any sport to get all nepsac which is pretty cool. He hasn't done a ton of meets during long course season, because of camp, golf, etc and practices take a 4 week break. Hes back at it starting next week, 6xs a week for his club team. He's grown about 4 inches this year, so he's almost 6-1, but holding strong at 125 pounds. Coach wants to kill him, because he has the best technique of any swimmer on his club team and swims past kids, but loses ground in the turns due to a lack of strength. Wish I could lipo som shot off my waist and give it to him. Just needs to eat.

My daughter competed at the US Junior Olympics (after her team won the east coast championships in Binghampton, NY, which got them into Nationals in Buffalo where they qualified for JO's). She's only 12, and she was competing at the 15U level. In the figures (individual event for synchro), she finished 51 out of about 400, but 7th among 12 year olds nationwide, and her two team routines were 9th and 10th. She was the first alternate for the acrobatic team that finished 2nd. She's heading to Oregon and Texas in the next few months.

Onward we go.
Machines, the both of them! Very exciting.
 

TheWizard

Well-Known Member
Silver Supporter
Oct 31, 2013
95
My daughter got a D1 scholarship for swimming! She is entering her senior year of high school and committed last October. She's the only kid I know that turned down two Ivy offers for another non-Ivy school but she had a bad experience on the official visit at one, and the other didn't feel right. I give her credit for being her own person. I believe the formal sign date is this November.
 

Shelterdog

Well-Known Member
Lifetime Member
SoSH Member
Feb 19, 2002
15,375
New York City
My daughter got a D1 scholarship for swimming! She is entering her senior year of high school and committed last October. She's the only kid I know that turned down two Ivy offers for another non-Ivy school but she had a bad experience on the official visit at one, and the other didn't feel right. I give her credit for being her own person. I believe the formal sign date is this November.
Holy cow! You must be so proud. Can you DM met her name so I can track on meet mobile?
 

Jim Ed Rice in HOF

Red-headed Skrub child
SoSH Member
Jul 21, 2005
8,200
Seacoast NH
Just saw this thread again, we need more swim parents. Lol. My son's high school relay team, 4x100 and 4×50 both got All Nepsac honors, finishing 3rd in each, to finish his high school season. He swam the fly for both, and because he was a freshman, he became the first freshman boy in school history in any sport to get all nepsac which is pretty cool. He hasn't done a ton of meets during long course season, because of camp, golf, etc and practices take a 4 week break. Hes back at it starting next week, 6xs a week for his club team. He's grown about 4 inches this year, so he's almost 6-1, but holding strong at 125 pounds. Coach wants to kill him, because he has the best technique of any swimmer on his club team and swims past kids, but loses ground in the turns due to a lack of strength. Wish I could lipo som shot off my waist and give it to him. Just needs to eat.

My daughter competed at the US Junior Olympics (after her team won the east coast championships in Binghampton, NY, which got them into Nationals in Buffalo where they qualified for JO's). She's only 12, and she was competing at the 15U level. In the figures (individual event for synchro), she finished 51 out of about 400, but 7th among 12 year olds nationwide, and her two team routines were 9th and 10th. She was the first alternate for the acrobatic team that finished 2nd. She's heading to Oregon and Texas in the next few months.

Onward we go.
Nice accomplishments for them both, congrats!

I think the weight thing is tough for swimmers - think back to those Michael Phelps 10K calories a day stories. For a couple years there my daughter only gained weight in the August/September time frame since that was when she wasn’t swimming club. This was also a girl that was like 5’3” and constantly ate like a bear preparing to hibernate.