YMCA, under 8 non-competitive swim "team"....why the crazy?

Triathlon Forum
1

To keep it short as possible. We joined a Y to get the kids more swim time as the oldest has completed all his lessons cards and the younger is progressing.

The oldest thought he may want to try their 8 and under non-competitive club/team thing.

About as soon as he had attended a “try out” session and got in, every parent we know who has gone to the local Y has said they tried it and that the lady running it is a 60 year old total douche competitive swimmer from childhood.

Is it common to make kids cry at a “try out” for a non-competitive swim “team”? She made at least half the kids very upset/cry at the little meeting. And ask them to repeat some plethora of strokes in front of you several several times and make comments like “well, maybe I can work with this”.

It’s a freaking 8 year old attempting a butterfly. Get the F off lady. I bet lots of adult onset triathletes can’t get it right either. Go back to your competitive team and be an ass.

I feel like we’ve made a mistake. And this is a freaking Y. Not challenge soccer or AAU baseball.

Usually, I felt growing up that the school of hard knocks in sports started around middle school. Running penalty laps in soccer for getting your free kick assignment wrong or something.

Not 8 year olds.

Any of you swim people have any insight into this? Doesn’t seem like a good way to get people interested in swimming.

2

Burn,

Come to Alexander Y in fall. I help lead the “stroke school” swim team at Y here. We don’t coach anyway like that. It’s great setup for kids to then enter “full time” swim team if that’s their choosing.

ETA: I do make the kids do 2 push-ups after a certain time if they are lazy with their stream line or finishing at wall. Nothing drives me crazier than just being lazy especially once you know they understand what the proper way is. In fact they’ll get out on their own at times and do the push ups when they had a “my bad”.

3

The USA Swimming team I used to work for had “try outs” for our juniors (kids new to swim team). The try out consisted of:
could the child swim 25 yards of freestyle non-stop and 25 yards of backstroke non-stopnot have a meltdown when s/he got into the pool with our kids
That was it. We would teach Fly & Breast. We would develop their Free & Back.

4

To keep it short as possible. We joined a Y to get the kids more swim time as the oldest has completed all his lessons cards and the younger is progressing.

The oldest thought he may want to try their 8 and under non-competitive club/team thing.

About as soon as he had attended a “try out” session and got in, every parent we know who has gone to the local Y has said they tried it and that the lady running it is a 60 year old total douche competitive swimmer from childhood.

Is it common to make kids cry at a “try out” for a non-competitive swim “team”? She made at least half the kids very upset/cry at the little meeting. And ask them to repeat some plethora of strokes in front of you several several times and make comments like “well, maybe I can work with this”.

It’s a freaking 8 year old attempting a butterfly. Get the F off lady. I bet lots of adult onset triathletes can’t get it right either. Go back to your competitive team and be an ass.

I feel like we’ve made a mistake. And this is a freaking Y. Not challenge soccer or AAU baseball.

Usually, I felt growing up that the school of hard knocks in sports started around middle school. Running penalty laps in soccer for getting your free kick assignment wrong or something.

Not 8 year olds.

Any of you swim people have any insight into this? Doesn’t seem like a good way to get people interested in swimming.

I coached a summer league swim team in college and now coach high school track and cross country (I’m a teacher).

For the summer league team it broke down to the following
1.) If the swimmer is behind in stroke what does his/her age group look like. Do we have enough time as coaches in this section of practice to work with this athelte to get them where they need to be. It really came down to how many other kids were in this age group and could we dedicate a coach to a “guppy” lane to basically teach kids how to swim
2.) If the athelte had been in swim lessons with the pool we were located at. Typically if they had completed swim lessons and still lagged behind we took them. If they lagged behind and hadn’t done the swim lessons we would recommend they do that.
3.) We tried keeping every kid we could but it was really just a numbers game on what we could work with our coaches. WE HAD A TON OF KIDS OF ALL ABILITIES from 6-18 years of age

XC/Track
We basically keep everyone these days. We had a girl running 35 mins last year and would accommodate the work outs to her. Most of the time that meant just keeping her on campus on over-distance days and less intervals on speed day

your case
this coach sounds like the typical swim coach who has too much time on their hands. I highly recommend filing a complaint with the Y about it. The Y leagues are intro leagues. There’s no arguing about that. Yes they have very competitive leagues but that kind of coach doesn’t represent the values of a YMCA league.

5

agree with the above: file a complaint. if not to protect your kid, to protect other kids in the future. that person should not be coaching kids. the amount of damage she can do is way too high.

wasn’t there just a thread about swim coaching done right a while back? this is a great contrast: “coaching done wrong”

6

She sounds like an ass.

Yeah, “try-outs” for the 8&U’s are basically aimed at “Can you float and propel yourself through the water?” If yes, then congrats, you made the team. If no, then go back to swimming lessons and come back when you can.

I couldn’t do butterfly at 8 years old. I learned when I was 14. I turned out OK at it…

7

FWIW, our kid was only one or maybe one other kid of like 15 to 20 that showed up that day that was allowed to stay.

He did do the Y lessons for a few years now. Got the best “band” for open swim stuff on the test. He did successfully complete free and back for her. Despite this, she thought the free was a bit “messy”. And it was a 50 I think she had him do.

I just worry because he’s a rule follower and internalizes. So, he could be doing exactly what they say and get it done and possibly hate it.

Thanks everyone!

8

Have you talked to the YMCA director? I serve on the board of my Y, and that is not likely the experience that they (the director and local Y organization) want. The YMCA is family-focused, and the whole idea is to expose people to wellness that might not ordinarily encounter it. If your Y is anything like mine, the director would probably welcome your feedback.

9

FWIW, our kid was only one or maybe one other kid of like 15 to 20 that showed up that day that was allowed to stay.

He did do the Y lessons for a few years now. Got the best “band” for open swim stuff on the test. He did successfully complete free and back for her. Despite this, she thought the free was a bit “messy”. And it was a 50 I think she had him do.

I just worry because he’s a rule follower and internalizes. So, he could be doing exactly what they say and get it done and possibly hate it.

Thanks everyone!

HE’S 8 YEARS OLD! WTF DOES SHE EXPECT? Of course it’s messy. 8 year old’s have the coordination of newborn foals.

Oh, and nice backdoor brag on how awesome your kid is… :wink:

10

Sounds like she shouldn’t be working with kids, period, much less young kids venturing out for what is likely their first experience being on a sports team.

You have to have some sort of tryout to segregate those who are ready to start “swim practice” from those who still need swim lessons. Observing them swimming 25 yards of freestyle should be enough. Even if they can’t quite swim a full length but display reasonable fundamentals, they might still Be ready. Kids will miraculously be able to swim much farther when they’re in a lane with several of their peers than when you put them out there alone in front of a group in a “tryout” setting. And they’ll gain fitness quickly with regular practice. I couldn’t quite swim a full length of free my first day of swim practice at 8 years old. I got pretty good in a very short time.

11

FWIW, our kid was only one or maybe one other kid of like 15 to 20 that showed up that day that was allowed to stay.

He did do the Y lessons for a few years now. Got the best “band” for open swim stuff on the test. He did successfully complete free and back for her. Despite this, she thought the free was a bit “messy”. And it was a 50 I think she had him do.

I just worry because he’s a rule follower and internalizes. So, he could be doing exactly what they say and get it done and possibly hate it.

Thanks everyone!

I hate to think what she’d think of my free and I’m way older than 8

12

I agree with the overall sentiment that the coach is doing a disservice to the kids and should be moved to another position.

My two cents on my kids experience with trying out for a couple of the local teams.

As a young 8 year old my daughter moved from lessons/swim team at the local LifeTime Fitness to a summer outdoor league. The only tryout was whether they could swim 25 meters. The coaches then placed the kids with appropriate practice groups.

After summer swim, still 8, she tried out for a local swim team for winter season. That team has four levels of swimmers. Speedsters, Bronze, Silver and Gold. The tryout consisted of swimming each of the four strokes. She was good enough with each stroke to be silver but the coach suggested bronze where she would be able to refine her strokes more and focus on technique a bit more.

As the season progressed it became clear she could move to silver which she will do next year but as the coach stressed she can always add volume and intensity but he views now as when she can refine technique.

I live in SE Michigan.

13

FWIW, our kid was only one or maybe one other kid of like 15 to 20 that showed up that day that was allowed to stay.

He did do the Y lessons for a few years now. Got the best “band” for open swim stuff on the test. He did successfully complete free and back for her. Despite this, she thought the free was a bit “messy”. And it was a 50 I think she had him do.

I just worry because he’s a rule follower and internalizes. So, he could be doing exactly what they say and get it done and possibly hate it.

Thanks everyone!

I hate to think what she’d think of my free and I’m way older than 8

Heck, she would throw things at me in the pool!

My 4 year old is doing Y track and field. Last night, they practiced running in a straight line!

8 year olds in the pool? I would expect almost the same thing. You handled it better than I would have. IF I was calm enough I would have made it to the director before blowing my cork. (they know me at the Y – been going there for years-- and that is NOT my personality).

14

We are local to B_Doughtie, so once this summer is up may give that a try. Assuming our son sticks with swimming and doesn’t get out of it.