Swim Team Mamas

[ilikedonuts]

Aug 12, 2024 17:59:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Update-ish: He made the minis team! It’s a no cut team but you basically have to at least get through the try out which holy shit was a lot of laps! (One kid I saw was highly encouraged to sign up for lessons instead) He was exhausted after but I’m really proud of him. I kind of thought he might get outta the pool and be like hell no. I would have! 😂 He and the kid who got “cut” were definitely the only ones who didn’t do summer team as evidenced by their attire. LOL

Anyway—any recs for gear or is cheap stuff off Amazon fine? Sounds like he will need jammers, swim cap, kickboard, pull buoy, fins, snorkel and goggles. Anything that might make our lives easier?

Here goes nothing!

🏊‍♂️

Swimoutlet.com is a good website for gear. Their Sporti brand is great and not expensive at all. Does your team want kids to have long or short fins? I would think long for a beginner kid, but I’d check and see if your team has a website with a list.

[frlcb]

I agree that swimoutlet.com is a good place to start. Amazon is fine too. Make sure the team doesn't require certain brands (our team for instance is a speedo team so we have to have speedo equipment when that is an option)

[kitty]

You can see if your team has a team store on swimoutlet.com! Ours has specific items they recommend and they get some portion of the proceeds. For us, novice doesn't need a snorkel so I would double check on that. Our team also gives out logo caps at the beginning of the season so my daughter then refused to wear the generic ones I had already bought her off Amazon.

Don't forget a bag to put all the gear in. I had a rule that I wouldn't buy my kids a pricey swim backpack until they were on the team for a year and still into it. I think they used softball/baseball bags they already owned but the kickboard was a tight fit so I probably should have sprung for a mesh swim bag at least lol. Some novice kids just use a canvas tote bag at first.

[jamaicam]

Good luck! I am another one of the 'we started slow but are now in serious' group - DS12 now trains 6 times per week. For our 3 day meets, I get him to let me know whcih session is most important to him and go to that and maybe one other, my 10 yo is into soccer and I cant be 2 places at once so I cant stay all weekend.

A mesh swim bag is a great thing for their gear and those dont have to cost much.

[icedcoffee]

Update: We have our first meet this weekend. I signed up to be a timer on Sunday. Will run watches, push plungers and record times...whatever that means. So far practices are off to a great start and I love that my kids as a found a little corner of the world. The coaches are so supportive and encouraging.

[Susie]

icedcoffee, I love timing at meets! I get to be on deck, doing something to help out, cheer for the kids somewhere that they can see and hear me, and the time passes so much faster than sitting in the bleachers. And timing at swim meets is so much easier than track meets, lol.

[ilikedonuts]

Nov 8, 2024 13:24:47 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Update: We have our first meet this weekend. I signed up to be a timer on Sunday. Will run watches, push plungers and record times...whatever that means. So far practices are off to a great start and I love that my kids as a found a little corner of the world. The coaches are so supportive and encouraging.

I’m glad it’s going well! Let us know how the meet goes!

My husband is head timer at almost all the meets in our LSC. You’ll get the hang of timing really quick.

[madringal]

Aug 12, 2024 17:59:05 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Update-ish: He made the minis team! It’s a no cut team but you basically have to at least get through the try out which holy shit was a lot of laps! (One kid I saw was highly encouraged to sign up for lessons instead) He was exhausted after but I’m really proud of him. I kind of thought he might get outta the pool and be like hell no. I would have! 😂 He and the kid who got “cut” were definitely the only ones who didn’t do summer team as evidenced by their attire. LOL

Anyway—any recs for gear or is cheap stuff off Amazon fine? Sounds like he will need jammers, swim cap, kickboard, pull buoy, fins, snorkel and goggles. Anything that might make our lives easier?

Here goes nothing!

🏊‍♂️

Swim team (obsessed) momma here. I could talk swim all day. I’d ask around your team for names of people that have recently left the team. I bet they’d love to unload some gear. Most teams provide stuff like kick boards, fins, etc. He seems young for a snorkel. A Speedo swim bag and parka make great Christmas gifts. For suits, check out swimoutlet.com. For goggles, I’d get Speedo vanquisher jrs from Amazon. Do not get clear lenses, get something with a slight tint.

My three girls all joined the team when they were 5. My 8 and 16 year old love it, and continue to swim competitively so we’re old pros by now. My 12 year old quit as soon as we’d let her (hand to be able to swim 100 yards well, without stopping. For safety purposes. We have a pool and live near a lake.

[icedcoffee]

Nov 8, 2024 18:49:24 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

Nov 8, 2024 13:24:47 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Update: We have our first meet this weekend. I signed up to be a timer on Sunday. Will run watches, push plungers and record times...whatever that means. So far practices are off to a great start and I love that my kids as a found a little corner of the world. The coaches are so supportive and encouraging.

I’m glad it’s going well! Let us know how the meet goes!

My husband is head timer at almost all the meets in our LSC. You’ll get the hang of timing really quick.

I keep laughing at how new we looked. 😂. Saturday my H took him and he texted me at noon they were home. I was like “uhhhh…he had another heat at 12:15”. I guess my son told him he was done and they just left so he no showed on his final event. No biggie but funny.

Today I showed up and signed up as a timer. I had no idea I was supposed to look up my kids lane number before singing up. So I was on lane 1 the whole morning and he was on lane 7. 😂

It was great though! Will probably volunteer to time again. It was fun once I got over the initial nerves of the learning curve. 😀. Everyone was super nice!!

[madringal]

Nov 10, 2024 14:26:15 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Nov 8, 2024 18:49:24 GMT -5 ilikedonuts said:

I’m glad it’s going well! Let us know how the meet goes!

My husband is head timer at almost all the meets in our LSC. You’ll get the hang of timing really quick.

I keep laughing at how new we looked. 😂. Saturday my H took him and he texted me at noon they were home. I was like “uhhhh…he had another heat at 12:15”. I guess my son told him he was done and they just left so he no showed on his final event. No biggie but funny.

Today I showed up and signed up as a timer. I had no idea I was supposed to look up my kids lane number before singing up. So I was on lane 1 the whole morning and he was on lane 7. 😂

It was great though! Will probably volunteer to time again. It was fun once I got over the initial nerves of the learning curve. 😀. Everyone was super nice!!

Do you have the Meet Mobile app? It’s like $10 for the whole year or something else cheap. But 1) it allows you to see your kids times as kind of keeps a history of them and 2) for a lot of meets you’ll be able to see their heat and lane number without having to purchase a heat sheet.

[icedcoffee]

Nov 11, 2024 7:43:50 GMT -5 madringal said:

Nov 10, 2024 14:26:15 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

I keep laughing at how new we looked. 😂. Saturday my H took him and he texted me at noon they were home. I was like “uhhhh…he had another heat at 12:15”. I guess my son told him he was done and they just left so he no showed on his final event. No biggie but funny.

Today I showed up and signed up as a timer. I had no idea I was supposed to look up my kids lane number before singing up. So I was on lane 1 the whole morning and he was on lane 7. 😂

It was great though! Will probably volunteer to time again. It was fun once I got over the initial nerves of the learning curve. 😀. Everyone was super nice!!

Do you have the Meet Mobile app? It’s like $10 for the whole year or something else cheap. But 1) it allows you to see your kids times as kind of keeps a history of them and 2) for a lot of meets you’ll be able to see their heat and lane number without having to purchase a heat sheet.

I just downloaded it last night! It’s neat and would have been very helpful to have!

[frlcb]

Nov 11, 2024 7:58:16 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

Nov 11, 2024 7:43:50 GMT -5 madringal said:

Do you have the Meet Mobile app? It’s like $10 for the whole year or something else cheap. But 1) it allows you to see your kids times as kind of keeps a history of them and 2) for a lot of meets you’ll be able to see their heat and lane number without having to purchase a heat sheet.

I just downloaded it last night! It’s neat and would have been very helpful to have!

Just know that sometimes the meets/events don't show up until the day of, so you may not know what lanes until close to the start. And for positive check in events (which are long events - 400 IM, 500/1000/1650 free for short course for example) you definitely won't know until right before it starts, and usually same for relays. But we live by meet mobile, it's the best app out there for all of this!