Summer Rec Swim Leagues

Please see the below from Coach Eric and Coach Barb on information regarding summer rec swim leagues:

From Coach Eric:

As the summer and recreational swim league signups begin approaching I wanted to share information regarding swimming with a summer team and swimming club team.

Summer rec league is a great way for your swimmer to meet new people, compete with new swimmers and have fun over the summer. It is important to note that there is a significant different between summer rec leagues and our team, or any competitive team. The main differences include that summer league practices are typically shorter than a club practice, less intense workouts to accommodate all swimmers compared to club practices, and competition at meets are slower.

Many swimmers get their start in year-round swimming through summer league but it doesn’t always translate the other way. We have seen many swimmers take the summer off to focus on a rec team, but when they come back to competitive team, they are months behind their friends in terms of endurance, abilities, and speed. What we have seen happen in these scenarios are that your swimmers’ friends will move up a group, while your swimmer remains in their previous group, which can lead to frustration and in the end, quitting the sport.

We want your swimmer to become the best they can and continue having a good time in the sport. My recommendation to parents thinking about taking the summer off for rec league is to have your swimmer remain practicing with SCSC for a majority of practice during the week, and then practicing one time a week with the rec team and competing at their meets.

From Coach Barb:

From a coaching perspective:  coaches put their all into developing individual swimmers as they each have their own needs, whether correcting the dreaded  illegal breaststroke kick to tweaking other strokes.  All swimmers are different.  It is so devastating to see a swimmer finally get it for them to take a season off knowing they will lose it over this timeframe.  Frustrating not only to a coach, but to the swimmer.  Compare it to raising a child to be their best and then ignoring their behaviors for a few months. 

If you have any questions regarding summer league and club swimming, please don’t hesitate to reach out to Coach Eric at [email protected]