Where to start: summer vs club swimming.
If you ever get to watch professional swimmers, its easy to wonder how they got as fast as they are. Where did they start? How did they train? What can my kids do to train to be as fast as them? Here is a quick comparison between summer vs club swimming so you can make the best decision.
Maybe you’re not desperately trying to make your swimmer into the new Michael Phelps or Katie Ledecky, but you definitely want them to be as fast as they can. Where do you start them? Well, a lot of swimmers, including Phelps, started out on small, summer leagues. From here, they progress to year-round club swim teams, which are a very different feel than the summer league.
Summer swim teams
Summer swim leagues, like the Forest Hills Tidal Waves, are low commitment which allows swimmers to build a liking to the sport and aren’t felt strained to get to practice every day. If you miss a practice, you aren’t suddenly light years behind the rest of the team. This makes children excited about coming to practice every day. This excitement is oftentimes fostered by the team’s culture of playing an occasional game at practice! But, most summer leagues have limited time with swimmers to improve strokes, which means that swimmers who just swim in the summer won’t see the same improvements as those swimming year-round.
Listen or read the story of a swim team parent in our post, ‘how do I get started with a swim team?’
Year-round teams
Year-round, or club swim teams, provide deeper instruction than summer league teams. Typically, they are much more expensive which allows full-time coaches to provide incredible instruction to swimmers. This instruction allows swimmers to progress very fast and build good, swim habits and technique. Club teams are very high commitment, with some teams even requiring practice and meet attendance to be on the team. But they can be very rewarding. Swim meets allow you to have fun spending time with your friends and cheering for them, practices can be hard but everyone builds character together, and you get in great physical shape.
Decision: summer vs club swimming
Do you have to just pick one? No! A lot of swimmers actually swim club in the fall, winter, and spring then swim for their summer league in the summer to relax and have fun. Summer swim teams are often times how swimmers get started; it was how I got started in swimming 15 years ago!
If you’re looking for somewhere to start, I’d recommend starting with the fun summer league to build a liking for the sport, then advancing to club after the summer is over. If you’re interested, take a look at our summer league, the Forest Hills Tidal Waves!