Don't drop out right before the big meet!!

[MSWR0319]

I'm so sad for DS and his teammates. They have swim champs next weekend. We had to sign up two weeks ago so that the coach knew what events to put everyone in. My son has been on a relay all season with 3 other boys. Occasionally one would get substituted because one wasn't at the meet or because the coach wanted to give the other boys a chance to be on the relay (there's only 6 in his age group), but it was clear this was the team that was going to champs. For a week one boy has been saying he doesn't want to go to champs but was showing up to practice and knew his events. He was signed up and has been at all of the meets this year. Coach finally called his mom yesterday and she said she doesn't want him to go because she got a new job and works every other weekend. We all offered to take him to the meet which is only 45 minutes away. She won't let him go with anyone but her (not even anyone in her family). Honestly, I'm wondering if that's the truth because the boy said he just didn't want to go and he can be a bit of a trouble maker. The other three boys were crushed last night. They were seeded 3rd in both relays and probably would have placed in the top 5 barring any DQs. They'd worked so hard the last two weeks in hopes of placing even higher. Not only that, we're a much smaller team than many of the other teams and those relays would have earned a ton of points for the team. It's just hard for me to understand how people can commit to something and then suddenly drop out knowing it affects other people. I really don't think she would have even told them if coach hadn't called. That would have been worse because then the boys wouldn't have been able to swim two more individual events in hopes of getting more points for the team, but they won't place that high in their individual events.

The same mom just joined our summer swim board two meetings ago and didn't come to the second one without letting anyone know. I have a feeling I'm going to see a pattern here and it's really going to irritate me. Don't join the board if you aren't going to contribute.

It's not a big deal in the grand scheme of things, it just irritates me knowing they just quit knowing it would affect others. If he had just been swimming individual events it wouldn't have bothered me much.

[TwinFoxes]

That's bizarre. I wonder why the kid said he didn't want to go? Last year we had a kid leave in the middle of a meet, totally screwing his relay team. I still don't know why he left, the coaches were livid, and the boys were sad.

[sariana]

That's terrible, and I suspect there's more to the story. Those poor boys.

[georgiegirl]

Can someone else substitute in for him? DS1 got put on the state relays because a boy dropped out.

My kids would be very upset if someone flaked on their relay.

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[MSWR0319]

Can someone else substitute in for him? DS1 got put on the state relays because a boy dropped out.

My kids would be very upset if someone flaked on their relay.

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

I think she may have been able to substitute, since she was able to get the boys moved to individual events. However, she told me that if she added either of the other boys, they would get last and she didn't feel it was fair to the three from the relay to do that to them. She thought they'd do better in other individual events and have a fairly good chance of at least earning a few points for the team. If we were further out from champs and she had more time to work with one of them, that may have been an option.

[georgiegirl]

At least your DS can still swim. Can he do both relays and individual events? DS1 (8) is a relay only swimmer in the 10 and U champ session. He’s nowhere near the 9-10 Q times (since they are ridiculously hard and he’s only 8), but he got pulled into a relay an is super excited.

[MSWR0319]

At least your DS can still swim. Can he do both relays and individual events? DS1 (8) is a relay only swimmer in the 10 and U champ session. He’s nowhere near the 9-10 Q times (since they are ridiculously hard and he’s only 8), but he got pulled into a relay an is super excited.

That's what I told DS this morning, that he needs to be thankful that he still gets to swim. They are allowed to do both individual and relays as long as they don't swim more than 6 events over the two day meet. This is his first season in the 9-10 age group. He is excited though that he got moved into the 100 IM since he's not doing the relay, as that's one of his favorites. He won't place super well, but he loves doing it and that's what's important to me.