What to expect at swim trials

[WidowTwonky]

My DS (8) has been invited to trials at our local swim squad. It was all very unexpected and I am pleased for him. It's in 2 parts, and all will be explained to us at the point we meet but I just wondered if anyone can tell me their experiences.
Are they time trials? Or are they just looking at technique? And is it likely to be all 4 strokes?
He was spotted at a gala, where he came 7th from 21. So missed out on medals and so assume he was identified through his technique rather than his time.
Thanks

I'm not sure DD's club is competitive enough to compare (and I think it probably depends on numbers on the roll at the time of the trial). There are plenty of county swimmers, but not many go on to regionals.

DD was asked to swim about 10-15 metres in each stroke. She was very good at front crawl (which they tend to do at least 50% of the time) and it was obvious that she had been taught well in the others (though she wasn't yet strong enough to do a good butterfly). I think they might have made her do a couple of turns. It was just to make sure that she shouldn't have a few more lessons as they don't really have time to teach basics. They may also chat to him about time commitment (how many sessions/availability for galas at weekends etc).

It doesn't sound as if your DS is particularly slow (though again it may depend on how many kids they need to fit in a lane for training). The first couple of sessions may come as a massive shock as he'll need to build up his endurance/fitness (DD's strokes were appalling as she tried to keep up).

Swim squad is a great way of keeping fit and a great way to make friends.

In our club trial lasts about an hour. They do some land training to test core strength and flexibility. Then prob about 200 m each of four strikes. Then skills of 25m on each stroke ie fc kick, or fly arms with pull buoy between legs or backstroke arms only. Then dive starts and tumble turns. They generally have four lanes of about 8 swimmers in each separated by age, so perhaps 6 and 7, 8 and 9, 10 and 11 and then older ones. Good luck - squad is a great experience . Oh and I would say listening skills and ability to take instructions is also what they are looking for with skills more important than speed.

Thanks both, that's extremely useful.
Tumble turns is new to him so that would be interesting! We'll wait and see

At our club they clear a lane and the Head of the junior section watches them swim all strokes and asks them to do some drills. Then he decides if they can come in and if so which squad. It can take 10minutes or up to 30minutes depending on how much he feels he needs to see.

harragirl they would ask a trialling 6 or 7 yo to swim 200m fly??

Hi, sorry name glitch but I am harragirl. Yes they would re fly. Probably as 4 x 50 but 200 during course of trial.

Personally I think our club trials are too much. When mine joined 8 years ago it was 15 minutes with 50m all strokes and a dive. Out of the 10 kids who passed that trial, several reached regionals and one reached nationals, so not sure why the trial is so long now as the system worked pretty well I would say...!

Blimey, my 6yo is pretty decent but the squad he is in doesn't swim any fly and the one above only do a bit. Your club must be hardcore!!

They squad my ds swims in would judge on a combination of technique and stamina. They would be expected to roughly keep up with the slower ones in the squad. Ds1 is 8 and the slower ones would be doing a minimum of 70/80 lengths across all strokes in an hour.

Ds1 at 8 is younger than the rest of his squad, he's got to wait till he's 9 to compete with the rest.

It must be a decision my DS's club has made to not do fly in the bottom squad. They do quite a bit of fly kick with snorkels on, but no full stroke.

The club my two children are at do trails once a month. They don't generally turn anyone away, they just assess which squad you need to go into to. My two joined at ages 4 and 5 so it was basically one length of doggy paddle. Obviously older children its a bit more intense.
At 8 mine where doing around 8 hours a week, Children who come in at 8 are sometimes put off by going from 1 hour swimming a week to swimming two hours three times a week. It takes at least 6months to get used to it.
I don't think many clubs would expect an 8 year old to do 200 fly at trails, even if it is broken. Its a brutal stroke. My youngest just about managed 50 fly at 8 and it wasn't great. She swims the 200 fly at regional level now.
Unless the club you are trialing for is ultra competitive then expect to be offered a place. As I said before the club my two are at don't generally turn anyone away and this is a club that has a large amount of county, regional and national swimmers

Thanks all. I'm going to tell DS to swim his best but not to stress. He does football twice a week and I think he prefers that to swimming so I don't think he'll be too upset not to be picked.
They describe themselves as 'the top competitive swimming programme' in the county. So we'll see.

They will be looking at endurance and attitude (how well they listen / take instruction) as much as ability - if the basic strokes are there they can work on those but the swimmers need to have the right mindset even at a young age.