This is our first year with our kids doing swim team. The first meet I was really bugged that it took 7am-noon for the meet, all for a few minutes of swimming. Seemed like a ton of time.

But, then I remembered I used to go to weekend baseball tournaments every weekend during the summer. Sometimes that took a full 2.5 DAYS. And, since we lived in small town Idaho, we often traveled far enough where we had to get a hotel for a few nights.

My daughters' swim practice seems to be more than I remember practicing in baseball; they have 5 practices per week, and I'm pretty sure we only had 2-3 practices/wk. But as far as the meets vs tournaments go, swimming is way less once I put it in perspective with my baseball experience.

Does it get comparatively worse (in terms of time commitment) the older they get? I mean, I'm sure it does, since the time commitment always increases with age. But, more so in swimming than other competitive sports?