What is a Summer Swim Team?
Summer swim team is meant to be a fun, summer experience. It runs for 2 months from mid-May to mid-July. It's an excellent sport for kids who may benefit from an individual sport atmosphere but also want to be part of a team. It’s all about beating your own best time! It's a great whole-body, low impact workout that builds endurance, strength, flexibility and confidence. But most importantly, it's FUN! Kids get an opportunity to make new friends and build team bonds while learning a terrific life skill.
What are the Practice Requirements?
Practices run Monday - Friday. For the first 2 weeks (while school is still in session) the practices are in the afternoon. After Memorial Day weekend (when most schools are out), practices will be in the morning. Practices are recommended but never required. They are intended to teach the strokes and build endurance.
If your swimmer can't make it to practice, there is no need to tell anyone. See the Practice Schedule for more details regarding times, age groups and what to expect.
What are the Meet Requirements?
We love when families can be here for the whole season but we understand that this is a summer team and families may have travel plans. One requirement is letting the Head Coach know whether or not your swimmer(s) will be attending a Meet.
Dual Meets: There are 5 Dual Meets (2 teams swimming against each other) in the season. They are on Saturday mornings at different pools depending on who the host team is. Attending meets is encouraged but not required. We ask that every family use the Calendar Sign-Up to mark their swimmer(s) as "Attending" or "Not Attending" for each meet once the green "Sign-Up" button is available.
Prelims: After the 5 dual meets, there are 2 Preliminaries (Prelims): 1 on a Monday and 1 on a Tuesday. Each Prelim will host specific age groups from all 6 teams. The results from Prelims determine which swimmers are eligible to swim at Championships.
Championships: The Championship meet will be on the Saturday following the Prelims. 95% of swimmers will qualify for at least 1 event at Championships so you should plan on attending this meet, if possible.
See the Meet Schedule page for a summary of all of the meet dates. Use the Sign-Up Calendar for details on each meet as they become available.
Volunteer Requirements
With the exception of the Head Coach and the Assistant Coaches, the team is run 100% by volunteers. Each family is required to volunteer at each of the meets they attend. There are various ways to volunteer. Please use the Volunteer Position Descriptions page for more details on each position.
The Volunteer Coordinators understand that certain individuals may have time/work or family constraints or physical limitations and they will work to try and accommodate them so please talk to them about any limitations.
If you know that only certain positions will work for you, we encourage you to sign up early - you will find that it is much easier to get your choice of position and shift.
If your family cannot provide a volunteer, please contact the Volunteer Coordinators at [email protected] and let them know.
Learn the Lingo
As with any sport, there are a lot of acronyms and terms used specific to swim. We will be adding to this list as we become aware of what those various terms. So if you have one that confuses or used to confuse you - let us know and we'll add it to the list!
| Term | Meaning |
| DQ | Stands for "Disqualification." It means that a swimmer made a mistake in their event and a Stroke & Judge disqualified them from that event. (They happen to everyone - even experienced swimmers!) |
| Heating | Also called the "Ready Bench" or the "Bull Pen." An area of benches or chairs where swimmers go to line up and get ready for their race. The Heating Area usually holds the next 5+ races that are coming up. Swimmers should have their caps and goggles with them. (And no, there are no actual heaters here!) |