Practices with our team look different:
If you watch a few of our practices, you will notice that our team doesn't look like most swim teams. This is not meant to be critical of other programs. Every team does what works best for them. We just want to point out what sets us apart. Here is what you can expect from us:

• Our coaches get in the pool with our swimmers. Even with our oldest swimmers, you will see coaches in the water several times each practice. It's the best place to be if you want to evaluate technique.
• We don't count yardage totals during practices. Yardage quality matters more to us than yardage quantity.
• We use lots of equipment during practices. Great equipment adds variety to practices and gives our swimmers everything they need to focus on swimming better and faster. On any given week, you can expect to see the following equipment in use at practice:

Resistance Gear - Power towers, bungees, drag socks, drag shirts, drag chutes
Speed and Cadence - LED light strips on the pool floor, cadence pacers, and fins
Technique - Hand pressure sensors and accelerometers (and data analysis software), deck camera with replay delay, GoPro for underwater video, lane gates
Strength - Dumbbells, medicine balls, jump box, paddles, resistance bands
Entertainment - Music during warmups, LED dance lights for our Friday night "lights out" tradition

Practice Approach

We have 5 levels of swimmers. Within each level, we have lots of variation in swimming ability and personal goals. This means our approach to developing practices needs to be thoughtful and comprehensive so that we are meeting the needs of each individual. Our team has state record-holders and regional champions who are pushing hard to drop hundredths of a second. We also have swimmers who aren't motivated by competition; swimmers who love being on the team and staying fit, but who don't have ambitions to win races. Every practice needs to be designed to meet the needs of every swimmer, whatever their skills or goals. Here is how we create practices that accomplish this:

For Level 1 & 2 Swimmers:
In many ways, these are like advanced swim lessons. We take each lap seriously and give a ton of feedback to each swimmer during each practice. These levels rarely benefit from extended sets with lots of laps. Instead, we try to correct issues one lap at a time to reinforce good technique. If you give new swimmers lots of laps and little feedback, they will build muscle memory for bad technique. It's much harder to fix an issue after the swimmer has practiced it that way for dozens of laps.

These levels will learn body position, balance in the water, breathing patterns and specific strokes. When they have mastered these skills, we will move them up to something that looks more like a swim workout.

For Level 3 & 4 Swimmers:
We begin practices with a casual warmup period. We encourage socialization during this time and typically play music.

After warmup, we frequently shift to speed work. This gives swimmers a chance to practice at race speed before they get tired.

Several times per week, we offer a series of set choices that swimmers can pick depending on their goals. Some swimmers need stroke development sets, some swimmers need to work on aerobic capacity, and some swimmers need speed work. These choice sets give swimmers a chance to build their own practice in an environment that still challenges them.

All swimmers participate in days where we run skill stations. During these practices, a series of stations are set up around the pool and swimmers rotate through the ones they need to practice. For example, we might have the following stations: starts, turns, 1/2 lap sprints (for time) and power practice (swimming with resistance).

Fun:
Swimming is a boring sport unless coaches make it fun. We take fun very seriously, so our approach to practices often includes games and traditions that keep things fun. We do social kicking, make snow angels outside, play animal ball, have Zen moments with the lights turned low and lots of other fun activities. We want your kids to love being on this team and that takes work. It's work we love to do!