Toronto Swim Club Program

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2024-2025 Group Descriptions

2024-2025 Organizational Chart

*As noted in a recent communication, TSC has made a few modifications to its programs. One of the revised criteria for group placement is that we now have clearer performance requirements so that swimmers in the same group will be striving to achieve more standards and perform at their best at the same Championship meets.For this reason, the performance standards are applicable to each swimmer’s age in February/March 2025. If you have any further questions about your swimmer’s group placement, please contact your current coach.*

Toronto Swim Club believes in the pursuit of excellence through the systematic development of skills, attitudes and training challenges.

● Swimmers are advanced through the programs once they are physically, mentally and emotionally ready to handle the challenge of the next level. Swimmers are required to acquire a set list of skills prior to any move.

● Demonstrates a respectful and positive attitude, embraces challenges, is coachable, responsible and a good teammate

● Every effort is made to ensure that no steps are skipped in the development process to ensure continued and long term success in the sport.

● The teaching and introduction of skills (and their progressions) are linked between groups so that coaches use the same terminology, similar drills and expectations.

● The club believes in creating well rounded swimmers who can compete in all 4 strokes.

● Kicking development is emphasized from the Academy levels and maintained through all the National, Senior, Junior and Youth programs.

● Swimmers are taught that success comes from hard work, dedication and learning from your experiences.

● Other objectives of the program include fostering such positive attitudes as self -reliance, discipline, confidence, respect and team pride; developing team unity and instilling a lifelong love of swimming.

● All changes in group placement must be agreed to by the coaches of the group the swimmer is departing from, and the group the swimmer is moving into, and must be approved by the Head Coach. 

Group Placement
 
The TSC swim program has been created for the long-term development of each individual swimmer. A well-defined, long-term approach of gradually increasing degrees of commitment is essential for attaining peak performance. In the younger age groups, emphasis will be placed on developing a swimmer’s technical skills and their love for the sport. As each swimmer grows through the sport, the physical and psychological demands of swimming will grow with them. If the physical and psychological demands outpace their development, any short-term gains will soon be negated and often result in swimmers not reaching their maximum potential as senior swimmers.
 
To create long-term results, proper training groups are essential. Swimmers need to be compatible in the following areas:
 
Age: Building peer groups and friendships with swimmers of similar age is an integral part of the program. In keeping with our approach from prior seasons, we will use a swimmer’s age at Winter Championship Season (February/March) to determine training groups.
 
Training Ability: Swimmers need to meet the standards/skills listed for each group to be considered for advancement. These standards are minimum expectations and are intended to create a homogenous training environment.  Placement standards are based on Swim Ontario’s 2023-2024 current published time standards.
 
Competitive Aspirations

Commitment Level

Many factors influence group placement: some can easily be explained while others may be influenced by coaching instinct or experience. Clearly communicating our team wide philosophy for group placement will enable a better appreciation of the decisions that determine group placement.

  • A swimmer’s group placement only indicates a floor-not a ceiling! Each group has minimum standards for placement (the floor) but does not have a limit on any swimmer’s achievements (the ceiling). Thus overlap always exists between groups.
  • Group placement does not communicate a coach’s belief about a swimmer’s success or value. Upward group movement is not meant to be a reward, but rather a next step in development. Many successful swimmers have spent considerable time in development groups gaining the experience and technical skills required to maximize future performance.
  • Some of the important factors driving group placement are the following:
  1. Training ability and technique (eg/ Does your swimmer practice at the same level he/she races? Do they make the technical changes asked by the coach? Do they maintain 100% effort in each training session?)
  2. Leadership (eg/ Are the swimmer’s actions positively influencing the group?)
  3. Commitment (practice attendance, meet participation, priority of the sport?)
  4. Maturity (eg/ chronological age, physiological age, ability to deal with change, emotional development).
  5. Meet results (as these translate to qualification standards, and training needs)
  6. Group size (eg/ number of swimmers per lane, how many swimmers can the group accommodate, training facilities)

Group Standards, Composition and Size
Consistent with our mission statement, group standards recognize swimmer performance, commitment, capacity and skill development, as well as the need to balance groups in terms of gender, size and age. Each year, the Head Coach revisits the group standards, composition and size for each TSC swim group and may adjust in the best interests of TSC.

**The Head Coach retains full discretion for all final group placement decisions**