Ripple

In  this group an athlete needs to be able to swim a 50 of freestyle and backstroke. The swimmer must also be able to perform breaststroke with a general concept of the rhythm. The swimmer must also perform the general concept of the butterfly. This groups practices for 60 minutes at a time. The Ripple group focuses on stroke technique with starts and turns. The Ripple group is required to compete in meets and is expected to attend at least 3 practices a week. 

Whitecap

In this group an athlete needs to be able to swim a 50 of freestyle and backstroke. The swimmer must also be able to perform a legal breaststroke kick with a general concept of the rhythm. The swimmer must also perform butterfly with the concept of the rhythm. This groups practices for 75 minutes at a time. The Whitecap group focuses on stroke technique with starts and turns. This group will also be introduced to the pace clock for set intervals. The whitecap group is required to compete in meets and is expected to attend at least 3 practices a week. 

Waves

The Wave group will focus on stroke technique and turns. This group will become proficient in reading the pace clock and emphasis in interval training. This groups practices for 105 minutes at a time. Proficiency of stroke is defined in this group. The introduction of Body weight only dryland will begin with in this group. The Wave group is required to compete in meets and is expected to attend at least 4 practices a week.

Advancement to the Riptide group will be a combination of technique knowledge and will require the swimmers to complete a test set of 10 x 100 Free on 2:00, 10 x 50's stroke on 1:10 and 5 x 200 free on 3:30. In addition, further advancement is at the discretion of the Head Coach with consideration of personal maturity and discipline along the Illinois Swimming Regional and Championship time cuts.

 Riptide

This group continues to focus on stroke technique in all for competitive strokes. There will be more of an emphasis placed on interval training for endurance and development of speed. This group will also have advance dryland training focusing still with body weight as the main form of resistance. The Riptide group is required to participate in meet and s expected to attend at least 5 practices a week. The swimmers in this group are expected to be able to practice for 90 minutes or more at a time.

Advancement to the Tsunami group, swimmers need to complete a test set of 12 x 100 Freestyle on 1:30, 10 x 50 Stroke on 1:00, 5 x 200 Freestyle on 3:00, along with the set times, swimmers must produce advance technique on starts and turns. In addition, further advancement is at the discretion of the Head Coach with consideration of personal maturity and discipline along the Illinois Swimming Regional and Championship time cuts.

Tsunami

From the Riptide group athletes move into this group. Minimum age for this group is 12. Athletes in this group can range from 12-18, with a majority of the athletes being in High School. This group has an advance based knowledge of stroke technique. Practices will focus on conditioning of the swimmers' energy systems and stroke technique. Goal setting, race strategy and end of season focus are constantly reinforced. The swimmers in this group are expected to practice 1 hour 45 minutes or more at a time. This group will also have a focus on advance dryland training. Swimmers in this group are expected to attend at least 5-6 practices a week.