Kraken Swimming Competition Team

Welcome to Kraken Swimming! We appreciate your consideration for joining us. We are very excited to start our 18^th season this September!

Our Competition Team is a year-round, USA Swimming affiliated team that operates within the Lake Erie Swimming LSC. The calendar year is split into two seasons: Short Course, which runs September-March, and Long Course, which runs April-August. In order to provide the best environment for our athletes, the team is divided into training groups based off age and ability level. Descriptions of these groups can be found below.

USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for the sport of swimming in the United States. They promote the culture of swimming and create opportunities for swimmers and coaches of all backgrounds to participate and advance in the sport. USA Swimming is responsible for selecting and training teams for international competition including the Olympic Games.

Lake Erie Swimming is the USA affiliated Local Swimming Committee (LSC) that governs the Northeastern Ohio counties of Ashland, Ashtabula, Crawford, Erie, Geauga, Huron, Lake, Lorain, Mahoning, Medina, Portage, Richland, Seneca, Stark, Summit, Trumbull, Tuscarawas, and Wayne.

Training Groups and Practice Schedule

*Prospective members must be able to swim a full length of the pool, unassisted, without touching the side wall or pool floor in order to join the comeptition team.*

Team Fees

Fall registrations for the Kraken Swimming Competition Team will grant full year memberships that begin September 1 and end August 31.

Spring registrations will only grant memberhips for the spring/summer season beginning April 1 and ending August 31.

Dues are billed every month except March and August.

Any high school students who join the Competition Team MUST register for the Senior Group regardless of age. Team fees for the Senior Group will include high school swimming. Those members who attend schools that cover team fees for their respective teams will not be charged during the months of November, December, January, and February.

There will be a 10% discount for families with 2 registered members, 20% for 3, and 25% for 4-5 registered members.

All payments must be made electronically via the team website called Sportsengine "SE Payments". A credit card (Visa, Master Card or Discover) must be kept on file for monthly dues and meet registration fees. You may use a reloadable prepaid credit or debit card.

Payments will be charged on the 1st of each month to the credit card listed on your account. A $25 late fee will be assessed if payment cannot be processed by the 7th of the month.

*If you wish to remove your swimmer from the program you must fill out a Disenrollment Form by the 25th of the current month. Otherwise you will be billed for the following month. Forms are located under the TOOLS tab.*

Registration Fees

Team Registration Fee: $50

A non-refundable, $50 per member registration fee will be charged at the time of registrations. This fee covers the cost of team t-shirts, swim caps, and team functions.

There will be a $10 discount for registering 2 members, $20 for 3, and $30 for 4, and $40 for registering 5 members.

USA Swimming Registration

USA Registration Fee: $80

• New Members: All new members to Kraken Swimming will receive a link to register their swimmer for USA Swimming. This registration makes each athlete a full member of Kraken Swimming and allows them to compete in USA Swimming sanctioned competitions. All members of Kraken Swimming are required to register with USA SWwimming. The USA Swimming membership is valid through December 31, 2024.​

• Returning Members: USA Swimming registrations for returning members will be automatically renewed by the club. The registration fee will be charged to the credit card attached to your Kraken account and then sent to USA Swimming.

Volunteer Hours

Each family is required to complete 8 hours of volunteer work for the team throughout the short course season. Volunteer hours can be completed by working swim meets (USA or high school), team parties, the end of season banquet, or fundraising events. Any families with hours remaining at the end of the season will be charged $10 per remaining hour.

Team Gear

At the beginning of each season, members will receive a team t-shirt and 2 team caps customized with their last name.

Team suits, warm-ups, parkas, and other Kraken gear can be purchased through the SwimOutlet link located on the home page of our website.

Practice Gear

At practice, swimmers are required to wear a one-piece, competition style swim suit and racing goggles. Anyone with long hair is also required to wear a swim cap. Team caps are preferred but not required.

Training equipment such as fins, kick boards, and hand paddles are all provided by the Hubbard Pool for swimmers to use. Swimmers are more than welcome to bring their own training equipment if they so choose.

Swim Meets

While we encourage all our swimmers to attend as many meets as possible, meet attendance is optional. Swimmers and families may pick and choose which meets to attend and which events to swim. The coaches will review each swimmers' events before submitting them to the meet host. They may adjust a swimmer's event choices if they feel the chosen events are too easy or difficult. Sign-ups are located under the Team Calendar.

Families are responsible for paying meet fees. They will be charged to the credit card listed on their account after entries have been submitted to the meet host.

Away meets are typically held at Youngstown State University, Salem Community Center, Cleveland State University, SPIRE Institute, CT Branin Natatorium, the University of Akron, or other pools located in the Cleveland, Akron, and Canton areas. Parents are responsible for transporting their swimmers to and from meets.

Meets are held on weekends and most are 1 or 2 days long, however, some meets (such as championships) may be 3 or 4 days long. Swimmers do not need to swim every day of a meet, families can choose which day(s) to swim.

At swim meets, swimmers are required to wear their team suits, team caps, and racing goggles. Swimmers are encouraged to wear Kraken warm-ups, parkas, or other team apparel when on the pool deck.

Ready to Register? Please click HERE to go to the Registrations page.