Hello Parents-
Tryouts for the 2025-2026 Commonwealth Swimming season will be held on August 28th and September 4th. Prior to tryouts and registration, the coaches wanted to relay some important information to keep in mind as you make your decisions about your child’s extracurricular activities. This is a long email with lots of details, so please take your time to read it thoroughly and do not hesitate to ask if you have any questions!
- What to Expect at Your Tryout
- Practice Schedule and Start Date
- Registration, Tuition and Meet Entry Fees
- Team Breaks
- Meet Schedule
- Practice Group Advancements
- Safe Sport Recognition
- Team Handbook
- Team Uniform
- Parent Meeting & Social
- All Site Practice
WHAT TO EXPECT AT YOUR TRYOUT-
For all 10 & Under swimmers, tryouts will be about 30 minutes long, and 11 & Over athletes may be in the water for as long as 60 minutes. Athletes will work with members of our coaching staff who will run the potential team members through various skills, including the four competitive strokes (don’t worry, the youngest of the tryouts do not need to know how to do all four strokes!), turns and kicking. We want to see what your child knows, and how well they take feedback. Older athletes will be asked to do a short practice set to determine their cardiovascular fitness level. It will be low key and fun.
Please arrive on deck about 10 minutes prior to the start of your child’s scheduled tryout time. Simmons is an urban campus in the Longwood Medical Area, so parking can sometimes be difficult. Please plan accordingly by budgeting parking time. The Simmons pool is located on the lower level of the Holmes Sports Center at Simmons College. The street address is 331 Brookline Ave, Boston, MA 02215, however 96 Pilgrim Road, Boston, MA is a better gps location for drop-offs. From the second Pilgrim Road parking lot, walk through the gate along the sidewalk on the Simmons side of the road and follow the sidewalk through the courtyard next to the athletic center. The entrance to the center is around the corner on the left. When you enter the center, ask the desk person where you can find the pool. Simmons has parking available for free along the Riverway, as well as at the garage located at 375 Longwood Avenue (about a five minute walk to the pool, $14.00). While Resident parking along Pilgrim Road isn’t regularly enforced on Sundays, parking on Pilgrim Road is at your own risk. DO NOT park in the Winsor School lot, you will be towed. In addition to the lot at 375 Longwood, there are a number of metered spaces at the Longwood T stop, which is a short 5 minute walk through the park and over the riverway to campus. DO NOT PARK IN ANY SIMMONS LOT, YOU WILL BE TOWED AND THE TEAM’S CONTRACT WITH OUR POOL WILL BE JEOPARDIZED.
These instructions can also be found HERE.
Parents are welcome to observe tryouts from the viewing area above the pool. Once you’ve handed your child off to a designated coach they will direct you to the stairs that lead to your spot.
Swimmers should bring goggles, suit, cap and towel. There are locker rooms off of the pool deck for showering and changing. Children 3 or older must use the appropriate locker room, and parents of the same gender may escort their children in the locker room, however for the protection of all our athletes, parents who choose to escort their children must remain out of sightlines of any other athletes using the locker rooms.
PRACTICE SCHEDULE AND START DATE:
Practice will begin on September 2ndd. We ask that all athletes are at the pool and ready to begin 10 minutes prior to the start of their practice so that coaches can explain what the group is doing and get started right on time. If athletes arrive exactly at the start time of their practice, they will miss introductions and will pull coaches away from the group in order to re-explain what is expected. We understand that tardiness is sometimes unavoidable, but ask that everyone do their absolute best to help each group operate with efficiency by being on time and prepared. You can find our practice schedule here: https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/necos/page/practice-schedule/practice-schedule1
REGISTRATION FEE, TEAM TUITION, MEET ENTRY FEES -
Registration fee covers all returning athletes’ USA Swimming registration costs, 3 new team shirts and one team cap (no name). New athletes will receive two additional team caps.
Team Tuition covers the cost of attending practice. By registering with the Commonwealth Current, you are committing to the team and we are committing to you. Should you choose to discontinue enrollment with Commonwealth Swimming at any point in the 2025-2026 season, the remaining tuition payment for the year is required to be paid in full, as well as any outstanding meet fees. The only exception to this is the Undercurrent Practice group, where only outstanding meet fees or other charges must be paid in full. Athletes will not be released to attach to another team until the outstanding balances are paid.
We offer three methods of paying your annual tuition:
Ten Payments - One month due at registration, and then repeated on the first of every month October-June.
Four Payments - One payment due at registration, and then repeated on the first day of February, April, June.
Full Year - One full payment due at registration.
Meet Entry Fees are the costs incurred by entering swimmers in meets. These became an issue in the past year as families committed to meets and then changed their plans last minute. IF YOU COMMIT YOUR SWIMMER TO A MEET, YOU ARE RESPONSIBLE FOR THOSE MEET FEES REGARDLESS OF WHETHER YOUR SWIMMER COMPETES. We will do our best to recoup what we can, however meet hosts are not obligated to excuse those entry fees.
TEAM BREAKS -
We take a handful of breaks each year, and would appreciate keeping these in mind when planning family trips and vacations. Athletes 13 & Over should not be taking vacations in the middle of a season, particularly in the weeks leading up to big focus meets (this is true for all swimmers competing at a championship level meet, but it is the expectation for 13 & Over). 12 & Under Athletes who do not participate in the Summer AG Zones Meet (which we treat as optional for all swimmers) will typically be done with championship competition by the third weekend of July and should try to plan their camps accordingly.
Short Course (September-March):
November break- All Groups: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of Thanksgiving week.
December break- The official dates are TBD but we regularly take a short break around Christmas that begins the Monday prior to the Holiday. Athletes in our 11 & Over practice groups should plan to resume practice on the 26th. 10 & Under athletes usually get an extra 5-7 days depending on the practice group.
We do not take public school vacation weeks off, as they are directly in line with important training segments of our season plan. February is in line with our championship season, and April with our skill development (UC & HT) or aerobic development (RT & Senior) cycles. I know we have a significant number of private school families on the team who have different breaks, however we set our breaks based on the end of season meets and how much time we need for our training cycles prior to the end of summer meets. Sometimes this aligns with school breaks and other times it does not. Until we have further information about what the end of season looks like from New England we cannot definitively say when the March break for the UC, HT and RT will be. Senior groups can expect that we will have practice through the end of March with a short break following our last meet.
Long Course/Summer (April-July):
We encourage all athletes and families to plan camps and vacations AFTER their swimmer’s last potential meet of the season. If a swimmer is hoping to make the Age Group Championships or Junior Nationals, it can be a big motivation killer to have a week away from the pool leading into or during their goal meet.
MEET SCHEDULE AND ATTENDANCE -
WE DO NOT PUT MEETS ON THE SCHEDULE THAT WE DO NOT FIND IMPORTANT FOR DEVELOPMENT. The meet schedule is not a “choose your own adventure” program. We schedule meets at particular points in the season for a few primary reasons:
1-To get an in-competition evaluation of how training (both endurance/cardiovascular and technical skills) are progressing.
2-To get eyes and ears on athletes’ mental game so that we can work on excessive nerves or a lack of nervous system activation.
3-To ensure that athletes are exposed to ALL events they are allowed to swim. Athletes may be nervous about distance swimming, but that doesn’t mean they can’t be great at it. It would be a huge missed opportunity to skip all the distance sessions or 200 butterfly races only to realize halfway through high school that's where their strengths lie.
4-For older athletes at certain points of the season, typically centered around an athletes’ championship meet, we focus on time performance. No athlete should not be expected to go best times every meet or every time they race, this is particularly true for older athletes. We build our training cycles on reaching peak performance at specific moments within the season. This is not to say best times aren’t possible at an in-season meet, however they are few and far between and should be seen as a sign of better things to come rather than the expectation.
A note on performance-It is always fun to see the big time drops that our age group swimmers are capable of as they are younger. However, it benefits everyone if parents and athletes can keep in mind that training and the path to improvement changes a great deal as athletes get older and progress through puberty. Do not expect the progress to continue in a straight line once your swimmers have begun their growth spurts.
PRACTICE GROUP ADVANCEMENTS -
Each of our age-group practice groups have the same general goals-teach sound technique, teach kids to love the sport and to prepare the athletes for the next practice group. Advancement from one group to another isn’t guaranteed on a specific age-based timeline. We take a number of factors into consideration when moving swimmers from one group to another.
All practice group advancements are at the sole discretion of our coaching staff. We are happy to answer any questions you may have, however we will not debate or negotiate. Given the small size of our team, we sometimes will offer a hybrid schedule to athletes in the UC or HT so that they can ease into the next group.
Moving out of Undercurrent: Advancement from Undercurrent to HighTide is based almost entirely on two things: Technical Ability and Peer Group. We want young athletes to have a solid technical foundation of the four strokes and to be amongst other athletes their age. Ideally those two things advance in tandem. However, we may choose to keep a very young Undercurrent with strong technique in the Undercurrent due to their age and the age of the HighTide group, and we may have to advance an older Undercurrent with less than sound technique so that they don’t feel as if they are “left behind” or “with the little kids.”
Moving out of HighTide: Advancement from the HighTide to RipTide is based on the same two standards above, but we add in an athlete’s training ability, attendance rate and speed. Speed is the least important of the four standards. Ideally we are moving athletes into the RipTide group prior to or early in the start of puberty to maximize potential training gains. Consistent attendance as swimmers advance through the HighTide group is vital.
Moving out of RipTide: Moving to one of the Senior Groups has the most number of considerations, and no one is guaranteed a spot in the Senior Groups exactly when they reach 8th or 9th grade. Athletes in the RipTide group are typically beginning puberty and as such, learning how to train is a vital component. Practice attendance is important as it shows an athlete’s dedication, swimmers hoping to move to the Senior Program should not be missing practices. Consistent attendance also ensures they are being exposed to all of the training stimuli necessary to develop a strong cardiovascular system, which is vital for long term development. However, attendance does not equal training ability. Swimmers in the RipTide group must demonstrate an ability to be coached, pushed and push themselves. Athletes must embrace all training styles and all available events. If these criteria are met, there are initially two groups one could potentially move into:
Senior One-This group is for any of our athletes ready for the senior program who are not ready to meet the training demands of our Senior Two, National and High Performance groups. This is also the home for the high school aged athletes who want to participate in multiple sports or school sports.
Senior Two-This group is for any of our athletes who can meet the training demands of our top three groups AND will not be participating in multiple sports or taking time away from the pool to swim for their High School.
No swimmer will be admitted into our Senior Two, National or High Performance Group if they will be participating in any activities that will create a long-term consistent conflict with the training and competition schedule.
Coaches will be in touch about move ups in the next couple of weeks. Register accordingly.
SAFE SPORT CERTIFICATION -
USA Swimming’s Safe Sport program, a comprehensive abuse prevention program, consists of a multi-layered approach to keep kids safe, including: required policies and best practice guidelines; mandatory screening, including criminal background checks and employment screening; training and education; monitoring, supervision and mandatory reporting. These measures are informed by experts in the field of child safety and are among the strongest safeguards found in youth-serving organizations.
As of August 20th, Commonwealth Swimming has secured our USA Swimming Safe Sport Recognition Program certification. This program is designed to ensure the safety of all our members and to establish appropriate policies and procedures to address and report violations. Thank you to all parents and athletes who completed the necessary trainings in their USA Swimming Portal to assist in this achievement. If you have not yet completed the trainings, please do so, as it provides a great foundation of knowledge for all of us. The more adults and athletes trained in preventing, recognizing and reporting abuse or bullying, the safer our community will be.
TEAM HANDBOOK -
Please take a moment to review our 24-25 Team Handbook. The handbook covers all of our policies and procedures and includes our athlete, parent and coach codes of conduct. You can find a PDF copy here: TEAM HANDBOOK
An updated version for 2025-2026 will be distributed in September.
TEAM UNIFORM -
The team has a uniform and practice gear requirement for each practice group. This will be an additional expense if you choose to join the team. The older the athlete, the larger the practice equipment and uniform requirement becomes. While not a huge expense, we do want to be upfront that this is something you should expect as soon as you join. Practice equipment is used daily during training sessions, and the uniform is worn at competitions.
