Update on COM Pool Renovation Project. Spring Tadpole Information!

Happy Holidays, Everyone!  I promised an update after our Aquatics meeting with College of Marin.  The news is good for our program as we were told that the College and their contractors are confident that the pool will be open and ready for use as of early March!  With this information, we are able to provide a detailed program offering for Tadpoles.

Registration Open Dates  

Same as for all Tidalwaves 2026 Spring programs: 

• January 2nd for Returning families 
• January 9th for New families.

A New family is one who has yet to register with Tidalwaves for anything. 

Tadpole Season Dates

• March 9th - May 3rd (8 weeks)

NEW 8 & Under Assessment Details and Dates

All NEW 8 & Unders must register for an assessment before we can complete their registration onto either the team or into our Tadpole program. There is a $10.00 fee for the assessment, which goes towards your child's registration fee for the team or Tadpole program. 

At the conclusion of your child's assessment you will be notified by e-mail whether Coach Marie believes your child is "Team Ready", "Tadpole Ready", or "Needs more lessons".  If your swimmer is ready for either the team or tadpoles, we will then complete their registration. 

If your child is a "Tadpole Graduate," please check with Coach Marie ([email protected]) directly on whether she would like to do a "Team Ready" assessment of your swimmer before you register. 

For determining your child's age, we use the date of our first dual meet, so age as of May 2nd for the 2026 season.

Assessment Schedule (2026) - 

Anyone who registers for an assessment will then sign up for a 20 minute assessment time slot via a Sign Up Genius as the last step in registration. 

Assessment Results

You will be contacted and your registration will be completed after your child has been assessed as Ready for either tadpoles or the team.

• If your child is assessed as "Tadpole ready," practices begin March 9th or 10th, depending on session/group placement.  No Splash Week required. 
• If your child is assessed as "Team ready," we will complete their registration onto the team. Then, please have your child attend Splash Week practices as a NEW swimmer.  This year, all Splash Week practices will be at Redwood High School only, starting February 23rd.
• If your child is assessed as "Not ready," we invite you to consider private swim lessons as an alternative.  Tidalwaves does not offer learn to swim lessons.

Tadpole Session/Group Options and Preferences

We offer 6 different Tadpole Session/Groups.  Each Session/Group has a maximum of 12 swimmers in it and each has 3 practice day options per week.  Swimmers can come to as many or as few practices a week (within their registered session/group) as they would like, but coaches recommend 2-3/week to get the most out of the program.  Below is the schedule for all of the options we are planning for 2026:

For Spring 2026, Tadpoles Season Dates are: March 9 - May 3.  Here are the practice times we will be offering:

Registration Details After Completion of Assessment

Returning Tadpoles (those having already participated in tadpoles, or assessed as tadpole ready) may register directly into the Session/Group of their choosing.

Any NEW 8 & Unders assessed as tadpole ready will receive a link to a Session/Group Preference form where you will be asked to rank your choices.  After all assessments are complete we will begin moving swimmers into Session/Groups, based on priority number, until each is full.  Priority is given based on the date/time of your assessment registration.  If, when we get to your child's priority number, all of your preferences are full, we will put your swimmer on a waitlist for all of their preferences.  

Our tadpole program is extremely popular.  To increase your chances of getting into the program, we recommend registering as close to midnight on either January 2nd or January 9th as you can.  Also, the more flexibility you have in your schedule for the above options, the better your chances of getting a spot.

We are very excited to be offering Tadpoles again and we look forward to meeting all new swimmers at assessments!