About TNAQ Swimming
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Click Here to go to Masters Swimming
Competitive Swimming
Tennessee Aquatics’ competitive swimming team is a USA registered club for beginner to national level swimmers located in East Tennessee. TNAQ is a member of the Southeastern Swimming LSC. Our competitive program offers a wide variety of opportunities that enables athletes from the Greater Knoxville Community to compete in higher intensity aquatics. The competitive program is split into training groups that allows for swimmers to participate with teammates similar in age and skill level.
Our competitive team is open to swimmers of all ages. The primary age group consists of swimmers from East Tennessee ages eighteen and under. Throughout the season, TNAQ alumni and college swimmers come back to train with Tennessee Aquatics’ competitive program during holiday and summer breaks. The different training group options allows for many opportunities for our swimmers to join us in Knoxville on the University of Tennessee’s campus throughout the week at Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aquatic Center or the Student Aquatic Center.
All participants must be registered members of USA Swimming.
Competitive Training Groups
While the primary factor for group placement is age, there are some allowances for swimmers at both ends of the range for ability, needs, and coach discretion. Each group will have graduated training levels within it, which encourages a more fluid progression, motivation, educational energy and teamwork. The equipment lists for each group can be found here.
Senior
The Senior group is for our most advanced and committed athletes, with comprehensive training for higher level competition. Most of these swimmers are preparing for college swimming. This group has more training sessions per week, including refined technique, race pace swimming, strength work and cross-training modalities.
Age Group 1
Our most advanced group for generally 11-14 years of age, these athletes are transitioning towards senior swimming. AG1 emphasizes ongoing stroke refinement, understanding and valuing conditioning methods, and connecting goals to training and racing.
Age Group 2
This intermediate training group focuses on continuing stroke development and conditioning. Swimmers are introduced to competitive training and racing concepts. Swimmers in this group are generally 10-14 years of age.
Age Group 3
This entry level competitive group will primarily focus on stroke instruction and achieving best times while having fun. Swimmers will be introduced to age group training and to USA Swimming competitions and rules. Swimmers are generally 6-10 years of age.
Tennessee Aquatics’ noncompetitive swimming team is geared towards swimmers in the Knoxville area who want to improve their technique and build endurance. The noncompetitive teams do not participate in TNAQ meets. Our noncompetitive team offers a variety of options based on the athlete’s age and skill level. PreComp is for swimmers in elementary school, Junior Varsity is for swimmers in middle school, and Varsity is for swimmers in high school. TNAQ’s noncompetitive team is a great way to stay in the pool throughout the year.
PreComp
Pre-Competitive, or PreComp, is a noncompetitive group for swimmers ages 6-10. This group is designed to work on technique and build endurance. Each practice is 45 minutes long twice a week with 6-8 week long sessions that run throughout the school year. PreComp is divided into two groups: PreComp One and PreComp Two. Athletes will be divided into the two groups by the coaches based on their skill level. Regardless of their training group, swimmers must be able to swim unassisted for 25 yards.
PreComp One is geared towards athletes that can swim unassisted for 25 yards, swim freestyle and are comfortable floating and/or swimming on their back.
PreComp Two is geared towards athletes that can swim unassisted for 25 yards, freestyle, backstroke and is comfortable/been introduced to breaststroke and butterfly.
Varsity
Varsity is a noncompetitive group for middle school and high school swimmers. This group allows swimmers to get a head start on their season and helps them build endurance. Practices are offered Monday through Thursday and each practice is an hour and a half long. Emphasis will be placed on stroke technique, starts, turns, and conditioning — which helps swimmers reach their goals. Varsity will be offered in two sessions throughout the year. The Fall Session runs through September through early January while the Spring Session runs through mid-January through early May.
Varsity athletes must be in 6th to 12th grade.
Tennessee Aquatics Masters is a club team for lap swimmers, fitness swimmers, triathletes, and competitive swimmers. Our team includes students, UTK faculty, and all sorts of people from the greater Knoxville community looking for a great workout. We are a registered club team with United States Masters Swimming, a national organization with more than 60,000 members which helps to promote lifelong fitness through the sport of swimming.
Our club is open to any members 18 and up, and currently includes members of all ages. Our typical schedule allows for multiple opportunities for swimmers to join us at the Allan Jones Intercollegiate Aqutics Center on The University of Tennessee campus throughout the week.
All participants must be registered members of US Masters Swimming. To find out more information on how to become a registered USMS swimmer, click here.
