TEAM GROUP DESCRIPTIONS

Bronze: This group is for athletes that are new to competitive swimming. They will work on mastering the basic strokes, turns and starts. Swimmers must be able to independently swim 50m, non-stop, in a front crawl and backstroke and tread water for 2 minutes.

Silver: This group ranges from new to semi-experienced athletes that either show the physical ability or technical knowledge to handle more intensive workouts. The primary focus of this group is fostering proper technique and building endurance.

Gold: This group is for our older and more experienced athletes. The focus here is refining technique, and building athleticism through intense workouts and endurance based workouts.

PRACTICE TIMES:

Short Course Season 2025-2026 (Oct-May)

WAC practices at the Indoor Pool in the Fort Rucker Physical Fitness Facility on Fort Rucker, AL. 

Swimmers should be dressed and ready to swim at the scheduled practice start time.

Practice Groups, Days, and Times are as follows:  

Bronze:  Tuesday, and Thursday - 5:00pm - 5:45pm (dryland practice 5:00 for 15 minutes)

Silver:    Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday - 5:00pm - 6:15pm (dryland practice 5:00 for 15 minutes)

Long Course Season 2025 (May-Sep)

Holiday Practices: Typically, the Wiregrass WAVES follows the Enterprise City School District’s School Holiday schedule and do not have practice on National/Federal holidays. Notifications/Reminders of no practice will always be sent out on the Members Only WAC Facebook Page. 

Parents are required to stay OFF the pool deck during practice.  The upstairs bleachers and outside deck area are available for parents to wait during practice. Coaches and lifeguards should not be disturbed during practice.  If you have questions for the coach, please email them to set an appointment before or after practice.

LANE ORGANIZATION

Lanes will be organized by subgroups for each practice. Each subgroup will consist of 1-3 lanes and intensity level/yardage of practice will be predetermined by subgroup and lane. Coaches will place each child in the correct lane from what they have observed during other practice and meets.

EQUIPMENT

The following equipment is mandatory for all swimmers:

• Jammers or Speedo for boys 
• One-piece suit for girls
• Goggles
• Water Bottle
• Towel
• Practice Swim Cap (All Girls and Boys with long hair)
• Weather appropriate athletic wear style clothing (for Dry Land Exercises)
• Tennis shoes and socks (for Dry Land Exercises)
• Kickboard
• Fins
• Pull-buoy
• Hand paddles
• Snorkle

The following equipment is optional for all swimmers:

• Drag suit (loose fitting swimsuit that adds light resistance when training)
• Thermal swimwear (Optional use during winter practices when pool temperatures are 76 degrees or below)

While not mandatory, swimmers are encouraged to wear a team swimsuit at competitions. Otherwise, swimmers should wear an all navy (or navy/white) competition style suit.

Many of the items above can be purchased at our TYR Team Store. Our partnership with TYR offers you the opportunity to TYR gear/equipment at a discounted rate. You can use https://teams.tyr.com/teams/wiregrass-aquatic/   Use Password: WIREGRASS21TYR.   Please note that at this time, the TYR store is not able to offer the customized suits or caps for individual orders.

Other sources for swim gear include: Swimoutlet.com,  Amazon.com, Academy Sports, Dick's Sporting Goods, etc.  Walmart and Target also have some items on a seasonal basis, though some of those items are intended for recreational swim use and don't stand up to frequent use during team practices.

WAC Team Swim Caps and T-Shirts are ordered once per year. One shirt and one cap are included with your initial season membership. If you choose to have your swimmers last name on the swim cap you will be required to purchase the 2nd cap that is required by the company to put names on caps (approx $11 extra that will be charged to your account).   We encourage swimmers to wear an inexpensive cap for practice and save their team cap for meets. Additional caps and shirts can be ordered during group spirit wear ordering periods.