ATTENDANCE AND PARTICIPATION POLICY

The following guidelines allow coaches and swimmers to gain the most from every practice session.  The coaching staff feel strongly about getting maximum return on the time spent in practice, and ask that all swimmers and parents understand these policies. 

Workout and Attendance 

Swim practice is the most important facet of the program.  Although competition is the test of a swimmer’s ability, practice is where the potential and foundation for achievement is established.  Practice schedules vary by group.  Swimmers must attend practice on a regular basis in order to give themselves a chance to achieve their potential as a swimmer.

Swim practice provides the swimmer the opportunity to improve and “fine tune” stroke and turn technique and to increase endurance.  The swimmer’s attitude towards practice will determine to what extent he or she will benefit.  Attitude is also important when it comes to competition.  Some swimmers may be intimidated when competing against faster swimmers.  They may also react adversely to the psychological stress of competing in a major meet or traveling to unfamiliar facilities.  Communicate concerns with your swimmer’s coach.

Swimmers can expect to have “plateaus”, or periods during which their times may not improve or even regress.  These plateaus can be discouraging at best and lead to a swimmer wanting to quit swimming.  Plateaus in performance are common and talking with other parents and swimmers on the pool deck may help. Once again communication between parent, swimmer, and coach is very important.

Each training group will have specific attendance requirements appropriate for the objectives of that group. Those who faithfully fulfill workout expectations will have the best results, so it is in your best interest to come to practice the recommended weekly amounts.  It is the responsibility of the swimmers and parents to familiarize themselves with the attendance policies. 

As a team, we understand that family and life issues come up and we want to be sensitive to those needs.  Swimmers are allowed “excused” absences over the course of the season for any legitimate reason (i.e. medical appointment, illness, travel, special school and family activities).   In order for an absence to be considered “excused”, the swimmer (or swimmer’s parent) must send an email explaining his/her reason for missing practice to [email protected] before 2:30 pm on the day of the missed practice. A swimmer’s third or more “unexcused” absence may result in a parent-coach conference, transfer out of a particular practice group or removal from the Swordfish swim team.

We as a team thrive thanks to parent and family support as well as the dedication of our swimmers, however, during practice we request that unless you are the volunteer "Parent on Deck," you please wait/watch in Midtown or in your car in the parking lot. Parents will be allowed on deck in the last 5 min of practice to assist with having their swimmer promptly vacate the pool deck and locker room to allow for the seamless transition between Blue/Yellow group and at the end of the last session. Thank you for your understanding and support. 

Punctuality

Practice starts, in the water, promptly at the specified time.  At the designated starting time, swimmers should bring all required equipment to the deck and be ready to jump into the pool.  Punctuality is essential to a distraction-free training environment.  Swimmers who arrive late for training sessions and meets not only disrupt the team’s rhythm and momentum, but negatively impact their own development in terms of inadequate warm-up, missing important instructions regarding the objectives of the session and training sets.  In the rare situation when a late arrival is unavoidable, the swimmer (or swimmer’s parent) must send an email explaining his/her reason for late arrival to [email protected] before 2:30 pm on the day of the late arrival to practice.  This also applies to requests to leave a session early.

If a swimmer arrives more than 10 minutes late to a practice start time without an “excused” late arrival, the swimmer may not be allowed to join practice that day (coach’s discretion).