Group Placement Philosophy

Crosswhite’s swim program (practice group structure) follows current long term athlete development models provided by USA swimming, which aid in providing swimmers with appropriate and progressive skill development throughout their career.  Many considerations go into group placement: some can easily be explained, while others may be influenced by coaching instinct or experience.  Group placement generally indicates the minimum standard for the group (the floor) but groups do not have a limit on what they can achieve inside the group (the ceiling).  For example, there may be swimmers in a silver group outperforming swimmers in a gold group.  Overlap with our groups will always exist, and physical ability is only a portion of what is considered in group placement.  Regardless of what group a swimmer is in, in NO WAY speaks to our belief about a swimmer’s future success or value. At Crosswhite we do not use group moves as a reward but rather a next step in development.  We fundamentally reject inaccurate status labels that can be attached to groups, but rather view each swimmer as an individual on their path to success.  Many great swimmers spent MANY years in lower levels gaining experience that eventually equipped them with the skills required to succeed at the highest level of the sport.

Some of the important factors driving group placement are the following:

• Training ability and technique. (Does your swimmer practice at the same level he races, make the technical changes asked by the coach?)
• Commitment. (Practice attendance, meet participation, priority of the sport)
• Maturity. (Chronological age, physiological age, ability to deal with change, and emotional development)
• Meet results (as these translate to meet qualifications and training needs)
• Group size (how many swimmers can each group take in order to keep number of swimmers per lane manageable)

The following is provided by the coaching staff to give parents and swimmers a general understanding of some factors coaches take into consideration when making group placement decisions.  This is NOT a checklist, NOR required criteria.  

lac-2025-2026-group-progressions_071947.pdf