DEVELOPMENTAL (Swim School)
These groups are the entry levels for our children. We will try to use four years old as a benchmark for accepting children into the program. This group is the first exposure to swimming for many swimmers. Basic skills will be introduced: face in the water, floating, kicking, swimming on the back, etc. These groups will be individually oriented with a 1:3 teacher/pupil ratio for teaching these skills. Practices will be one-half hour in length. Sessions will be conducted on Saturdays year around, and in the evenings during the spring, and morning and evening options in the summer. Coaches will supervise the teacher-pupil groupings to insure proper technique, etc.

MIGHTY MITES AND RAYS
This group is the introductory group for competitive swimming. It is an easy transition from the above into competition. This group will work on gaining strength and endurance as well as developing skills for competition. Swimmers will be developed slowly so as not to create a negative experience. This group will work primarily on building the swimmer’s self-confidence.

STINGERS
The Age Group will step up the level of training to include developing an endurance background, race strategy, use of the pace clock, and continued perfection of skills. More emphasis will be placed on attendance for each swimmer in order to attain the above goals. Practice will increase in time and intensity. Meets will become more important and the variety of events offered will be increased. Swimmers will be asked to compete in all strokes and distances for their age group. These swimmers will be asked to attain the goal of achieving the National Age Group Time Standards for their age.

PRE-SENIOR
This group will continue the above and begin to experience the challenge of senior swimming. Practice attendance and intensity will be stressed to a greater extent. The swimmers in this group will be striving to attain a high level of commitment to swimming. Their goals should be for a higher level of competition, stressing personal improvement and accomplishment.

SENIOR
The Senior Group will be the top level of our program. Swimmers will be training at a high level for competition at the state/regional/national level. Seasonal habits will be stressed along with skill improvement. These swimmers will be the leaders of the program. Commitment will be highly stressed and expected. The willingness to sacrifice for their swimming will also be expected. The majority of these swimmers will have many years experience in the sport. Expectations will include double work-outs as seasonally appropriate. They should be role models for our younger athletes. This placement is not guaranteed, and may be changed if the swimmer fails to meet training standards.