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Training Group Descriptions
National Team: Athletes who have Jr. or Sr. National or Grand Prix times. These swimmers will travel more often and, by nature, will receive extra coaching.
Sr Group: Sr. Group group contains all high school swimmers with the possible exception of brand new swimmers. This group is broken down into high school and Sr. group for billing purposes.
Requirements for Sr. Group:
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Understand how to read a pace clock very well
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Understand training procedures and how to read workouts
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Have 85% or better attendance in the Gold group
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Completed 8th grade and have Sr. Coaches approval
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Be able to swim:
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10 x 100 freestyle on 1:30
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10 x 100 IM on 1:45 legally with breaststroke pullouts
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1 x 200 IM legally under 2:50
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1 x 500 Free under 6:30
Gold group: Gold is the highest Age Group training group, it usually contains 11-14 year olds, most of which should be at the state cut level. Training for gold group will require a snorkel, tennis shoes, and running clothes. All other equipment can be found at the pool, but it is not a bad idea to buy your own. Tempo trainers are suggested but not mandatory. Fins will be used so please make sure swimmers have a pair of socks for heavy fin days/weeks. There are fin socks you can buy that are meant for this, regular ankle socks will work as well. Red group swimmers will be required to make goals at the beginning of each season. The coach will lead this and the swimmers may have to do a little of work at home. This is for the benefit of the swimmer and they should maintain a folder or binder if they are interested in higher training. Requirements to train with red group:
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Understand how to read a pace clock well
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Understand training procedures and how to read workouts
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Have 85% or better attendance in the red group
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Be able to swim:
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10 x 100 freestyle on 1:45
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10 x 100 IM on 2:00 legally with breaststroke pullouts
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1 x 200 IM legally under 3:20
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1 x 500 Free under 7:20
Red group: Red group is our intermediate level of age group swimming. These athletes learn how to train and read pace clocks for all intervals. They move more toward endurance and aerobic based training in preparation for red group. There is still a focus on refining skills and technique mixed in with training, but a little less than white. There will still be a large focus on kicking and kick speed. Swimmers will be introduced to IM and distance training as the base events and will not train “specialized events” at this early age. Swimming in this group will require a snorkel, tennis shoes, and running clothes. All other equipment is optional (except caps for swimmers with hair that covers ears or longer). Red group swimmers will be required to make goals at the beginning of each season. The coach will lead this and the swimmers may have to do a little of work at home. This is for the benefit of the swimmer and they should maintain a folder or binder if they are interested in higher training Requirements to train with red group:
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Have a solid knowledge of a pace clock
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Maturity level appropriate
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Have 75% or better attendance in white group
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Have competed in at least one Divisional meet, or coaches discretion after age 11
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Be able to swim:
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10x50 Freestyle on 1:00 with flip turns
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10x100 IM legally with breaststroke pullouts on 2:30
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1x200 IM legally under 4:15
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1 x 500 legally with turn without stopping
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White group: White group is the second level of club training. This is for novice swimmers who have all four legal strokes and have a basic working knowledge of starts and turns. These swimmers can perform a 50 of each stroke legally without stopping but do not have the endurance for white group. The main focus of white group is to increase the amount of time the swimmers are in the water and add a little bit of beginning aerobic training, while the majority of time will still be spent on technique and kicking. Swimmers will be introduced to the pace clock and a small amount of interval training. As the swimmers begin to get ready to train at red group level, expectations for attendance will increase.
In order to move to white group:
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legally swim a 100 of each stroke
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swim 10x50 with flip turns on 1:20
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have 65% or better attendance in yellow group
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have attended at least 2 swim meets
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be able to do starts correctly
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have legal free and backstroke turns
Yellow group: Yellow group is the introductory level of the club. Swimmers must be able to swim a 25 of each stroke. The main focus of this group will be to teach these swimmers legal strokes, how to kick efficiently, starts and turns and fun. These swimmers will all progress at different times and when they are efficient at all 4 strokes they can move up to the White group.
Requirements for yellow group:
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legally swim a 25 of each stroke without stopping
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have 55% or better attendance in green group
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be certified in starts
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can kick a 100 on a board without stopping
Green Group: Green group is the Developmental group is the pre-team group. These swimmers can make a length of the pool but do not have a command of butterfly and breaststroke. The focus of this group is to teach these swimmers correct freestyle and backstroke and beginning breaststroke and butterfly. They will spend 90% of the time on technique and kicking. Once swimmers can swim at least a 25 of each stroke legally, they can move to yellow group.
Notes about moving groups:
With the exception of the first few weeks after tryout, or the first few weeks after a new swimmer joins, we will only move swimmers up between seasons. There may be rare case by case exceptions, but we believe it is better for a swimmer to learn a coach’s wordage and expectations with the group rather than be thrown in a different group mid-season and feel lost or unsure of what is expected.
We also understand that there are some athletes on the team mostly for exercises purposes. While they will generally attend fewer practices, they will move up eventually as they, the coach and parents deem they are ready. They will still be asked to attend one meet a season.
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