Breaking down basic summer swim team requirements
Parents usually have a little dissonance when signing their children up for a swim team for the first time. Usually, being unsure of the summer swim team requirements makes parents reluctant to sign up.
You’ll be glad to hear that summer swim teams are meant to be fun. They’re a great way to introduce young children to the sport of swimming in an engaging way. Summer swim teams aren’t exclusive to the swimmers to participate year-round and have the most efficient strokes. Summer swim teams are a great place to start because the focus is on fun. Read more about how summer swim teams are different from club teams in another blog post. Here are the four summer swim team requirements that most summer teams look for.
Listening
An important aspect of swimming is listening to the coaches. Unlike land sports, coaches don’t have the opportunity to correct an athlete on the spot. Swim coaches must wait until the swimmer finishes to correct them. In order to teach the right technique, children on the swim team must be able to listen to the coaches when they are supposed to. They can’t just be splashing and diving underwater all the time. Because of the nature of swimming, coaches can’t always provide individual corrections because they’re busy watching other swimmers.
Interacting
While on a swim team, swimmers are in a small space with lots of other children. This makes practices a little crazy when we do different drills or play some games during practice. Children interested in a summer swim team need to be able to have good relationships with others that are closer to them than they may be used to with other sports.
Floating
Your child doesn’t need to know how to do all the strokes or a whole length underwater. Coaches of summer swim team look to make sure that swimmers can float on their own so that they can make it to the other side of the pool once we start teaching the strokes. If your child is comfortable in the water on their own and can use goggles to search for the diving rings you threw, they’re already showing signs they can be on a summer swim team.
Kicking
One of the most important skills a swimmer needs to have is a good kick. Test to see if your child can grab onto the wall and kick their legs. Can they put their face in the water and blow some bubbles while they’re kicking? If the answer is yes, they may have all the skills needed for a summer swim team!
Your child doesn’t need to show that they can kick from one end to the other…we’ll work on that during practice. Coaches want to see a child is comfortable putting their face in the water and desire to swim a lap. During each practice, children improve very fast by watching others and by doing the simple drills given.
Are you ready for a summer swim team?
Not all summer swim teams have the same requirements. It’s important that you check with your local team before signing up. But summer swim team requirements aren’t imposed to keep swimmers from learning the proper strokes while having fun. The requirements exist to make sure the swim team isn’t treated as a learn-to-swim program.
If your child isn’t comfortable floating on their own, kicking, or searching for diving rings on their own, I would suggest taking the summer to attend a learn-to-swim program to teach those foundational skills to your child. Then they’ll be ready to join a summer swim team.
Learn more about the Forest Hills Tidal Waves requirements on our ‘about’ page.