TRYOUTS

Tryouts will run the first week of practice during the team’s scheduled water time. There will NOT be a dryland component of tryouts.

Before coming to tryouts, swimmers should be capable of:

• Completing a 200-yard swim without stopping.
• Completing a 200-yard individual medley without stopping.

During tryouts, coaches will evaluate swimmers on their physical fitness, technique, drive, and sportsmanship. After tryouts have completed, the coaching staff will determine the roster for the season taking those into account. While cuts may be made, the coaches will make an effort to foster an environment of growth for all swimmers – the team is meant to create a love of swimming, not break it down.

TRAINING SCHEDULE & ATTENDANCE

Expectations for attendance are broken into two categories: VSHL-Primary athletes and USA-S athletes. This distinction is made to allow athletes that are training in a year-round program to continue their training cycles to see even greater success in the future. To be considered a suitable substitute to the training being offered at GHS, athletes must be training at least 7.5 hours per week with their USA-S program. Below are the expectations for both groups:

UNIFORM

Items swimmers will be provided at the beginning of the season:

• 1 track suit that must be returned in good condition at the end of the season.
• 1 swim cap.

Items swimmers will be required to purchase – links for where to purchase all of these to come soon!

• 2 team shirts, one gray and one red.
• 1 team bathing suit. Men may pick between a jammer or brief and women may pick between flyback or crossback.
• 1 set of competition goggles. This is a personal preference and can be purchased anywhere. If you’re not sure, Speedo’s Vanquisher 2.0 is a good option.
• 1 pair of yellow Strokemaker paddles. Swimmers that already own a pair of paddles may continue to wear those – there’s no need to buy a 2^nd pair to have that brand.

VOLUNTEERS

We will need a significant number of volunteers to help the season go smoothly. Parent volunteers are a critical part of any swim team! Below are a few critical, season-long roles to be filled:

• Computers – A parent that is familiar or is willing to become familiar with the programs that run swim meets, such as Hy-Tek. This person will be responsible for creating the team’s entry files.
• Head Official – This person will coordinate our officiating staff to ensure that they attend necessary clinics and that we have enough representation at each meet.
• Fundraising Coordinator – This person will help with the behind-the-scenes work of our fundraising efforts, such as coordinating with restaurants or collecting forms from athletes.
• Head Timer – Will train timers on using stopwatches and recording times at swim meets as well as ensuring we have enough representation in timers at swim meets.

Outside of these, we will also need help with several low commitment/one-time jobs, such as timing at swim meets.