Things to know about winter swimming

The first thing you need to know is that winter swimming has no meet commitments and you can typically choose how many practices you want to do. If you only want to practice 1 day a week, that is fine. You can practice more. Winter meets are not required by smaller club programs, so swimming in the winter will improve the kids abilities and is easier on your schedule than summer swimming. There are no big team events and other team obligations.

The second thing you need to know is that winter swimming is a great fit for those kids who compete in other sports. Have you ever had a basketball player start playing lacrosse and then go and turn an ankle or hurt their knee? Swimming doesn't lead to such injuries.

Swimming is probably the BEST sport to do that improves an athletes conditioning without risking injury... you want your soccer player to get in better shape, get them in the pool in the offseason!!! ...and let's face it, racing is fun!

The third thing you should know is that winter swimming has different options as far as skills, so you can choose what is best for you. Keep in mind that all these programs have licensed experienced coaches. (If you want more info on that, each organization can provide it.)

Winter swimming has 4 typical options

  1. Lessons for the littlest ones or those who want to sharpen up their strokes.
     
  2. Stroke Clinic - focuses on technical aspects to improve the quality of strokes. Great for kids who might still be seeing DQ's for bad breastroke kicks and such. Easy 1,2 or 3 day per week practice options that usually last 1 hour. There's no requirement for practice attendance. Kids will improve more the more they practice.
     
  3. An Age-Group Junior Team Program - Has the same typical practice options of 1,2, 3, and perhaps 4 days per week. You can practice more. Here swimmers are allowed to compete in winter meets but don't have to (you should contact them to confirm). This is a better option for those kids who already swim well. The focus here is on improving performance as well as strokes. If a swimmer already has good skills, this is a really good option to get them faster without any more practice time than they might choose for a stroke clinic.
     
  4. An Age-Group Senior Team Program - this is typically for the committed year round swimmer who plans on competing in winter meets and even large summer meets outside their summer swim team league.

Lastly, I suggest you talk with your swimmer and find out how often you'd like to practice. Two times per week throughout the winter is very good. You can also practice 1 time per week in the Fall session and then 2 times per week in the Spring session if you like. Winter swimming is flexible like that. You can also not practice in the fall, but practice in the Spring leading up to the summer season. Think about your schedule and what you can work in. Determine how that will best fit into your schedule. Once you are armed with that knowledge, you can contact the programs in the area to see what days and times they have available.

A final point of note, typically, the smaller programs are less expensive. Keep in mind that all these programs have licensed experienced coaches. (If you want more info on that such as how many they have and whether every coach is licensed, contact each organization.)

Smaller Programs

(These clubs practice at the Quince Orchard Swim and Tennis Club "Bubble Pool")

Larger Programs

(These clubs practice at different locations)

These programs cover everything from lessons to premier level training and competition so there's something that will fit for everyone. Contact them and find out what is there for you.