Swim Team – Aquatic Swim Club

Give a great big welcome to our new Swim Coach Kate O’Hanlon!

From the coach: Hi Everyone! My name is Kate O’Hanlon, and I am the new coach for Aquatic Swim Club.

I have been swimming since I was seven years old, and I started out at Wallingford Swim and Racquet Club. I fell in love with swimming there, and I continued to swim throughout the years with different club teams. I finished my swimming career with Cardinal O’Hara High school where my teammates and I won the District Twelve AAA Championships in 2022, and back to back Philadelphia Catholic League Championships in 2021 and 2022.

I am now a student at the University of Pittsburgh majoring in Psychology on a Pre-Law Track, and a cadet in the Army ROTC program. Summer swimming was the biggest contributor in my love for the sport, and I want to be a role model for young swimmers who want to get better. Most importantly, I hope to build the love of swimming in these kids like my coaches did for me. I am super excited to work with the kids, meet all the wonderful families, and have a great summer swim season!

Our summer swim team is a fun place for kids to learn stroke technique, make friends and have fun!

Swim team is for children between the ages of 5-18; a requirement is that swimmers must be able to complete one lap of the pool independently.

Time Trials

Each year prior to our first meet, the children participate in time trials. During time trials each child will be timed in all 4 strokes. These times will be used by our Coaching staff to assess the ability of your child and place them appropriately in our League events. Time Trial is scheduled for Monday 6/12 at 5 pm. All children are expected to attend this event and, as always, we will need parent volunteers to assist with the coordination of the event including but not limited to lane timers.

Practices

Coach will determine practice times. When the pool opens full time we will be having morning practices. 10 am for swimmers in the 12& over age group. 11-12 for swimmers in 10& under. Swimmers practice slots may be moved based on experience level.

If your child cannot attend practice, please let the coach know ahead of time so they are not looking for the child. In the past, we have incidents where parents thought their child was at practice, when in fact the child took a detour and went to the park instead. Please either send an email if you know in advance, or give Karla a call that morning so there are not misunderstandings.
If practice is canceled, which is very rare, you will be notified by facebook and possibly email. If it is raining, practice is still held, unless there is lightning or it’s a monsoon outside.
Parent’s are not permitted on pool grounds during morning practices.
If the water is too cold earlier in the season, we will be doing dry land training just to get the kids warmed up and back in shape, as well as to get them accustomed to coming to practice.
If a child repeatedly refuses to practice, we will inform the parent to come back and pick them up as they become a liability because the coaches do not have time to babysit while conducting practice.
No child will be allowed to leave the premises without a parent or specified guardian. Please do not tell the child to meet you on the sidewalk as this is very dangerous and a serious safety issue.

Discipline

All swimmers are expected to be courteous and respectful to all of the coaching staff as well as their fellow teammates. If there is a problem, we will notify the parent. If a child continues to be disruptive, they will be asked to sit out the rest of practice; however, they will not be permitted to leave the premises without a guardian picking them up. Disrespect will not be tolerated, and we appreciate everyone’s cooperation with this policy.

Swim Meets

Our season will begin on Saturday, June 18th, at Nassau. A copy of our schedule is posted on the bulletin board and online. Please note, it is imperative that you notify the coach, Kate ASAP if you know your child will not be available to swim on any of these dates; it becomes a nightmare when we are not notified in advance of a swimmer’s absence, and they are slotted to swim, especially in a relay – this results in 3 other children not getting to swim that event if there is no one to slide into that position.

Coaches:

The Coaches will be on the deck watching and timing each race. They will be giving the kids encouragement and praise at the end of each race. Please DO NOT approach the coaches unless it is an emergency. It is very difficult for them to do their job and focus on our children if they are being interrupted.

Officials:

We could not run our meets without the active involvement of all of our parents. To ensure that all of the responsibilities do not fall on one parent, we have provided sign-up sheets for volunteers needed for each area of our operations, including, but not limited to,, Snack Stand Sales at home meets, Timers and Judges at both home and away meets; Scorers at both home and away meets, set up crew for home meets, which is done the night before the meet,

Snack Stand Donations:

Saturday Meets: We ask for donations of coffee, donuts, bagels or fruit that is sold at our Snack Stand. There will be a sign up sheet outside the office so we know what we can count on.

Line Up

It takes many hours to complete the line-up for the meets. We work the line-up to try to get the best results to win the meets. Sometimes, we may have to move a swimmer up to the next age bracket to try to gain points. We appreciate your patience and understanding in advance as this is not something that is done carelessly. It is a very tedious process, and we do our best to accommodate as many swimmers as we can.

The maximum number of events a swimmer can swim is 3, including a relay. We make every effort to work every child into at least 2 events, and as much as possible 3 events. Additionally, we will add Exhibition heats to try to fit all swimmers in when possible. In the age brackets where we have a lot of swimmers, it is sometimes very difficult to achieve this goal, but we do our best.

Seating

We expect all swimmers to sit together and cheer for each other. There will be a parent who is assigned to gather the children to the ready bench area before their event, and this becomes very difficult when the kids are not where they belong. They should NOT be in the sand, the baby pool (at away meets), in the playground or otherwise. They must remain in the designated area, with their team, at all times.

Ridley Cup

This meet will be held on Sunday, June 18th @ Nassau.. This is a rival meet between the four “Ridley” swim clubs, and is a very competitive meet as most of the kids go to school together. Please note we only have two entries per event, with a maximum of two events per swimmer. Please let Coach Kate know immediately if your swimmer will not be attending since line ups are due this week.

Invitational Meets

The Invitational Meets usually have a small cost per event, and you must sign up in advance if you want to swim. These are a great opportunity for swimmers to swim their favorite stroke, and get more experience racing. There is no limit to the number of events entered. The meets are as follows:

Christmas in July Ridley park ·
Prospect Missy Harrell Odd Age Meet: This meet will be Sunday, July . It is a great opportunity for the kids who moved up to the next age group and are in their down year (example they are 9 in the 10& under group). The usual line of events by age is 8 & Under, 10 & Under, etc. This meet is set up as 7 & Under, 9 & Under, 11 & Under, etc. More information will follow shortly.
Drexel Classified Meet: This meet will be Sunday, July 23rd. This meet has “not to exceed” qualifying times. This is not for the swimmer who is a top finisher; instead, it gives the swimmers who don’t always place a chance. More information will follow shortly.
Elite Meet: Tuesday, August 1st

Pasta Night

Pasta nights will be held at the swim club on Friday Evenings before a home meet. Parents are responsible for signing up for items to bring for this dinner. Remember there is no glass permitted on pool grounds.

Team Pictures

Team pictures are not scheduled yet.

Banquet

Our season culminates with a banquet which will be held at the swim club. We have not finalized the date at this time. This event will be potluck and a sign up genius will be sent closer to the event.

Fundraising

Our Swim Team program operating cost is approximately $5,000/season. We regulate our registration fees so that the program is affordable to most members. To supplement our income, we conduct several fundraising events throughout the course of the season the proceeds of which offset the expense of our coach’s salaries, banquet, team gifts, awards, etc. It is our hope that everyone will support these events as they benefit our Team and the Club.

We are in need of people to form a committee strictly for swim team fundraising.

Aquatic Swim Team 2023 Schedule

Mandatory Parents Meeting June 6th @ 6:30 pm

Time Evaluations June 8th @ 5 pm

Picture Day TBD

June 18th Ridley Cup @ Nassau