Swordfish groups our swimmers on age, swim ability and both physical and mental literacy . Each swim group has a primary coach and works under the guide of our Head Coach. All swimmers will be assessed and placed according to our coaching staff at the beginning of the season.
Practices will be at various City of Calgary pools and MNP facilities. Additional pools in Calgary may be added as required. Groups may swim out of multiple pools during the week. All swim groups are not always at the same pool, this varies with space and time availability as well as skills development of the swimmers.
Generally, swimmers have scheduled practice times between 1-2 hours per night, Monday to Friday, based on their practice group.
Pool times vary between 4:30-9:30 PM. Our older age groups also may have morning swim sessions between 6:00-9:00 AM before the Regional and Provincial Finals for those who have qualified.
Our schedules are posted monthly and updated throughout the year. Please check our website for updated times.
Certain swim groups will require swimmers to be at practice prior to pool time for dryland training. For dryland please bring clothes, like a gym strip, and clean runners to wear on the pool deck. Not all groups participate in dryland but coaches will notify all swimmers of such training.
We encourage all swimmers to swim with their group. This enables coaches to work continuously with the swimmer on specific goals, targets, skills, and abilities. It also allows your swimmer to build the community and bond with their peers that Swordfish is committed to building. If your swimmer is unable to attend their own practice they can occasionally swim with the group down, but they cannot swim up. This means swimmers from the black squad can swim with green, green can swim with red, red can swim with orange and so on. Swimmers can not swim in more than one swim group on the same day. Swimming in a different group must be communicated and approved with your coach prior to it occurring.
As with all activities we choose to commit to, we get out of “it” what we put into it. As a member of the Swordfish Swim Club, we look forward to YOU meeting new people, making new friends, having new experiences, achieving goals you never knew you could, and competing as a TEAM at swim meets. That all starts in practice…We believe in having fun and the personal goals will naturally follow. That is our coaching philosophy.
That’s right! YOU belong to a competitive swim team now! Although swimming is generally considered to be an individual sport, WE train, WE improve, WE cheer, WE compete; and, WE do this as a team! Practice expectations are simple…make every practice you can, do your best at every practice!