1 to 2 pairs of good goggles. This is a must. If you have long hair, boys or girls, a swim cap. There is nothing more difficult than trying to learn rhythmic breathing with gobs of hair in your face. Racing suit and or work out suit

When you first start out practice will seem impossible and everybody is swimming faster than you. Don’t get discouraged. If you work hard, you will build endurance and get faster. After the first 2 weeks your arms and legs will stop aching!! Soon you will be working hard, improving your stroke and your time. Swimming is not always about winning races. It’s about beating your own time each time you swim. Its about being part of a team, its about showing good sportsmanship to competitors and officials. Don’t give up! Keep coming to practice. We will put you with swimmers with the same level of experience and skill; we do not just place swimmers by age. Participate in meets. Don’t worry about getting DQ’d (disqualified). Every swimmer, even the ones in the Olympics, has been DQ’d. If the officials have time, they will tell you what you did wrong. Listen respectfully to the official and thank him or her for taking the time to explain the rule violation.

Always be on time for warm ups. Bring a couple big towels. Many of our meets are outdoors and even though it’s hot in the summer, the water can be cold as well as the morning air. For the big, multi team meets you definitely want to bring healthy snacks, extra towel, lots of water or Gatorade and entertainment. In the big, multi team meets there is a heat sheet or line up. Find all your events and write the Event number, Heat number and the Lane number on your arm or leg. Write in something that won't wash off in the pool and make sure you can read it. You have to do this yourself, get your parents or have a friend do it. At these meets the coaches can be extremely busy and may not have time to help you with this. In any meet sit with your team. If you choose to sit with your parents it is your responsibility to make the blocks for your events, the coaches will look for missing swimmers in the team area only. Control yourself during the meet. Rest between your races. Cheer for your teammates. No rough housing or running around. Save your energy for your races. Don’t leave early until you have discussed it with one of the coaches. You maybe swimming in a relay at the end of the meet. If you leave, you could leave your teammates standing at the block one swimmer short. Being part of a team means your teammates can depend on you and you can depend on them.