If your child is interested in joining our competitive swim team, The Rivertown Rays, they should join our Pre-Team first to learn how to swim competitively. While tryouts for Pre-Team are not required, your child will need to be able to swim numerous laps in the pool.
In PreTeam, your child will learn basic competitive swimming techniques, including:
- Starts: How to make strong “starts” off the swimming block for each individual stroke.
- Turns: How to do flip turns for freestyle and backstroke as well as push turns for breaststroke and butterfly.
- Lap Races: Your child will practice lap races involving one single stroke. For example, swimming freestyle for two laps, incorporating dives off the block and flip turns.
- Individual Medley (IM): This race involves swimming all four strokes in the following order: butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle.
- Relays: In relays, small teams complete a race together, with each team member swimming one or two laps before “passing the baton.” While there is no physical baton in swimming, your child will learn when it’s their turn to start.
After going through Pre-Team, your child should be ready to try out for Rivertown Rays. Tryouts include a swim assessment demonstrating everything they’ve learned from Pre-Team.
All classes are taught by certified swim instructors and open to swimmers of All abilities.