Vestavia Swim Association: Practice Groups

 VSA practice groups are organized primarily by ability, and very loosely by age.  If you are new to VSA, please register in the group which seems to best fit your child's needs.  If your child swam with VSA last summer, please register for the group in which they finished the 2011 season.  The coaches can move swimmers between groups if needed once practice begins.

GUPPIES

This is our group of beginning swimmers.  To qualify to be a 'guppy', children must be at least 5 years old and be able to swim a 25 yard lap of the pool unassisted.  In this practice group, swimmers learn to improve their basic strokes in order to swim with confidence.  This is a non-competitive group, and these children do not swim in our meets.  However, once they become proficient in free-style and backstroke, the swimmers are allowed to move to the competitive team.

 TURTLES  

 This group is primarily comprised of swimmers ages 5 - 10 years old who are learning the foundations of competitive swimming.  Their practices include lane swimming, as well as coaching in the basics of diving, pushing off the wall, flip turns, butterfly and breast stroke technique, etc....  This is a fun group with a big learning curve.  These swimmers compete in our weekly swim meets, along with our dolphins and turtles.

DOLPHINS 

Most of our 'dolphins' are ~8-12 years old.  These swimmers know their strokes, but need endurance and speed training to improve.  The coaches also work with these swimmers to reinforce and 'fine tune' their basic techniques.

SHARKS 

This is our most competitive and skilled group of swimmers, and ranges in age from 9 - 17 years old.  These swimmers practice with near 100% proficiency and full 100% effort, again with emphasis on speed, endurance and details.