Swim Parent 101

Welcome to the Columbia Shuswap Selkirks Swim Club! 

If your family is new to the sport of swimming, or to our club, you probably have questions.  We've put together this guide to help answer some common questions.  

Who are we?

• We are a competitive swim club that offers programming for kids ranging in age from 6-18. 
• We are considered "winter swimming". 
  • This means that we train and compete from September - June, and not during the summer months other than high-level competitions like Nationals.
• We swim out of the SASCU Recreation Centre in Salmon Arm, BC. 
• We are run by a volunteer board of directors. 
• We have a paid professional swim coach. 

How are the Selkirks different from swimming lessons or summer swimming? 

How is the club structured? 

We have swimmers from age 6 to age 18, so we break them into groups based on their swimming ability and desire to train and compete. Swimmers move from one group to the next based on recommendations from our coaches and conversations with parents. 

Novice and Junior are our "Pre-Competitive" groups, and the Intermediate, Advanced and Senior groups are competitive.

Our pre-competitive kids will begin with a focus on skill development - learning the different strokes (Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Butterfly), and other skills like starts and turns. As they learn and improve, they'll start to learn more about competing: what are the rules of the sport, what are the different races.

ALL SWIM MEETS ARE OPTIONAL.  

Note: "Competitive" groups are those where the swimmers have met a time standard (under 4 minutes for a 200 individual medley race) and are attending more than one competitive swim meet in the season.  Swimmers who have not met the time standard attend "Jamboree" meets which are shorter and more about learning what swim meets are all about.  The provincial insurance for swimmers is based on whether they are competitive or not; competitive insurance is more expensive. 

Jamboree Meets

In the Okanagan region we have this great system of Jamboree meets for newer swimmers - they're shorter, lower stress events specifically designed to introduce kids to competition. They generally take place after a main meet, on a Sunday afternoon for example, and it's just for inexperienced swimmers - the kids at the main meet don't attend, so you don't have to worry about your child getting run over by an olympic hopeful in warmup. At the Jamboree, kids can try racing in events as short as one or two lengths, and the rules aren't strictly enforced - the officials will let coaches know if a swimmer violates a rule, but they don't announce disqualifications over the loudspeaker like they would at a regular meet. The focus is on participation and fun. As kids get more experienced with competition, they'll gear up toward taking on the 200 individual medley. It's a tricky race for swimmers - they have to be able to do all 4 strokes, and all 7 turns correctly. This is the one race where officials will be paying closer attention. But if they can do the 200IM in under 4:00 without breaking any rules, then they'll be able to graduate to the main competitive meets. It's a big deal at Jamborees when a swimmer gets their 200IM time - it'll go up on the scoreboard so everyone sees, they announce it over the loudspeakers and everyone cheers.

Competitive Meets 

On the competitive side, kids start out at Okanagan regional meets in nearby communities such as Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna, and Penticton. They can then qualify to swim at BC Interior Divisionals, BC Provincials, Western Canadian Championships, Nationals, or even Olympic trials. The highest levels aren't super common for a town our size, but they do happen. You may have noticed the giant mural of Rick Say at the deep end of the pool - he grew up and started his swimming career in Salmon Arm. If you search on wikipedia for "Race of the century" you can read about Rick's 6th place finish at the 2004 Olympics, where he was only bested by the defending Olympic champion, the world record holder, the former world record holder, an American national record holder, and some new kid named Micheal Phelps.  When Rick was growing up in Salmon Arm, he trained with the Salmon Arm Sockeyes summer swim club.  Our club was not formed until well after Rick had left town to swim for the University of Victoria. 

What equipment do swimmers need?

To start, swimmers will need a swimsuit, goggles, and a cap.

The club will be providing branded caps to everyone. For those with short hair wearing it during practice is optional, but it's important for those with long hair so they can focus on swimming.

Goggles are a bit of a personal preference - ideal would be a set with individual eye cups, a split strap to prevent them from falling off during dives, and a fixed nose bridge so they don't have plastic bits jamming into their noses. For the little kids with small faces, we like the Speedo Skoogles - they're about $15 on Amazon.

In terms of suits - for girls, we recommend a one-piece training suit - we don't want them worrying about suits falling down when diving.

For boys, a stretchy-fabric suit in jammer or brief style is best - traditional trunks or board shorts have a lot of drag, and the stiff fabric can reduce mobility for things like breaststroke kick.

The club will also be doing an order for team-branded suits - we have a few left over from last year as well, but sizes are a bit limited. You can email Greg (president.selkirks@gmail.com) to find out if we have your size in stock. 

As swimmers move into the competitive groups, they will want their own kickboard, fins, pullbuoy, and paddles. Our pre-competitive kids will generally use the pool's gear.

Advanced and Senior swimmers will need a training snorkel as well.  Talk to Coach for recommendations. 

Fees

There are a few different fees applicable at different times for our swimmers, depending on their level of participation.

Once per season, every swimmer will have Selkirks fee which covers a custom cap and t-shirt, and a SwimBC insurance fee.

Once per session, there's a session fee based on the group the swimmer is in - this goes towards our coaching and pool rentals

Finally, there are entry fees for various meets - you're only charged for meets you choose to attend - these go to the host club to cover the costs of holding the event.

How can you help?

We're a not-for-profit society run by a volunteer board, and so that generally means we need two things: time and money.

Our session fees only cover about half of our programming expenses, and the remainder is made up through grants, sponsorship, and fundraising.

We have two fundraisers that run throughout the year, which are Askew's gift cards, and our Coop gas membership.

If you buy groceries at Askew's, you can get setup with a reloadable gift card linked to the club. All it requires is once per month you do an e-transfer to the club, your card gets topped up, and the club gets a percentage.  You can email selkirks.swim@gmail.com to get more information on this fundraiser. 

For gas purchases, if you get gas at the coop (conveniently located right by the pool), just use our membership number (60112) and the club will get a rebate.

Both of these don't have a direct cost to participate in, but they support the club, and support local businesses.

SPONSORSHIP OPPORTUNITY: 

For those of you who may own or work at a local business, we also offer sponsorship opportunities - it's a great way to get your company's name and logo out on our website, on our posters and advertising at our meet, and even on the meet's livestream. We've had partnerships for both cash and in-kind donations - for example, providing food or prizes for our home meet. If this is an opportunity your business may be interested in, please reach out to president.selkirks@gmail.com

VOLUNTEERING: 

For volunteer time, we rely on parents for a variety of roles:

• Board members
• Fundraiser Organization and Participation
• Meet Officials & Timers
• Home meet committee

Our board meets once per month for roughly and hour and a half. There is lots of representation from competitive parents, but we have some members aging out, so it'd be great to see some pre-competitive parents come on board. The AGM will be September 28 at Okanagan College -  Room 130,  if you're interested in joining. 

Fundraiser participation is always appreciated and can consist of a variety of roles, such as canvassing or sorting during the bottle drive, or counting laps for the swim-a-thon.

All meets require officials such as stroke and turn judges, as well as timers. Volunteering at our home meet, or other meets in the region, not only helps the meets run smoothly, it's also a great way to get close to the action. Training to be a timer is quick and can be done online, and the club will host training for stroke and turn officials once per year.

Running our home meet requires volunteers for a variety of positions, from officials and timers, to hospitality, awards, MC, setup and teardown.

Still have questions? 

Please reach out to us! You can email Greg: president.selkirks@gmail.com or Pattie: registrar.selkirks@gmail.com; we are happy to help or direct you to the right person.