Text Box: Welcome Swimmers! The SouthWest Aquatic Team, aka SWAT, is a year round, USA Swimming Sanctioned team. The goal of our team is to develop “Strength, Willingness, Attitude, and Teamwork”.  Any youth is invited to try out for our team. The team size usually averages around 60 to 80 swimmers with a wide range of abilities.  Swimming has proven to be an excellent sport for youth of all ages and is a sport everyone can continue to do throughout their lives. Swimming builds self confidence while teaching kids about self respect and respect for others. Swimmers tend to be some of the most dedicated of all athletes.   We encourage all new swimmers to read the Code of Conduct.   Below are some frequently asked questions by parents and swimmers.   Am I good enough to be on a swim team? You need to have successfully completed level 6 swimming lessons and be at least six years old. You need to be able to swim the four different strokes for at least 50 yards (freestyle, backstroke, breast stroke, and butterfly). Our coaches will evaluate you and determine your level of swimming. You don’t have to be able to swim each stroke perfectly. If you did, we wouldn’t need coaches. If you are unsure of your ability, come and talk to our coaches.   Why do I need to try out? The SWAT team is a competitive swim team. But it is also a learning and teaching team. Before you start swimming with the team, our coaches want to know what type of swimmer you are.  Once in a while, some swimmers aren’t quite ready for the team. But don’t worry, even if you are not ready, there is a “pre-competitive” team which also swims at the Marv Jensen Rec Center known as the “Marv Marlins”.  If our coaches feel you might not be ready for the SWAT Team, you can begin swimming with the Marlins. When you progress, you will then be invited to move up to the SWAT Team.   Am I too old to start swimming? Kids worry that they might be too old to start swimming. NONSENSE! Often, many kids don’t start swimming until high school age and they become very good and talented swimmers within a short period of time.  Many kids on the team didn't start until they were 14 or 15, and many of them have gone on to be some of the highest ranked swimmers in the state. It’s never too late to start.   What will be expected of me? The question should be—what do you expect? If you want to be a good swimmer, then it would be expected that you come to practice as much as possible. Most swimmers who excel, come to practice every day, Monday through Friday. At practice you need to remain focused and work hard. If you want to come just to swim around and goof off, this team is not for you. While practices can be fun at times, it is also hard work and requires effort. To be a good swimmer, you must attend swim meets as often as possible. The hours of hard work in practice pay off when a swimmer drops major time at a swim meet.   When is practice? Practice is Monday through Friday and the time differs depending on which group you will be swimming with. See the calendar for a complete detail of the practice schedule.   What are the fees and what are they for? There is a monthly fee of $32 which is paid directly to the Marv Jensen Rec Center. It will be your job to make sure this is paid every month. You can pay this fee at the front counter.  This fee pays for our time in the pool and pays the coaches.  You may wonder why the coaches get paid when many little league programs do not pay coaches.  Our coaches are experts and certified. Not just anyone can volunteer to be a swim coach.  Coaching requires many hours of time, travel, and effort.  Additional fees include an annual fee of $55 which is paid to USA Swimming for registration. USA Swimming is the governing body over our swim team. They organize officials, meets, and provide countless resources for our teams. This is the same group which oversees the USA Olympic Team. There is a $25 annual fee which goes to SWAT to cover team expenses throughout the year. This helps us get equipment as well as organizational costs. There will be small fees for each meet you attend.  The $55 and the $25 are once a year and collected by Coach Andee. Do not pay these fees to Marv Jensen as they will not know what the money is for! The total fees may seem higher than other sports, however, swimming is a year round sport and a lot more time is involved. Equipment is generally less for swimming than other sports.   Do I need to swim in meets? It is not a requirement to swim in meets. But meets are a lot of fun. The team is all together and it is exciting for everyone involved. Meets are the best way to judge how you are doing as a swimmer. There is usually one or two meets a month and they are typically on Fridays and Saturdays. We should warn you (and your parents), meets are long events and usually last three to four hours each day.  While that may seem like a long time, most parents find it goes by fast and the team has developed into a family of sorts. So it’s kind of like a big family gathering.   Can my parents get involved? You bet!! There are many ways for parents to get involved. At meets there is always a need for parents to be “timers”. If you can push a button on a stop watch, you are qualified to be a timer. The SWAT Executive Board is always willing to have parents involved with the board. If the company your parents are working for would like to help out as a sponsor, we would love to hear from them. This team would love to have sponsors to help out financially. The only parent involvement we don’t want is during practice. If your parents would like to ask a question from the coach, please wait until after practice or you can email the coach. Coaches need to be coaches during practice.   I’ve heard the team is only for swimmers who want to go to Bingham High in the future. Is that True? NO!! Anyone can join. While Bingham High Swimming does practice at the Marv Jensen facility, this program is not a feeder program for Bingham High Swimming. Many of our swimmers will go to Riverton, West Jordan, Copper Hills, and other schools.   Why should I select swimming over other sports? As a youth, it is great to be involved in any sport. Kids need to be active. If you continue to swim into high school, you have a pretty good chance of lettering. Swimming is by far less stressful on the growing body when compared with contact sports.  Swimming teaches dedication. Studies have proven that because of the dedication swimmers learn, swimmers have among the highest grade point averages of any athletic group.  And finally, swimming is fun!   How do I sign up? Contact coach Andee at agunders@att.net. You can also come to our practice and watch. You can talk to one of our coaches after practice. We are located at the Marv Jensen Rec Center at 10300 S. Redwood Road in South Jordan. Just tell the front desk you are coming to watch swim practice.  Also, bring your friends!!!   We hope to see you there!!!      

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