Joining the Wedgewood Whales

Each summer, about 200 swimmers between the ages of 5 and 18 swim for the Wedgewood Whales, the swim team at Wedgewood Swim Club in West Chester. If your child is curious about joining, here's how the season fits together and what to expect as a new family.

Who the team is for

The Whales compete in the Southern Chester County Swim League, and the team is split into competitive and developmental squads. Every swimmer must be an active member of Wedgewood Swim Club, so the team is a members-only program and the first step is the club itself. If you're still on the wait list, our article on how joining works explains how that goes.

The team states three goals, and they're a good read on the culture: a fun and rewarding experience for the swimmers, strong team spirit, and solid fundamentals. In that order. Tim Horan is the Head Coach and also directs the club's swim lessons, which means the person running the program also knows the swimmers who are just learning. A developmental group coach and a staff of assistant coaches round out the poolside crew.

Squads, age groups and where they practice

Practice groups follow age, with separate blocks for 8 and under, 10 and under, 12 and under, and 13 and up. Those practices happen in the lower pool, the 25 meter, six-lane pool, with afternoon sessions starting in late May and morning sessions taking over once the summer schedule begins in mid-June. The developmental groups, A, B and C, practice in the upper pool in the mornings from mid-June.

Small differences in grouping matter more than parents expect. Lanes in a pool are finite, so a coach can only watch a handful of swimmers well at once. Groups sized to a swimmer's age and experience make room for feedback on each kick and breath, which is where fundamentals actually come from. If your child isn't yet confident in deep water, ask the coaches where they'd start. The developmental groups exist for that reason.

What a season looks like

A season opens with a parent meeting and new swimmer evaluations in the lower pool, so the coaches can place each swimmer in a group that fits. From there it moves through team picture day, time trials during morning practices, and then league meets. Those include a relay carnival, a handful of dual meets with other clubs, some home and some away, a league invitational, and championship meets at the end of the schedule. Dates shift from year to year, so watch the team's published schedule instead of planning around last summer.

Between meets there's a social side that kids remember longer than their times:

• The Poster Party, held during morning practices.
• Bingo Night in the Picnic Grove.
• The Team Banquet and awards night.
• An End of Season Party at Wedgewood.

Your first meet

Meets can look chaotic from the deck. Swimmers gather in a staging area by event, heats are called one after another, and timers at each lane record the results. Age-group meets use the four competitive strokes, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke and butterfly, plus relays. A disqualification, such as a one-handed wall touch in breaststroke, is a teaching moment more than a punishment, and coaches use them to show swimmers what to fix.

Praise effort and personal progress. In age-group swimming, the stopwatch is the opponent, and a child who drops a second off a time has done something real, whatever the heat result. A bag for meet days helps:

• A spare pair of goggles and a spare suit.
• Two towels, because the first one gets soaked by the second race.
• A plastic water bottle and a snack that keeps in a bag.
• A cap, sunscreen and a folding chair for the parent.

Why parents matter here

The team runs on volunteers. The parent board includes co-presidents, a volunteer coordinator, a treasurer, a social committee, league representatives, a meet registrar and a spirit wear coordinator, and the team page asks families to consider volunteering because swim team is a group effort for the kids. Timing at a meet or helping with the banquet is a quick way for parents to learn the team's rhythm. If you want to ask about the team, email wedgewoodswimteam@gmail.com.

Lessons if the team feels like too much

Some children aren't ready for a team yet, and that's fine. The club's swim lessons, run by the same coaching staff, help swimmers learn water safety, work toward the Green Tag Test and build the strokes used in meets. When instructors are free, a few private or small-group lessons in June can make the difference between a nervous start and a happy first practice. Plenty of young swimmers everywhere start out just wanting to pass the deep water test and get on the slide, and lessons are built for exactly that.