BLUE (Ages 9-14)
Practice Attendance Requirement: up to 3 practices per week
Practice Length: 60 minutes
Equipment Necessary: kickboards(option to use team kickboards), fins, snorkel, water bottle
Competition Expectation: participation in a minimum of 3 meets for the short course season and a minimum of 2 meets for the long course season.
Group Description: Swimmers in the Blue Group will build upon the fundamental swimming skills and good habits established in the Yellow group. An introduction to wider variety of drills and new training techniques will be introduced to improve overall coordination and efficiency in the water. Swimmers are encouraged to attend practice regularly, along with participation in other activities and sports.
Competitive goals include longer swims and sets, continuing to master the four competitive strokes, gain proficiency in turns, starts, and finishes.
At a minimum, swimmers in the Blue Group must be able to complete the following skills legally and without stopping before advancing to the Orange Group
- 50 butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle
- 100butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke and freestyle
- 100 IM
- 200 IM
- 400 IM
- 500 Freestyle
Athletes must be open minded to trying new and challenging events to expand their race experience. The coach will consider the age of the swimmer when choosing events for athletes to swim at meets.
Swimmers in the Blue Group must be able to complete a minimum of 300 yards/meters freestyle with a snorkel, with flipturns, without stopping before being considered to advance to the next group. Swimmers must have multiple qualifying times for the ND State Championships in their respective age group before being considered to move to the next group.
Below are links to suggested equipment for the BLUE training group by the Flyer Coaching staff:
Fins* - Sporti Essential Floating Swim Fins (Color) at SwimOutlet.com
Short Blade Fins (Zoomers)* - Sporti Essential Training Swim Fins (Color) at SwimOutlet.com
Smaller Pull Buoy for Smaller Swimmers - Sporti Junior Pull Buoy at SwimOutlet.com
Pull Buoy - Sporti Pull Buoy at SwimOutlet.com
*Either short blade or regular-length fins are appropriate for this group
*We are a TYR team so we prefer athletes use TYR equipment. There are many other options for equipment, your swimmer may prefer another brand, these are merely suggestions from the Flyer Coaching Staff. You can also find a great selection of equipment on our Team TYR site, but following the link under the PARENTS tab on this website.
These group descriptions are for basic guidelines and are not intended as hard-line requirements. The Head Coach, in conjunction with the assistant coaches, has the final say in all instances. In all instances, the coaches will do what is best for the swimmer and the team as a whole.
