 |
|
| ||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
| |||||||||||||||
|
The History of Metro Aquatics Metro Parks Tacoma (previously the Metropolitan Park District of Tacoma) has been offering swim lessons in facilities such as Wilson, Mt Tahoma, Eastside, Peoples Center, Titlow, and Norpoint since 1955. In response to encouragement from patrons, Metro Parks Tacoma started running swim teams at each location swim lessons were offered. Swim meets we held between park district pools. In September of 2004, Metro Parks hired Dane Wolfrom to expand the swim teams to include competing at USA Swimming sanctioned meets. In January, 2005, swim teams at all facilities combined to make one single city-wide swim team, called Metro Aquatics. Since 2005, Metro Aquatics has experienced amazing growth--assisting many swimmers reach their goals, and having fun too! In 2008, Paul Hughes became the first Metro Swimmer to qualify for the USA Swimming National Championship. In August, 2009, Metro Aquatics won the Western Zone Championship, becoming the fastest team in the 17 Westernmost states! Our Facilities We train at many pools in the Greater Tacoma area. These include the Centre at Norpoint, Eastside Community Pool, Mt. Tahoma High School, Titlow Pool, and Wilson High School. Group Placement Metro Aquatics employs consistent training emphases throughout the entire program. Swimmers will likely work with all of our coaches from time to time, and will benefit from this interaction. While each training group has minimum qualifying requirements, you may always decide to swim in a group below the highest level you qualify for. For example, you may meet the requirements to train in the Sectional training group at Mt. Tahoma, but for scheduling or facility convenience, you may prefer to swim with the Advanced group. You may train in either group, and your fees and registration will reflect the choice you make. Please consult your coach about what options are available to your specific family.
Swim Meets: Where to begin? Throughout the season, Metro Aquatics swimmers have the option of participating in many different swim meets, at all levels. We encourage everyone to explore these options and take part in team meets. We have a blast and meets are a great chance for our kids to support one another, compete, and have fun. All swim meets are learning opportunities for our swimmers to work on skills and disciplines they have learned in practice. Friendly competition allows them to see the progress they are making throughout each season. Following are explanations of the two types of swim meets we attend as a team throughout the season:
Meets available include monthly Challenge Meets with a handful of other teams in attendance and Fall, Spring, and Summer Grand Challenge meets to cap off those seasons. In addition, some of our swimmers qualify each season for Pacific Northwest Swimming (PNS) Championship, Sectional, Zone, or National Championship meets. In essence, the sky is the limit for competitive opportunities for our Metro swimmers. We hope to provide the full spectrum from the time they attend their first Intra-squad or Dual Meet to the time they tackle the challenges offered by USA Swimming sanctioned meets..) What is USA Swimming? USA Swimming is the National Governing Body for competitive swimming in the United States. As the National Governing Body for the sport, USA Swimming is responsible for the conduct and administration of swimming in the United States. In this capacity, USA Swimming formulates the rules, implements the policies and procedures, conducts the national championships, disseminates safety and sports medicine information and selects athletes to represent the United States in international competition. Among the many services USA Swimming provides are publications, educational programs, fund-raising activities, sports medicine programs, resources and general information about swimming related activities. USA Swimming is a non-profit organization made up of very dedicated volunteers and support staff. Interested volunteers donate their time, energy and expertise at every level from the national Board of Directors to the local swimming clubs. The Parents' Role Metro Aquatics provides many benefits to young athletes including self?discipline, good sportsmanship, and time management skills. Competition allows the swimmer to experience success and to learn how to treat success and failure as two sides of the same coin, while becoming healthy and physically fit. As a parent, your major responsibility is to provide a stable, loving and supportive environment. This positive environment will encourage your child to continue. Show your interest by ensuring your child's attendance at practices, by coming to swimming meets and volunteering for your club at swim meets, etc. Parents contribute to the success experienced by the child and the team. Parents serve as role models and their children emulate their attitudes. Be aware of this and strive to be positive role models. Most importantly, show good sportsmanship at all times toward coaches, officials, opponents and teammates. Remember that you are teaching your child at all times. What Parents May Expect From Us...
Financial Commitment At Metro Aquatics you pay each session (month) you participate. If you take a break for any reason, you will not pay during those session(s). This includes taking time off to swim or otherwise participate in high school sports. Training fees are due before the first day of practice each pay period. The summer session spans two months. Scholarships Scholarships for Metro Aquatics are available through the Metro Parks Foundation and also Metro Aquatics Boosters. There is an application process, and annual limits may apply to your family. If you would like further information about receiving a scholarship, please speak with Coach Dane about the process. Family responsibility Metro Aquatics is a strong, healthy swim club due—in large part—to its wonderfully dedicated parent volunteers. Joining Metro Aquatics is a wonderful investment in your child’s future. This investment comes with not only a commitment from the swimmer, but also from the whole family. The family commitment is not just your time and finances to support your the swimmer; but also your time and expertise to help manage the swim team. Your personal talents are needed with other fund raising activities and joining committees that suit your expertise. In order to run a healthy swim club we need the help of all our parents. Changes in Practice or Meets Schedules If practices are cancelled or other time-sensitive information needs to be disseminated, a Metro Parks staff member will call you, using contact information you provided during registration. Usually these calls originate from our Aquatics Headquarter at Eastside Pool. If you need further information, or have time-sensitive questions, please direct them to Eastside Pool at 253-591-2042. Submitting Payments We prefer you register for training and meets online using you favorite credit card. You may also register over the telephone at 253-305-1022, or in person at the Metro Parks Main Office or cashiers at any of the following locations: Eastside, Mt. Tahoma, Norpoint, Stewart Heights, and Titlow. Please ensure that the five-digit code for the session or meet you are registering is attached to your payment. Please retain your receipt for all cash payments at least 90 days. For more information, click here. USA Swimming Registration To participate in any USA Swimming sanctioned activity or competition, swimmers are required to be members of USA Swimming. To register for USA Swimming, click here.   Metroaquatics.org is maintained by a volunteer group of parents of Metro Aquatics swimmers. This website is not administered, maintained or monitored by Metro Parks Tacoma. Resources provided here with the Metro Parks Tacoma logo may or may not be copyrighted property of Metro Parks Tacoma and redistributed with permission. All other material is Copyright © Metro Aquatics Boosters 2009-2010 or Copyright © Dane Wolfrom 2001-2010. All rights reserved. Any reproduction or redistribution of material in any form without explicit written permission is strictly forbidden. | |||||||||||||||||
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||
