Year-Round Swim Team Information
Marlins:
It’s hard to believe, but the Marlin Swim season is coming to an end! I know many of you were probably expecting an email from me – if we’ve talked for longer than five minutes, I was probably encouraging your kids to join a local winter Swim Team! Well, many folks seemed interested (possibly to appease me?), so I decided to put this together and distribute some information to all.
Since your child is a Marlin, that means they at least have some interest in competitive swimming. My daughter Emma didn’t have any interest in any sport, but she enjoyed spending time in the water. That lead to us joining the Marlins and ultimately, she decided she’d join a winter team. This fall, she will start her fourth winter swim season and she’s recruited a few of her friends to compete year-round as well. My point is, many parents struggle to find an exercise/activity that their child enjoys and requires them to put away their phone/tablet. Swimming is a great fit and has the added benefit for the parents of multiple kids; generally, they practice at the same time attend the same swim meets!
All teams operate differently and compete at different levels. There’s more traveling and swim practices with some teams than others, so that’s something to consider while determining which team would work the best for your interests/goals. Some teams have try-outs and others do more placement within their teams to match skill levels. There are lots of other factors to consider when looking into a fall swim team, so feel free to ask questions.
Winter swim teams are operated somewhat differently than our summer league, but the mechanization and most of the swim meet processes are similar. There are a variety of competitive levels of swim teams in our area which provides a great opportunity to select a team that fits best with your child’s interest and skill level. All local winter teams will be a step up in competitive level from our summer league, but most offer entry points that are a direct lateral from the St Charles County Summer Swim League. There’s just nothing for your child to fear in terms of swimming in the winter. In fact, our swimmers will be far more experienced than most kids joining swim teams this fall.
My daughter loves her swim team, which is the Chesterfield Family YMCA’s “Wavemakers”, but there are several in the area that are very good, to great swim teams in terms of skill levels. I’ll provide some links below for your review and consideration. All of them are less than a 20-minute drive from the Muirfield Pool.
- Chesterfield Family YMCA Wavemakers
- O’Fallon YMCA Sea Dragons
- St. Peters Rec Plex Sharks
- St Charles County YMCA Stingrays
- Edward Jones YMCA Piranhas
- Swim Theory This isn’t a swim team, but it's a local business that focuses on stroke correction. It’s co-owned/operated by the Head Coach of the Blanchette swim team and a Rec Plex Sharks coach.
I’m trying to avoid steering anybody to a particular swim team, but as I’ve said before I’m most familiar with the Chesterfield Family YMCA team. They’re having open evaluations night at the end of the month, so I’ll attach some informational links below. They call it an “evaluation”, but it’s really a placement system within the team and not a traditional team tryout process. Some of the local area teams listed above do have tryouts, so that’s something to consider.
We’ve got some Sharks & Wavemakers on our Marlins team, and maybe some other swim teams as well. I’d be happy to talk about any questions you may have, and at least speak in generalities about most local swim teams. I could also point you to some Marlin teammates and coaches that can help with more detail on the other teams. Please feel free to pull me aside anytime and I’ll try to help, my contact information is listed below. I’d really like to cheer on a lot of Marlins competing this fall!
Dave Bostelmann
314-809-7732