Handbook - West Oahu Aquatics

West Oahu Aquatics Team Handbook Mission Statement West Oahu Aquatics is an organization committed to teaching, developing and training the communities of West Oahu as they pursue their aquatic endeavours. We seek to inspire and encourage our members to pursue aquatics activities as a lifelong passion. Club History/Philosophy West Oahu Aquatics (W.O.A.) was founded in 2014 with the purpose of promoting and developing aquatic activities for the benefit of West Oahu community. The organization reaches across all ages and levels of ability and talent to share the joys of aquatic activities. Our swim school uses the Swim SMART method for infants and toddlers. The focus for preschool and older is balance, length and rotation. Our swim team and master’s program follow the mantra of technique first effort second. The water polo program promotes individual skill development and a one team mindset. Contact Information Website www.westoahuaquatics.com Email [email protected] Phone 8085518515 Organizational Structure Swim School Ages 3 years and older West Oahu Aquatics offers yearround swimming education as part of our effort to promote swimming as a lifelong sport. Lessons focus on stroke development and are designed for swimmers 3 years and older. Lessons are available in group, semiprivate, and private formats. Infant/Toddler Our Swim SMART program is focused on the Self Managed Aquatic Rescue Technique. With this technique swimmers will learn the life saving skill of rolling to their back if they fall into the water. This program was developed with practical knowledge of what children are capable of developmentally, physically, and emotionally. Camps/Clinics Camps/clinics are offered throughout the year, focusing on a variety of subjects and levels. Swim Team USA Swimming Registration Required Elementary 1 New competitive swimmers. Focus is on basic stroke development and technique Ages 711 Practice times MondayThursday 4pm5pm $60/month Elementary 2 Seasoned swimmers with focus on stroke development, technique and fitness Swimmers have achieved one HI A times Ages 711 Practice times MondayFriday 5pm6pm $65/month Middle School 1 New competitive swimmers. Focus is on basic stroke development, technique and fitness Ages 1114 Practice Times MondayThursday 4pm530pm $70/month Middle School 2 Seasoned swimmers with focus on stroke refinement, fitness and racing strategy Swimmers have achieved two HI AA times Ages 1114 Practice Times MondayFriday 4pm530pm $75/month High School 1 New competitive swimmers with focus on stroke development, technique and fitness Ages 1318 Practice Times MondayThursday 4pm6pm $80/month High School 2 Seasoned swimmers with focus on stroke refinement, fitness and racing strategy Swimmers have achieved two HI Q times Ages 1318 Practice Times MondayFriday 4pm6pm $85/month National Team Seasoned swimmers with focus on stroke mastery, fitness and competition. All national team members are competing to achieve the highest level of success through hard work, intelligent effort and full commitment. Swimmers have Senior Sectional times Ages 14 & up Practice Times: Mornings: Mon,Tues,Wed,Thurs 530am7am Afternoons MondayFriday 345pm6pm $100/month Masters USA Masters Swimming Registration Required Open Swim Pool space for lap swimming Ages 18 & up Lane Available MondayFriday 4pm6pm $30/month Coached Swim Workouts tailored for individual goals Ages 18 & up Lane Available MondayFriday 4pm6pm Coached workout Monday,Wednesday,Thursday 5pm6pm $50/month Water Polo USA Water Polo Registration Required Splashball Introduction to water polo focusing on fundamental skills such as egg beater kick, passing, basic ball handling skills. Athletes must be able to swim 25 yards unassisted. Ages 611 Intermediate Introduction to water polo if new to the sport. Continued fundamental skills refinement. Introduction to game strategies. Ages 1218 Advanced Fitness training for endurance, strength and skill. Introduction to intermediate and advanced game strategies. Ages 1218 Payment Policies Swim School Clients will use the online registration system and must have a valid credit card. Prepayment of classes is required to have a spot in the class. Missed classes will not be refunded nor will there be make up class. Swim Team/Water Polo/ Masters Members are required to set up automatic payment through the www.westoahuaquatics.com. Monthly dues will be charged at the 1st of every month. Annual registration will be charged September 1st. Meet fees will be applied according to each members participation. Meet fees are nonrefundable once the sign up deadline has passed. There will be a $5 surcharge for each swimmers entered in a swim meet. Cancellation or suspension of account procedure is as follows. Members must email [email protected] the 25th of the month prior. Example: if a member wishes to cancel or suspend the account in September the team must receive an email by August 25th. Membership Obligations Swim Team Per our LSC (Local Swim Committee) rules: each team must provide at least one official per five swimmers entered in a meet (timers count as officials). Any family that has a parent become a certified USA swimming official and officiates at their swimmers swim meets, will have all their swimmer’s monthly dues waived. Parents who are not USA swimming officials will be assigned timing duties by the swim coach. The duties will rotate between parents of swimmers entered in the meet. Swim Team / Water Polo / Masters Once a year, a designated date in April, the members shall have to participate in the annual pool fundraising effort. Obligations will include preselling of car wash tickets. Donation of goods, monetary donations and/or volunteering during any of the fundraiser events. Each swimmer, water polo player or master swimmer will be required to sell 10 or more car wash tickets. Coaches Our coaching staff is dedicated to providing a quality program and enabling swimmers to be the best that they can be. 1. “Transparent interaction”, at all times coach and swimmer(s) interaction will take place in the open 2. It is the coaches’ responsibility to assess and place swimmers in their designated swimming divisions and groups. Decisions are made based on age and ability level. The coach will decide when it is in the best interest of a swimmer to be moved into a more difficult training group. 3. The coaching staff will make the final decision regarding meets the club participates in. The coaches will also make the final decision concerning which events individual swimmers are entered in. 4. While attending meets, the coaches will supervise warmup/warm down, and offer prerace advice and postrace constructive criticism. Parents In order for West Oahu Aquatics to have a successful program we need cooperation and understanding among our swim parents, swimmers and coaches. 1. Be supportive. Your primary job as a swim parent is to provide all the love, support and encouragement your swimmer needs. 2. Let the coaches coach. It is important that swimmers relate to their coach when it comes to all matters concerning/involving swimming. The relationship between coach and swimmer is important for development and performance. It can be confusing for the swimmer when parents interfere with opinions about how the swimmer should swim or train. If as a parent you ever have a problem, concern or complaint, please see your swimmer’s coach. 3. Understand that your swimmer will not produce “personal bests” each time he/she is in a swim meet. Plateaus are a normal part of swimming, and it is important to provide the same level of support to your swimmer no matter what his/her results may have been at a meet. 4. Come and watch. We encourage parents to come and watch practices. When observing a practice, please leave a “buffer space”. Parents are invited to sit in the designated seating/observation areas (benches along the wall , tables and lawn chairs). Parents are not permitted on deck. Parent(s)/guardian/athletes make an appointment to speak with coaches for before or after practice, not during. 5. Be punctual, swimmers/parents make it a priority to show up on time for practice, late swimmer(s) disrupt the flow of practice, and is impolite to those who are on time Athletes Responsibilities West Oahu Aquatics is a competitive program and is designed around the swimmers. As swimmers progress through the groups, the responsibilities expected of them grow. Coaches will discuss with swimmers the higher expectations before advancing them into a higher practice group. Basic expectations of all swimmers are to come to every practice prepared and ready to swim with 100% effort, bring their training equipment to all workouts, have spare caps, goggles and suits, and listen to their coaches when they are speaking. Swimmers are required to have their own practice equipment. Required equipment: 1. Elementary 1 & 2 kick board, short fins, front mounted snorkle 2. Middle School 1&2 kick board, short fins, front mounted snorkle, small hand paddles 3. High School 1&2, National Team kick board, front mounted snorkle, medium to large hand paddles, water bottle, jump rope Code of Conduct All swimmers, coaches and parents are considered to be team members and representatives of West Oahu Aquatics (W.O.A.). Proper behavior by all team members has a positive influence on individual and team performance and reflects a strong image of our team. Compliance with this Code of Conduct is a condition of membership for all team members. You agree to abide by the requirements of this Code of Conduct and agree that you are subject to disciplinary consequences for any violation of the Code. 1. Team members are expected to display good sportsmanlike behavior toward fellow team members, competitors, coaches, officials, parents, family of team members, facility staff and the public at all times, including team practices, meets and social activities. 2. Team members will not engage in any inappropriate physical contact with another individual. 3. Team members will not use derogatory or abusive language of any kind. 4. Team members will not engage in bullying, harassing or hazing behavior of any kind. Such behavior may involve but is not limited to teasing, taunting, namecalling, rumor spreading or social exclusion. 5. Team members will not use social or electronic media to harass, threaten, or cause harm to another team member. Such behavior may involve but is not limited to threatening, derogatory, false or misleading emails or posting threatening or derogatory, false or misleading information or pictures online. 6. Parent team members shall not engage or discuss behavioral issues with any athletes outside their own immediate families. 7. Team members will respect the personnel, equipment and property at all practice and competition facilities and abide by all rules concerning use of those facilities. 8. Team members will not engage in any behavior(s) during team activities, or other instances in which team members can reasonably be construed as representing W.O.A., which detracts from the image of the team. 9. Team members will not be engaged in any illegal conduct or inappropriate behavior which detracts from the image of the team or is detrimental to the team’s performance objectives. Failure to comply with this Code of conduct may result in, but is not limited to, any of the following actions: ● Team members may be restricted from participating in some or all team activities including practice, meets and social activities. ● Team members may be sent home from team practice sessions, meets or team social activities. ● Team members may be suspended or dismissed from W.O.A. Reporting procedures ● Team members are encouraged to immediately and fully report any incidents to their coach, verbally and in writing, and, if an athlete, to their parents. ● Coaches are responsible for following up with the individuals or group of individuals involved in any reported incidents. All disciplinary decisions are within the sole discretion of W.O.A. coaches and are final. Such decisions are not subject to review. Disciplinary decisions are to be kept in confidence among W.O.A. staff and the team member and his/her family (unless disclosure or reporting is required by law). No refunds will be given as a result of a team member’s suspension or dismissal from W.O.A. due to a violation of this Code of Conduct. Swim Seasons Swimming in Hawaii is a year round sport broken into two seasons. The first is short course yards (SCY) season in which swimmers will train and compete in a 25 yard pool. This season runs from mid August to mid March . The second is long course and short course meters (LCM & SCM) season in which swimmers will train and compete in a 50 or 25 meter pool. LCM & SCM season runs from midMarch through August. Swim Meets Fun Meets – Occasionally W.O.A. will hold a fun meet at our own pool. Swimmers will swim in multiple events with other members of Hawaii Swim Club. The idea behind this type of meet is to introduce our precompetitive swimmer to meet and build team spirit. Developmental Meets (B/C meets) – This type of meet does not have any qualification time standards. Here swimmers compete to earn times in all the strokes. Once a swimmer has earned an “A” he/she will no longer be able to swim that event at this type of meet. HI A / HI AA Meets This type of meet requires swimmers to earn a specific time to swim at this meet. Swimmer’s who have earned HI A or HI AA times will be entered in the events they have qualified for. Some meets allow swimmer’s to “splash” or enter an extra event even if they have not qualified. State Championships At the end of each season (short course / long course) a state championship meet is held. Swimmers must earn the qualifying time to compete at this meet. There is no splashing of events at the championship meet. Ages 818 Travel Meets As a swimmers progress through the different levels of swim meets the greater the distance the travel for these meets.Hawaii Age Group State Championships is hosted by each island on a rotating schedule. Senior Sectionals, Junior/Senior Nationals rotating location in any of the 50 states. Any travel meet, which swimmers ages 13 & under qualify, will require parental accompaniment. Any travel meet, which swimmers ages 1417 qualify, while parental accompaniment is preferred the team coaches will chaperone upon parent/guardian written/email request. Parents/Guardians will be required to sign release forms.

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