Why join a summer swim team?
Living in Texas, we all know how
important water activities become in the summer time. From the time our kids
are babies, we structure much of our lives between Spring Break and Labor Day
around pools, lakes, and beaches. Early swim skills are critical in our culture
to stay safe and have fun in the water.
Swim team takes early swim skills to a
higher level.
Ask any parent whose kid started swim
team by just making it across the length of the pool—they’ll tell you that summer
swim team seriously leveled up their child’s abilities and confidence in the
water. From mechanics and technique to strength and endurance, summer swimmers
know how to handle themselves in the water well above what they learned in swim
lessons.
Swimming lasts a lifetime.
The healthiest old people we know swim
laps at the Y for exercise. Why? It’s low-impact, low-stress, low-cost, whole-body,
physically therapeutic, and not season-dependent. Swimming is an exercise for a
lifetime of health. For kids, it strengthens their core, limbs, and
cardiovascular system, builds enormous physical endurance, and puts them to
sleep easily on summer nights!
A lifetime of swimming is especially true for the Northampton team—many Cuda parents were Cudas themselves. Now we even have a third generation of Cudas as we swim through our sixth decade as a team. This generational legacy also benefits Cudas after they graduate, with many coming back to the Cudas in following summers for early job experience as a coach.
Swim team friends are the best friends.
Sharing a swim lane at practice every
day, racing against each other in the same event, diving over each other in a
relay, cheering each other on against other teams, writing on each other’s
backs in Sharpie, eating too many nachos and sour straws, playing Uno while
waiting for events … these unique swim team experiences create the best
friendships for kids and families.
Swim team develops character.
Every summer across practices, meets,
coaching, and social events, swim team parents watch their kids become their
best selves. Swim team teaches:
- Improvement through dedication
- Achievement through hard work
- Independence and self-confidence
- Resilience after disappointment
- Importance of honoring commitments
- Teamwork and peer support
