YMCA of Virginia's Blue Ridge Riptides
The YMCA of Virginia's Blue Ridge Riptides Swim Team is a year-round competitive team led by Ned Skinner. We offer opportunities for swimmers who are just getting started in competitive swimming and elite-level swimmers preparing to swim at the national and collegiate levels. Our team is centered on character development, competitive swimming, and most of all, fun. We strive to engrain a love and passion for the sport of swimming!
The season begins on Monday, August 19th, 2024, and ends on July 31st, 2025.
Join Us For A New Swimmer Evaluation!
Monday, August 12th 5:00-6:30 pm at the Kirk Family YMCA
Tuesday, August 13th 5:00-6:30 pm at the Botetourt Family YMCA
Wednesday, August 14th 5:00-6:30 pm at the Salem Family YMCA
Membership and Registration
Registration is open for new and returning YMCA swimmers! A registration fee of $50 is due at the time of registration. All participants must be members of the YMCA of Virginia's Blue Ridge, in compliance with the YMCA of the USA competitive swimming guidelines. Swimmers can have either household, teen, or child memberships, which are paid through monthly bank drafts. earn more about membership.
Meets
Swim meets give your child a goal to work towards and a reason to improve their strokes and speed in the water. Healthy competition and good sportsmanship that are learned through swim meets are skills your child will take with them beyond the sport of swimming. There are opportunities to swim in at least one meet per month. Meet fees are an additional cost to your monthly and membership fees. Fees vary based on each meet.
Program Fees
Monthly fees are automatically drafted on the first of the month once you register. You also have the option to pay the entire fee at one time. Your first payment will draft on the first of every month beginning in September. A swim cap and t-shirt will be included in the $50.00 registration fee. All groups will be billed on an 11-month cycle. Participants must give a 30-day notice to cancel monthly drafting.
To register, please visit the YMCA Welcome Desk or sign up online!
PRACTICE GROUPS & LOCATIONS
Practices are offered at the Kirk, Salem, and Botetourt branches. Team members may practice at any branch during their group-assigned times. Please visit our Team Unify page or contact Shelley Archer at [email protected] for more information!
SENIOR GROUP:
This group is our most advanced group for primarily high school-aged swimmers who have been swimming in the program for consecutive years or have had competitive swim team experience. This group focuses primarily on high-intensity interval-based training and competes in USA swimming and YMCA meets. This group focuses primarily on high-intensity interval-based training. The Senior group practices 6 days a week from August-July. Each practice is about 1 hour and 45 minutes long with dryland 2 to 3 times per week when available.
AGE GROUP:
This group is also for more experienced swimmers ages 10-18, who are proficient in all four strokes and compete in USA Swimming and YMCA meets. In this group, we will start to increase the intensity of intervals and pace of work, while still focusing on stroke techniques. Swimmers will register to swim 5 times per week for about 1 hour and 30 minutes from August-July.
JUNIOR GROUP:
This group swims at a lower intensity and encourages endurance. Swimmers focus primarily on stroke techniques. There is an introduction to pace-type work and swimmers will be educated to read the clock based on certain intervals. Swimmers in this group should be legal in all four strokes and have the stamina to swim continuous 50s throughout practice. Swimmers will register to swim 3 times per week for about 1 hour and 15 minutes from August - July. Registration for USA Swimming is highly encouraged as well as participation in swim meets.
BLUE GROUP:
This group is for novice swimmers. Swimmers must be able to swim one length of the lap pool freestyle, backstroke, and either breaststroke or butterfly without any in-water assistance from an instructor. They will focus primarily on stroke development while also encouraging swimmers to swim longer distances than 25 yards. Swimmers will register to swim two times per week for about 1 hour and will swim from August-July.
RIP CURRENTS (pre-swim team):
This group is run through our Riptides Swim School lessons and runs all year. In this program, you are drafted monthly for your participation and when you are ready to move to another group you simply cancel one month in advance at our front desk. This group is for the novice swimmer who can swim 1 length of the pool freestyle and 1 length of the pool backstroke without any in-water assistance. The instructors will work on introducing and becoming legal in the competitive strokes of breaststroke and butterfly while also fine-tuning their freestyle and backstroke. This group will register to swim two times per week for 45 minutes. We suggest purchasing fins as swim equipment to help your swimmer's technique during practices. We will host a mock meet for this group in February or March to celebrate their accomplishments and introduce them to the swim team meet structure.
Contact us for more information!