South Siskiyou Swim Team

Welcome to South Siskiyou Swim Team, formerly known as Mt Shasta and Weed Swim clubs. We are part of Sierra Nevada Swimming with governing requirements set forth by USA Swimming. We are based out of Southern Siskiyou County, utilizing the pools in Weed and Dunsmuir when possible. Our swimmers are comprised of residents all over South Sisikyou county from Castella to Montague.

We average between 80 and 100 athletes per season. These athletes represent a combination of pre-team training up to our competitive swimmers, who also serve as junior coaches and lifeguards. Our practices are separated as follows: pre-team (5-7 years old); Age Groups (8-12 years old); and Senior (13-18 years old).

We are a recreational team with the option to compete.  Although our athletes are not required to participate in swim meets, they are always encouraged to do so. The only requirement is they must be able to swim the length of the pool crawl stroke unassisted. The pre-team has different requirements listed in the following section.  

Traditionally, swim practices run from early to mid-June through the end of July,  Monday through Thursday for varying lengths of time based on ability. Our pre-team swimmers typically swim first in 30 minute assigned time slots, followed by our mid-range swimmers who are a combination of our younger competitive athletes and athletes who are swimming for condition and the final designated swim time is for our more advanced, competitive swimmers. Our mid-range and competitive swimmers also have availability to do some land training with Jason Koster and work on activities ranging from running on the local trails to stretching, planks and other muscle building and strengthening exercises.

We are the only swim team in our competitive area who has a pre-team swim program. Our older competitive swimmers function as junior coaches, under the direct supervision of our coaches. They are assigned one or two of the pre-team swimmers to work with in a more individualized way to reinforce good habits and techniques as well as for safety reasons to have eyes on our younger swimmers at all times.

The pre-team swim program is a 4-week session, Monday through Thursday, for 30 minutes.  It will begin the first week of swim team practice in early June.  Children ages 5 to 7 are encouraged to enroll and may advance to the swim team during the same season if they meet the requirements (see below). In order to be eligible to join the pre-team, children must show confidence in the water, willingness to learn and appropriate strength.  Because these swimmers require some extra attention, we have limits on how many pre-team swimmers may join the team each season and they must undergo an evaluation at the beginning of swim season to ensure they meet the requirements.  This year we are limiting the program to 28 pre-team swimmers, first come first serve.  

In order to graduate to the Swim Team, these requirements must be met:

• Swimmer must be able to swim the length of the pool, crawl stroke (free style), with side breathing, without stopping and then return in backstroke.
• Swimmer can jump in the deep end, tread water for 60 seconds and get back to the wall.
• Swimmer can climb out of the deep end without using ladder.
• Swimmer is willing to work on diving.
• Needs coach approval to transition to team.