Birmingham Blue Dolphins Season

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Why do we do this? We believe that competitive swimming offers all of our athletes a great venue to learn discipline and goal setting, to develop values (sportsmanship,) and enhance their math skills under the tutelage of dedicated, knowledgeable coaches. The Y motto is “everyone swims, everyone wins” and we believe that deeply. In swimming no one sits on the bench and everyone can be successful.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins One of the many things that sets us apart from the competition is that we are mindful of the developmental levels of children. That is one of the reasons that we work out in age groups and accommodate different levels of ability within the practice. We develop style(skills,) strength (endurance,) and speed in each of our swimmers. Our practices look different as swimmers progress from novice to national- caliber swimmers.We don’t train eight and unders like high school swimmers, or vice versa.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins BBD is a YMCA/United States Swimming Team sponsored by the Birmingham YMCA that operates year-round. While our busiest season runs from September to March, we also offer a spring tune-up, summer long-course, and late summer “jump-start” programs. It is a coach-directed team. The coaches are unconditionally supported by an energetic parent group.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins YMCA teams tend to be team-oriented and values- centered. In the Y system a child’s swimming age is determined as of December 1. US Swimming focuses more on the individual and on achievement. In the US system a child’s age is determined by their actual age. There are benefits to each system and that is why we are dually-affiliated.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins BBD offers practice seven days a week to swimmers nine and over and six days a week to eight and unders. Swimmers are grouped by age group and sometimes by gender, with a lead coach overseeing swimmers’ progress. In order for swimmers to improve consistency is essential. We need to see eight and unders a minimum of three times a week, 9/10s three-four times a week, 11-12s four-five times a week and senior swimmers five- six times a week. Our program offers a lot of flexibility but no swimmer improves if they are not in the pool.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Practice protocols----it is essential for safety that all swimmers who do not drive themselves, must be escorted into the building AND retrieved at the end. A swimmer should never be left at a practice site until it is certain that a coach is present. We do not want parents watching practice. You can check to ensure they are safely delivered and then we ask that you disappear. Swimmers should be picked up within 15 minutes of the end of their practice.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins BBD is successful because swimmers compete regularly. The coaches need to witness the swimmers racing and the swimmers need the feedback to plan for their continued improvement. Swimmers must attend three YMCA meets during the season before Clusters in order to participate in championship meets and all swimmers are required to participate in at least two championship meets. Senior swimmers must swim on three different dates. We invite all swimmers to attend appropriate US meets..

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Parents’ responsibilities: Cheer for your child and ever swimmer on the team. Communicate with coaches if you have a concern, if your children are ill, if your child is discouraged. All of our s are on the website. Communicate with the board and the YMCA if you change charge cards! Volunteer!!! No exceptions!

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Our coaches: Mike Wind, senior group coach, beginning his nineteenth year. Mike is the lead coach for the seniors.

Anne Williams Wind is beginning her thirteenth year with BBD. Anne is the lead coach.

Coach Pat Deighan was a BBD swimmer and has been coaching the tean for more than twenty years.

Scott Venettis, former BBD swimmer, national qualifier and coach for four years. Parker Turczyn, returning to the staff after four years.

Payton Violassi, our lead eight and under coach

Kate Murphy, lead coach

Nick McGowan are Kelly Flaherty beginning their second year. Elliott Fernandes is beginning his third.

Coaches James Collins and Chris Bagley

Our newest coach, Victoria Violassi

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Eight and unders and 9/10 year old swimmers need to have a pair of fins that they bring to practice each day. Please make sure your swimmer has a pair of goggles that fit well. Swimmers should not wear their new team suit to practice. Please save them for meets. Caps are optional unless a swimmer’s hair is interferes with their stroke. Please label all of their BBD merchandise, goggles etc.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Swimmers should never leave anything in the locker rooms at Derby or Cranbrook. They should bring their bags out on deck.

Birmingham Blue Dolphins Practice begins on Monday, September 14 for seniors Practice begins on Tuesday, September 15 for 11-12s Practice begins on Wednesday, September 16 for 9-10s Practice begins on Thursday, September 17 for 8 and unders. Parents are invited to join me for the first few minutes of practice and I will answer questions.

Before you enter a meet… 1)Use Mozilla Firefox, Safari or Google Chrome – Windows Explorer does not work well 2)Login to the BBD website at 3)Make sure you have a valid credit card on file under the My Account page, with a $0 balance due My Account link The Payment Setup tab allows you to add/edit your credit card on file The Membership Dues tab shows all charges/payments

Use Events tab at bottom of the home page to view upcoming Meets & Team Functions. - Click on Attend/Decline button next to name of meet to sign up OR View all meets available for signup on the Meet Entries page - Click on the name of the meet for more information & to sign up Two Ways to View a Meet

The Meet Page Click the Edit Commitment button to enter the meet, decline to attend, or change your existing entries The Meet Packet – contains full information on the meet, including location, start times & list of events

Click on your child’s name to declare whether they will attend, or declines to attend On the next page, select “Yes” they will attend or “No” they will not attend Declaring an Intention to Swim

Entering a Meet 1)Put a checkmark next to each event you want your child to swim 1)Check the Day & Session carefully!! In this example, the swimmer may choose from Open events in the morning session, or events in the afternoon session – both on Day 2 3)Make sure you don’t select more than the maximum number of events allowed per day 4)Make sure your swimmer meets the Qualifying Times (if any) 5)Save Changes when finished. You can revise & re-save until the deadline