About

Welcome to the South Central Swim Team

About Us
The South Central Swim Team is a USA-Swimming swim team which offers swimmers ages six and up structured practices, stroke mechanics, and an opportunity to compete on and individual and team basis at local, regional, state, sectional, and national levels.

USA-Swimming is the governing body for swimming in the United States, and one of the largest guided fitness activities for children (246,326 year-round individual members in 2006 with thousands more seasonal members). USA-Swimming consists of close to 2,800 club members with approximately 11,000 registered coaches.

Values
Good Sportsmanship
Parents, coaches, swimmers, and officials should adhere to the principles of good sportsmanship.

Competitive Excellence

Establish this tradition by consistently developing and motivating quality swimmers.

Physical Activity
Swimming is a great source of physical activity.

Ownership/Pride of Achievement
More swimmers than parents, but all should not only be proud and take responsibility of achievement, but take responsibility for downfalls. Without failure, there is no success.

Self-Esteem
Parents, coaches, and swimmers work together to build self-esteem in our young athletes.

Exciting and Fun
All involved should be excited and have fun. Parents should enjoy watching their swimmers compete, regardless of the result, and should look forward to assisting at club functions. Coaches should have fun with their swimmers at meets AND AT PRACTICE. Keeping things fresh and exciting is our number one weapon against boredom. Swimmers should come to practice everyday excited to learn and develop, understanding that that is the true reward.

Community Pride/Importance
We should all take pride in our communities and realize the importance of supporting them.

Commitment
The Board of Directors should show commitment to the welfare of the club. The coaches should show commitment to the growth and development of their swimmers. The parents should show commitment to the overall health (mental and physical) of their swimmers. The swimmers should show commitment to life-long learning and development (in and out of the pool).

Friendships
Life-long friendships can be developed with lanemates, teammates, fellow parents, and coaches.

Stability
It is important that the club offer a stable program, through consistent fees, structure, staff, and ideals.

Purposeful and Systematic
Success doesn’t happen by accident. Purposeful, systematic development will ensure long-term success.

Smooth Transition
Through successful planning, swimmers will be offered a smooth transition between age/ability groups.

Parental Involvement/Volunteerism
You can’t have a swim team without swimmers. You can’t have a successful swim team without involved parents either. Parents are often looked to for assistance in club functions and aid in the development of club resources (especially human).

Leadership
Leadership starts at the top, with the Board of Directors, and goes down to each and every swimmer, through coaches and parents. Not every club member may lead the same way, but constant leadership will ensure long-term success.

Vision

“Recognized for competitive excellence through systematic and purposeful long-term development of swimmers of all ages and backgrounds. Maintains a stable organization committed to character development and community involvement throughout South Central Wisconsin.”

Mission

“Building excellence and character…one stroke at a time.”

Objectives

Target	Deadline	Current
1) Increase team size to 120 swimmers	August 2009	74
2) Double annual revenue	August 2009	$50,000
3) Increase head coach salary to 30% total revenue	August 2009	21%
4) Increase participation in IMX Challenge to 80%	August 2009	16%
5) Qualify at least one swimmer to Junior Nationals	August 2009	0
6) Top 10 finish at Senior State	August 2009	26
7) Score points at Age Group State	August 2009	N/A
8) Increase reserves to 6 months operating expenses	August 2012	0

Team History

In the summer of 2004, the DCST experimented with an “advanced” group. This group, proposed by assistant coach Jeremy Meserole, would practice 5 times/week for 2.5 hours/practice. High-school swimmers were invited to join this group, as well as exceptional upper elementary school and middle school swimmers. The group was a huge success, bringing in over 20 swimmers who all dropped tremendous amounts of time.

Building on that success, the DCST decided to take the next step and expand the “advanced” group to the entire team, and renaming our club the South Central Swim Team (SCST). This team was to be dedicated to providing competitive swimming opportunities to South Central Wisconsin youth.

The SCST held its first practice on September 7th, 2004 at Delavan-Darien High School under the direction of new head coach Jeremy Meserole. The fall was to be one of great change, as the team saw a drop in numbers, but huge gains in performance.

The SCST took its success to Janesville, where it held its first practice on December 13th, 2004. The Janesville half of our team started out to be primarily high school swimmers, while the Delavan half continued to be primarily 10 and unders.

Through successful marketing and word of mouth, the SCST has since grown to over 80 swimmers (we hosted 86 swimmers in the summer of 2006) and we’re still growing! Swimmers ages six and up are offered structured practices, stroke mechanics, and an opportunity to compete on and individual and team basis at local, regional, state, sectional, and national levels.

In April of 2007, the SCST became a club member of USA-Swimming (USA-S), the governing body for swimming in the United States, and one of the largest guided fitness activities for children (246,326 year-round individual members in 2006 with thousands more seasonal members). USA-Swimming consists of close to 2,800 club members with approximately 11,000 registered coaches.

USA-Swimming is comprised of different Local Swim Committees (LSCs), who’s job it is to govern swimming at a local level. Wisconsin Swimming is the LSC of which the SCST is a part. Wisconsin Swimming governs weekly competitions during the swim season, which ends with a state meet.

All LSCs are a part of a Zone, who hold sectional and zone meets at the end of each season. Wisconsin Swimming is a member of the Central Zone, which is also comprised of the Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Lake Erie, Michigan, Midwestern, Minnesota, Missouri Valley, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Ozark, and South Dakota LSCs.

While we offer successful programs to swimmers who have qualified for state, sectional, and zone meets, we haven’t forgotten our roots as a community based team. We still offer a team to those who want to swim, but don’t want to get caught up with the expenses and time commitment that USA-Swimming takes. This novice team has opportunities to swim meets against local teams, such as Milton, Elkhorn, Edgerton, etc. at a lower cost.

It is through the programs listed above that the SCST is proud to say that we have Something for Everyone!

The Delavan Community Swim Team (DCST) is a seasonal recreational swim team in Delavan, Wisconsin, which served as a place for young swimmers to learn basic skills and to compete at a local level. This served as a feeder program for the Delavan-Darien High School program for about 30 years. Swimmers of all ages would practice 2-3 times/week for 1-1.5 hours at a time.