Our team is a year round USA Swimming competitive program offering high quality professional coaching and competitive technique instruction for youth ages 18 and younger. The goal of our team is to provide every member an opportunity to improve competitive swimming skills and achieve success at his or her level of ability, from novice competitor to international competitor.

All of our coaches, as members of USA Swimming and the American Swimming Coaches Association, have access to the most comprehensive training and certification program for youth coaches of any sport in the United States. They provide assurances that the time children spend swimming with DC Wave will be quality time.

We are a non profit club, run by the DC Department of Parks and Recreation Aquatics Division, and an elected Board of Booster Club Executives which meets each month. All members are welcome at each meeting and encouraged to be involved in team activities and fundraisers.

Who We Are

The team began in 1983 as the "Capitol East Blue Waves" Swim team.  Its nucleus at the time consisted of five families whose children were in learn-to-swim classes at Capitol East Natatorium.  The DC Wave Swim Team, competing as the DC Department of Parks & Recreation Swim Team, is now the District of Columbia’s only nationally competitive public youth swim team. The DC Wave Swim Team is a year round competitive swimming program, with swimmers ranging in age from 5-18 years old.  The team competes both locally and nationally within Potomac Valley Swimming and USA Swimming.  Our coaching staff consists of USA Swimming and ASCA certified professionals that impart the values of teamwork, responsibility, respect, and strong work ethic to our athletes.

Our Mission

The mission of the DC Wave Swim Team is to enhance the profile of competitive swimming in Washington D.C. by contributing to the social, ethnic, and economic diversity of United States Swimming (USA Swimming) while providing a quality and affordable competitive swimming experience to the youth of the District of Columbia and the surrounding Metropolitan area.

Our Goal

The goal of the DC Wave Swim Team is assist youth in the development, pursuit, and achievement of personal goals through the sport of competitive swimming.  We strive to help each athlete reach individual excellence while also contributing to team success. 

Our Vision and Philosophy

“Preparing the child for the path, not the path for the child”.

"Excellence is never an accident.  It is always the result of high intention, sincere effort, and intelligent execution; it represents the wise choice of many alternatives - choice, not chance, determines your destiny".

In managing a competitive swimming program, the DC Wave coaching staff strives to prepare each individual on the team for the next logical step in their development both as a person and as a swimmer.  This often involves challenging our athletes in areas they themselves did not believe they could be successful.  We seek to develop the complete swimmer, by The DC Wave coaching staff seeks to develop competitive swimmers in four major areas: Socially, Athletically, Mechanically, and Aerobically.  These four areas comprise the foundational building blocks of what it takes to be a successful competitive swimmer.  

• Socially:  We encourage our swimmers to become leaders during team activities, as well as positive role models for younger teammates, display good sportsmanship to competitors and teammates, be respectful to parents, coaches, officials and teammates.  Additionally, activities such as goal setting, visualization, and self-talk are promoted by the coaching staff as effective ways to meet challenges and overcome obstacles in everyday life – not just in swimming.
• Athletically:  In order for swimmers to have control over their bodies in the water, they must first be able to master control of their bodies on land.  Dry land exercises are incorporated into weekly workout plans to help develop our swimmers' athleticism, core strength, coordination, and flexibility.  The dryland component of training is not a substitute for other areas of development but is used to enhance the performance of the athletes once in the water.
• Mechanically:  Proper stroke mechanics is the key to efficient and easy swimming.  It is for this reason that we seek to teach our athletes the importance of proper body position, alignment, timing, coordination, rhythm, and technique in each of the four competitive strokes.  Portions of practice will be dedicated to teaching these concepts by having our swimmers practice short distances of a drill or stroke with ample rest and time in between for feedback and correction.    
• Aerobically:  Aerobic fitness is critically important for all of our athletes.  We seek to challenge and develop the aerobic systems of our athletes so that they are better prepared for the work that lies ahead, and are fit enough to tackle the work and exercises within each workout.