El Paso Aqua Posse (EPAP) was founded in 1957 as a non-profit professionally coached swimming organization. It has grown into El Paso’s largest and most active swim team drawing members from all geographic sections of the city and Ciudad Juarez. Our Nation Governing Board (NGB) is USA Swimming.
For more than 50 years EPAP has produced hundreds of champions, including many State and National champions as well as Olympic Trial qualifiers.
EPAP is proud that upon graduation from high school many of our athletes have continued their swimming career at the collegiate level at such places as Stanford, Harvard, Notre Dame, Texas, Texas A&M, West Point, Annapolis, TCU, UNM, NMSU, Virgina,Williams, Washington University in St. Louis and many others.
What do we believe in?
EPAP’s philosophy, formed by Hall of Fame Coach Leo Cancellare, is characterized by the principles of self-image psychology. Individuals are guided and directed toward maximum development of their talent and ability while always maintaining a positive self-image. The EPAP coaching staff endeavors to train and motivate young people to achieve their ultimate potential in swimming with the belief that the experience will prove invaluable to them as they grow and develop.
We believe that good sportsmanship, honesty, courage, commitment and perseverance developed through swimming will prepare our young people for the challenges they will face later in life. Our team follows three simple premises:
WORK HARD
SWIM FAST
HAVE FUN
What kind of training program will my child be in?
As swimmers develop they move though different group levels. As your swimmer moves through the groups their training will change. Swimmers are assigned to groups based on their age, ability and level of conditioning. Your child’s coach will decide when it is time to move to a new group. It is important that you let the coaches decide when to move your child. Sometimes a child starting late may be in a group with younger children. Swimmers improve at different rates depending on their natural ability, rate of physical growth, and how hard they work. It takes years to become a good swimmer, not months.
Part of their training is swimming in meets; your child should swim as many events as he/she can. The coaches need to see your swimmer compete to measure their improvement and determine their needs. Becoming a good swimmer takes hard work over time, please give your swimmer encouragement even when they don’t have a good race. It is difficult to be at one’s peak performance all the time we all have down days. Like other sports there are those that seem to be a natural and drop time faster than others. Michael Jordan may be the best or one of the best basketball players of all time but he didn’t make it in baseball. No matter how good a swimmer your child becomes, if they work hard they will have a rewarding experience.
Remember to check the website for practice times and check the news and your e-mail for changes. If a pracitice is cancelled because of weather, it will be on the news on the home page of our site.
Where are meets held?
Most meets are held in various pools though out the city, the pools are shown on our website. We usually plan one out of town meet that all kids can attend for each of the two seasons each year. The kids and parents always enjoy attending out of town meet! If your child puts forth the effort they may also qualify for out of town championship meets like TAGS, All-Stars, Zones, Sectionals and Nationals; qualifying times can be found on the web page www.aquaposse.org under links.
How to I register for meets?
As meets come up you must register on line that you will particapate, please make a note if you can attend all the days of the meet. It is important that you register before the deadline. The coach will then sign up your swimmer in the events that best for them. Once the entries are done you will get a confirmation with an amount due, give your payment to the pool manager or mail it to Lorrain. If the entries are sent in and your payment is not received before the club pays the fees, a $10 late fee will be added to your account.
Where can I find a list of the up coming meets?
From www.aquaposse.org you’ll see upcoming events on the home page.
What are our team colors?
Our team colors are royal blue and gold.
Where do I get more information?
The EPAP pool manager (a parent volunteer) can help you with information. More information is available at www.aquaposse.org and you may also ask your coach but please, do not interfere with his/her duties.
