The Wave is the competitive swimming and diving team for both Central and Hale. The schools were combined in 2004 as a way for the district to save costs. If you have any further questions about why the teams are combined, we suggest you talk to the administration at your school or a school board member, as they made the ultimate decision.
When and where do you practice?
The swimming team practices at Central and the diving team practices at Hale. Practice in the summer (before school starts) runs from 9:00 AM until about 12 Noon. Once school starts, we practice from 3:30 PM until about 6:00 PM. We also stay late to lift weights twice a week. A complete daily schedule is located on the main page of the website. The diving team has a somewhat different schedule. Please contact Ms. Sikich (604-3100) for more information about the diving team
Why do you only practice at Central?
There are many reasons we do this. Here are some of the major ones...
1. We only have the proper equipment to hold meets at Central. This includes things like the automatic timing system.
2. We have been able to arrange for free transportation from Hale to Central, but not vice versa.
3. We feel it is easier for parents and swimmers to coordinate rides and such if we practice exclusively at one location.
How much does swimming cost?
At the bare minimum, you should expect to spend about $125 for the swimming season. $50 of this goes toward the district mandated activity fee. Another $40-$50 goes toward a "team suit" that all members of the team wear at meets. The last $20 goes toward buying equipment you will keep such as goggles and swim caps. The team provides all other training materials. Each year the girls are also given the option to purchase team gear and clothing. Purchasing this equipment is strictly voluntary.
I heard you might make cuts. Is this true?
The straightest answer we can give to that is possibly. Should our numbers get too large, we are prepared to make cuts so that the team does not get much larger then 40 swimmers. We have had about 40 swimmers the past few years, which is a manageable number. If we end up with more than that, it becomes very difficult to run practice, and cuts may have to be made. Should cuts be made, the process for doing so will be clearly explained.
How do you determine who swims on Varsity and JV?
This is done based solely on performances and times in meets and practices. Our job is to field the most competitive team we possibly can. We keep a rather large spreadsheet at the pool and on the website with the best times of all the girls in all events. We will basically take the best times in an event and swim those girls on the Varsity team, with the next best set of times swimming on the JV team. These sheets are almost always posted in the pool and we are working to get them online as well.
If you have any other questions, check out the Team Handbook or get in touch with the coaching staff.