South Louisiana Swim Team 2016-2017

Our missionis to provide our students with a multi-leveled swimming program which supports each of our swimmers in exceeding their goals in life and in swimming. We are committed to promoting diversity of race, nationality, socio-economic status, region, ability and background in our seahorse team.

Our visionis to lead the sport of swimming with progressive teaching styles, which cater to the individual child. In doing so, we aspire to reach each member of our community through our swimming knowledge and to make swimming a household sport. It is our goal to be the leading aquatics program in Louisiana

Our Philosophy philosophy is to teach about the sport of swimming to our students as a wholesome lifelong sport, providing value in everything it offers. From camaraderie to goal setting to physical fitness and believing in yourself,our program touches on everything. Technique and fundamentals are also important to us and are repeated at each level of our program. We have also created specific training groups and programs for each swimmer based on age, ability, maturity and duration in the sport so that everyone has a place. As a young program we are still molding, forming and clarifying our teaching philosophy and enjoy working with your children. Team colors:Navy and Yellow Team mascot: Seahorse

Coaching Staff

Kier Braendel

Kaci McGuire

Sean McGuire

Katie McGuire

Joelle Halpern

Emily Laurent

Emily Edwards

Paige Williams

Cody Schafer

Kelly McGuire

Naomi Long

Swim Lesson instructors:

Ally Landry

Abigail Galey

Belle Poche

Ashley Klein

Contact information: or 504-256-6554. Calls and emails are returned in 48 hours. No calls after 7 and on Sundays will

Team Policies

Training facilities:SLST provides swim training in four cities; Laplace, Hammond, New Orleans and Metairie. The Laplace location is an outdoor facility heated by solar blankets at Larayo and an outdoor electric heater. Our Metairie location is an indoor, heated facility located at Crescent City Christian School. This pool operates year-round. Our Hammond facility is heated year round and is under the management of Southeastern Louisiana University. We also run beginner classes at N.Cypress Fitness Center in Hammond. Our newest facility, in central New Orleans is located at the Dryades YMCA and is indoor and heated. We also train at UNO during the long course season on a limited basis to swim in the 50 meter pool as often as possible.

Training Groups:

With the training group requirements and expectations, please remember that all groups are fluid and changing as members join or take a break. We typically move kids up to new groups at the end of each season, (March 1 and August 1), but can move a swimmer up in season if necessary. All changes are up to the individual coaches discretion and Coach Kier’s approval.

NON-COMPETITION Groups

Swimming lessons—Broken down into Starfish, Seahorse and Dolphin levels. Through these levels we teach the ages 2 to 16 how to be comfortable in the water, save themselves and acquire independent swimming skills. Children over 9 are encouraged to sign up for private lessons, children 8 & younger are encouraged to sign up for group classes.

Technique and Fitness-This group is for children 10 and older who want to learn more about swim technique without the focus on competition. It is designed for swimmers looking to gain overall fitness and confidence in the water. Practices are held once a week for 45 minutes.

BEGINNER COMPETITION GROUPS

Seababies— After completing our lessons or the equivalent elsewhere, swimmers enter the Seababies program. It is designed to be a bridge program between swimming lessons and the regular competitive team. *Requirements: swimmers must know how to swim to save themselves. They must be able to swim independently without an instructor in the water. During this class the instructor moves between in and out of the water instruction. Some knowledge of breastroke and butterfly is required. Anyone not meeting these skills should start off in our lesson program. *Expectations upon moving to the next group: swim freestyle and backstroke for 25 yards unassisted, know what a dive is, knowledge of breastroke and butterfly, learning to bilateral breathe. Meets are available to those who are ready but are not required.

Novice- Novice swimmers have acquired all of the skills a seababies swimmer has. In addition, a swimmer in the novice group must be able to swim 25yd freestyle and backstroke unassisted. They must also have knowledge of breastroke and butterfly.*Expectations upon moving to the next group: Swim all four strokes, flip turn, bilateral breathing, begin to dive correctly or close to it, some knowledge of the pace clock and intervals.

ADVANCED COMPETITION GROUPS

Junior-Junior swimmers have met the expectations of the Novice training group and are ready for more advanced swimming. Swimmers in this group continue to work on fundamentals, but learn more drills, increase yardage and focus on intervals. The training plan of a Junior swimmer is more complex than our lower three levels of our group and build upon the base created in the Swim lessons, Seababies and Novice training groups. Our Junior group is divided in to two tiers, Junior yellow and Junior blue. They are similar in focus, but have different practice times, swim at different pace intervals and complete different amounts of yardage per practice.*Expectations upon moving to next group: Junior yellow transition to Junior Blue first based on coaches’ discretion. Junior blue swimmers can move on to the Senior group based on meet performance, age (at least 12), practice commitment and time standards (BB time in at least 2 events). In addition, to move swimmers must know basic pace intervals and all stroke drills. Social, emotional, developmentally appropriate growth and maturity are also considered in transition from Junior to Senior groups. The child’s best interest is always a priority and the coaches’ discretion is the ultimate guide. Swimmers must attend meets in Junior blue group. Junior yellow meets are optional.

Senior- Our Senior group is divided in to blue and yellow and is the top training group of the team. Swimmers must have achieved the expectations of the Junior group in order to move to this level. Senior swimmers must also exhibit a high level of maturity, work ethic, positive attitude, and commitment to the group, truly exemplifying a leader in all capacities. We also have high school season only swimmers in this group, which may be exempted from the time standard requirement. *Group expectations upon completing tenure with the program: State qualifying time, goals for swimming with a purpose, actively working to achieve highest potential in swimming for the season (State,Sectionals, Juniors, Seniors or College swimming). Must attend meets, commitment to training 4-5 days a week for the season and attend at least 3 meets per season.

Communication:

HOW?SLST administers the majority of its communication through e-mails, website posts and SMS texting through Team Unify and facebook. You must have your contact information in your online account CURRENT and ACTIVATED for you to receive messages. We will also verbally communicate this information as well as provide occasional handouts, but primarily use email and our website. We rarely make phone calls, but will create a phone tree for emergency situations. At our New Orleans pool and Hammond pool, although indoor and grounded, lifeguards can keep the swimmers from entering the pool during a thunderstorm. In Metairie and Laplace, the decision is up to the coaches and we follow the American Red Cross lifeguard rules. In case of extreme weather, we typically follow local public schools closings to decide whether to cancel practice.

Questions or comment or concern? If you have questions regarding anything on the team, please call Coach Kier at the team’s number 504-256-6554 or email . You can also ask your child’s coach after practice, but not during practice. We tried to put out some suggestion boxes, but they became mildewed due to the nature of a swimming facility. But, we still strive for open communication. No question or comment or concern is invalid. We do ask that you NOT critique a coach on the pool deck or a swimmer. If this occurs, you will be asked to leave the pool deck. Please speak with your child’s coach after practice or contact them the following evening. We follow a 48 hour rule since most of our coaches do this for the love of the sport as a second job. So please allow this time for response.

Tuition and Fees: SLST’s competitive team is a year-round swim program which charges tuition monthly for a 12-month period at the onset of the swim season. We accept all registration and payments online through our website at If you do not want to pay online you can pay by check mailed to P.O. Box 231217 New Orleans, La 70183. Submitted payments are not refunded. If there is an exception to this, the refund includes a 5% cc processing fee and $25 deduction. The exception to this is our seasonal programs, clinicsand swim lessons where tuition is paid in full at the start of the class. Tuition payments can be made Monthly, Quarterly, Six Months or Yearly. There are discounts associated with each length of payment. We offer a 10% discount for the second child of a family and charge only $27 per month for any child thereafter. All registered checking accounts and credit/debit accounts linked to your account will be charged monthly tuition and meet fees (if applicable) on the 1st of each month at midnight. All payments not on automatic draft must be paid by the 5th of the month or a $15 late fee applies. Fee schedule is below. All refunds are subject to a 5% cc processing fee deduction and $25 payment for administrative processing. Free/reduced lunch price is now $62 per month.

* Your membership can be put on hold for any reason as you long as you notify Head Coach Kier McGuire at least one week prior to the first of the month. The on-hold tuition fees is $20 per month per child and must be paid by the 3rd of the month or a late fee will be charged.In order for the on hold tuition to go in to effect you must notify me. If you pay your on hold tuition fee you are able to activate you membership at anytime at no cost. If you do not pay your on hold tuition fee you will be charged the on hold tuition balance plus the Team Membership fee ($150.00) plus one month’s tuition (this is applied to your first month back with us) to your account before you can return to practice.You must notify me 1 week prior to the month you would like your membership to be on hold. Anytime after that your account will be adjusted for the following month. This must be done IN WRITING via email, text or letter and will start for the following month.

*TUITION MUST BE PAID BY THE 5thof the MONTH OR YOUR ACCOUNT WILL BE CHARGED A $15 LATE FEE

*A $25 CHARGE WILL BE ADDED TO ANY NSF CHECKS RECEIVED

Canceling your membership

If you are on a monthly pay schedule and you choose to cancel your membership, then you just need to notify Coach Kier 1 week prior to the end of the month to cancel your account. If you have pre-paid tuition quarterly, 6-months or yearly and wish to cancel your membership, there will be NO REFUNDS and NO EXCEPTIONS

Registration fees:

Team Membership Fee: Upon registration families become a member of SLST at a yearly rate of $150. New and returning members are charged this fee in September annually. If you join throughout the year, it is charged the first month you make a payment. It is non-refundable.This rate does become reduced when joining later in the season (MAY).

USA-S Membership fee: This fee is $70per year and sent to Louisiana Swimming and on to USA-Swimming. It allows swimmers to compete in USA-S competitions as well as provide liability insurance to your swimmer and our entire program. It is required for all Technique and Fitness, Seababies, Novice, Junior, Highschool and Senior swimmers whether you compete or not. It is non-refundable, but transferable to any other USA-Swim team in the entire United States.

Transfer fee: This fee is $35 and charged if your child has previously been attached to another Louisiana or USA-Swimming team prior to joining SLST. This is in addition to the USA-Swimming fee if re-register and a one time fee. If you are already registered for the year, then it is just $34 transfer.

Monthly Tuition

Tuition / Yearly (10%) / ½ year (5%) / Quarterly (3%) / Monthly
Senior / 1274 / 672.6 / 343.38 / 118
Junior/HS / 1058.4 / 559 / 285 / 98
Novice/MS / 972 / 439 / 262 / 90
Seababies / 917 / 485 / 247 / 85
Seababies-one day / N/A / N/A / N/A / 62
Swim Lessons / N/A / N/A / 337 / 142
Swim Less-one day / N/A / N/A / N/A / 82
Technique and Fit / N/A / N/A / N/A / 62
Adult Swim / N/A / N/A / N/A / 67 non 57 memb

Competitions

Meet registration: Is processed through our website at When meet information is posted, you will be notified via email through your online account that an EVENT is scheduled. You register by clicking on the EVENTS tab on our website’s homepage and scrolling down to the Meet or Event you are looking for. You choose “Yes, will attend” or “No, will not attend”. If you choose that you will attend, you may have the option to choose your events if your coach allows. If so, once your events are approved you will be automatically entered in the meet. After the meet entries are closed you will not be able to enter, scratch or change events. It is okay if you change your decision prior to the “closed” date.

Meet fees: Accounts will be NOW BE charged the first day after meet entries are due.You will be notified the Monday prior when we will be charging the account. If you pay via check in the mail or pay quarterly, half year or full year, we must receive your meet payment prior to the start of the meet. If you do not scratch your child from the meet prior to the entry deadline aand he/she does not swim for any reason (sick, emergency, etc.) you are still responsible for the fees. Host teams charge us after the ir entry deadline, so however unfortunate the reason for missing the meet SLST is still responsible, therefore your account is still charged. Meets are $5.00 to enter in to the meet and $3.50 per event. Some meets also charge an additional $5.00 facility fee. Championship meets (District, State Championship and 8 and under regionals) all require a $10.00 per swimmer entry fee and $3.50 per event for their meets. A Team Travel fee of $10.00 per family will be charged to your account for attending ALL Championship meets and any in season meet 70 miles or more from New Orleans. Starting in 2015-2016, there is and additionally $.50 charge per event for all meets swum, which is in addition to the host team individual event charge.

Meet logistics: Most of our meets are held in Metairie, New Orleans and Baton Rouge. We sometimes travel to Biloxi, Slidell, Sulphur and Panama City Beach. You will get a copy of our meet schedule in early October after the meet calendar is set at the annual LSI coaches meeting. You are not required to attend every meet, but if there is a meet we think is beneficial to your child we will let you know. If you have a conflict or question about whether a meet is appropriate for your child, just ask! Important meet information will be sent out prior to the meet date ( 2-5 days in advanced, depending on meet host). Always read the meet invitation, which is posted on the EVENT page when the meet is listed. The meet invitation gives you specific information such as warm up times, events offered and location.

Apparel

Run in partnership with Coach Kier and volunteer parents. Our team now offers: Navy Seahorse shirt, Warm up jacket and pants, Embroidered dri fit shorts, Tatoos, swim caps and towels. We will be adding new apparel this year, it will be emailed along with an order form in September. In September is our main bulk order, we sometimes run Championship shirts for our STATE swimmers each season, but this is not always this case. We recommend ordering September.

Our team suit is for the girls: is any Navy and yellow suit and for boys: Navy with yellow accents. You can purchase the team suit through our website or any online store. Natal’s Swim shop also carries some acceptable team suits if you would like to try them on in person. Our team caps are purchased through Coach Kier and are $5.00 for a latex and $15.00 for a silicon. We will be ordering caps with the option of adding the last name this year for an extra $3.00 per cap (minimum of 2 per style)

Fundraising:As with many successful programs, there is a gap between tuition received and operating costs. In order to keep tuition at a reasonable cost for families, SLST engages in two fundraising events during the year and has developed a community support program to strengthen the financial stability of our program. We are also saving to purchase meet hosting equipment and develop our own training facility.