Parent resources
Parent and swimmer guides from the Dolphins coaches
The City of Atlanta Dolphins coaching staff has written a set of guides for families, from what to pack for a first meet to how to set a goal a swimmer can reach. They are written by the Dolphins coaching staff, including Marianne Countryman and Michael Brooks, and Why Practice? is by Sabir Muhammad Senior, 1989. Here they are sorted into three groups, the way a coach would clip them to a deck board.
Nineteen guides in all. Each line below says in a sentence what the guide covers. For team news and longer reads, see the blog.
Race morning
Meet day
Four guides for the morning of a meet and the paperwork that comes before it.
- First Meet PrepFind your events on the heat sheet, write them on your arm in Sharpie, and know the bullpen rule for swimmers 10 and under.
- Importance of Swim Meet Warm-upsWhy the team warms up together: team unity, physical readiness and mental readiness.
- Warm-up and Cool DownWhat a swimmer does in the water before a race and after it.
- Swim Meet Entry and FeeHow a swimmer is entered in a meet and why the entry fee is owed once the entry is in.
Home base
Families
How to join, what parents do, and the standards the team keeps in the water and on dry land.
- How to Join the Swim TeamMembership is accepted all year through a stroke evaluation, Monday to Thursday, 4:00 to 4:45 PM.
- Role of the ParentsWhat parents do for the team, including its four hosted meets a year.
- Parents-Coach RelationshipHow families and coaches work together, and who to talk to about what.
- Standards and ProceduresDry-land rules and the consequences ladder: verbal warning, 5 minute time-out, 10 minute time-out, call to a parent.
Fees and the registration steps are on the procedures page. To book a new swimmer in, see the stroke evaluation.
In the water
Training and goals
Eleven guides on how practice is organised and how a swimmer sets and reaches goals. They sit alongside the practice schedule.
- Team Training ConceptsThe ideas behind how the Dolphins organise their weekday practices.
- Traffic PatternsThe rules of the road for circle swimming, which keep a busy lane moving.
- Why Practice?An essay on what practice is for. Written by Sabir Muhammad Senior, 1989.
- Short-range Performance GoalsSetting goals a swimmer can reach this season, not just someday.
- Types of GoalsThe different kinds of goals a swimmer can set and how they differ.
- Purposes of GoalsWhat a goal is for once it is written down.
- Reaching Your GoalsTurning a goal into the work that gets a swimmer there.
- MotivationWhat keeps a swimmer coming back to practice.
- Type of MotivationWhere motivation comes from, inside the swimmer and outside.
- Swimmers as DreamersWhy the big dream matters to a swimmer who is still learning the strokes.
- Swimmer ExpectationWhat coaches expect of a swimmer, and what a swimmer can expect in return.
Before the first heat
The guides explain it. The meet pages have the dates.
The team hosts four meets a year, two short course (25 yards) and two long course (50 metres). Entries, forms and the named invitationals are on the meet information page.