About HAY Lightning Hockomock YMCA Swim Team The philosophy of HAY Swimming is to provide a competitive swimming program that allows all interested swimmers to develop their abilities in an environment that stresses the overall growth of the individual in a way that is consistent with the YMCA values and principles. Anyone interested in becoming part of this exciting team will be evaluated for placement into one of our practice groups. These evaluations take place twice a year at the start of the swimming seasons and are based on ability and age. New swimmers will need to be at or above the Fish level to be guaranteed placement on the team. If you can’t make these evaluations or have moved to the area during the season please contact the Head Swim Coach to schedule a time to meet. HAY Swim Team provides a program that meets the diverse needs of the beginning swimmer all the way through to the elite swimmer. Our program is designed not only to facilitate each swimmer's development, but also to provide an orderly progression from one level to the next. The benefits of competitive swimming are many. A recent survey listed the top reasons kids swim as the fun and enjoyment of swimming, getting and staying in shape, spending time with friends and teammates, the challenge of competing, the satisfaction of improving skills and achieving personal goals, and the fun of meeting new people. The enjoyment of competitive swimming is to be savored in the here and now. The benefits of competitive swimming are to be reaped for a lifetime. Physical fitness, social development, self-confidence, self-determination, self-dependence, work ethic, time management, goal setting and leadership are but few of the things that can be gained from swimming that will last a lifetime. HAY Swim Team is a year-round program beginning in mid-September and finishing in mid-August. The year is broken up into two seasons, the Short Course (25 yard pools like at the YMCA) Season running from September to April and the Long Course (50 meter pools like in the Olympics) Season running from April to August. Within each season there are many competitive opportunities. Most of our meets are within a 75-minute drive of North Attleboro. A few of our meets, especially the higher caliber meets are farther away. In the past year we have attended meets in Durham, NH and as far away as Fort Lauderdale, and Maryland. Competitive Swimming The primary performance goal for the Hockomock YMCA Lightning Swim Team is to swim well. This means that our focus is to improve technically, to improve strategically, and to improve physiologically. Each of these areas (technique, strategy, and physiology) is within the control of the swimmer. On our team we focus on that which we can control. Success is determined entirely by the swimmers efforts. A successful race is one that a swimmer improves in any one of these three areas. If technique has improved that is a successful swim. If race strategy has improved that is a successful swim. If a swimmers conditioning has improved that is a successful swim. Improvement in these three areas will lead to faster swimming. Racing other swimmers is good when the competitive drive elevates the level of our effort, resulting in faster performances. Racing other swimmers is bad when we evaluate our success or failure solely on how we compare with other swimmers. Doing that takes our success out of our hands and puts it in the hands of someone else. Sanctioning Organizations There are two different sanctioning organizations that the Hockomock YMCA Swim Team competes with: YMCA Swimming and USA Swimming. Each organization has different strengths, different rules, and different competitive opportunities.