Who We Are - The Davis Aquamonters Swim Team

 

The Davis Aquamonsters are a Davis-based swim team where kids learn to swim, cultivate friendships, compete, and have fun in the water.

​

We offer three levels of programming for those interested in developing swimming skills.

​

Little Monsters (ages 4-5 - Summer only)

The Little Monsters swim program is for children ages 4-5 year to develop the skill sets they need to participate in the AquaMonsters' Big Monsters program once they enter kindergarten and are at least 5 years old.  

​

For Little Monsters, we focus on: comfort in the water, ability to listen and work with and follow directions of the coach, air exchange (critical), developing kicking (leg strength) as it is their swimming engine and then putting it all together to develop freestyle and backstroke.  For those outside the pool, Little Monsters looks like swim lessons.  

​

Big Monsters (ages 5-8, Spring, Summer, Fall)

The Big Monsters swim program is for 5-8 year-old children. This program expands upon the Little Monsters program by offering exercise and instruction on an almost year-round basis. 

​

AquaMonsters (ages 8-18 Summer, Fall, Winter, March + Spring Sessions)

​

AquaMonsters is our main program for swimmers ages 8-18.  There are three distinct aspects to this program:

​

1.   Become proficient in swimming. 

The AquaMonster swim program is designed to help children learn to become proficient at swimming.  It takes about three (3) summers of practice (100-150 hours) to learn how to swim and become proficient at swimming. Practice, practice, and more practice.

​

To continue to grow and excel at swimming, takes a significant amount of time and practice. In fact our top swimmers who race at the National level have spent 10+ years practicing the 4 strokes of swimming.  Over that time, we continually look to improve abilities, technique, and performance. There is always room for growth, learning and further skill development and refinement.

​

2.  Develop competitive skills as part of the AquaMonster community. 

Swim competition is healthy when it is done from a place of fun and personal development.  This is the kind of environment the Davis AquaMonsters work on fostering on our swim team.  

​

To help promote competitive skills, the Davis AquaMonsters offers a summer recreational team for our swimmers as part of the Sacramento Swim League.  

​

The Sacramento Swim League is a summer recreational swim league in the Sacramento area. The swim season begins each year on April 1, when swimmers can begin organized workouts with their teams.

Summer Rec teams range in size from 60 to 200 swimmers.

Our league hosts an invitational meet in May.  Teams host dual/tri-meets during the summer months. The competition season finishes with League Championships in July.

​

We end our summer rec season with our final meet over Labor Day weekend - the Summer Classic. Because let's face it, us old-schoolers remember when summer ended Labor Day weekend.

​

Some families choose to never participate in a swim meet, and that is fine.  Because the goal of swimming with the Davis AquaMonsters is to develop proficiency in swimming and a life-long love of swimming. 

​

3. USA Swimming (Fall USA, ages 8-13, September to December - Year-round USA, ages 14-18, 50 weeks per year)  

This level is for swimmers and families who are ready to focus and commit to themselves to competitive swimming.  On the Davis Aquamonsters swim team, USA Swimming is available for the following:

• Summer recreation swimmers ages 8-13 who wish to continue swimming through the fall months (Oct -Dec). We call this "Fall USA."

• Swimmers ages 14-18 who wish to swim competitively throughout the year. Practices are scheduled 50 weeks of the year with a 2-week break each August. Competition meet are throughout the year. While many meets are regional, some meets may require travel out of state.  

 

USA Swimming versus Summer Recreation

​

There is much misinformation in the Summer Recreation (Summer Rec) vs. USA Swimming debate.  It is not about which path is better than the other. It is about are the swimmer's goals, what are the families values and, what are the swimmers and families willing to commit to. It is about which swim program is a better fit.  

​

Summer Rec is a wonderful way to develop age-group swimmers (13 & under).  Children learn to be courageous, overcome the challenges of swim (getting disqualified or "DQ'd," not getting personal bests or "PB's," or not being on the "A" relay), racing, learning to strive for their personal best, learning to swim their strokes better, learning to get feedback from their coach, and then being able to apply these new skill in another race over the course of the summer.

​

For some the Davis AquaMonster USA Swimming program is a good fit for the swimmer who is wanting to commit to swimming, wants to see how fast they can swim, and challenge other swimmers. Swimming fast is fun whether you are 6 years old - 20 years old.  It feels really good to know that you created your own experience as you race.

​

Learn more about our swim program by starting at https://www.davisaquamonsters.org/davis-swim-team

​