Club questions

My Masters group is summer only. The pool we swim in is a public pool. It is LCM and only open through the summer months (outdoor). Our practice time is 5:30-7 AM. It's early... I'd prefer an evening practice. But we're swimmers and swimmers generally accept early morning practices if that's what is available. The temperature is decent - now and then it might be a bit warm or cold due to weather conditions, but never to the point of unbearable. We pay our Masters dues monthly, $45/mo (only June/July now), plus we pay a pool usage fee, $80, at the beginning of our season. We have practice 5 days a week and only cancel due to weather (since it's summer, that would be because of thunderstorms). They have a hotline for us to call to confirm whether or not there is practice and there are no make up times offered. The rest of the year I swim at an indoor public pool and with my kids' age group team. Those are both a different set of answers. :)

I swim for TXLA / Longhorn Masters what are your facilities? Mostly the UT Swim Center, but sometimes of the year we train in a few other pools around Austin what types of difficulties do you face morning practice times change often pool temp usually not an issue, the diving well is warmer than the main pool I live 40 miles from the pool & need to leave 45 min before practice to arrive on time how do the swimmers handle these changes? We deal with it how does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? emails from the coach to the masters email list Updates on the Masters Schedule website do you pay, annually or monthly? annually, around $800/year

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? Standalone aquatic center owned by a USA-S club, also used for lessons and rec swim (besides USMS and USA-S practices). What types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? How do the swimmers handle these changes? Organized practices are 5X per week 5:45-7:15, though swimmers start leaving after about an hour if they have work or whatever. Although there are no organized practices on weekend, masters membership also allows one to use the pool during rec swim time and there are plenty times to come in during the weekend. Biggest difficulty is sharing with the USA-S team, which is 800+ swimmers and swims in the morning. We normally get 3 lanes in the morning (there are two 10-lane pools in the facility) and sometimes it can get a little crowded. But the AG coaches are good and will sometimes donate extra lanes when necessary. The AG practice ends at 6:30am so after that it becomes less crowded. But in the summer we are often "stuck" at 3 lanes for the whole practice. And the demand for masters practices increases in the summer because some college swimmers prefer to swim with the masters group to stay in shape instead of training "seriously." There are also some college IM club swimmers who sometimes practice with us. Dealing with it is easier during the school year, sometimes we have to modify the first set. In the summer if crowding is particularly bad then I'll supplement with practices on my own or with another group. How does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? Communications is thru the club website -- masters has a section of the USA-S website -- and by email. We have only one coach and if he cannot make practice than usually he can find a substitute. Practices are rarely cancelled though we often don't have practices on holidays. There are no make-ups, though as I said you can swim during rec swim time. Do you pay annually or monthly? By month, the monthly fee is $50.

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? I swim with a USA Swimming club team primarily. The team uses several pools that are owned and operated by the City of Seattle. They are all six lane, 25 yards pools (with the exception of the outdoor long course pool used in the summer). what types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? Practice time is the biggest challenge for me. Usually 11 practices per week are offered for the senior group (morning and afternoon on weekdays and morning Saturday). Since the team caters to kids it's based on their school schedule which doesn't always jibe with my work schedule. Morning practices during much of the school year are from 5:00-6:30. This is a little late for me. I like to get to work by 6:30, 7:00 at the latest and it's a 20 mile drive to work from the pool. Afternoon practices start at 4:00 and I'm usually not able to get there until around 4:30. There are occasional practice cancellations or time changes due to swim meets using the pool. Some people would consider the water temperature too high (around 84-85), but I'm used to it by now. how do the swimmers handle these changes? I handle it by getting to practice late in the afternoon. My coach understands I'm an adult and may need to get in late or leave early. how does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? Emails, website, communication by the coach at practice. do you pay annually or monthly? I pay an annual membership fee and pay for training monthly ($165 per month, currently).

I swim with a workout group Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday mornings from 7:30-8:30. We workout at the local college's pool which is really very nice and a good temperature for swimming. We pay $5 a practice, or 10 practices for $40, and it doesn't expire. Some people come once a week and get 10 weeks out of that, I go to every practice so I get 3 weeks (plus one day). There are no makeups, and there is only one coach so if she goes out of town, there is no practice. We do not have access to the pool at any other times, because you're supposed to be a student or staff/faculty at the college to use it. Other days that I want to swim, I swim at the YWCA. It's also $5 per use (on a punch pass of 15 uses that never expires). The pool is therapeutic, AKA HOT, and the lifeguards don't keep floaters/noodlers out of the lap lanes. It can be crowded or it can be completely deserted depending on what day/time you go.

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? I now swim with a USA Swimming club team. We swim at two different pools, 50% of the time at a local YMCA pool, and 50% of the time at the Wenatchee High School pool. During the summer, we get access to the outdoor 50 meter pool in town. what types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? My masters practices are from 5:00-7:00am, and are honestly not organized too well (which was part of my reason for the USA club choice). It's more of a "free-for-all" type of swim, which for me was just crazy at times. My age group club practices Monday-Friday from 7:00-9:00pm which for me works well, aside from trying to get to sleep after working out like that. I do have to work at 5:00am, so sometimes I'm sleep deprived. Saturday mornings are from 8:00-10:00am. They were offering two mornings a week at the h.s. pool from 5:30-7:00am, but those may be gone, as they weren't too popular. I would've done them, but work is first. Pool temps vary at the two facilities...84ish at the YMCA pool, and 80-81 at the high school pool. You can really tell the difference day to day, but neither one really bothers me or makes me happy either way. I just swim in whatever I have available. Practices vary at times as well, but the coach does a good job at letting us know the time changes in advance (usually). When the team has meets, practices get cancelled, but I can always go pay $6 for a YMCA lap swim session, which has its flaws as well. :) how does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? Emails, website, communication by the coach at practice. We get emails quite regularly from the coach, and Facebook is nice too (but you have to be a friend of the coach or Like the team). do you pay annually or monthly? I pay an annual membership fee and pay for training monthly ($110 per month, currently).

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? Two pools 1) SCM (indoor) 2) SCY (outdoor) what types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? practice Mon & Wed AM 5:30am - 6:30am; Mon-Thu 7:00 pm - 8:30 pm; Sat 9:30 am - 11:00 am, Sun 7:30 am - 9:00 am; city events, swimming - water polo events make us change pools or cancel workout. Indoor pool is warm, outdoor pool is cool how do the swimmers handle these changes? fairly well how does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? no makeups, communicate via Twitter, E-Mail do you pay annually or monthly? monthly, quarterly, or annually Swim With Mike swimwithmike.org/.../

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? Sarasota, Florida, YMCA. 70-meter outdoor pool with two bulkheads. What types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? We've lived with port-a-potties and changing tents on the pool deck for the past two months while the old locker rooms were gutted. We'll have brand-new locker rooms for the Pan American Championships this summer. Pool temperature is always perfect; 79-80 degrees. Heated in the winter, chilled in the summer. During the week there are four practice times: 5:30am, 7:00am, 8:30am, and 6:00pm. On Saturdays there is usually one morning pool practice and one open water practice (year-round). How does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? Communication is done through an email list and the club's web site. Do you pay annually or monthly? Monthly via credit card auto-billing. Monthly fee is $42.00 for YMCA members; $57.00 for non-Y members.

If you swim for a team or club what are your facilities? I swim with Mesa Aquatics masters. We have 2 pool complexes where workouts are typically scheduled, both city owned/operated. Kino Aquatics Center and Skyline Aquatics Center. www.mesaaz.gov/.../Kino.aspx www.mesaaz.gov/.../Skyline.aspx what types of difficulties do you face..practice time, pool temp, etc? There are scheduled practice times for each pool. Generally M-F at Kino is 5:30am/noon/6pm. Skyline is a bit more limited. There are Sat/Sun workouts at Kino too. Full schedule is here: www.teamunify.com/TabGeneric.jsp how do the swimmers handle these changes? swimmers either come or they don't. our pools are outside, but water is heated. it can get cold here during winter. it can also get warm in summer; they do aerate water trying to cool it, but water temp can exceed 86 in summer. I also belong to a gym with a dozen or so locations around the area. sometimes if a workout doesn't work for my schedule, I'll do a solo swim there. Or I'll swim solo at a city pool during lap swim. Or occasionally swim with another masters group. there are 2 other large masters groups in the area, as well as several small groups. one small group has just morning workouts M-F, but they swim very close to where I live. how does the club communicate changes and do they offer make up times etc? changes are communicated by email, through the club's Facebook page, and usually posted to the website. I've heard of others who get texts/calls, but I never have. if there's something else going on (another meet, water polo, synchro, etc), our coaches will usually move our workouts early/late to accommodate. on holidays workouts may be consolidated or occasionally canceled. when the pools themselves have maintenance and will be closed, they always get space at other city pools. every year Kino is typically closed for 2 weeks while they drain/refill it, and do other things. we'll have those workouts at Carson pool, and we're always welcome to go to Skyline. similar happens when maintenance happens at Skyline... do you pay annually or monthly? dues are billed to my credit card monthly. I think there are annual and semi-annual options...I keep meaning to look into them but never do. we can also bill our team's swim meets, merchandise (suits, equipment, team shirts/caps), etc to our our accounts.

dues are billed to my credit card monthly. That's nice. One thing that annoys me about me team is I have to send in a check every month. That's the only thing I still have to pay by check!