For those swimmers interested in a year round swim club for your swimmer, I wanted to pass along some information. I have gotten a few questions about year round opportunities. We strongly recommend that our swimmers stay in the water over the winter so as not to backslide on their skills. One day a week will keep your swimmer knowing their strokes and keeping their technique.  Two days a week will allow for technique and maintain conditioning for summer sprints.

The Parklawn Piranhas has a winter swim program that does not compete but focuses on maintaining and improving a swimmers skills over the winter. It is a one day a week program on Sunday afternoon. The program fills up quickly and lane space is limited. The program is a good one, since many of our one day a week swimmers are also in A meets, a testament to the coaching We open registration in August.

If interested in a program where your swimmer could compete in monthly meets to track progress and improve their competition skills there are a number of clubs. Club swimmer is very different than summer sprinting, and the meets are also different.  I can put you in touch with a number of club swimming families to get their take on it and the personalities that enjoy club swimming.

It is generally recommended to join a club that has a pool convenient to get to, particularly as a swimmer moves up and spends more days in the pool. Talk to a few clubs and talk to them about their coaching philosophy to find the right practice group for your swimmer.

Fairfax Foxes is a great club that tends to be very reasonably priced.  Although most of their practice locations are in Fairfax, they do offer St. James as one of their pool locations. https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/pvffs/page/about-fxfx/fees

FISH is another year round swim club that offers a variety of programs. They offer a swim program similar to Park lawn's but on Saturday nights and they also have a competitive program.  If interested in becoming a year-round swimmer, FISH would like to hear from you. Give an assessment and give your athlete more information, along with a recommendation as to which group would be their best fit. Check them out at www.pvfish.org. They can also schedule a tryout using this link: https://forms.gle/ABu7c1tByrB7cFJq9

The Potomac Marlins is where a number of our swimmers swim club and have practice locations in Alexandria. There link: https://www.teamunify.com/team/pvpm/page/home

YORK Swim club is also recommended, they swim at Yorktown HS and have a location in East Falls Church. They believe in swim/life balance.  https://www.gomotionapp.com/.../page/team-registration

And for those that want flexibility in practice schedules because of other activities/sports the St. James offers conditioning and the ability to compete in meets. Some of our swimmers swim with them because of the extreme flexibility and also sign up for the Parklawn winter program for their technique work. St. James allows you to sign up for three month blocks and change week to week what day you attend. https://www.teamunify.com/team/usavatsj/page/info-on-team

To see all of the swim clubs in the area, and there are many. Please check out the PVS league site. The teams, head coach, and practice pools are listed here: https://www.pvswim.org/pvs_club.htm