Why are there so few spots?
Every year the Seals team and Circle C families face the same dilemma of opening additional spots without compromising the safety and quality of our volunteer based program (only a limited number of coaches have paid positions). There are a lot fewer open spots on the team than new swimmers who want to join. Unfortunately, despite a 25% growth in the size of the team during the past 5 yrs, the growth has not kept pace with the community’s growth or corresponding interest in joining the team. Both the HOA and Aquatic Center staff have been absolutely great partners, but unfortunately the growth is presently stalled as we share finite pool space/time with the greater community – the last 2 yrs have seen only 10-15 slots become available each season. With that all said, we aren’t giving up - in 2018 we will be exploring new options to serve a greater portion of the Circle C Community in the long term - swimmer safety is paramount and that the quality of coaching and team experience will not be sacrificed as a result of any growth – but all else will be turned inside out to see how we can add even more families to the Seals team.
Below are some Q&A on this topic:
What is the team maximum? Seals has an approximate maximum of 275 swimmers.
What constraints determine the maximum?
1.Swimmer safety - We must cap the number of children who can safely share a lane during practice sessions. Every year we review the membership and adjust practice sessions as needed to maximize participation while managing swimmer safety.
2.Lane Availability - Circle C Seals rents lanes from the HoA at the swim center pool. Our season runs from the beginning of May to the end of June. This means in the month of May we are practicing at the same time as the Circle C Year round team, Select, after school. Each team is limited by the number of available lanes as we also accommodate recreational and non-swim team lap swimming at the same pool.
3.League/Meet Management - Seals is part of the Capital City Summer League which is a collection of Southwest Austin Neighborhood teams. Each team utilizes a neighborhood pool for both practice and meets. Meets are typically time capped by the neighborhood HoA’s to offset the times unavailable to residents. Many of our meets are already at the maximum time allowed by HoA’s. Meets generally start shortly after sunrise and go until 12-1PM. In order to support more team members we would have to limit meet participation in meets. In order to support 275 swimmers we already cap some participation at meets per swimmer; increasing this would likely have an adverse impact on the team.
Why do so few spots open annually? Once a family joins the team, as long as the family maintains good standing, they may elect to sign up the following year. If a sibling was not previously on the team, that sibling may try out prior to opening spots for new families.
Why do all families not have to tryout each year? Seals is a volunteer run organization. Only the coaching is a paid position. Recurring membership is necessary because it's a volunteer run organization and people need continuity and experience for it to run efficiently. In order to hold good standing each family has significant volunteer requirements throughout the season to remain on the team; in addition to team fees.
Why don’t you make tryouts harder? Seals and summer league want to help children grow a love of swimming and provide a limited exposure to team swimming. We believe the tryout establishes a baseline level of safety in the water for our shared lane practices. Beyond that baseline, we welcome more advanced skills or look forward to helping children learn new swim stroke skills.
Could we form a second summer team? We could, but again, the limitation is pool space/time, not the number of teams. The same pool time/space would have to split between the teams.
What other options are there? Please note while we attempt to review the below information annually, it may be out of date. Please look to specific organization’s sites for up to date information.
- Circle C Select – Year-round competitive swim team. Information about team requirements, tryout information, etc…can be found on the website or in the Circle C Swim Center Office. Team website is (https://www.teamunify.com/Home.jsp?team=stccsst)
- Dick Nichols Park Summer Swim team –Recreational team run through Austin Parks and Recreation. There are a number of Austin Parks who participate in this league. It does not allow year-round swimmers to participate. Different league and timing (June 9 – July 12) than Circle C Seals. More information is available at Austin Parks Summer Swim Team
- Circle C Aquatics offers group lessons throughout the summer for various levels of swimmers.
- Austin Swim Club located off Southwest Parkway and Nitro in Bee Cave both offer competitive year round swim teams. Austin Aquatics and Sports Academy which has a children's triathlon team and multiple workshops.
- Nitro, Lifetime, Emler, Austin YMCA and a number of other swim schools have lesson and team options available.
