Year-round Swimming

Aspire Aquatics coaches athletes age 6 to 18+ on our year-round competitive swim team. We also encourage swimmer athletes home from college break during the summer and winter break to join the team. Our 2023-2024 swim season begins Monday September 11 and runs through late July / early August 2024. The year-round swim season consists of:

  • Short Course (25yd competition pool) which runs Sept - early March

  • Long Course (50m competition pool) which runs April - late July / early August

Swimmers are organized into training groups based on age and, under coaches discretion, ability. Coach Karen will design the practice schedule to optimize the training program for the incoming swim team roster. Swimmers commit to attending their practice group requirements, one meet a month, and all Championships for which they qualify.

2023-2024 family annual membership fee is $430 and families will now register directly with USA Swim to pay the annual USA Swim membership fee ($80 in 2022-23; TBD in 2023-24); this is required for all USA Swim athletes for liability and insurance coverage. The Aspire Aquatics Monthly Fee for each practice group is listed below. Other swim team costs include purchase of team gear, meet attendance, and optional technical and dry land clinics. In-season fees (i.e. meet fees, apparel charges, travel tip charges) are charged at the beginning of the next month, though parents can log in and pay at any time.

The number of practices offered each week is listed below. Swimmers are encouraged to attend at least 70% - 80% of practices offered to achieve target endurance in the sport of swimming. However, we ask each swimmer to use their discretion on how many swim practices they attend weekly, as the demands on their time may fluctuate throughout the year with other sports and activities. We want to be supportive of our multi-sport or multi-activity athletes. 

 

Information on how to order Practice Group equipment can be found HERE.

 

Hope Practice Group (Age 6-8/9)

  • Practice offered 3 times a week. 1 hour each. Recommend 3 times a week attendance
  • Objective is to seed the love of the sport and grow the athlete's fountational proficiency in all four competitive strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle) along with starts, turns, and an introduction to interval training. Hope swimmers learn the importance of correct body position, strong kicks and basic technique in all four strokes.
  • Equipment needed: Aspire swimsuit with logo, pair of current year Aspire T-shirts, kickboard, fins, nose plug, mesh bag, water bottle
  • Fees
    • $135/monthly fee (2023-2024 season)

Ambition Practice Group (Age 9-11)

  • Practice offered 5 times a week. 1.5 hours each. Recommend minimum 4 times a week attendance
  • Objective is to build upon the love of the sport, and athlete’s technical proficiency in all four strokes, starts, turns and breakouts, while introducing endurance training for longer swims. The Ambition Group begins to develop strategic swimming skills by setting goals and mental well-being habits using the USA Swimming Mental Toolbox skills and practices. This group also learns to use interval training to support swim development and execution in practice and meets​​
  • Equipment needed: Aspire swimsuit with logo, pair of current year Aspire T-shirts, kickboard, fins, mesh bag, water bottle, pull buoy, nose plug, snorkel [no purge valve], Tempo Trainer
  • Fees
    • $160/monthly fee (2023-2024 season)

Confidence Practice Group (Age 11-12/13)

  • Practices offered 6 times a week. 2 hours each. Recommend minimum 4 times a week attendance
  • Objective is to sustain the love of the sport, and build technical excellence in all four strokes, starts, turns and breakouts. The coaching staff designs the practice direction, structure and difficulty specifically for long-term development of all strokes and all events. Mental training is also incorporated to increase self-awareness, mental toughness and self-discipline​​​
  • ​​​​​​Equipment needed: Aspire swimsuit with logo, pair of current year Aspire T-shirts, kickboard, fins, mesh bag, water bottle, pull buoy, nose plug, snorkel [no purge valve], Tempo Trainer, Fingertip Paddles
  • Fees
    • $185/monthly fee (2023-2024 season)

Strength Practice Group (Age 13-14)

  • Practice offered 7 times a week. 2 hours each. Recommend minimum 4 times a week attendance
  • Objective is to build racing strategies to meet the individual strengths of the swim athlete and begin leaving a legacy of giving back to others with the love of the sport. Technical, endurance, and mental training build upon the foundation athlete has learned from prior groups
  • Dryland in addition to practice to reduce injury
  • Equipment needed: Aspire swimsuit with logo, pair of current year Aspire T-shirts, kickboard, fins, mesh bag, water bottle, pull buoy, nose plug, snorkel [no purge valve], Tempo Trainer, hand paddles, Fingertip paddles, DragSox (30 resistance)
  • Fees
    • $195/monthly fee (2023-2024 season)

Inspire Practice Group (Age 14+)

  • Practice offered 7 times a week. 2 hours each. Recommend minimum 5 times a week attendance
  • Objective is to build racing strategies to meet the individual strengths of the swim athlete and inspire others with the love of the sport. Technical, endurance, and mental training built upon the foundation athlete has learned from prior groups 
  • Dryland in addition to practice to reduce injury
  • Equipment needed: Aspire swimsuit with logo, pair of current year Aspire T-shirts, kickboard, fins, mesh bag, water bottle, pull buoy, nose plug, snorkel [no purge valve], Tempo Trainer, hand paddles, Fingertip paddles, DragSox (30 resistance)
  • Fees
    • $205/monthly fee (2023-2024 season)
  • Note on our year-round athletes who also swim with their high school swim team. Aspire Aquatics fully supports our year-round swimmers who are in high school to swim for their High School swim team during high school swim season. In Cherry Creek School District (CCSD), Girls HS swim season begins November 2023 and Boys swim season begins in February 2024.  During this time, typically the swimmer and the high school coach reach an agreement on which team's practices the athlete attends.  Most high school coaches will require the athlete to exclusively attend their high school practices during the HS swim season and not attend their year-round team practices. If this is the case, please notify the coaches at [email protected] 30 days prior to HS swim season start that your athlete will be swimming exclusively with their high school swim team during HS swim season.  While Aspire Aquatics does incur costs even when our athletes are not swimming with us during this period, we will provide a reduced monthly fee of $95 for two months. This saves the spot on Aspire Aquatics and is line with monthly fee reduction policies of other competitive year-round teams. Under this reduced fee, athletes have the option to participate in Aspire Swim meets while they are swimming on their High School swim team.