What’s the difference between morning (AM) and afternoon (PM) practices?
Once the MCPS school year ends, Lake Marion Swim Team offers two daily practices for our swimmers per age group, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. During registration, you are asked to register for one or the other, not both.
MORNING PRACTICE
Morning practices are held Monday through Friday from 8:00-9:15am for our swimmers ages 11 and older, 9:15-10:15am for ages 10 and under, 9:15-10am for our developmental group and 9:30-10:15am for pre-team.
The pool and club house are closed to the public during our morning practices, so swimmers and parents must enter through the chain link fence gate. Please be sure to close the gate behind you. Parents are expected to remain on deck for the duration of practice for our younger swimmers.
Due to liability purposes as outlined in our insurance policy, parents are only allowed to sit under or near the pavilion during morning practices. Thank you in advance for your compliance! Swimmers are asked to store their belongings under the overhang by the guard office to allow for parental seating space under the pavilion.
Since the pool is closed to the public, we are able to utilize the entire pool during our morning practices, which allows for more flexibility in our practice sets, space devoted to working on technique including starts, turns, finishes, and less crowded lanes. Both swim team and pre-team morning practices can accommodate far more swimmers than the afternoon practices so, if possible, we highly encourage swimmers to register for morning practice.
If your swimmer wishes to switch from afternoon to morning practice, please let a LMST board member or the head coach know, and we would be happy to accommodate the change.
AFTERNOON PRACTICE
Afternoon swim team practices are held Monday through Thursday from 5:30-6:45pm for all age groups and 5:30-6:15pm for our developmental group. On Fridays, afternoon practices will run from 5:30-6:30pm for all age groups (6:15pm for developmental) to accommodate the team’s pasta dinner starting at 6:30pm in the Lake Marion clubhouse. All are welcome to attend!
Afternoon pre-team practices are broken up into two groups, advanced (5:30-6pm) and beginner (6-6:30pm), as determined during pre-team evaluations. Parents will be notified which group their child has been placed in following the completion of all evaluations.
Please note: there will be NO afternoon practices (for both swim team and pre-team) on the days of our B meets.
Afternoon practices are held while the pool is open to the public, therefore parents and swimmers must enter through the main entrance of the club house to present their valid MVF pool passes to the front desk. Parents are expected to remain on deck for the duration of practice for our younger swimmers.
Since we have to share our space with the public, both swim team and pre-team are limited on space during afternoon practices. We are only allowed to use 4 lap lanes for swim team and half of the shallow end for pre-team practices. Due to those constraints, only swimmers who are registered for afternoon practice are allowed to attend. Morning practice swimmers will not be allowed to switch practice groups unless given specific permission by a LMST board member or the head coach.
A list of the entire season's practice times can be found HERE.
