Answers to Questions about the Devil Rays Swim Team
that you didn’t know to ask
(by Laurie Wendt 2/2014)
What is the Devereaux Devil Rays Swim Team?
The Devil Rays are part of the Tarheel Swimming Association which is
NC ‘s largest summer recreational youth swim league with teams all
over Wake County. The Devil Rays swim team was started in 1999 by
some of your neighbors, many who still live in the neighborhood.
Residents of Devereaux age 4-18 may join the Devil Rays. We compete
against other neighborhood swim teams in the area.
Answers to Questions about the Devil Rays Swim Team
that you didn’t know to ask
(by Laurie Wendt 2/2014)
Why should we join the Devereaux Devil Rays Swim Team?
Fun, friends and fitness is the quick answer. Swimming is great exercise
and a skill that your children will use for the rest of their life. The swim
team is a great way to meet your neighbors and for the children and
the whole family to make new friends. With so many school choices in
the area, your children may not have friends in the neighborhood, swim
team is a way to meet more people. The swim team is an activity that
the whole family can participate in at the same time and place. We
spend a lot of time transporting our kids to different places at different
times. With the swim team all ages can be at one place at almost the
same time and it is in the neighborhood! The young kids love to talk to
the “big” kids. And everyone cheers for each other.
What if my child does not swim very well?
If your child can swim the length of the pool unassisted they can be on
the team. They do not have to know the swim strokes – the coaches
will teach them the strokes. We do not have the resources to teach
your child to swim, though. You should look for lessons before the swim
season starts.
There are many places in the Cary area that offer lessons:
Triangle Swim School
Cary YMCA
Aqua-Tots
Also, you can ask on the Devereaux Yahoo site as some of our former Devil Ray
coaches will give lessons in the summer.
Answers to Questions about the Devil Rays Swim Team
that you didn’t know to ask
(by Laurie Wendt 2/2014)
The swim meets last forever…
It can at times seem never ending but with our new timing system we
finished most of our meets last season by 9 – 9:30pm. We try to run
our meets as efficiently as possible.
The weather …
News flash: it is hot in central NC in the summer and we have
thunderstorms. It can be very hot on the pool deck at 6:00pm for a
swim meet. It is worse for the volunteers, as we cannot go in the pool –
at least the swimmers can go in the pool every hour or so. Safety is a
big concern in the thunderstorms (or threat of storms). Our TSA Reps
(they are our liaison with the other team during a meet) have
guidelines to follow about dealing with a storm threat. They do their
best to balance weather concerns with rescheduling the meet. Bad
weather is never fun but we try to do the best we can. Some of our
weather delays have been the best bonding times for our team.
What if my child is in year round school, dance, other sports
etc.?
The year round school schedule has been a challenge for the area swim
teams. You and your child have to do what you think is best. If your
child has end of grade tests and you don’t think they should swim the
night before, then don’t come to practice or the meet. Ideally, we
would like the swimmers to come to every practice and every meet.
The more practice the better swimmer they will be. But we also realize
Answers to Questions about the Devil Rays Swim Team
that you didn’t know to ask
(by Laurie Wendt 2/2014)
that this is not possible. We don’t want to add more stress, we want to
be more fun. But also remember sometimes a break from studying
especially for physical activity is the best thing! Band concerts and
dance recitals make our children well rounded so if you have to miss
practice that is okay – come as often as you can!