BADGER AQUATICS CLUB
PARENT HANDBOOK
2015-16
The purpose of the Badger Aquatics Club is to provide a competitive swimming experience for
swimmers of all ages and abilities. BAC is committed to supporting each swimmer in achieving
her/his potential as a competitor and individual through a continuum of excellence in coaching
and competition.
Upcoming Important Dates:
9/20 Silicone Cap Sale Ends
9/20-9/27 Clothing Sale
Sept. 25th – T shirt sizes finalized
Coaches and Contact Information:
Head Coach/CEO: Drew Walden; 698-5995 swimbac@gmail.com
Head Age Group Coach: Jacob Johnson: 852-5727 jakeupjohnson@yahoo.com
Head Age Group Coach: Brett Wilson: 347-5809 brettcwilson1@gmail.com
Operations Manager: Sherry Niesen; 438-7195 niesen51@tds.net
Other coach contact information is available on our website: www.badgeraquatics.com
Team Suits & Clothing:
Our team vendor is Simply Swimming, and the expectation is that BAC families make every effort to purchase
equipment, suits, and clothing through them. For more details, please see the included suit policy on page 2.
Simply Swimming
661-0808
6108 Mineral Point Road, Madison, WI
ONLINE ORDERING ONLY: http://www.simplyswimming.net/bac.html
Special Hours for BAC ordering 9-20 to 9-26
Sunday, 9/20: NOON -4:00 pm
Monday-Thursday: 10:00 am-8:00 pm
Friday: 10:00 am-6:00 pm
Saturday: 9:00 am-5:00 pm
Regular hours
M-W-F: 10:00-6:00 pm
T-TH: 10:00-8:00 pm
Sat: 9:00-5:00 pm
Sundays – closed
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BAC apparel and suit policy:
As the popularity of ‘tech’ or ‘fast’ suits continues to grow among younger and younger swimmers, BAC has
felt a need to formally develop a policy on suits. This policy will specifically address what types of suits
can/should be worn for which meets, and also address the types of suits that swimmers may wear.
First, families should be aware that BAC is a Speedo sponsored team. This sponsorship provides the club with
certain benefits, including discounts on clothing, equipment, etc. One of the conditions of our contract with
Speedo is that our members buy Speedo gear and apparel, and wear Speedo brand suits at meets. So, regardless
of the meet, regardless of which group your child is in, every effort needs to be made to ensure that they are
wearing a Speedo brand suit whenever they represent BAC. (In the past, some swimmers have had difficulty
finding tech suits made by Speedo that fits their body type and have bought other brands of suit. Speedo’s new
models of suit aim to address these issues, but limited exceptions can be made on a case by case basis.)
BAC also has an exclusive relationship with Simply Swimming. This relationship provides us with free and
discounted gear, apparel, equipment, etc. We can’t and don’t try to track every swimming-related purchase
every family makes, but please be aware of the benefits our club and our swimmers receive through this
relationship with Simply Swimming and please spend your money accordingly.
For the 2015 season, BAC will be selecting a team suit that we are encouraging people to purchase. (Actually,
there are several versions and styles of ‘team suit’ for 2015.) For swimmers that do NOT have an ‘old’ BAC
team suit, we are requiring they purchase the 2015 suit (this includes new families). This suit can be worn in
practice, although it does not have to be. Many swimmers opt to wear ‘grab bag’ suits in practice to keep their
team suit in better shape for meets.
A BAC team suit will be THE default team suit for every swimmer at BAC meets. We also strongly encourage
our swimmers to wear BAC apparel at meets to promote a sense of team. We realize not every swimmer
(especially swimmers who are newer to the club) has a drawer full of BAC gear, but we’d like it worn if/when
possible. Swimmers should not wear apparel representing any other swim teams. There will be several
opportunities throughout the year to purchase BAC apparel.
Our general policy on ‘tech’ or ‘fast’ suits is that they should only be worn under certain circumstances,
specifically for our ‘performance’ meets or for special situations. Performance meets include our season-ending
meets – Regional Championships and State Championship meets – and other higher-level competition meets
like WGLO or A+. Some swimmers may be given permission to where these types of suits at our other meets,
but those situations should be approved by your swimmer’s individual coach. (REMEMBER – unless you’ve
specifically been told by Simply Swimming that a Speedo-brand tech suit does not fit your swimmer, these tech
suits need to be made by Speedo.)
Hopefully, these policies don’t come across as overly strict. The relationships we have with Simply Swimming
and Speedo provide numerous benefits to our club, and these help us keep session fees lower than they
otherwise would be. Our overall team philosophy is about progressive and incremental growth and
development, and we feel that ‘suiting up’ too often and too early can have adverse effects on a swimmer’s long
term development. Similarly, and especially as swimmer’s age, we can’t rest or taper them for every single
meet, just a few special meets a year. Remember, “a suit is only special when it’s special.”
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Website: www.badgeraquatics.com
The website is the place to find the most up-to-date information quickly. Please get into the habit of checking
the website daily for any new information. Because of the size and geographic reach of our club,
communications by paper are inefficient and costly. Using the website and email lists are more efficient and
hold down costs for all club members.
Registration procedures:
Fall swimmers will get the option of registering for winter before any new swimmers. All fall fees need to be
paid in full in order to participate in winter program.
Coaches will not take payments of any kind:
All money needs to be mailed to the BAC office at 7201 Maywood Ave., Middleton, WI 53562. Credit card
payments are accepted but a fee does apply to the account holder (2.95% + .30 each transaction).
USA Registrations:
All swimmers are required to pay USA registration whether or not they swim in meets. The USA registration
fee is a once a year fee which is sent to Wisconsin Swimming and covers a swimmer’s liability insurance. If
you are transferring from another team, a USA transfer form needs to be turned in to us.
Escrow Fee/Statements: At the beginning of the season, you will receive a meet calendar for the remainder of
the season. You will be billed separately for each meet in which your swimmer participates. Typically, you can
expect to be charged $4.00 - $5.00 for each event your child swims, including relays, depending on the meet
entered. In most meets, swimmers can swim three to five events per day. BAC will write the host club a check
for all the entry fees collected for the swimmers on our team. Each family will be then be billed monthly
through the escrow account for these meet fees. Other items such as caps, bus trips, etc may also be billed
through your escrow account. Monthly invoices will be emailed out the first week of every month . The
balance is due by the 28th of the the current month. A $5 late fee will be assessed to all late payments (no
exceptions). Please see page 11 of this handbook to see instructions for viewing your invoices.
Fundraising:
A $30 per family/per session mandatory fundraising amount will be added to all family accounts families
participating in our program. BAC will offer a variety of fundraising opportunities for families to add money
into their escrow accounts. Check out the fundraising page or our website for our fundraising opportunities.
In addition, all swimmers are expected to participate in our annual Swim-a-thon (January 18, 2016).
Payment Policy:
Parents are expected to keep their accounts up to date monthly or keep an excess of monies in their escrow acct.
to cover meets. See page 11 of this handbook for instructions on paying your invoices. Please contact Sherry if
you need to make arrangements for payment. Do not let your account go in arrears. All fees from current
sessions need to be paid in full before registering for the next session.
Group Descriptions:
We recently (spring of 2014) restructured the club’s groups, the first major redo since the club was founded in
1999. Our website has a complete description and expectations of each group.
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Swimmer expectations and responsibilities:
This will depend on which group your swimmer is in, but the overall philosophy is that, as kids age, they need
to take a larger role in the sport. Parents should work with the coaches to make sure that swimmers are
developing responsibilities and a sense of ownership in their swimming
 ALL swimmers are responsible for carrying their own bags, fins, etc.
 Increased role in packing their bags for practice and meets
 Increased role in communication, both face-to-face with coaches as well as electronic communication
 Increased role in signing up for meets and selecting appropriate events
 Increased role in EVERYTHING, which should make them prepared to be fully
functional, reliable, independent senior-level and/or college swimmers
Email Announcements:
Please read emails in their entirety. By registering online you automatically get put on our email
announcements list. You DO need to go into your account to verify your email address - this is very important
or you will not receive emails from us. We will send out announcements to update you on meets open for entry,
practice changes, etc. You will also receive a weekly newsletter most weeks with updates and some brief
education material, as well as group-specific emails from the lead coach of your swimmer’s group. Please read
the emails when sent. If you are not getting emails please check your spam folders as sometimes when you
first sign up they tend to go there or check to make sure you have verified your email.
SMS Text Announcements:
We are now able to send mass texts through team unify. This will come in handy when we a pool goes down at
the last minute. Please see page 11 for instructions on setting up your SMS communication. We will mainly
use this for last minute changes and occasional reminders. Make sure to verify your SMS cell number.
Practice Schedule/Calendar:
Our website contains a tab labeled “practice calendars”. By going to this page and using the toggle to get to
your child’s group you will see ‘up to date’ practice changes. Please check this weekly because if there is a
high school or other event, on a particular night, the group will be bumped from that pool.
Weather:
Occasionally during the winter one or more of our practices may be cancelled. Check the front page of the
BAC website right before practice to be sure. If school is cancelled that generally means our pools are closed.
Some pools may still be available to us so it is important to check the website before you leave for practice.
This season Monona will NOT close the pool if lightning is present.
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Meet Entry Procedures: As information for each meet becomes available, it will be posted under the “Meet
sign-up”tab on our website. To enter a meet, parents must first log in to the website. As swimmers get older,
the expectation is that they take on a larger role in determining event, so get in the habit of selecting races with
your swimmer instead of for your swimmer.
By clicking on the individual name of each meet (see above) you will get a brief description
(below), as well as links to any documents related to the meet. More information will get posted and
updated as the meet draws closer and new documents (timeline, psych sheet, etc.) become available
To sign up for a meet, click attend/decline. This should call up all of the events that your swimmer is eligible
for given his/her age. (In USA Swimming, some events are listed by the ‘traditional’ age groups – 8-under, 910, etc – while others are listed with different age criteria like 10 & under. Each meet is different, but many
meets have ‘open’ or ‘senior’ events that are available to any age of swimmer, but may not be appropriate for
every level of swimmer.
When you get to this page you will be able to see each swimmer that is activated for the session. Click on the
name and under “declaration” toggle to ‘Yes please sign….” Scroll down and put a check mark next to each
event you want to enter. You will not have the option of signing up for relays. If a swimmer is entered in
individual events in a given session, the coaching staff will assume that they are available for relays in that
session and enter them accordingly. We aren’t always able to get every interested swimmer on relays, as it
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takes a multiple of 4. Hit save changes and the system will send you back so you can repeat the procedure for
each of your swimmers.
If your swimmer is NOT available for relays, you need to indicate that in the ‘comments’ section. Relays
change right up until the last minute, so all swimmers need to check with their coach when they arrive at the
meet to see if they are entered in a relay, and check again before leaving a meet.
Volunteer Meet Requirements for ALL BAC FAMILIES:
FOR HOME MEETS ONLY (generally, you do not need to work at away meets)
If you have a swimmer in one session, sign up for one session of work. It does not have to be the same session
your swimmer is competing in. If you have multiple swimmers, sign up for two sessions of work. Coach Jacob
will then assign a job to your family from the meet signup page and from the list of jobs that you declared on
your Parent Volunteer form. . Be aware you are not guaranteed a particular job just because you signed up for
it. We may need you in another spot. If you do not sign up to work we will automatically assign you a job.
The final job list will come out approximately 7 days before the meet.
*No-show families will be fined $100
*Exceptions will be made for sick kids, family medical emergencies/death in families only. Keep in mind after
the meet file goes in to WI Swimming you will still be required to pay meet fees.
12 & Under State Meet Volunteer Requirements for ALL BAC FAMILIES:
WE ARE HOSTING THE 12 & UNDER STATE SWIM MEET THIS SEASON, FEB. 26, 27, & 28TH.
ALL WINTER FAMILIES ARE REQUIRED TO WORK ONE SESSION OF THIS MEET
REGARDLESS IF THEY HAVE A SWIMMER IN THE MEET. THIS INCLUDES HS SWIMMER
FAMILIES. FOR PARENTS OF HS SWIMMERS WE WILL ALLOW YOU TO SIGN UP YOUR HS
SWIMMER TO HELP IN LIEU OF YOU. THERE ARE ALSO SOME JOBS THAT CAN BE DONE
BEFORE THE MEET IF YOU ARE NOT IN TOWN THAT WEEKEND. MORE INFORMATION
WILL BE COMING IN DEC REGARDING YOUR STATE VOLUNTEERING
Check-In Times for Various Jobs (final timelines will be posted on the web prior to each meet):
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Volunteer check in: 30 minutes BEFORE WARMUPS
Admission/Heat Sheets: 30 minutes BEFORE WARMUPS
Meet Marshal/Room Monitor: 15 minutes BEFORE WARMUPS
Timers: Please check in at start of warm-ups. Timers meeting is 15-20 minutes before each session
Awards: Start of the session
Hospitality: Start of warm-ups
Computer, Daktronics & Announcer: Check in at the beginning of warm-ups
Concessions: Start of Warm-ups unless you are signed up for the early arrival person and then 30
minutes before warm-ups. The early arrival person will be able to leave earlier also.
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Volunteer Sign up:
Once you have all your swimmers entered go back to the front page of web and sign up for your volunteer
position. Be aware that most of our meets have multiple days and sessions. When you sign up for the meet
check on top of the events to see what session that event is in and jot it down. You will need to know the
session when you go to sign up for your job.
Around the entry deadline, coaches will go in and either adjust or approve the selected events. Generally, we
encourage younger swimmers to sign up for a variety of events, and as swimmers get older coaches will take a
heavier role in changing events.
YOU DO NOT NEED TO SIGN UP FOR RELAYS: please see the separate section below.
Our meet entry deadlines are selected to give us enough time to process the entry before sending it off to the
host club. Swimmers looking to get into a meet past the deadline are often too late. If we are able to enter
them, we may charge a $25 late fee for entries after the deadline.
Once a swimmer enters a meet and a deadline is met you are responsible for paying all meet fees. We cannot
refund any money if you are a no-show or decide at the last minute you do not want to swim the meet or have
an ill swimmer.
Sign up for hospitality donations is also on the front page of the website. Donating an item for hospitality is
not in lieu of working.
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BAC philosophy regarding private lessons:
Over the past several years, we’ve noticed an increase in the number of swimmers interested in augmenting
their practice participation with some private instruction. This has made other families curious about our
philosophy behind private lessons and we’ve gotten many questions from parents, so we felt it would be
appropriate to put our thoughts in writing.
First of all, it’s very difficult to develop a ‘comprehensive’ and team-wide policy regarding private lessons,
especially because the swimmers that are seeking them out are so widespread when it comes to age, practice
groups, ability, desired outcome, etc. So, we’ll try to address lessons in a general sense, but if you have specific
questions you can always ask your swimmer’s coach or one of our lead coaches. (Also note that we’re referring
to stroke or technique lessons; separate from work an injured swimmer may do with a physical therapist, etc.)
Second, please notice that the first sentence included the expression ‘augmenting their practice participation’.
This is key to our philosophy regarding lessons. Lessons can be helpful and useful as an addition to what is
being done in practice, but should never be used as a substitution for regular practice attendance. We feel that
skills are best learned and mastered when they are taught in a consistent manner over a period of months,
weeks, or years. Our coaches have the experience and knowledge to teach strokes and skills, and are
consistently there to work with your swimmer on developing their ability.
Third, it is our belief that, while many private lessons can be very helpful, this practice has developed into a
‘keeping up with the Jones’ situation in our area over the past several years. Parents see or hear that a particular
swimmer from BAC or another team is getting private lessons, and they worry that their swimmer will ‘fall
behind’ if they aren’t doing the same. At BAC, our swimmers pay fees to be a part of our club. In turn, one of
our larger expenses from these fees is for payroll to provide our swimmers with the best coaching around. It
should be your expectation – and ours – that your swimmer receives the best possible instruction within our
practice groups. If there is a particular skill your swimmer is struggling with or an area in which they don’t
seem to be improving, our coaches would love to take on that challenge. You shouldn’t have to go somewhere
else for that instruction.
Obviously, not all private lessons are alike, just like all learning environments are not equal. Some swimmers,
especially younger swimmers or those looking to learn/improve a specific skill, certainly benefit from more
individualized instruction. This is part of the reason that you’ll see many BAC practices where swimmers are
split into smaller groups, or where a coach may pull aside a specific child (or group of children) to work on a
specific skill. However, sometimes there are swimmers that would benefit from even more ‘one-on-one’ time,
and these are the instances where private lessons are most appropriate.
As swimmers age and develop, it becomes less and less a matter of ‘learning’ how to do certain skills or stroke
techniques, but a matter of doing them correctly time and time again, length after length. Our coaches have
seen the phenomena many times over the years of swimmers that simply ‘look different’ in practice than they
might in a lesson. These swimmers have developed the attitude of ‘lessons are when I work on my stroke’ and
‘practice is when I work hard’. This is a terrible approach to technique improvement, and often leads to a
swimmer that doesn’t improve and a family that has ‘wasted’ a lot of money on lessons. Stroke improvement
comes from repeated proper action under expert guidance. We all need to work hard to reinforce the idea that
strokes need to be done well throughout each and every practice, not just in a lesson setting.
Finally, we’ve often had coaches come across situations where swimmers have been receiving instruction in
private lessons or from swim camps that is counter to what that coach thinks is best. It may be a skill or drill
that isn’t appropriate for their age or ability level, a technique that might be outdated or simply not as good, or
even something the coach feels is just plain incorrect. This unfortunately puts the coach – and the swimmer – in
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an awkward situation where they don’t want to contradict the private instruction, but also feel obligated to
develop the swimmer in the best way possible.
Putting this all together, we can identify some core feelings regarding private lessons for BAC swimmers.
 Consistency and quality are important.
Your swimmer’s BAC coach will see them week in and week out, often for years as they
develop in our program. Our coaches are the best around and attend coaching clinics and
meetings to keep their skills fresh and up to date.
 Improvement is made permanent in practice.
Techniques or skills might be change or improved over the course of a thirty minute
lesson, but these gains can be temporary. The ‘better’ a swimmer gets the more true this
becomes, unless there is a concerted effort to incorporate those changes and
improvements into everyday of regular practice.
 You’ve already paid to be on a swim team.
Obviously outside instruction can have its benefits, but our view is that you’ve already
signed up for our swim team and that, in most cases, our coaches should be able to
provide your swimmer with all of the instruction they’ll need to be successful, within our
scheduled practices.
So, if you feel that private lessons are a route that you would like to explore further for your swimmer, please
talk to our coaching staff about it. Our strong preference would be that any private lessons that are done are
conducted within the BAC coaching staff. However, if this isn’t possible due to scheduling or space
constraints, we ask that you communicate with our coaching staff so that they are aware of the outside
instruction that a swimmer is getting and that they can work to assimilate this instruction with their everyday
practice.
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BAC 2015-16 FALL/WINTER MEET SCHEDULE
If you have any questions about a specific meet, or about the meet schedule in general,
don't hesitate to ask Drew, Jacob or Brett!
Date
Host
Location
Class
Training Group
October 10-11, 2015
Schroeder
Swim Team
Schroeder Aquatic
B Time Standards
Center, Brown Deer
October 17, 2015
BAC Age Group
Spooktacular
Middleton
Indoor Pool
AGE GROUP OPEN ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
October 18, 2015
BAC Senior
Spooktacular
Middleton
Indoor Pool
SENIOR OPEN
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
October 31–
November 1, 2015
DFAC
Sun Prairie
High School
OPEN
12-UNDER’S ONLY
University of Iowa
Senior with 13-Over ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE
time standards
RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
TBA
Open
RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
Schroeder Aquatic
Center, Brown Deer
Angie O’Donnell
MSS
Aquatic Center
McFarland
McFarland
UW-Madison
BAC Holiday Splash
Natatorium
PRELIM-FINAL
INVITE
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE
RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
OPEN
ANY BAC TRAINING SWIMMERS NOT
ENTERED IN THE WGLO MEET
OPEN
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
December
9-12, 2015
USA Swimming
Austin, Texas
PRELIM-FINAL
USA Junior National qualifying times
December
19-20, 2015
STORM
Sun Prairie
High School
PRELIM-FINAL
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
January 2, 2016
Schroeder Swim
Team
Big Cheese Meet
Walter Schroeder
Aquatic Center
Girls only quad dual
Invited 25 Senior girls
meet
January
8-10, 2016
BAC Classic
UW-Madison
Natatorium
CLOSED INVITE –
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
BAC + 7 other teams
January 18, 2016
BAC
Middleton
Indoor Pool
BAC SWIM-ATHON
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS
January
23-24, 2016
BAC Ground Hog
Middleton
Indoor Pool
AGE GROUP OPEN
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS THAT
ARE RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
February
5-7, 2016
Schroeder Swim
Team
A+ Meet
Schroeder Aquatic
A+
Center, Brown Deer
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE
RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
February 6, 2016
GCY
Green County
Family YMCA
ALL BAC TRAINING GROUPS THAT
ARE NOT ENTERED IN THE SST A+ MEET
and not in 8U All Star
February 7, 2016
J-HAWK 8-Under
All-Star
UW Whitewater
Williams Center
February
19-21, 2016
BAC
February
26-28, 2016
November 6-8, 2015 I-FLY
November 8, 2015
BAC Distance
Intrasquad
November
20-22, 2015
Lake Country WGLO Meet
November
21-22, 2015
December
4-6, 2015
OPEN
SR/PSR/GM ONLY
SYOA
ALL BAC 8-UNDER’S
Middleton
Indoor Pool
8U HIGH POINT
REGIONAL
CHAMPS
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE
RECOMMENDED BY THEIR COACH
BAC
UW-Madison
Natatorium
12-UNDER SCY
STATE CHAMPS
Team hosted meet. Everyone will need to work regardless
if they are in the meet or not.
March
3-6, 2016
Lake Country
Schroeder Aquatic
Center-Brown Deer
13-OVER SCY
STATE CHAMPS
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE RECOMMENDED
BY THEIR COACH
March
10-13, 2016
Lake Forest
RecPlex Aquatic
Kenosha, Wi
Speedo Sectionals
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE RECOMMENDED BY
THEIR COACH
Orlando, Florida
NCSA Juniors
ALL THAT QUALIFY AND ARE RECOMMENDED BY
THEIR COACH
March 15-19, 2016
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WEBSITE CHEAT SHEET
To change t shirt sizes or add swimmer picture/information:
Log in
Click on “my account”
Click on “my account”
Scroll down, click on swimmers name
Find the Shirt size button
Change (Note: we do not have XS. Sizes are only YS, YM, YL, AS, AM, AL, AXL). We do have YXL but
you will need to email me for that.
To enter cell phone number (SMS) to receive mass test message:
Log in
Click on “my account”
Click on “my account”
Under account contact information enter cell phone number in SMS blank and fill in your carrier blank. You
can also add a secondary SMS text number on the right side of the form. Enter save. The system will text you
and you will need to verify your cell number by responding.
To view invoice/payments:
Log in
Click on “my account”
Click on “my invoice/payment”
Click on “current invoice summary”
To view history, scroll to bottom
Click on “search billing/payment history
enter dates
hit search
To make payments:
Log in
Click on “my account”
Click on “my invoice/payment”
There are 3 tabs running above, click on “make payment”
Enter card and amount, hit “pay now”
Note: If you entered credit card info and do not want you full balance paid on the 1st of every month, you then
need to go back to “my account”, “set up auto pay” and remove your credit card information.