Gwinnett Aquatics News

Last weekend, one of our alumns wrapped up his swimming career by posting some impressive swims at the NCAA D3 National Championships: Dylan Yin won the B-final of the 50 Free (breaking the 20 seconds barrier for the first time!), and then followed up with a 7th place finish in the 100 Fly, and also anchored Emory's 200 Medley Relay to a tie for 1st place! Dylan graduates this Spring, and has already been accepted into Dental school, which he is set to start in the fall. We're very proud of his accomplishments in and out of the pool, and look forward to what he goes on to do now that he's hanging up his goggles! (note, on our website you can check out all our alumni currently swimming in college, as well as a list of all time Ga-Ga College Swimmers).

And now, for our entire team, the final (and frequently most fun!) meet of the SCY Season is here: the Northeast Divisional Champs are this weekend, in Athens!

Those who are new to the team are about to find out why we like this meet so much: it will be a great competition between 12 teams, and we're once again aiming to finish amongst the top 3, where we've been for the past 10 years! As always, on top of the competition in the pool - where our swimmers are ready to cook up a storm! - we look forward to seeing our swimmers and parents show some great team spirit.

At this point, every kid should have received their t-shirt (as well as the extra parent/siblings shirts) so please let us know ASAP if your kid's did not make it home. There is also a LOT going on around the pool in preparation for this meet: kids have been working on posters and chef hats, parents have been working on aprons, and we will also have chalk to decorate cars tomorrow. So, if you haven't stopped by the pool earlier this week, you definitely want to do so tomorrow!

Full info on the meet is available in the article below - and this time around there's quite a few of specific info and requests from the host team, so please be sure to read that article throughly. As always, please check the practice schedule changes through the weekend on the left column. In addition, there will be quite a few changes to our normal activities next week, followed by Spring Break, and then a modified practice schedule schedule when we get back and shift our focus to LCM racing - all that also explained further in the articles below.

This has already been a great SCY Season, and we know our swimmers have put in the hard work and are ready to put an exclamation mark to it!!!

Divisional Champs This Weekend Mar 28-30

The 2025 Northeast Divisional Champs is this weekend, March 28-30, at the Gabrielsen Natatorium at UGA (330 River Rd, Athens, GA 30602). Below are the warm-up times for each session (we'll likely have to split our groups into two warm-ups, so please be there 15min early ready to go each day so that we can manage the space and time we have better):

For Finals, always double check with your coaches what time you should be back. In addition, 11&O swimmers should also check for scratches before leaving (if you don't know how to do that please ask a coach to help). We do expect all swimmers who make finals to be available on both Saturday and Sunday!

Swimmers are expected to wear last year's team shirt (white) or any of the Winter Training shirts on Friday, this year's Divisionals Shirt (blue) on Saturday, and this year's team shirt (teal) on Sunday. If you don't have one of those shirts, please wear another team shirt or a shirt the same color. Swimmers will also get their decorated Chef hats on Saturday.

Below you can find links to the Event Page, final team entries and the initial psych sheet. We'll update the links with heat sheets as soon as we get them. In addition, below you can find our relay report - please note relay orders and line-ups can change during the meet at the coaches' discretion. Finally, there's also a link to the estimated timelines (and as always BIG emphasis on 'estimated').

Below there's also a couple links the host team asked us to share: for all our officials, if you'd like to help please use the link below to sign up; if anyone would like to get some meet apparel, there's a link to Fine Design's Divisionals shop - please note that they will ONLY be taking online orders for those. Due to some conflicts with UGA's vendor policy, there will not be a shop on the hallway. Please note this means there also wont' be a swim shop, and so be sure to bring all your needs (goggles, suits, etc) with you!

Divisional Team Hotel and Meals Update

For everyone who ordered team meals, as previously announced they will be served at the SpringHill Suites Athens West (3500 Daniells Bridge Rd, Athens, GA 30606). Here's the time we'll have each meal set-up:

If you are not sure if you ordered those, would like to double check how many, or would like to volunteer to help set them up, please contact Michelle Hardy (wmchardy@gmail.com) and Amber Wright (amber@autoleap.com). On both nights, this should allow for our swimmers to cheer through the last heats (which we'd like to see), and get back in time - those in the last few heats on each night will probably be wrapping up their warm down and leaving the pool by those times, but that will also allow groups to be staggered a little so it's not too crowded.

In addition, for everyone staying at the team hotel, we got confirmation this week that they will serve breakfast starting at 6:00pm this weekend, and that our rooms will be allowed to check out at 1:00pm - please double check this one at check-in (and check out later than that will require an additional night). These are both great accommodations that are not always available, so be sure to thank the hotel staff and Amber Wright for getting it set up!

After Divisionals Champs

While we are looking forward to this weekend's Divisional Champs, it's important to keep an eye out for everything that happens following this weekend. Our groups will have a bit of an off schedule next week - coaches have already communicated with their groups about an extra day off, and all groups will be off for Spring Break April 4th through 13th.

On Monday, April 14th, we'll resume practices following our Spring Interim Schedule listed below. We'll follow this schedule April 15th-May 11th, then revert back to our current schedule on May 13th until school lets out , at which point we'll follow our 2024 Summer Practice schedule (link to that in the article below):

(Past) Time to Plan for a Great LCM Season!

Long Course season kicks off April 14th, as soon as we come back from Spring Break. The summer months provide a unique opportunity for our swimmers to train more intensely thanks to a lighter schedule away from the pool. Swimmers who truly commit to the season usually far outpace their teammates whose training is more intermittent. Even though it is shorter (only 13-16 weeks!) this is the season where we see swimmers make the biggest strides each year. And this year we hope even more of our swimmers and families will take the plunge!

Doing the season right also requires a commitment from the family, including, if possible, planning extended travel for after the championship meet the swimmer is attending - in such a short season it is important to plan so there are no breaks in training. Some of the most important times to BE AT practice are late June through July (including the weekend of 4th of July). If you do have to travel, the next best step is to arrange to do the same number of workouts the swimmer would if he/she were home, preferably with a local, competitive USA-S club. And just as important, make sure to attend the appropriate meets, especially an end of season meet that you focus on fully, with no other activities around the same weekend.

With regards to summer league, we expect (and encourage) most of our age group swimmers, in addition to their training at Ga-Ga, to participate on a summer league team - especially if it's their local team, where they first started swimming! It's a great way to showcase our program, both by swimming to your best ability at all meets and by being great teammates - that mix of character and improved athletic ability is the best way to showcase our program and help recruit new swimmers to the team!

During the summer months, for Blue team we recommend they alternate swimming a day with us and a day with the summer league team; Gold and Junior swimmers should swim at least 3-4 times with GwinAq, and occasionally with their summer league team, but should not do both on the same day; Prep and Sr swimmers should make all GwinAq workouts and only stop by their summer league teams to help out and communicate with their coach. Talk to your coach early and often to try to make the best of the training time you have!

We have now finalized our competitive schedule for the season, and you can find that one below. We'll also send a separate email with a little more info on some of the meets and how groups will be split on some of those, and who should be going where - that one has turned out to be a bit more complicated than we anticipated when trying to break everything down and not it too long of a memo, but it should still be coming out soon. Below is a brief overview of the most important dates and events of the season.

Below we also have the practice schedule for the summer, which we'll switch to as soon as Gwinnett County Schools let out on May 22nd. As always when we publish this far out, there might be minor tweaks and changes to some groups, but it's very close to the final, so families who have not been with us for the summer before can start making plans for it.

Masters Group Growing (and Going) Strong!

Our Masters group continues to have both a great time and great workouts! At this point they are meeting Mon/Wed 6:00am-7:00am, Mon/Wed/Fri 12noon-1:00pm and Tue/Thu 6:00pm-7:00pm - about 15 min of on deck dryland warmup and 45 min swim each day. It is being coached by Coach Andrea in the midday and Coach Hugh in the evenings, and there are always different levels of workouts each day so anyone should be able to find a level they are comfortable with.

The cost is $75/month, and if you would like to join please contact coach Hugh (hugh@gwinnettaquatics.com). The group has also attended a few meets by now, and we not only had coaches at those as well, but Coach Hugh has even joined in for a relay and a few swims!

Ga-Ga Online Spirit Wear Shop!

We'd like to remind everyone we have a great online Spirit Shop with a great variety of items - pink and purple shirts, sweatshirts, and more! We love the looks of it, and have gotten great feedback on the material as well.

So, if you'd like to sport some awesome new team schwag this summer, now's the time to put an order! With this shop, there is no order deadline, no minimum, and a LOT to choose from! More options, more colors, and hopefully something for everyone. You can use the link below to access the store online. If you don’t see something you wish we had, please reach out to Amy Stanton (awstanton@gmail.com) - we'd love to see if we can make it happen!

GwinAq's Reddiset Shop

GwinAq's Affiliate SwimOutlet.com

March Payments Past Due

Education Column

2024 LCM Season Recap

2023-24 SCY Season Recap

Athens, Here We Go! - And Dylan Yin Posts Great Swims at NCAAs

Divisional Champs This Weekend Mar 28-30

Divisional Team Hotel and Meals Update

After Divisionals Champs

(Past) Time to Plan for a Great LCM Season!

Masters Group Growing (and Going) Strong!

Ga-Ga Online Spirit Wear Shop!

Gwinnett Aquatics

2024-25 School Year Practice Schedule:

Athens, Here We Go!
- And Dylan Yin Posts Great Swims at NCAAs