Winding Vista Vipers Swim Team

Who can participate?

Swim team participation is open to all children ages 4-18.  Younger children who are not comfortable in the water should register for swim lessons at Winding Vista. 

Children ages 4-8 who are comfortable in the water are welcome to join! Four year olds on the team must be fully potty-trained.                                                                                                                                                                                               

What do my kids need to wear?

Swimmers will need to wear a black racing suit or team suit to the meets. For practice, they can have other suits + goggles + cap. You can find suits in our team store here.

How much does it cost?

Winding Vista member costs for 2026 will be $198.54 per swimmer with a discount for 3 or more swimmers per family. That price includes ASA league dues and a team t-shirt.  Please note that registrations received after April 15 will be subject to late fees from the ASA.

Other possible expenses are: swimsuit (we don't have a required team suit so that allows you to bargain shop), team cap, participation in optional meets (ASA meet at Georgia Tech, etc.), and donation for coaches gift at the end of the season.

Can I join the swim team if I am not a member?

We see Swim Team as a path to membership at Winding Vista. We offer non-member families an option to come and swim on the team for 1 season. If you love swimming as much as we think you will, and love our community as much as we do, you will want to join our pool so you can come back year after year. Non-member costs are approximately $260 per swimmer. *Note: Families who have previously been members cannot swim as non-members.

What's expected of parents?

In a word, involvement. Parents of young children should plan to stay at the pool while their child practices. 

Additionally, the team relies on each family to provide volunteers during the season, mostly at our dual meets. As such, each family is required to volunteer for one (1) season-long job or four (4) meet-specific jobs. Summer league is an incredible bargain for the amount of swim instruction and fun your kid gets, but we can only keep it affordable if everyone pitches in. Volunteering is fun and many of our parents have found lifelong friends here at Winding Vista while working together. You can find volunteer job descriptions here.

Give me a high-level look at how swim season goes...

• Tuesday night (dual) meets: for all ages except for the very youngest, who need to qualify and then want to attend. Meets generally last from 6pm-9pm (6&U can leave early - their events only go to around 7:30), although swimmers need to be at the pool at 5. We usually have 3 home meets and 2 away meets. The team goes to Bruster's after most of our meets!
• Wednesdays: We have doughnuts after each group's practice to celebrate the prior night's meet. Ribbons from the Tuesday night meet are usually available by Thursday's practice. We have a file folder box sitting out during practice, and swimmers or parents can get ribbons from that box.
• Fridays: Fridays in June are the fun 6&U mini meets! The practice times are moved around so that 6&U are last and have a fun 30-minute competition from 10:30-11, get ribbons, and eat lunch together at the pool.
• League Championships: We have 5 "big" (dual) meets. Our last meet is on the Monday night of that week to accommodate the championships meet later in the week. All swimmers who swim in Tuesday night meets are eligible for the ASA championship meet. The divisional championship is a half-day meet with other similar teams followed by a separate finals competition. This fun meet is held at Georgia Tech and is the chance for our kids to swim in an Olympic pool and feel like a BIG deal.

What is a dual meet or "big" meet?

Swimmers who can swim 25 meters in one minute or under qualify for participation in the “dual meets” (weekly meets involving two teams in the ASA). Time trials are scheduled by the coaches before meets begin to determine readiness. Swimmers 6&under or really new older swimmers who are 1+ minute will participate in weekly “mini-meets” to get practice in friendly competition. At any point during the season when the swimmer reaches the 1-minute time, he/she is eligible to swim in the weekly “big” dual meets.

Dual meets are weekly meets, held Tuesday evenings, where we compete against other area swim clubs who are members of the ASA. Each meet has multiple events for every age. The youngest swimmers can swim up to 3 events with their 2 strokes (freestyle and backstroke) - individual (2) and relay (1). The older swimmers add up to two more strokes (butterfly and breaststroke) and the medleys that incorporate those - Individual Medley (IM) and Medley Relays.

Every meet’s order of events is the same, except for the ASA League Championships which has some slight differences.

The dual meets begin at 6:00pm and normally last until approximately 8:30-9:00pm, depending on the number of heats for each event. Each individual event may have more than one “heat”. For example, if the pool has 6 lanes, and there are 15 swimmers for the 8 & under boys freestyle (event #26), there will be 3 heats for event #26. Swimmers in the 6 & under events are usually done around 7:30.

What do the kids do during the meets besides swim?

During the meet, swimmers should stay in the bullpen, a designated area for swimmers. The kids bring towels, games, books, and snacks and have a great time, often cheering for their teammates! The youngest swimmers may not want to sit in the bullpen the whole time, which is fine provided they are back in time for their events. 

What's the parking situation for meets?

HOME MEETS: Parking lot will have limited space after reserved parking for sponsors, coaches, and handicapped. All other parking is on residential streets around the club. We can only park on one side of the residential streets. We will mark the side you cannot park on with cones.

AWAY MEETS: Some pools have limited parking. Allow ample time to drive to the away meet in rush-hour traffic, park and walk your swimmer(s) into the facility.

Any other meet tips?

Below are tips and suggestions from parents who have been attending dual meets for years:

• Pack: Towels, blanket (for bullpen), goggles, swim cap, dry clothes, chairs, cooler, snacks, games/DS/cards, umbrella, raincoat, crocs/flip-flops
• Bullpen volunteers are not able to keep an eye on all of the items in the bullpen, so to avoid water damage or foot damage on portable games or other items or loss at away meets, pack and label a bullpen bag for your child to store his/her things in safely.
• Bring healthy snacks and non-carbonated drinks, as most concession stands have typical concession stand food.
• Meet at Bruster’s after most meets!

Meet tips and common courtesy

- As a parent, the most important thing you need to do is keep your swimmer with other swimmers or you so that bullpen workers can find them when they need them.

- Please keep swimmers in the pool area.

- Keep an eye on your child's races and let them eat when there is a good break between events.

- If you're new to swim team, you may notice that we mark up your swimmer with Sharpie - event #, heat, lane. We'll do this at Tuesday morning practice and/or prior to the meet at check-in. This helps the coaches, bullpen workers, and the kids!

- Volunteers: It is typical not to have the heat sheets until just before the meet starts. No need to panic - it always happens this way.

- New folks: It is almost impossible to 100% prepare you for a meet, so don't be surprised if there's something that goes on that you don't understand. You'll learn quickly, and all of us have been in your place. Relax and enjoy - and ask a veteran family for help!

All About Bullpen Jobs

Most of our volunteers are bullpen workers. If you are new to this job, please read this section:

• The way to keep a meet moving and on time is to have swimmers lined up and ready to swim. Behind the starting blocks are lines of chairs. Before the meet, swimmers are assigned a lane and heat. Swimmers are lined up behind each starting block in advance and usually swimmers standing behind to get in those chairs, too. Each stroke/age combination is an event, i.e. 6&U girls 25 freestyle, 8&U boys 25 freestyle, etc. Within each event are heats because there aren't enough lanes to swim everyone at once. So, one event may have 3 or 4 heats because there are so many kids swimming that event.
• The meet starts can be hectic with the relays - don't worry, it calms down. Relays are hectic because the relay swimmers ages 4-11 swim one lap each. This means 2 of the kids start on the blocks, and 2 kids start on the shallow end. It is easiest if you line up the kids in two lines - one for starting block and one for shallow end and have the little ones hold hands. Walk the starting block set of swimmers to the Bullpen Coordinator, and then walk the shallow end swimmers to the shallow end. There will be coaches at the shallow end to help.
• Age group bullpen workers have the job of using the heat sheet (list of races) to gather their swimmers from the crowd and take them to the area behind the starting blocks. It is helpful if the bullpen worker lines them up according to the heat sheet (heat 1, heat 2, etc.) and tells each swimmer which lane they are in. You do not need to worry if you don't know every swimmer; the other swimmers in the group will help you find their buddies. You should start lining them up 4 events before their race. The current event is posted in 2 locations - near the starting blocks and hanging from the upper pavilion. You will have a sign to carry to indicate that you are looking for swimmers.
• The bullpen coordinator stays in the area behind the blocks and uses the heat sheet to line up the swimmers in the proper lanes and order.
• The clerk of course uses the heat sheet to check that the swimmers on the blocks and at the front of the line are the right ones.

What are mini meets?

Winding Vista has a tradition of holding “mini-meets” the first 4 Fridays in June in lieu of practice. These meets are for every child on 6&U and/or brand new 7-8 swimmers. They give the children a sense of friendly competition and pride in what they have learned. They are so fun! The kids will swim the two strokes they have learned – freestyle and backstroke- and will receive times and ribbons at the end of the meet. Volunteer parents provide lunch afterward at a nominal cost for children and parents.