Swim team

Click here for the tennis team page, or view photos of a recent swim meet. Listen to the Oak Park Piranhas cheer about Polish sausage. You can also watch the other cheer ... something about severe weather and swimming faster than the competing team.

Schedules and fees

Click here to view schedules for practices, meets and other important dates

Joining the swim team cost $65 per swimmer

Eligibility

Aspiring team members must meet the following requirements:

1. They are age 18 or younger
2. Their family has paid their annual Oak Park Club membership fees
3. They are capable of swimming across the deep end of the pool without assistance.
4. If they are seven or older, they must be capable of swimming the length of the pool (25 meters) in order to practice with their age group. Those who do not meet this requirement may join the team, but will practice with the six-and-under group until they are able to swim the length of the pool.

To ensure that each team member meets these standards, we will hold a swim test for all swimmers at our first time trial session. Children may join the team at any point during the season once they meet our requirements.

Swimmers will compete in the age group they fall in on June 1.

Swim meets
Swim meets take place on Tuesday nights and begin at 6 pm, rain or shine. Home meet warm-ups are from 5 pm until 5:30 pm; please arrive at 4:45 pm. Away meet warm-ups are from 5:30 pm until 6 pm; please arrive by 5:15.

The order of events at each meet is as follows: medley relay, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and free relay. Each event alternates boys/girls and begins with the youngest age group.

Six-and-under swimmers swim only free, back and breast, and they cover 15 meters. Seven-to-eight swimmers and nine-to-ten swimmers swim 25 meters and 11-and-older swimmers swim 50 meters.

Meets typically finish between 9 pm and 10 pm.

At swim meets, each team will be assigned a certain area to stay in while waiting to swim. Please stay with the team, cheer for your teammates and listen for your event to be called. When leaving at the end of each meet, please pick up your trash. We want to be remembered as good sportsmen and thoughtful guests. If you are unable to participate in a meet, please let your coach know as soon as possible. It is difficult to make changes to the roster at the last minute.

Post-meet celebrations are held after each meet—home and away—at Fat Daddy’s restaurant.

Volunteers
In order to have a successful meet, we need volunteers at every event—home and away. We need help with timing, hospitality, running the concessions, preparing ribbons etc.

Read here about the various volunteer positions.

We ask that each family (at least one parent) help out at at least three meets. More is better! Most jobs require no experience and friendly, on-the-job training is provided. If you are unable to be at a meet and have signed up for a job, please be sure to find a replacement.