Dunn Loring Dolphins

Chapter 1: About the Swim Team

Our Philosophy The philosophy of the Dunn Loring Dolphins is that having fun is the most important thing we can do. Most of the kids don't care if we're in a top division or a bottom division. Personal development is what is most important and for a swimmer that means improving their times, refining their strokes and being a good teammate. We believe that by establishing a healthy environment that encourages the kids to do their best, recognizes their contribution and is fun for the entire family, we will have met our goals.

Parental Help It takes a village to run a swim team...It takes over 45 parents to time, officiate and score a typical swim meet and that doesn't include pool set up and break down.  We have ask each family to volunteer for at least 15 hours during the season. There are positions for all parental abilities and some require less than 20 minutes of help.

You will be prompted to volunteer for every event that your child attends, so please consider helping out in whatever way that you can. You can find the list of volunteer jobs on our website under VOLUNTEERS .

Expectations In our league swimming is a team sport. Any team is only as good as the people on it. In keeping with our philosophy, our expectations are simple:

1. The Dunn Loring Swim Team is not a swim lesson program. A swimmer should be able to swim a length of the pool to join the team. We don't care how fast or how ugly or how legal the stroke is or how long it takes to swim that length. We'll help your swimmer become a better swimmer, but in fairness to the other 200 plus swimmers on the team, we must insist that all swimmers be able to swim. 

2. Let us know if you're going to miss. We're planning on your kids being available for all swim meets unless you tell us you are not available. We want them to participate, to race, to learn from successes and failures.  We will ask you to fill out an availability form for each swimmer and for each parent at the beginning of the season. If you say that you are going to come to the meet you have committed to show up. 

3. Respect for the coaches. Parents need to talk to the team reps if they have any questions during practice. Do not interrupt the coaches while they are coaching. Swimmers are expected to pay attention and respect the coaches: with over 200 swimmers, disruptions aren't fair to the other swimmers.

4. Doing your best is a lot more important than being the best.

5. Have FUN!

Chapter 2: Important Swim Basics

Practices Swimmers should come to practice regularly, be on time, and be prepared to do their best.

Swimmer Apparel In competition, swimmers should wear a swimsuit with a snug but comfortable fit. The Dolphins, like every other swim team, have a team suit. Wearing the team suit is highly encouraged, but optional. Swimming in trunks, board shorts, and swim shirts is like running with a parachute on- not optimal.

You should also consider buying at least one practice suit for your swimmer. Cost can be an issue.  Swim Outlet is a great resource for discounted training suits.

Accessories for the well-dressed swimmer: Every swimmer needs a towel (labeled with their name, please), and swimsuit; most need goggles. Other accessories to consider are a swim cap (especially for girls with long hair), water bottle, sun screen, and a bag to carry everything. During swim meets, you should make sure your swimmer has a water bottle and a light snack. There are plenty of post-swim sweet treats at the concession stands.

Chapter 3: Organizational Information

The Pool 

The Dunn Loring Swim Club owns the facilities that we use. Although each member of the swim team and dive team pays a fee in order to belong to the team, the pool membership also subsidizes these teams. The Club is governed by a Board Directors. To be a member of the swim team, your family must own or rent a membership.

Team Reps and Coaches 

The people you'll run into the most in your swim team dealings are the Team Reps and the Coaches. The Team Reps are volunteer parents, responsible to the Pool Board for running the swim team and are the Dunn Loring liaisons to other swim teams and NVSL. 

Swim Leagues

Dunn Loring participates in both the NVSL and Vienna Developmental League:

Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL) was started in 1956, by 8 Northern Virginia Pools founded the NVSL, Today the NVSL is the largest summer swim league by membership in the United States with 102 teams. NVSL hosted meets include Saturday dual meets, Divisional Relays, All Star Relays, Divisionals, and Individual All Stars. More information on these meets is available under the Swim Meet 101 tab.  

The Vienna Developmental League consists of the Vienna area pools (Dunn Loring, Cardinal Hill, Vienna Aquatic, Shouse Village, Vienna Woods, Lakevale Estates, and Hunter Mill). These pools have joined together to conduct unscored swim meets on Monday nights. The idea is to provide a fun meet environment in which the whole team can participate. More information on these meets is available under the Swim Meet 101 tab.

USA Swimming 

This is the governing body for swimming in the United States, USA Swimming establishes rules for strokes and for the conduct of completion. The NVSL swimming rules are USA Swimming rules with minor changes to accommodate the facilities and skill levels for in our league. Swimmers' times from NVSL meets will not be reported to USA Swimming, although these times will be published on the NVSL website.

Chapter 4: Swim Stroke Basics

The rules are the USA Swimming rules as modified for use in the NVSL:

Freestyle The freestyle is defined as any means of swimming across the pool. The swimmer is free to swim in any style.  The standard for freestyle is the Front Crawl stroke. The two terms are largely interchangeable.  Th only don'ts associated with this stroke:

1.You cannot push yourself forward off of the bottom of the pool, walk, or pull yourself along using the lane lines or the side of the pool

2. In a 50 Meter race (two pool lengths) you must touch the wall at the turn end before touching the wall start end of the pool.

Backstroke Like the freestyle, almost anything goes on the backstroke as long as you stay on your back. "On your back" is defined as the shoulders 90 degrees from flat. 90 degrees of shoulder rotation is legal, 91 degrees means the swimmer has turned towards the breast and is no longer on the back.

Backstroke starts are are done in the water with feet planted against the wall.  Swimmers may hold onto either another person's legs (called "Legs") or the lip on the pool awaiting the starter's signal.

Backstrokers will eventually learn the backstroke flip turn. This is the one exception to staying on your back and can be used only as part of a turn (not a finish) at the turn end.

Breaststroke The breaststroke is a cycle stroke with two components, the kick and the arm pull. The pull and its recovery cannot extend past the waist line. The kick is a frog kick; toes must be pointed outward during the propulsive part of the kick. No propulsion may be made from the top of the feet. No flutter kicks are allowed. The pull and kick must be in an alternating sequence and the elbows must stay below the water except for touching the wall at the finish. Breaststroke turns and finishes require a simultaneous two hand touch.

Butterfly There are typically two components of the fly; the arm pull and the kick. The arm pull must be an over the water recovery (elbows breaking the surface of the water) with the arms moving simultaneously. The kick is a dolphin style with both legs moving simultaneously (no flutter kicks). Although fastest, butterfly is not required to be a cycle stroke. If swimmers cannot move their arms, they can kick. If they cannot kick, they can pull. Turns and finishes require a simultaneous two hand touch at the wall.

Individual Medley The individual medley (or IM) event is composed of each of the four strokes in the sequence Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Freestyle. We swim a 100 Meter IM; one pool length of each stroke is swum. In a 100 Meter IM, every turn is a stroke change and stroke finish rules apply. This means no traditional backstroke flip turns.

Relays There are two kinds of Relays, the freestyle relay and medley relay. Both involve a team of four swimmers, each swimming one quarter of the total distance. In the freestyle relay, each swimmer swims freestyle. In the medley relay, the sequence is Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly and Freestyle.

In all relays, each swimmer must wait until the previous swimmer touches the wall prior to leaving the deck. Running starts or pushes from teammates are not allowed.

If you have any questions, please feel free to contact the team reps at [email protected].