☰ ⋮
Sign in

Barracudas - 2026 starts this week!

April 17th

Hey Barracudas,

Welcome to the 2026 swim season! Buckle up for a few reminders and items of interest. First, we hope to see you at our Get Your Gear Day this Sunday between 4:00 - 6:00 pm to try on and purchase our new team swimsuit, catch up with teammates and have a frozen treat! Swim Freak will have various sizes of our team suit (your uniform for the season!) available for purchase and other gear you might need or want for the season (goggles, swim fins (needed for everyone 10&u), gear bag, etc.)

Board members will be available to answer any questions about how the swim season works, what meets are like, what kinds of volunteer opportunities are available and more.

A few additional updates below …

  • Practice Schedule and Swimmer Expectations
  • Weather
  • Meet and Event Schedule
  • Volunteer Roles and Responsibilities (& Stroke Judge Training)
  • Thank you to all our Sponsors

Practice Schedule

Check out our website to view our 2026 practice schedule and meet schedule. Note that After School Practice has different times for MWF vs TuTh practices for the 6&Unders and 7/8s. This is to maximize the number of practices swimmers can make for the early practice slots which can be challenging with a short window after school lets out. In the summer, the morning practice schedule is the same every day.

We understand that many kids have after school activities still going on and might not make it to every practice. We do ask that everyone tries to make at least 1 practice a week. We only have a few days of practice before our Intersquad meet (more on that to come)!

Some swimmers with late birthdays may prefer to swim in a different group than their assigned age group so they can train with the majority of their classmates (you can see your swimmer’s assigned group by clicking “My Account” on the upper right hand corner of the website and selecting your swimmer’s name). We ask that all swimmers start in their assigned group so Coaches can assess skills, then submit any change requests to [email protected].

Swimmer (and Swim Parent) Expectations

During practice, Coach Alice, Coach Victor and their assistants will be focused on the group of swimmers in the water. Please save all questions for Board members present or email [email protected] to arrange a time to speak outside of practice if needed.

Please also keep an eye on any siblings, friends, etc. who are waiting on their practice time to begin or waiting on a sibling to finish his or her practice session. Childcare is not provided and we need to keep the pool deck as clear as possible for the safety of the kids in that practice group and the coaches. Older kids are welcome to play on the basketball court or in the park, but again, do so at your own risk as childcare is not provided. Please also be respectful of neighbors who may be playing pickleball or basketball.

The Kiddie Pool will be open during practices for our future Barracudas (4 and under) who are not yet ready to join the team, as long as a parent is directly supervising their splashing. Please tell older swimmers and siblings this is not a good place for them to play while waiting for practice and if it gets too loud or disruptive, we will need to close the splash area during practice. No fountains during this time (it is too loud). The steps to the big pool are also closed during all practices (and during swim meets).

Before practice, please remind your swimmer of the following 5 Steps to Becoming a Successful Barracuda:

Swimmer Expectations

1. Be Responsible

  • For your swimming gear (caps, goggles, suit, towel, fins, etc.)
  • By being on time to practice and meets
  • By letting coaches know if you have questions or needs

2. Be Safe

  • By listening to your coaches' instructions
  • By not participating in horseplay in or out of pool

3. Be a Good Teammate

  • By encouraging each other during practice and meets
  • By setting a good example
  • By helping other teammates when needed or asked

4. Be Respectful

  • To your coaches as well as your teammates
  • To yourself by staying positive and working hard to improve

5. Have Fun and Enjoy Improving Your Swimming Abilities

Please also review the discipline and other policies on our website under Policies.

A Word About the Weather

With many April inclement/severe weather watches or warnings that occur, we wanted to inform our new parents and remind our current parents on how we decide to cancel practices and how you can receive notification as quickly as possible when that occurs.

Per the Weather Policy on our website, we generally hold practices in the rain - since the kids are already wet - but we take lightning very seriously. However, we will not have our first practice be 60 and rainy since we want it to be a positive experience for everyone. :) We are closely watching the weather for Monday and Tuesday and will send an email by Monday morning if practice is cancelled. Note that pool temps may be a bit chilly after the rain and temperature drop, so feel free to send your child in a wetsuit, with a parka for after practice or skip practice if you feel it won’t be a good experience for your child. You know your kiddos best and we’re not training for the Olympics here! (Though we have had former Barracudas go on to be Olympians!)

If we do have to cancel practice on short notice, we will send an "alert" via SwimTopia, which is the site you used to register and how we send emails. In addition, we highly recommend you install the mobile application and log in to it so you can receive a text-style push notification on your phone in these time-sensitive situations. The SwimTopia mobile app can be found in your phone's app store or using this page which has links to the app stores: https://www.swimtopia.com/tour/swimtopia-mobile-a…

In addition, if you have other people regularly picking up your swimmers, like a teenage sibling or nanny/sitter, you can register them on the site as a third (or more) "parent" in the system so they can receive these notifications. If you need help setting this up, email us at [email protected] and we'll help you get that configured.

Thanks for helping us keep your swimmers safe when the weather gets complicated.

Special practice cancellation notice: on Thursday April 23rd, the 9-10 and 11&up practices are cancelled as BCW is hosting its HOA meeting at the Big Pool. Apologies for the inconvenience!

Volunteer Roles and Leads

We are an entirely volunteer-run organization and our parent volunteers are the heart and soul of the entire operation of the BCW Barracudas Swim Team. Thank you for volunteering! We could not have swim meets or Fun Fridays or other fun events without our incredible volunteers! Every swim family is expected to fulfill 4 job shifts during the season. You can check your selected volunteer roles by selecting “My Account” on the upper right hand corner of the website.

Please review the Volunteer Requirements and Job Descriptions here and sign up for your remaining volunteer shifts on the website. Most of these are during the swim meets, but we also have shifts available outside of meets if needed (coordinating Fun Friday treats, labeling and sorting ribbons after meets, icing down coolers for drinks before meets, etc.).

Calling all potential Stroke Judges! If you want to learn more about proper stroke technique and fulfill a critical volunteer role for the team, sign up to be a stroke judge! All new Stroke Judges must attend a mandatory training session (via Zoom) hosted by the League. Sign up if you can help!

Thanks to our 2026 Sponsors!

Finally, we want to send a big shout out to our sponsors for supporting our 2026 Barracudas and making the season possible! Our sponsors help us keep our swimmer dues low, help us pay our AMAZING coaches, and help us have fun events like Fun Friday treats and the End of Year Party!

First, big shout out to our long time Platinum Sponsor ->Carpenter & Langford, PLLC!

Also thanks to our awesome Gold Sponsors:

And finally, a big thank you to our fabulous Family Sponsors: The Arrambide Family, the Cantu Family, the Coultas Family, the Felts Family, the Gavin Moss Family, the Grau Family, the Green Family, the Howard Family, the Jancovech Family, the O’Keefe Family, the Neland Family, the Patel Family, the Peoples Family, the Perryman Family, the Rowder Family, the Stockder Family, and the Smith Family!!!

Thank you for your time and we look forward to the 2026 season!

See you at the pool! 

~ 2026 Barracuda Board of Directors (Catherine, Crystal, Brian, Richard, Abby, Stephanie & Jeff)

Add Snippet