18 & Under World 100s
Middle Atlantic Swimming
Level 1

Welcome to the 2026-2027 Season!

Chase Gibson

Hello and welcome to the start of the 2026-2027 Fall/Winter Session at Radnor Aquatic Club! Below is some general information about our season and some upcoming deadlines and important dates.  

 

Season Overview

At RAC we strive to build a community of athletes that exhibits a positive attitude towards the sport of swimming and demonstrates team spirit, camaraderie,  and sportsmanship. The focus of practices will vary greatly depending on the group and the time of year, but here is an overview of what to expect:

 

Varsity Groups (August-March)

Mini group will place an emphasis on teaching correct stroke technique and efficiency in the water. Swimmers will also focus on learning and refining their technique for starts & turns in all 4 strokes, as well as the 100 IM. 

 

White group will begin the season with a heavy emphasis on stroke technique, starts, turns, and team-building. These skills will be reinforced throughout the year as we continue to build speed and endurance during our competition season. 

 

Red group will reinforce stroke efficiency, technique, and good training habits of a competitive swimmer. Swimmers in this group will also place a heavier emphasis on building endurance, speed, and race strategy for a variety of competitive events. 

 

Blue & Bronze groups will spend the first few weeks reinforcing strong practice habits and technical foundations for long-term training cycles. Technique refinement and race strategy will be incorporated into the training plan for these groups throughout the season. 

 

Our philosophy is to train our athletes to be well rounded swimmers by implementing a combination of technical instruction and endurance and speed training in all strokes and distances. You can read more about our diverse and knowledgeable coaching staff HERE . 

USA Meets- Varsity Only

All Varsity swimmers are expected to compete in both SAL & USA Meets. More information about SAL meets will be communicated in the coming weeks. 

 

As our team grows and USA meets become more competitive, we are finding that best practice to secure space in popular meets is to submit our entries as early as the meet directors allow. While all meet deadlines are listed in each meet’s information, please pay attention to the first few deadlines quickly approaching:

 

EAAC Spooktacular (10/24-10/25) - Deadline Monday  August 31st @ 9 pm

For Varsity swimmers 9 & over. 

 

BWA Fall Fest & Fall Fest Mini (11/14-11/15) - Deadline Monday August 31st @ 9 pm

Fall Fest is for swimmers 9 & Over. Mini is for swimmers 8 & under. 

 

RAC Fall Festival & RAC Fall Fest Mini (9/26-9/27) - Deadline Friday 9/11 @ midnight

Our annual home USA meet. Fall Fest is for swimmers 9 & Over. Mini is for swimmers 8 & under. 

 

You can view the USA/SAL schedule thru December on our events page . 

 

Development Groups (Sept-Dec)

The primary focus of our Development Groups (Barracuda/Piranha) is to teach proper stroke technique & racing skills while building a love for swimming. Practices are designed to teach swimmers the necessary skills to be legal in all 4 strokes and to develop their speed to eventually prepare them for our Varsity program. The first Development session is 12 weeks and ends in mid-December, as opposed to the Varsity schedule of September-March. Development Swimmers DO NOT compete in USA or SAL Meets. There will be additional Development sessions in winter and spring for swimmers wishing to continue beyond the fall. 

 

Practice Schedule 

You can view our tentative practice schedules on our website here . The first practice for each of our groups is listed below, as well as the times for our beginning of season parent meetings. All parent meetings will be at RHS. 

 

  • Blue: Monday 8/31 from 4-6 @ Haverford
  • Bronze: Monday 8/31 from 6-7:30 @ Haverford (Parent Meeting: 9/15 @ 7:15)
  • Red: Tuesday 9/1 from 6-7 @ Haverford (Parent Meeting: 9/14 @ 7:45)
  • White: Tuesday 9/8 from 6-7 @ Haverford (Parent Meeting: 9/14 @ 6:45)
  • Mini: Wednesday 9/9 from 6-7 at CSC (Parent Meeting: 9/14 @ 5:45)
  • Barracuda: Saturday 9/12 from 12:30-1:30 @ RHS
  • Piranha: Saturday 9/12 from 11:40-12:30 @ RHS

 

Important Facility Notes

As community members and guests at all of our pools, it is essential that our members adhere to the rules and restrictions for each of our facilities. At all of our pools, swimmers and families must remain in the pool/balcony area and not other areas of the school. While swimmers are permitted to use the locker rooms at all of our pools, we ask that they spend minimal time here and leave the spaces in the condition they are found in. There are also parking/dropoff guidelines for each of the facilities we use. These parking guidelines with maps can all be found on our website HERE .  

 

Equipment

In addition to suits, caps, and goggles, ALL GROUPS have a training bag requirement. Please ensure your swimmers bring their equipment bag to practice every day. In order to cut down on transition time, please have your swimmers arrive & leave in their suits. 

 

Communication

You should expect to receive weekly or bi-weekly emails from me with information and updates throughout the season. This is our primary method of communication about season updates, meet deadlines, sign up processes, team events, and more. I typically send team-wide informational emails on Mondays or Tuesdays. You can also expect to receive additional communication from your swimmer’s lead group coaches prior to the first practice, and they will continue to communicate on an as-needed basis throughout the season.

 

Masters

We are excited to continue our Masters program this fall!  Practices will begin the week of 9/8 and more information can be found on our Masters page . Please feel free to spread the word to anyone who may be interested- adults only please!

 

Lessons

We will be offering small group lessons for swimmers ages 3-8 in 2 sessions this fall. More details and registration information can be found on our Lessons Page . 
 

Coming Soon…

Team Snap

We plan on using TeamSnap again to share practice schedules and send last minute reminders/updates. We are in the process of finalizing rosters and schedules on TeamSnap. Families should expect to receive an invite to their child’s group and an updated schedule in the coming days.  

USA Swimming Registration

Like in 2025 all families wishing to swim in USA meets will need to register for USA swimming. This is the case for both new and returning RAC swimmers. All returning swimmers are in good standing until the end of 2026, but new families will need to register after 9/1. This will ensure your registration is good for 2027 as well. We will send more information about registering for USA Swimming in early September.  

Team Gear

We will have an opportunity to purchase personalized RAC caps, swim culture RAC towels, and RAC merch in the coming weeks, more details to follow!