Old Farm Swim Team

🦅  Little Eagles is for our youngest swimmers. Those who are just getting used to the water, getting comfortable moving their arms and learning to swim without use of floaties or other assistance. They will get an introduction to all the strokes with an emphasis on form and learning the “right” way to move their arms.
🦅  Pre-Team is generally for those who are comfortable in the water, but maybe never had a lot of formal swim instruction and have “graduated” from Little Eagles and are ready to work more on their stroke work and endurance but may not have a full understanding yet of all 4 strokes.
🦅  Swim Team is the main body of the program, consisting of swimmers who are able to legally swim most, if not all the strokes, and be strong enough to compete in those strokes.

View PT/LE Program Info →

Summer swim is a LOT of fun. The coaches and parents work really hard to ensure all the kids have the best time possible. This includes dressing up in themes for every swim meet, social events during the summer, team bonding activities, doing fun things in practices to liven them up, and just a lot of general encouragement and camaraderie among the whole team.

Swim Team practice starts right after Memorial Day (Pre-Team and Little Eagles practice starts after May evaluations). We know that a lot of kids have spring sports and activities to finish up, but hope they come when they can the first few weeks. The season starts with Time Trials in mid-June (where the coaches get first crack at seeing how fast each child is in the events).  PT/LE culminates with the mini-meet and swim team culminates with Divisionals in late July (large meet featuring all 6 teams in our division). We wrap up with a banquet after divisionals for all members (PT/LE & swim team).

• There's a range of participation for sure! And it's all fine. Some kids come to practice every day, some come twice a day, some come a few days per week. 
• In terms of meets, sign-ups will open leading up to each meet, and you must declare your child's availability in the system prior to signup deadlines so the coaches can establish race rosters and the automation team can make lane assignments and generate the race program.
• "A" meets (Saturday morning) are scored against another team and are the fastest kids in each age group and each event. The coaches set a roster each week, and if you declared your child available and are on that roster, it is important to be there. But, as long as you declare and the coaches know, some kids miss a week here and there. 
• "B" meets (Wednesday evening) are for everyone (with some exceptions for those A meets swimmers). They can be crowded, loud, and are tons of fun, but the competition is lower key. These meets are more "opt in", so if you're away or have a conflict one week, you just don't sign up. There are even kids who love to practice with their friends, but are not interested in meets at all.

No, there is no mandate for that. Any suit will suffice, with the exception that you may not wear another team logo in an MCSL meet. You may find additional information on practice/meet equipment HERE.

The team will hand out FREE OF logo swim caps at practices and meets until we have dispensed to everyone. The first cap is free as part of your registration. If you lose or tear the first one, a replacement cap has to be purchased. If you will wear a cap at a meet, it must be an OF or plain cap (no other team logos).

• Saturday meets (A meets) are held every Saturday morning (home and away), and usually consist of the fastest 3 swimmers in each event (3 boys, 3 girls), for each age group. 
• Wednesday meets (B meets) are every Wednesday evening (home and away meets), and are for all swimmers, giving everyone a chance to cheer, experience competition, and chart progress. 
• If a swimmer gets a good time at a Wednesday meet, they become eligible for the Saturday meets. Swimmers often end up in both meets given the variety of events and number of swimmers needed in each.
• See the next FAQ question for Saturday A meet swimmers and what they can swim in for Wednesday B meets.

• No, everyone may swim in the Wednesday B meets!  
• HOWEVER, if your child was one of the top-two finishers for the Old Farm Swim Team in an event at the Saturday A meet, they may not swim that same event at the immediately following Wednesday B meet.
• That said, since swimmers may only swim a maximum of three individual stroke events at an A meet, there will always be at least one stroke event available for every swimmer to swim at the B meets.

GOOF stands for GO Old Farm!

Old Farm Swim Team competes as part of the Montgomery County Swim League (MCSL)

For information on private lessons or masters swimming (this is not needed but we get a lot of questions asking...), see the FINS Swimming website.

I’m glad you asked. We need parent volunteers to help out with both the meets AND with the general running of the team. We have some parents who have been helping out for years and are ready to move on, so we need help especially from those parents with younger kids who are ready to contribute. Please ask any of the swim team reps for details.

Yes.  MCSL requires that all our team members are also members of the pool.  For pool membership information, visit Old Farm Pool website HERE.

This summer each swimmer registered is $195 for 2026. This goes to pay the coaches, pay the county league we belong to, and cover other necessary expenses. Registration will open in April (around 08 April 2026), at which time you may sign up to join the team HERE.