Welcome to the Lansing Community Aquatic Team (LCAT). CATS is a year-round, age-group swim club designed to offer a competitive swimming experience to young male and female athletes from the early, developmental swimmer to the national-caliber athlete.  The CATS are a United States Swimming (USS) sanctioned club with fully certified and insured coaches, run and maintained by the coaches and parent volunteers.

Competitive swimming, like other sports, is very much a learn-as-you-go experience for both the swimmer and the parents. The longer you do it, the more committed and consistent you are, the more you will progress. The purpose of this handbook is to introduce you to the club and to competitive swimming.  However, some of the best resources for your questions are the coaches, the parents and the swimmers.  They will be happy to answer any questions you might have.  A glossary is included in the appendix to assist you.

The Lansing Community Aquatics Team is structured and organized under the notion that participation in sport can provide a fun, motivating, character building experience for youngsters while they learn the nature of competition through the sport of swimming. We believe that youth athleticism and participation in a sport such as swimming can foster youngsters physically, mentally and socially. Young athletes will learn to challenge themselves physically and will learn the mental skills, perseverance and courage necessary to meet these challenges. They will learn to establish personal and team goals and will set themselves on a path of forward direction with a plan to reach those goals. They will learn from their successes and their failures, and will learn to develop ways to find the positive in every situation. Through regular practice and interaction with teammates, both in and out of the pool, we hope to foster and develop our athletes socially. We seek to provide them with opportunities to safely meet new friends within the swimming community.

The Lansing Community Aquatics Team is primarily concerned with guiding and directing individuals toward maximum development of their talents and abilities. Through this endeavor, the coaching staff provides quality, age-appropriate training that focuses on teaching and motivating young athletes to achieve their ultimate potential in swimming. These experiences will lead to success in swimming and in life.

The CATS team strives to instill in young swimmers an understanding of, and appreciation for, qualities such as high-esteem, personal accountability, commitment, teamwork, self-discipline, goal setting, and goal achievement as these relate to their success in training and in competition. Often, the process of achieving is as, if not more, significant as the achievement itself.

At each level of the CATS program, swimmers are encouraged to strive for excellence. Excellence for the individual is, simply, the achievement of a level where swimmers are comfortable they have done everything to become the best they are capable of becoming. This philosophy is consistent throughout the program. Every swimmer from the beginner to the experienced veteran is encouraged to—

BE THE BEST YOU CAN BE!

Our hope is to provide a positive environment for swimmers of all ages and competitive levels as they work toward their potential in and out of the pool. We want our youngsters to take pride in their full commitment to the sport and to one another, with the collective goal of always creating a better and more unified team, in and out of the pool. The primary individual and team goal is fast swimming. The road to that goal is clear and challenging.

Good sportsmanship, effort, dedication and a positive approach to swimming and sport are the guidelines for excellence in swimming and close friendships that last a lifetime.

Download Summer 2009 Team Handbook:

• Word document (572 kb)