Ford Pool

Gators Swim Team

We are a youth competitive swimming program that is organized through Grand Rapids Community College and the Gerald R. Ford Pool.

We practice 3-4 days per week in season (2 season per year: Fall runs late September-late March & Summer runs May-August).

Practice times are Tuesday's 6pm-7pm (under 10 years old) and 7pm-8pm (10 + years old), Wednesday's 6:30pm-8:00pm (all ages), Thursday's 6pm-7pm (under 10 years old) and 7pm-8pm (10 + years old) and sometimes Friday's 7pm-8:30pm. In the summer program it is Tuesday's 6pm-8pm, Wednesday and Thursday 6:30pm-8pm. There is also a morning session if your swimmer is 8th grade and up or is an "A" meet qualifier, that goes Tuesday-Thursday 8:15am-10am.

The Gators team is open to anyone 6 years of age and up to and including 14 years of age prior to December 1, if they turn 15 before December 1 they can not join until summer Gators. New swimmers should be able to complete one length of the pool.

The Gators program is run through Grand Rapids Community College and Joey Sutherlin is our program director. We have at least 2 full-time Coaches and 2 volunteer coaches. Tom Heyboer is our Head Coach and has been so for the last 5 years (prior to that he was an assistant coach for 10 years). At least 2 coaches will be at every practice and meet.

The cost of Gators is $115.00 per swimmer per session. The entire fee does not have to be paid up front. For liability reasons, we ask for a minimum of $35 dollars per child to start, but offer a convenient four payment plan with Joey that can go over the majority of the swim season.

If you are concerned about the safety of your children, we always have 1 lifeguard monitoring the pool and at least three others working the practice (One in each locker room and one in the observation area).

Parents are encouraged to watch practice from our observation balcony. Parking is available in the GRCC ramps and a special pass can be purchased at the pool that will get you out of the ramp for one dollar.

If you can't make a practice, just let us know. Invitational meets are optional, but dual/conference meets, every member is expected to participate. Any problems, let us know, the key here is communication.

You do not have to be a Gator in the summer session to be a winter Gator and winter Gators are not obligated to be in summer Gators.

We'll have a parent's advisory board, that helps with items like fund raising, apparel and work with Joey to make our program the best.

Click Here to register for the team!

If you have any more questions, please contact Joey Sutherlin at 616-234-4266 or e-mail Joey at jsutherl@grcc.edu or Coach Tom Heyboer thomasjheyboer@aol.com

Updated on 05-OCT-09
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