Electrons are our entry level groups. Swimmers MUST be able to swim 25 yards unaided of freestyle and backstroke. Athletes in this group will focus on learning legal breaststroke, butterfly, starts, turns, streamlines, and most importantly we will be HAVING FUN! There are opportunities for competitions with this training group and we welcome any athlete who has a passion to race.

ELECTRONS 1: Designed for the busy family that is only able to practice one day per week.

ELECTRONS 2: Doubles the number of practices from one to two per week, without doubling the price.

ELECTRONS 3: Increases the number of practices from two days per week to three. It helps athletes physically prepare to advance into the Neutron or Proton training groups.

Neutrons, is for athletes whose skills have graduated beyond Electrons and can swim a 50 of legal butterfly. Athletes in this group are primarily in grades 3-6, but can included younger/older athletes as well. Neutrons will spend 75% of practices focussing on technique and 25% on conditioning. In this group there is more organic application of technique and stroke drills built into the workouts. A primary focus of this group is to strengthen an athlete's love for the sport of swimming! Competitions are available for Neutron swimmers and ATOM encourages participation, but participation in swim meets is always up to the parent and athlete(s).

Protons, primarily consists of athletes grades 5-8 and swimmers must be able to legally compete a 200IM (in practice or at a meet). Protons is where we begin to emphasize conditioning and competition more with the athletes. It is in this age group that we focus on improving cardiovascular health by increasing aerobic capacity. Technique and drills are still strongly emphasized but there is a larger focus on conditioning to prepare athletes for our Uranium group. We also begin to introduce athletes to simple dryland exercises to help with body awareness, flexibility, and injury prevention. Even though the workload for this group is increasing, ATOM will always put the love and joy for the sport of swimming above all else.

Uranium athletes may be in Middle school or High school and/or have permission from the head coach to register for this training group. In this group there is a strong focus on conditioning with a good balance of individualized technique work. Athletes are encouraged to compete in USA Swimming sanctioned meets, participate in at least 9 hours of practice per week, and have consistent attendance. Athletes in this group are also expected to do more outside of the pool – such as community service, reading books together as a team & various team building activities.

Similar to Uranium, Plutonium athletes must be in High School (or beyond) and have expressed permission from the Head Coach to register for this group. Swimmers are expected to participate in larger USA Swimming sanctioned meets, have consistent practice attendance, and act as an ATOM ambassador to the community.