Led by head coach, Jason Bowes, TBAY Central offers practice groups for beginning competitors and national competitors alike.  Practice is held daily at Tampa Preparatory School, overlooking downtown Tampa and the Hillsborough River.  The Central branch attracts swimmers from all over the Bay Area, and is conveniently located just off I-275.  Coach Bowes will work with you to find a training group that suits your training, fitness, and lifestyle goals.  

The new Mighty Bucs is available for swimmers beginning at age five, with groups for all levels and abilities.  With winners at the local, regional, state and national level, TBAY is the best place for each swimmer to realize their full potential!

Practice Groups

Mighty Bucs

This group is for kids age 5-8 years, who are relatively new to competitive and ready to explore their potential with some of the best instructors and coaches in the area.
 
Each practice session is 45 minutes with focus developing all four strokes and the basics of competitive swimming (starts, streamlines, turns, body positions, great habits and fun).

Lil' Bucs

Lil' Bucs practice up to four times per week. Athletes are required to be able to swim 25 yards of any stroke and be able to jump into the water. This group focuses on learning legal technique for all four competitive strokes (butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, freestyle). Athletes are introduced to a progression of stroke refinements with the ultimate goal of completing a legal 100 yard IM in practice. Lil Bucs compete in USA-Swimming meets.

Big Bucs

The Big Bucs practice up to five times per week. Most have had competitive swim experience, either with a year-round team or a summer league team. Big Bucs work to maximize stroke efficiency while learning to race. Athletes in this group also become more fluent in the sport of swimming through meet preparation, participation and beginning goal-setting. Big Bucs build on stroke refinement and technique and gain personal accountability for their swimming.

Behavior goals for the Big Bucs:

• demonstrate efficient turns and push-offs in all four strokes

• begin to gain awareness of USA-Swimming and Florida Swimming time standards

• earn lane etiquette, § develop an understanding that attitude and behavior affects both personal and group performance

      Red Group

Swimmers in the Red Group have significant experience in competitive swimming and can demonstrate proficiency in all four strokes. Athletes expand their repertoire of dryland exercises (out of water) and also learn more advanced stroke drills and stroke improvement techniques. Red athletes begin to train incrementally while emphasizing distance per stroke and economy of motion. Reds learn and refine race strategies. Behavior goals of the Red group include:

• demonstrate ability to lead a training lane

• demonstrate ability to understand both a verbal and a written workout

• demonstrate ability to listen to coaches and apply stroke improvements

• demonstrate compliance with team warm-up and warm-down protocols at meets

• show consistent preparation—be equipped and on time for every workout

• understand that a positive approach to workouts and meets raises the level of personal and team performance

Red athletes also begin to make swimming decisions with his or her coach. Parental input on the "wet side" decreases and parental support on the "dry side" increases.

Black Group

The Black group is a high performance group for athletes who intend to pursue their swimming career into regional and national competitions, and into collegiate swimming. The direction, structure and difficulty of workouts are designed to help athletes reach their full potential as senior swimmers later in their careers. Athletes will complete stroke progressions and begin to learn new methods of stroke awareness and stroke refinement. A dedicated, progressive emphasis on training begins in this group and athletes are expected to maintain a level of awareness towards their workouts from a technical and a performance viewpoint.

Behavior goals of the Black group:

• show a commitment to and willingness to learn

• demonstrate an interest in attending 95% of the offered workouts

• demonstrate unquestioned ability to lead a lane, understand a written workout, and take ownership of personal performance

Blacks eliminate variables in their daily approach to their sport by being prepared, properly-equipped, on time, and hydrated.

There is minimal parental involvement on deck for the athletes in this group, while there is a good deal of parental support away from the pool as these athletes need more help in achieving their goals in the sport of competitive swimming.

Senior/Elite 

The Senior/Elite group at Central provides the curriculum and atmosphere necessary for success at National and International competition. National Group athletes are positive, hard-working examples for younger Central swimmers.

While not all members of this group may have National cuts, all members will exhibit the characteristics and demeanor and approach of athletes seeking National and International success: athletes are on time, prepared, equipped, properly attired, hydrated, focused and are also visibly enjoying the journey to success.

The Senior/Elite group is structured to produce outstanding athletes and leaders through intensified training, preparation and competition at the National and International levels.

Behavior Goals of the Senior/Elites:

• 99% attendance (percentage based on individually set attendance goals)

• actions and attitudes reflect a goal-seeking focus

• athletes conduct and comport themselves with honor and personal accountability

• very limited (and completely forecasted) conflict with high school and summer league swimming

• Senior/Elite group athletes strive to make lifestyle choices appropriate for achieving greatest personal success in matters regarding nutrition and rest.

• they show willingness to try, strive, dream and achieve.  

• parental involvement in swimming decisions is welcomed only when requested by the coach or the athlete.