Many young swimmers are excited by the prospect of competitive swimming but are intimidated by all the skills they see performed by athletes in more advanced programs. Junior Otters is a pre-competitive program structured to teach new athletes the fundamental skills they need to successfully move into our intro-competitive level, Youth Otters. In both programs, athletes will have the opportunity to develop the building blocks of all four competitive strokes -Butterfly, Backstroke, Breaststroke and Freestyle. Athletes will also be exposed to the basics of flip turns, open turns, dives, back starts, underwater skills and buoyancy skills. 

In a fun and low-pressure environment, children between the ages of 6 and 12 who can successfully swim 25 meters without assistance and comfortably put their heads in the water may be eligible to join!

Junior Otters do not need to attend any swim meets. However, we encourage them to participate in our at-home meets. The only equipment requirements are caps and goggles. Youth Otter athletes must be registered as competitive with Swimming Canada to be eligible to compete all year round. Families interested must request this via their respective Coaches to make the final decision collaboratively. 

The time commitment for Juniors is 1.5 to 2.25 hrs per week annually. Whereas for Youth is 3 hours per week annually. 

Please note that Swimmers under age 13 can access the pool by purchasing a YMCA swim pass at the front desk of the Brockville and Area YMCA. Swimmers 13 years of age and up must be full YMCA members to participate.

Please contact our head coach for a try-out before registering for our program: headcoach@riverotters.ca