Swim meets are an excellent place for us to show our pride in being part of Delta Aquatics. How we present ourselves at meets and practices has an enormous influence on our team's unity, success, and growth.
Simply Swimming
Delta Aquatics is proud to be affiliated with Simply Swimming as our official team vendor for Delta apparel & equipment. The store will come out to practice one time during the early portion of the fall season and the date/time will be posted on the practice calendars. You can try on suits and purchase all the swimming equipment and apparel you will need for the season at this time. If you are new to swimming and need help sizing your suit, you will want to attend one of our fittings when Simply Swimming can help you choose the proper fit. Racing suits should be tighter than you might normally pick for a practice suit. We advise being fitted rather than making a mistake on purchasing the wrong size suit.
Practice Equipment Requirements
Below is a list of what equipment is needed for each group at practice. Swimmers are required to have their required equipment at practice each day. Simply Swimming has this equipment available to purchase at the start of each season. Please purchase the exact equipment listed. Do not make any substitutions. Swimmers may purchase additional items not required for their group, for example many will purchase a mesh bag to carry their equipment to and from practice easily.
To determine the correct fin and paddle size, please see this helpful document: Equipment Sizing Guide
Click on each group name to see the required apparel and equipment on one page.
Apparel Requirements
- All swimmers are expected to purchase the current season team t-shirt and the team jacket. (For 22-23 Speedo will not have the new warm-ups.)
- All other clothing and equipment that is offered each season is optional and can make nice holiday/birthday presents.
- Parent Apparel: We offer team spirit wear seasonally in the fall and spring. It is a great way to show your support and pride in your swimmer and their team. It makes it easy to find and meet other Delta parents, which helps unite our community and welcome newcomers.
Team Apparel at Meets
In order to present a uniform appearance at swim meets, the following dress guidelines should be followed:
- Delta team warm-up jacket and/or Delta t-shirt or sweatshirt. To determine the correct team jacket size, please see this helpful document: Team Jacket Sizing Guide
- Unless notified otherwise, swimmers will wear the following shirts on the given day of a swim meet. Parents are encouraged to participate as well! Shirts (and much more!) may be purchased online through Simply Swimming at the start of each season.
- Thursday - choice color of team t-shirt if not notified otherwise
- Friday - White Team T-Shirt
- Saturday - Gray Team T-Shirt
- Sunday - Navy Team T-Shirt
- Footwear is required. Swimmers at the championship level will be required to wear gym shoes at meets, as opposed to sandals or crocs, for extra traction, foot support, warmth and energy preservation.
Awards Podium Dress Code
When a swimmer places at a championship swim meet and gets the opportunity to receive an award on the awards podium, the following dress guidelines shall be adhered to, ranked in order of preference, depending on how long a swimmer has before going to the podium and what apparel is on hand:
- 1st preference: Delta team warm-up (warm-up jacket with Navy pants or Navy shorts)
- 2nd preference: Delta team t-shirt or sweatshirt with Navy pants or Navy shorts
- 3rd preference: Swimsuit only
- No head gear (swim caps, hats, etc) shall be a worn. Swim caps can be worn in the case where awards are presented at the blocks immediately following each final.
- No additional items (towel, goggles, cell phone, previous medals, etc.) shall be taken onto the podium.
Swimwear Requirements
If you need help with swim suit sizing and an in-person apparel night isn't available, we encourage you to visit Dick's Sporting Goods, where you can safely try on suits for proper fit for competitive swimwear.
To determine the correct swim suit size, please see these helpful documents:
Speedo Size Chart and Competitive Swimsuit Sizing Guidelines
Practice Swimwear
- Girls shall wear a one-piece swimsuit. Women’s two piece suits are not allowed in competition or practice.
- Boys shall wear briefs or jammers. Swim trunks are not recommended because they add a lot of drag.
- Unless there is a medical or religious reason for wearing one, swim shirts are not recommended since they restrict range of movement and add drag.
- To preserve their quality, team suits should be reserved for competition and not worn at practices.
- All swimmers with hair long enough to cover their eyes or ears shall wear a Delta swim cap at practices. Fun Cap Fridays: On practices held on Fridays, swimmers may wear any style swim cap. Personalized team caps will be ordered once during the early part of each season, but personalization is not required. (Regular Silicone or Latex Caps without names can be purchased from a Coach at the pool for $12 cash.) During a swimmer's first season with Delta they get a Delta latex cap.
- Clear or light-colored goggles are strongly encouraged for indoor practices; mirrored or dark-colored goggles are strongly encouraged for outdoor practices.
Competition Swimwear
- Because we are a Speedo sponsored team, all swimsuits worn at swim meets, including tech suits, must be Speedo brand.
- All swimmers must have a team suit to compete in meets. This is a different suit than they wear for practice.
- Swimmers are required to wear a team suit to all competitions except in circumstances approved by a coach.
- In a case where a team suit cannot be worn, it is preferred that swimmers wear a solid navy or black suit.
- Your competition suit should fit tightly. When trying on a female team suit for purchase, a general guideline is that if you can pull the straps to your earlobes, the suit is too loose. For boys, USA Swimming rules prohibit suits from extending past the knee, so if a suit is so long or loose that it covers any part of their knee, it must be replaced.
- All USA Swimming rules regarding swimsuits will be strictly followed:
- Swimwear shall include only a swimsuit, cap, and goggles. It is not permissible to wear more than two (2) caps. Armbands or leg bands shall not be regarded as parts of the swimsuit and are not allowed.
- In swimming competitions, the swimmer must wear only one swimsuit. For men, the swimsuit shall not extend above the navel nor below the knees, and for women, shall not cover the neck, extend past the shoulder, nor extend below the knee.
- Only swimsuits complying with FINA swimsuit specifications may be worn in any USA Swimming sanctioned or approved competition.
- Swimsuits worn for competition must be non-transparent and conform to the current concept of the appropriate.
- Therapeutic elastic tape is prohibited. Any other kind of tape on the body is not permitted unless approved by the Referee.
- No Technical Suits shall be worn by any 12 & Under USA Swimming athlete member in competition at any sanctioned, approved or observed meet.
- Refer to USA Swimming rulebook for full rules.
- To preserve their quality, team suits should be reserved for competition and not worn at practices.
- All swimmers with hair long enough to cover their eyes or ears shall wear a Delta swim cap at competitions. Personalized team caps will be ordered once during the early part of each season, but personalization is not required. (Regular Silicone or Latex Caps without names can be purchased from a Coach at the pool for $12 cash.) During a swimmer's first season with Delta they get a Delta latex cap.
- Clear or light-colored goggles are strongly encouraged for indoor competitions; mirrored or dark-colored goggles are strongly encouraged for outdoor competitions.
- Typically prelim/final meets, last chance meets, or specific target meets will be ‘suited’ meets. All championship meets are tech suit meets. Please read our Tech Suit policy below for more information about competition swimwear.
Tech Suit Policy
Technical suits (or "tech suits"), are expensive, high quality swimsuits that generally have taped or bonded seams, are woven rather than knitted so they can add more compression, and are made of hydrophobic materials to help reduce drag. Starting in 2020, USA Swimming banned tech suits for swimmers ages 12 & under. Specifically, 12 & Under swimmers may not wear any swimsuit that has taped or bonded seams regardless of its fabric or silhouette, and any suit with woven fabric extending past the hips is not allowed, regardless of seams.
It is the philosophy of the coaching staff that, like other principles of training and competition, a progression should be observed when it comes to championship quality swimsuits. Young swimmers should not be concerned about which swimsuit they are wearing when things such as stroke technique, attendance and practice habits have a much greater impact on their development. Furthermore, families should not be burdened with the cost of higher quality swimsuits until the level of their athlete’s commitment and performance has reached a point where a tech suit is warranted to remain competitive. As tech suits are just a piece of the puzzle of swimming, with our philosophy in mind, in addition to the USA Swimming ban on tech suits for 12 & Unders, our team will utilize the following guide for what suits to use by age/swimming level.
- Swimmers ages 12 & Under shall not wear a tech suit, as defined by USA Swimming.
- Swimmers ages 13 & Over who have qualified for an ISI Regional championship meet or higher level meet may choose to wear a tech suit, although it is not required.
- In all cases, consult with the coach before purchasing a tech suit for advice. We are contracted with Speedo so it must be Speedo brand.
- If you're considering purchasing a tech suit, make sure you do a fitting so you know the suit will fit correctly. Tech suits can be purchased through Simply Swimming and for certain Senior qualifying meets, swimmers who participate may be eligible for a discounted price.
- Tech suits WILL NOT be used at regular season meets.
- A tech suit should be reserved for the designated "target" meets of each season. Tech suits may be worn at Championship meets. Meets where tech suits are able to be worn will state it on the meet page for that meet.
The suits listed below are on the approved list from our sponsor Speedo.
12 & U - Speedo Aquablade Record Breaker / Speedo Aquablade Jammer or Brief
13 & Older - Speedo LZR Elite / Speedo Racer X
Tech Suit Links from Simply Swimming
Men's Tech Suits
Other Delta Logo Gear
Do you have and idea for new gear sporting our Delta logo? Send an email to Coach Jessica with your ideas or suggestions. If there is enough interest in your idea, we'll see if we can add it!
