The Chicago Blue Dolphins swim year-round on the
University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) campus south of the Loop in
Chicago and at the Moody Bible Institute in the Loop area. The team combines practice sessions in a 50-meter pool with
sessions in a 25-yard pool to provide variety in the training program.
Over the summer, the team takes advantage of the warm weather by adding
a Wednesday evening lake-swim at Ohio St. beach.
A trial workout is a free, live test of our swimming program. You'll swim the practice with our existing members, so make sure you bring your suit, goggles, and towel. We want you to see what we're all about, and the best way to do that is to dive in and do the practice.
The head coach will assign you to a lane, get you up to speed on the day's practice structure and explain any terminology or drills in the practice. We use specific language, drills and set design with our practices. These can take a few weeks to get down, so don't panic if you don't get everything on the first day. At the end of the practice, the head coach will give you some feedback on your stroke and let you know where you fall into our three pacing levels.
To structure our pool space, we divide our pool lanes into pacing groups, or levels. Each of the pacing groups has its own practice structure that reflects its swimmers' current skills, conditioning levels and speeds. Our fastest level is Level 3. Please take a moment to review the descriptions of our program levels on our Program Overview page to determine where you fall.
IF YOU FALL INTO THE LEVEL 1 OR 2 PACING GROUPINGS, WE WILL REQUIRE YOU TO REGISTER FOR A FREESTYLE FOUNDATIONS STROKE CLINIC IN ADDITION TO PRACTICES WITH THE MASTERS SWIM TEAM. We are convinced that our lessons and clinics can improve your efficiency by 25-33% while making you faster and more fit by establishing a strong technical foundation.
You can see the schedule for the Freestyle Foundations stroke clinics and our other swim clinics on our Instruction page.
If you would like to sign up for a Trial Workout, click here to go to our Trial Workout registration page.
Summer Supplemental Practice Schedule -- From August 25th to September 12th
Chicago Blue Dolphins will run a short 3 month supplemental session to help swimmers train for Ironman Wisconsin, Big Shoulders, and other fall triathlons. Our practice days, times, locations, and themes are shown in the table below:
| Day |
Time |
Practice Theme |
Practice Location |
| Monday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Freestyle (Middle Distance) |
Moody Bible Institute |
| Tuesday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Freestyle (Distance) |
UIC PE Building (Large Pool) |
| Wednesday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Freestyle (Distance) |
Moody Bible Institute |
| Wednesday |
6:30-8:00PM |
Open Water/Lake Swim |
Ohio St. Beach |
| Thursday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Speed (All Strokes) |
UIC PE Building (Small Pool) |
| Friday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Speed (All Strokes) |
Moody Bible Institute |
Weekly Practice Schedule -- Starting on September 15th
Chicago Blue Dolphins conducts practices throughout the week during the mornings, evenings, and on Sunday mornings. Our practice days, times, locations, and themes are shown in the table below:
| Day |
Time |
Practice Theme |
Practice Location |
| Monday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Freestyle (Middle Distance) |
Moody Bible Institute |
| Monday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Freestyle (Middle Distance) |
UIC PE Building (Small Pool) |
| Tuesday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Freestyle (Distance) |
UIC PE Building (Large Pool) |
| Wednesday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Freestyle (Distance) |
Moody Bible Institute |
| Wednesday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Stroke/IM or Freestyle Technique |
UIC PE Building (Small Pool) |
| Thursday |
7:30-9:00PM |
Speed (All Strokes) |
UIC PE Building (Small Pool) |
| Friday |
6:00-7:00AM or 7:00-8:00AM |
Speed (All Strokes) |
Moody Bible Institute |
| Sunday |
9:00-10:30AM or 10:30-12:00PM |
Stroke/IM or Freestyle Technique |
UIC PE Building (Small Pool) |
For more information about our pool and open water locations, including maps and information on parkting, please refer to our Location page.
2008-09 Masters Swim Team Calendar
| Session |
Start |
End |
| Summer Supplemental |
August 25, 2008 |
September 12, 2008 |
| Fall 1 |
September 15, 2007 |
November 09, 2007 |
| Fall 2 |
November 10, 2007 |
December 21, 2007 |
| Winter 1 |
January 5, 2008 |
March 1, 2008 |
| Winter 2 |
March 2, 2008 |
April 26, 2008 |
| Summer 1 |
April 27, 2008 |
June 21, 2008 |
| Summer 2 |
June 22, 2008 |
August 23, 2008 |
We try to be flexible with our payment plans for the Masters Swimming Program to cater to the different levels of swimming commitment that our athletes have when balancing work, fitness, and their personal lives. We recommend that you should attend three days a week to get a mix of aerobic, speed, and technique development; we understand that some swimmers will come on more days and others will come less.
We have four major payment plans: Sessions, Punch-Cards, Basic Packages, and Gold Packages. The Sessions are an unlimited attendance plan for two months. Punch-Cards are our ad-hoc plan where you buy a fixed number of practices at a time. The Basic Packages give you discounted rates when purchasing multiple sessions. In each of these payment plans, the swimmer is purchasing just the group swim practice sessions.
The Gold Packages are unique in that they combine multiple sessions of group practices as in the Basic Package with individual instruction and stroke analysis at our Swim Studio. The Gold Packages include one or more Swim Assessments. A Swim Assessment is a 75 minute private session at the Blue Dolphins Swim Studio where a member of our coaching staff assesses your current technique, speed, training, and goals. You will receive a DVD with all of the video clips (including coach annotations), a summary of what you specifically need to work on for the next four months, and a set of practices to help you incorporate these technical improvements. (For more information on our Swim Assessments, click here.
.) The Gold Packages also include follow-up private swim lessons where you reconnect with your coach to see whether you are actually making the technique changes and whether you are tracking toward your goals. The Gold Package gives you the best of both worlds: the energy, structure, and camaraderie of the group setting with the individualized focus of our private lessons.
The table below summarizes the payment plans and gives some advice on which plan makes the most sense for you.
| Payment Plan |
What It Is |
When It's Right For You |
| Session |
You purchase every practice in a given calendar period (usually two months) and can come as often as you desire |
You plan on coming to practice at least two days a week and you only want to commit to one session at a time |
| Punch Card |
You purchase 4 or 8 practices at a time. You agree to use up these practices within the current session period (usually two months) |
You will be more sporadic with your attendance such as 2 to 4 times a month due to family, work, travel, or location issues |
| Basic Package |
You purchase multiple sessions up front |
You plan on swimming with Blue Dolphins for a while and want to save money by paying for multiple sessions up front |
| Gold Package |
You purchase multiple sessions up front as well as Swim Assessments and Follow-Up Private Lessons at the CBD Swim Studio |
You plan on swimming with Blue Dolphins for a while and want the savings, but you also want a more individualized feel to the program where a coach helps you set and track goals and give you specific things you need to improve to better your swimming performance and reach those goals |
Session and Punch Card Rates
Our session and punch card rates and our discounts are shown in the table below:
| Plan |
Standard |
Partner** |
Student |
Student-Partner** |
| Session |
$140 |
$125 |
$100 |
$95 |
| 8 Practice Punch-Card |
$100 |
$100 |
$75 |
$75 |
| 4 Practice Punch-Card |
$50 |
$50 |
$37.50 |
$37.50 |
** Partner groups include Vision Quest Coaching, Team Dream, The Chicago Tri-Club, and Max Multisport Coaching.
In addition, each member will pay $22 per calendar year to be covered under our team's liability insurance policy.
Package Membership Rates
Our rates for Basic and Gold Packages, what the packages include, and your total savings are shown in the table below:
| Package Name |
Rate |
Package Includes |
Savings |
| Fall Season (Basic) |
$205 |
Fall 1 and 2 Sessions |
$25 |
| Fall Season (Gold) |
$440 |
Fall 1 and 2 Sessions, 1 Swim Assessment, and 1 Private Lesson |
$115 |
| Winter Season (Basic) |
$250 |
Winter 1 and 2 Sessions |
$30 |
| Winter Season (Gold) |
$485 |
Winter 1 and 2 Sessions, 1 Swim Assessment, and 1 Private Lesson |
$120 |
| Summer Season (Basic) |
$250 |
Summer 1 and 2 Sessions |
$30 |
| Summer Season (Gold) |
$485 |
Summer 1 and 2 Sessions, 1 Swim Assessment, and 1 Private Lesson |
$120 |
| Yearly (Basic) |
$650 |
Full Year of Sessions |
$140 |
| Yearly (Gold) |
$1210 |
Full Year of Sessions, 3 Swim Assessments, 3 Private Lessons |
$355 |
The yearly packages can begin on any session and will run through the entire year.
As with the regular memberships, those purchasing packages will pay $22 per calendar year to be covered under our team's liability insurance policy.
Recent swim practices and a practice archive can be found in the table
below.
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