There will soon be Sharks in the water north of downtown Chattanooga.

The Chattanooga Sharks, a citywide competitive swimming team for children ages 6 to 14, will dive into North Chattanooga and Hixson this year.

“It’s a great fitness sport and a great way to stay healthy,” said Peggy Grall, the city’s aquatics coordinator.

The Sharks have been based at Brainerd and South Chattanooga Recreation Center. The program is expanding into Hixson with practices at the North River Family YMCA on Hixson Pike. The North River pool is owned and operated by the city and the YMCA of Metropolitan Chattanooga. Practices will rotate between South Chattanooga and North River.

For North River, which offers extensive swimming classes for children, the program fills a gap.

“Our swimming lessons will be a feeder program for this advanced swimming program, allowing kids not only to learn how to swim but to learn more about the sport of swimming,” said Kim Stewart, senior program director at the North River Family YMCA.

The expansion is well-timed as excitement over Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps bubbles. Now that Mr. Phelps has won a record-breaking eight gold medals in this year’s Beijing Olympics, swimming officials expect a tidal wave of new swimmers.

“The excitement surrounding the sport of swimming is undoubtedly at an all-time high,” said Chuck Wielgus, executive director of USA Swimming, the governing body for competitive swimming in the United States and sponsor of the Chattanooga Sharks.

Kelli Burger, a Stuart Heights area resident, said her 9-year-old daughter, Maggie, joined the Sharks for year-round fitness. Maggie swam with the Stuart Heights competitive team this summer, Mrs. Burger said. When that pool closed, the Burgers turned to the North River YMCA.

“We know Peggy Grall does a great job with the kids, it’s convenient to our house, and in the winter it gets dark so early they just don’t get any exercise,” Mrs. Burger said.

Ms. Grall said the Sharks will compete in a meet every month, and over the season the team will face about 500 to 700 racers from across the Southeast.

Hamilton County’s public schools offer no competitive swim teams, Ms. Grall said, but cross-training school athletes, such as soccer players, often use competitive swimming as a winter conditioning sport.

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