Hi Poolsharks -

Happy summer or almost summer!

13 Things:

#1) Weather - be ready for whatever this week & have the Remind app for last minute info

#2) Buddies - all buddies have been matched up - if your child is a Poolshark ages 4-8, they have a Big Buddy and a mutual email has been sent to grownups of both the the Little Buddy & the Big Buddy. If you did NOT receive an email (little or big buddy parents - please let me know asap).

#3) Time Trials Timeline - arrive between 4:15 - 4:30, meet over at 7:45 - Heat Sheet & Handwriters LINK (prior to arrival at pool, please sharpie your kids arm with event #, Heat #, Lane # and on back of shoulder their Name & Age Group). LINK to what a sharpied arm looks like.

#4) New Swimtopia App - info LINK - strongly encourage all parents to download (there is a free version and a $3-$10 version). Real time updates on times, places, when your child is swimming, heat sheets, history of times and more. Never miss your child’s race again!

#5) Police helping to cross Scott - we will have a policeman from 4 pm - 8 pm this week for Time Trials and for all home meets

#6) Volunteers for time trials LINK - we need 8 more volunteers for Time Trials

#7) concessions for our meets - lots of food available for purchase - payment options are: cash or Venmo. Will have pizza, chick fila sandwich, chips, candy, drinks.

#8) Awards for Time Trials? We will do Speeding Bullets for Time Trials (recognition of any kids that earn a best time for their events, swimming faster than their 2021 times). We will wait to start donuts, swimmer of the week, ribbons until Meet #1 on Wed June 1st.

#9) Venetian swim cap - for the meet - if you wear a cap, must be a team V cap - can purchase upon arrival using Venmo or cash ($10)

#10) Declaring for upcoming Tuesday Night Meets - LINK to declare. Please make sure to declare YES/NO for your child for each meet. Deadline is always the Wednesday before the meet.

#11) Memorial Day Kids Swim Practice - Breakfast Volunteers (food & servers) - Volunteer Breakfast Sign Up LINK - (if we can gather up enough parent volunteers, we can do a breakfast for all the kids - we realize Memorial Day has families traveling so this is a hope but we do not want to stress families too much). Timeline is below in the detailed section.

#12) Memorial Day Parents Practice - Crack of Dawn - RSVP LINK for parents (kids do NOT need to rsvp for the swim practice).

#13) Reminder - private lessons with Poolshark Coaches LINK

In Detail:

#1) Weather - we can swim in rain as long as guards can see - thunder is 30 minute delay - make sure you are signed up for Text Alerts as this is how we primarily communicate weather delays. Remind App LINK (parent last name A-L). Remind LINK (parent last name (M - Z). Please communicate with your child the plan if it thunders (where to meet, are you waiting it out in your car, bathroom, dance hall). We will wait out thunderstorms for meets, we typically do not wait out for practice.

#2) Buddies - Thank you to the 67 big kids (ages 9-18) that applied to be a Big Buddy and help take on this leadership role for our team. All Poolsharks ages 4-8 have a Big Buddy. Thank you families for supporting your kids with this inter-age group connection & friendship. Grownups are encouraged to get to know & support each other just as much as the kids. Sharing a meal/treats/drinks together at the pool sometime is a great way for families to connect.

#3) Time Trials Schedule: LINK (look for the RED writing with heat sheets/handwriters)

4:15 - 4:30 all swimmers arrive

4:30 - 4:40 (6U/8U warmup)

4:40 - 4:50 (9-10 warmup)

4:50 - 5:00 (11-12 warmup)

5:00 - 5:10 (13-18 warmup)

5:15 timers meeting with Coach Jess

5:30 Even #0 with our most beginner Poolsharks

5:35 Even #1 starts

7:45 Meet Ends

#4) New Swimtopia App - info LINK - strongly encourage all parents to download (there is a free version and a $3-$10 version). Real time updates on times, places, when your child is swimming, heat sheets, history of times and more. Never miss your child’s race again!

#5) Police helping cross Scott - please be very very careful pulling in and out of VPCA at anytime. If you are a pedestrian, please only cross Scott with full awareness and police attention.

#6) Volunteers for Time Trials LINK - we need 8 more volunteers - clean up (2), bouncer (1), runner (1), concessions (1), bullpen xylophone kid sorter (3). Most of these jobs will get you LOTS OF STEPS. You can always pause your job to watch your kid race. Please consider signing up for these very helpful volunteer spots.

#7) Concessions - thank you to Campany & Rutland’s parents, Sybil & Robert McCullar, are our amazing concessions volunteers - cash & Venmo are the accepted forms of payment - concessions profit is the primary way we pay for the police traffic support. Here is what will be available for purchase on Tuesday night: chick fil-a sandwiches, pizza, drinks, chips, candy

#8) Awards - for Time Trials, we will only do Speeding Bullets (best times recognition). For our dual meets - starting on June 1st - we are planning to recognize ALL kids with ribbons, donuts, 1 swimmer of the week per age group (12 total), 5 team Spirit Swimmers of the week, and best times recognition with Speeding Bullets.

#9) All swimmers that wear a swim cap in meets must represent our team with the silver V Venetian team cap. Caps can be purchased on Tuesday at Time Trials for $10 cash or Venmo at concessions.

#10) Declaring for upcoming Dual Meets - LINK - deadline will always be on Wednesdays this season. If your child would like to swim a specific race and the coaches support the choice (swimmers must be legal in the breaststroke/IM/etc to swim a race in a dual meet), please add this to the ‘notes’ section when you declare YES/NO.

#11) Crack of Dawn Memorial Day Kids practice - this is the last practice opportunity before our first swim meet on Tuesday May 31st. If your family is in town please make every effort to bring your child to this early bird swim practice.

Crack of Dawn Memorial Day practice - kids: no need to RSVP - just show up

9-12’s: 6:30 - 7:15

6U/8U: 7:15 - 8:00 am

13-18: 8:00 - 9:00 am

Parents Practice: 9:00 - 9:45

In 2019, our parents hosted a breakfast for all the kids. This is great for parents to get to know each other and kids to enjoy sharing a meal together on the day before our first swim meet. We are going to try this but also with the awareness that families are very busy. If we can get at least 50% of the volunteer spots signed up, then we will give the breakfast a GO. Breakfast Volunteers (food & servers) - Volunteer Breakfast Sign Up LINK

#12) Crack of Dawn Memorial Day Parents Practice - parents RSVP link - we had a great turnout in 2021 with about 25 parents of ALL levels being a part of our Parents Practice. The practice is free and open to all Poolshark parent/guardians and the last 15 minutes of parent practice will include an option to have a springboard diving lesson from Coach Karen (Beth’s diving teammate at UGA).

#13) Reminder - private lessons available with Poolshark coaches - LINK

Have Fun, Race Hard, Do Your Best, Go Poolsharks!

-Beth