Hi Poolsharks -

Thank you to all of our swimmers & families & coaches for your time, energy & dedication to be a part of our 2022 Poolsharks this year.

I am very grateful for each member of our coaching staff and it is a delight to see how they care for each of the swimmers in their groups and our overall team.  Each coach brought their own unique talents, gifts and personality to the team and made our Poolsharks stronger and better.  

Our team is only as successful as our parent involvement and I cannot thank parents enough for everything you do to make the Poolsharks possible.  From driving your kids to practices & meets, volunteering with hospitality and timing at meets, writing speeding bullets & stickering ribbons, picking up donuts & keeping our bulletin board pictures up to date, setting & cleaning up meets, being finish judges and directing the parking lots, announcing the meets and being clerk of course,  making sure our little kids got to their relays at the right ends and managing the xylophone bullpen chairs, helping Coach Jess with the computer at meets, selling spirit wear, concessions and snowcones, volunteering at Divisionals, and BEYOND - we are so thankful for each of you.  Special shout out to our Swim Team committee who put in the hours months before the season begins to plan for our season.  A special thank you to Becky McElroy (head parent), Saranell Hartman & Deb Mook (team representatives), Heidi O'Shea (graphic design & spirit wear coordinator), and Sybil & Robert McCullar who continued the concessions awesomeness and tireless work of John & Becky Hall.

Thank you to each of our Poolshark sponsors this season - their support & generosity helps to provide our team with many things including tshirts for each swimmer, speeding bullets and season of commitment items, weekly donuts, and training equipment such as the bungees chords, lake & racing lanes and end of season celebration activities like the penny dive. 

Platinum: Stivers Subaru, M Cary & Daughters Plumbers, Mathnasium

Gold: Dynamo, Mindy Pillow Law Office, John Fay Wealth Management, DubBot, Amy Widener Realtor, Emory Decatur Hospital, Hammersmith

Silver: Taste-ful Interiors Becky Vocaire, ACC Landcruiser Garage, Corner Cup Coffee Shop, Safesplash, Decatur Co-Works

Bronze: Little Shop of Stories, B.I. Production Works, Dr Jernigan Dentist, Carter & Associates Realty

Friends & Family: Roger Fleming Artist, Fleet Feet, Jabula Dog Academy, the Ziliak family, The Tolsma family, and Huban family

#1) I had a ton of fun at our End of Season Celebration yesterday. The parent water polo games were fierce and fun - i loved watching our moms & dad’s playing their hearts out. The penny dive was fruitful & cannonball contest splashy. Phin and Adele represented our 5 seniors in the class of 2022 doing their Senior Swim. The inter-age group relay from 6U’s through 15-18’s and coaches was energetically competitive. We recognized Mary Jane Wiseman, Amos Scharer, Lucinda Painter, Isaac Ohlandt, Maddy McElroy and William Dempsey as our six ‘Poolsharks of the Year.’ Each of these swimmers led by example each day with their work ethic, listening to coaches, encouraging their teammates, and bringing a positive attitude to each moment of the season.

#2) Pickup - ribbons, speeding bullets, Divisional medals/ribbons - these are all stuffed into the Ribbon Box that we keep in the guard office. If you have not had a chance to pick up yet, please kindly ask the guards for the Ribbon Box the next time you are at the pool to pick up your items. These items will be at the guard shack for about a week. If you are out of town - please ask a friend to pick up for you. We also have lots of personal kickboards/fins/buoys that are on the swim team metal shelves (on the side of building by Snack Shack) that need to be picked up. If you’d like to donate your too small fins for next seasons swimmers, you can just leave them on the metal shelf and we will let people know these are gently used hand-me-downs.

#3) Thank you for your notes, kind words & generosity! Thank you to each of our swimmers & families for your generosity and making time to write cards, say thank you and gift money - we are all very grateful for the generosity.

#4) Help Organize the Swim Shack - i sent a brief Remind earlier today, but here is what Becky has shared regarding this:

Hello parent volunteers!

I wanted to thank you for pulling through with flying colors this year. We added many new volunteer positions, such as hospitality, age-specific relay bullpens and bouncers, and you all responded with flying colors.

Thank you for a great year. Looking forward to next year already.

For those parents who are interested, I will be sorting through the swim team shed this weekend on Saturday, July 2nd from 8 to 10 a.m. to get rid of old stuff and straighten out what we do have. Feel free to stop by and help. I will have coffee and munchkins for you.

Also, please remember to pick up your ribbons from this year (and years gone by). They are at the front desk.

Contact me if you have any questions.

thanks,

Becky McElroy

(404) 398-3726

#5) Divisionals wrap up - our 86 kids represented the Poolsharks wonderfully and had an excellent meet with many speeding bullet best times. Our team earned 4th place out of 10 teams and we have a lovely large trophy on display at the pool. Divisional champions included Duncan Welch (25 free, 7-8 boys), Madison Deeb (50 free & 100 IM, 9-10 girls), Isaiah Lewis (50 free & 50 back, 13-14 boys), and Jackson/Phin/Jake/Liam on the 15-18 medley relay.. During the team awards presentation - the cheering by Venetian was awesome and i loved the spirit exhibited by both our parents & swimmers. It is great to be a Venetian Poolshark!

#6) Water Polo for youth - this info is from Coach CJ who plays water polo year round both for his school district team (Midtown APS) and for Dynamo Club.

‘It's the end of summer league, but do you want to continue competing in the pool? The APS Knights water polo team is open to all boys and girls entering 6th-12th grade who live inside I-285 and don't attend Pace or Lovett (they have their own school teams). Check out the attached flyer for more information, including an opportunity to attend a free clinic on July 23rd. apswaterpolo.com

#7) Club Year Round Swimming - summer league is very special - even Olympian Katie Ledecky LINK returned to race for her neighborhood summer league team after winning gold in her first Olympics. There typically is no replicating the summer league experience. But if your child wants to continue swimming this late summer/fall/winter/spring, there are many great options available.

Local Options include:

*club team Dekalb Aquatics (trains at Agnes Scott)

*club team Dynamo (trains in Oakhurts & Chamblee)

*club teams MAAC & Swim Atlanta (trains at Georgia Tech),

*Continuing private lessons through the end of pool season (mid Sept) with one of our Poolshark coaches - LINK to coaches contact info for lessons.

Signing off for Summer 2022 - Have Fun, Race Hard, Do Your Best, Go Poolsharks!

- Beth