Good evening Poolshark families -

Lots of info in this email - please make time to read and be as informed as possible.  

1) Text Alerts - 100% of parents should sign up.  We will rely on text alerts via Remind for reminders, last minute changes due to weather, etc.

Swimmers last name A-L: https://www.remind.com/join/2023vpca

Swimmers last name M-Z: https://www.remind.com/join/2023vpca00

2) Parent meeting last evening - video is 23 minutes long OR you can flip through the slides.  Video provides much more background if you have time (and you can watch on 2x speed if necessary).  Expectation is for all families to be aware of the information presented last evening.

LINK to recording (this is re-recorded due to the original meeting getting cut off towards the end). 

LINK to google slides 

3) Equipment - all swimmers should have:

*goggles that fit (2 pairs is ideal)

*swim cap if hair is longer than eyes, the silver V cap is the only cap allowed for meets, but non V caps are welcome and fine for practice.  Cap is $10 and will be available for purchase at the pool before our first meet.

*suit - team suit is not required, ~ 80% of team wears.  If you did not purchase but would like to, the deadline to guarantee receiving your suit is this Friday April 28th.  LINK to our team store at Reddiset.  

*fins - we will be working on underwater dolphin kick all season long for all ages.  These are required for all swimmers.  You can either purchase now or wait & search in the pool shed for an older used pair.   We will set fins out for any kids to use during the first week, first come first serve.  If the used fin fits, swimmers are welcome to take and use for the season.  Fins wear out and break and finding a good pair is about a 25% chance.  If you'd like to purchase a new set, here are a few good options: Sporti, Speedo.  These are both 'long fins' style and generally less expensive than the more rigid short fins (you can purchase those too if you prefer, but not necessary).  

*kickboard - the best swimmers are the best kickers and we always kick (often a part of our warmup).  we have lots of used boards in the shed - these don't really wear out and we are happy to loan out for the season (swimmers will pick one up on day 1, put their name on it, and bring back and forth to practice each day).  If you prefer to purchase - here are a few options.  Junior speedo kickboard (ages 8 and younger), Arena kickboard (ages 9+).  It is hard to go wrong with a kickboard...so any style is usually fine.

4) Tuesday Taco Nights - May 2, 9th, 16th - the first 3 tuesdays of the season, Las Tres Salsas, will be selling tacos at our pool.  You can pre-order a plate for $11, or a la carte the day of.  I'll share more taco info later this week.  

5) Age Group Family Captains - we have almost all of our Age Group Captain families ready to go but still need a captain for 7-8 boys age group and 9-10 girls age group.  If you have a child in either of these age groups, and enjoy organizing & communicating to groups - then we'd love for you to help our team in this role.  Please send Beth a quick email to share your interest.  

6) Training Groups - 8 training groups each for 6U/8U/Starfish and 9-12.  Teens have 3 training groups.  I will share these training groups (meaning - who is your child's coach) later this week.  If you are new to the team AND your child already has experience swimming on a club or summer league team, please let me know by Wednesday April 26th so I can make sure your child is in the appropriate training group.  New swimmers will be in Level 1 to begin.  Group placement can be fluid as swimmers improve throughout the season.  All returning swimmers - we will group by age & times we have saved in our database.  

7) Last but not least, one of the things I mentioned in our parent meeting is kindness & body positivity as two of our most important Poolshark expectations & values.  There is zero tolerance for any of our Poolsharks being unkind and this sort of behavior will be immediately addressed by coaches.  We also have very clear expectations about body positivity and there should be no comments about anyones body.  We will go over this every single day the first two weeks of practice so kids understand the importance of being kind & being body positive.  

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

- Coach Beth