Hi Poolsharks -

Welcome to Week #2!  Thank you to each of our parents & families for a great start to the season - May is very busy and you all are doing a great job of getting your kids to practices as much as possible. 

4 Things + Taco Tuesday continues:

1) pool temperature - warming up a little

2) stormy weather affecting practice - make sure you have your Remind set up

3) 15 meter lake lanes vs 25 meter racing lanes

4) Big Buddy application LINK (deadline Thursday May 11)

AND taco tuesday continues this week!

In Detail:

1) pool temperature - the pool stayed at sub 70 degrees all week.  In the past, I would have been very anxious about missing so much water time during Week 1.  However, I have learned in my 20+ years of coaching, that building the foundation is the most important and leads to greater success in the end - we are building a foundation of kids connecting with their coaches & teammates and having a positive experience each day, so they want to return.  Swimming in general can be a difficult and awkward sport - focusing on dryland and camaraderie team building exercises these first two weeks helps coaches see their swimmers strengths outside of the pool in ways they may not notice so quickly if kids are always in the water.  It helps kids to also know that their coach believes in them as a leader and as an athlete, regardless of their current swim ability.  We will increase our water time this week to 15 minutes, but always with a dryland option for kids who will be too cold.  Week 3 I am envisioning that we are 100% water time (that is the goal, with the temps heating to the mid 80's this week and lows in the 60's).  

2) Stormy Weather - We were very fortunate with cool but sunny days during Week 1, Mon-Thurs.  This week's weather looks promising, but not 100%.  Unless it is hurricane / big lightning, we will have practice.  We will not swim in a storm, but we can use the dance hall for team building & dryland activities, unless it is the terrible weather and then swimmers should just stay home.  Please make sure you have your Remind text alerts set up for last minute (within 2 hours) practice/meet updates.  I know last week with my text alert - some parents were getting Remind's to their emails which is not very helpful - if this is the case, Remind defaults to email, so you just have to toggle in your settings, to have texts sent instead of emails.  

Swimmer Last Name A-L:  https://www.remind.com/join/2023vpca

Swimmer Last Name M-Z:  https://www.remind.com/join/2023vpca00

3) 15 meter Lake Lanes vs 25 meter racing lanes: except for Starfish (always in racing lanes 1 & 2), groups shift courses every other day. The shorter lanes allow for more focus on technique & drill work while the 25 meter lanes can work on building up swimmers endurance. Either distance will help all levels of swimmers with their growth.

4) Big Buddy - We are going to match up 100% of our Starfish & Poolsharks ages 4-8 with a Big Buddy.  No action needed at this time from parents of these ages.  Our buddy program helps build connection, community, and friendship between swimmers outside of their own age groups while also growing the leadership skills of our bigger kids.

We have 88 Poolsharks that are ages 5-8 so we are hoping that we have 88 Big Buddies (this is almost exactly 1/2 of our Poolsharks ages 9-18).

We encourage ALL Poolsharks who meet the guidelines below to consider applying to be a Big Buddy this season and supporting our team in this leadership role.

Big Buddy Guidelines

*Age 9-18

*commit to participating in at least 3 out of 5 of our meets

*make time during the week of May 15-21 to meet with your little buddy.  We will facilitate an official time on Tuesday May 16th at 5:15-5:30 pm for Buddies to meet up on deck between the end of 6U/8U practice and beginning of 9-12 practice.  If both little or big buddy cannot make that time, families can set up their own meeting times.  

*cheer on Little Buddy during meets or at Starfish practice

*say Hi to Little Buddy when you see them at practice/at pool

*write & give an encouraging note for each meet Little Buddy participates in (can give a small treat if you’d like but this is not expected)

*Big Buddy cannot already be on the full time Poolshark coaching staff (although volunteer coaches may be Big Buddies)

Sign Up LINK (parents please fill out with your child if they are interested) - deadline is Thursday May 11.

Please continue to reach out with questions/concerns and we look forward to Week 2!

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

- Coach Beth

404.630.1440