Poolsharks - Week 2.5 - signups (buddy, meets, Olympian clinic, college athlete parent talk)

May 11th

Hi Poolshark families -

We have a handful of opportunities with signups & deadlines.

In short with links:

1) Buddys (deadline tonight - optional & encouraged for ages 9-18, need 40 more kids please)

2) Becoming a College Athlete Parent Talk (Tues May 16 - optional & encouraged for all parents & free)

3) Olympic Pro Clinic - Nic Fink (Wed May 24 - optional, ages 7-18, 40 spots, $30 fee)

4) Declaring for Time Trials (Tues May 23 - required and need 100% parents to complete)

In Detail if you want more info & have time:

1) Buddys - goal is 88 buddies - sign up HERE - we have 41 signed up right now so almost halfway there - deadline goal is tonight (Thursday May 11)

2) Becoming a College Athlete Parent Talk (all ages / all sports) - Tuesday May 16, 6:15-7:15 @ pool (dance hall). Led by Amy Bryant - NCAA tennis coach for 20 years. Free but please sign up HERE ahead of time so we can plan for numbers. All parents are welcome & encouraged to attend.

3) Olympic Pro Clinic - sign up HERE. Nic Fink - 2021 Olympian, World Record Holder, American Record Holder, World Champion, National Champion, UGA and GT Grad

When: Wednesday May 24th, 6:30 - 7:45 pm (6:30 - 7:15 water time, 7:15 - 7:45 Q/A & pictures/autographs). Teen practice will be shifted on this day to 5:15-6:15 (sharing pool time with our 9-12's).

Cost: $30 per swimmer (venmo/paypal)

Who: Clinic attendees must be age 7 + and be able to swim the length of the pool in ~ 50 seconds or less.

Experience with all 4 strokes (fly, back, breast, free) is strongly recommended.

Rare exceptions to 6 year olds will be carefully considered based on maturity and swimming level.

Limited to the first 40 swimmers that have signed up & payment is received - spot is not confirmed til $ is in.
One form per child (if you have multiple children signing up, please fill the form out more than once).

Nic will lead our swimmers through various drills (breaststroke is his specialty) followed by a Q & A and autograph/picture session.

4) Declaring for Time Trials & all meets - go to our Swimtopia webpage HERE - Mentor parents - please reach out to your mentee families by this Sunday night (May 14th) to help them with this process.

We have 7 meets - 1 time trials, 5 dual meets, 1 championship.

Time Trials: all swimmers will race 25 freestyle (6U, 7-8, 9-10) or 50 free (11-12, 13-14, 15-18). We may try to do relays OR one individual event (back, breast or fly). That part is TBD based on how swimmers look in water during Week 3.

Timeline for Time Trials:

4:15 - 4:30 all swimmers arrive at the pool in this window, check in at the gate, and find their age group bullpen (we are bringing bullpens back for Time Trials). Parents are encouraged and welcome to stay close by to their child's age group bullpen location.

4:30 - 4:40 warmups for our 6U/8U kids

4:40 - 4:50 warmups for our 9-10 kids

4:50 - 5:00 warmups for our 11-12 kids

5:00 - 5:10 warmups for our 13-18 kids

5:15 (timer - not coaches - meeting with Tom Brinks our computer operator)

5:15 - 5:20 team meeting

5:20 TEAM CHEER (P-O-O-L-S-H-A-R-K-S) spread out along the white gutter on deck

5:25 ALL 6U & 7-8 kids go to black accordion bullpen chairs to get lined up

5:30 pm Meet Begins - order of events starting with Event #0. This is the typical order of events but we are TBD at Time Trials regarding the events we may do besides the guaranteed freestyle.

7:45 pm Meet Ends

For dual meets - it is helpful for parents to put in the 'notes' when declaring, if you will be arriving late / leaving early, or if there is an event your child hopes to swim. We can work with the late/early arrivals, and will try to honor event requests, but this is not always possible due to league rules about entry limits in races AND if your child's technique is legal and ready for the race.

At dual meets, swimmers typically do 2 individuals and 1-2 relays (we make as many relays as we have multiples of 4).

All parents must declare YES or NO for every single meet on our website or via the Swimtopia app.

Starfish parents - for home meets including Time Trials, we will usually have an Event 0 - your kids are welcome & encouraged to participate in Event 0 (the first race of the night). Away meets we do not do this so Starfish should decline our 3 away meets (2 dual & 1 championship).

Deadline is typically 6 days ahead of the meet to allow Beth time to create the lineup, go over details, and then exchange/merge with the other team.

We need 100% of parents to declare for every meet.

You can go ahead and do all 7 meets at once right now if you know your family May/June schedule.

5) teen bingo night for next week - we will postpone to a later date

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

- Coach Beth