Hi Poolsharks -

Thank you to all of our swimmers & families & coaches for your time, energy & dedication to be a part of our 2023 Poolsharks this year.

HERE is a 2 minute video that Coach Jayla made for the team - thank you parents for uploading pictures to the link shared last week.

In international news, Nic Fink, who was our pro Olympian clinic guest in May, just won both the 50 breast & 100 breast at US Nationals this week - he has earned a spot on the USA World Championship team that will compete in Japan this summer - this is the 2nd most prestigious team to make, after the Olympic team. Our own Poolshark alum class of 2019, Ian Grum, earned 5th place in the 200 back at US Nationals, and swam a best time in the process also. We are very proud of Ian and his hard work. He will swim and compete for UGA this school year in his final year of collegiate competition.

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, not expected at all, and it is very appreciated by each of our coaches.

I am 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.

Many of our coaches will continue to be available for private/small group lessons (click HERE) through the end of Venetian’s pool season - if parents are interested in adult lessons for themselves, both Coach Ashley & Coach Blair are available for this specific purpose.

Parents - thank you for everything you do to make the Poolsharks possible. From driving your kids to practices & meets, to volunteering throughout the season - we are so thankful for each of you.

Special thank you's to our parent leadership team who put in the hours during the season and in the months before the season begins to plan. Becky McElroy (head super parent), Saranell Hartman & Deb Mook (team coordinators), Heidi O'Shea (graphic design & spirit wear coordinator), Sybil & Robert McCullar (concessions lead), Melissa Bollins / Kristen Herman / Courtney Deodhar (computer team & Kristen is our mentor/age group get togethers leader), Kate Dempsey (our board rep), Lindsay Duvall (budget & general details coordinator), Kerri Ohlandt (spiritwear coordinator), Meridith Mason-Ward (all around helper) and Meghan Welch (bulletin board & crack of dawn coordinator).

We graduated 5 seniors this year and they will all be missed, but even more so we are thankful for the many years that they swam for the Poolsharks, both the swimmers & their families. Kathleen O’Shea (US Coast Guard Academy), Jackson Pillow (Sewanee University), Jude Blackmon (Ole Miss), Cole Westing (Appalachian State) and Maddy McElroy (Yale).

At our End of Season Celebration, we recognized Maia Browne, Duncan Welch, Bryn Bollins, Sam Master, Jayla N’Diaye and Ben McCarthy 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.

We also made time to recognize our age group leaders for Best Bite (most improved times throughout the season) and Top Chomp (high point from the season). These awards are 100% quantitative and data driven and we are very proud of the growth and competitive fire these kids led their age groups with.

Best Bite top 11 click HERE

Top Chomp top 11 click HERE

Pickup - ribbons, speeding bullets, Divisional medals/ribbons, kickboards - these are stuffed into the Ribbon Boxes 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 through July 4th. If you are out of town - we will have an official pickup day some weekend morning in mid August when kids are back in town & back in school. Date will be shared TBD.

If your child is missing a ribbon or medal from the season or Divisionals - we put a ‘help yourself’ box in the guard shack with 1st-8th place ribbons that parents can take (please tear off the old label on back) to replace your child’s missing ribbon(s). These will be available through July 4th also. Divisonals Awards: 1st - 10th individual = medal, 11-30 individual = ribbon. 1st - 3rd relay = medal, 4th - 30th relay = ribbon.

We have a handful of personal kickboards/fins that are on the swim team metal shelves (on the side of building by Shark Bites snack bar) that can be picked up. If you’d like to donate your too small fins for next season's swimmers, you can just leave them on the metal shelf and we will let people know these are gently used hand-me-downs.

We have never run out of speeding bullets before, but this year we did - we are going to order more this week and if you are missing one (a handful of swimmers are, we will have a few blank ones for families to pick up in mid August).

Action Item - Graphic Designer needed for 2024 season - Heidi O’Shea, mom of Coach Kathleen, has been our graphic designer for many years. Kathleen is her youngest child and now graduated - so we need a new parent volunteer to help put together our sponsor banner & t-shirts, and help order an occasional other spirit item (bullets, hats, magnets, stickers, etc). If you have time, energy & skill set for this - please reach out directly to me and Becky - this is an important and needed volunteer role and we would love your skill & expertise.

Divisionals wrap up - our 111 kids represented the Poolsharks wonderfully and had an excellent meet with 88 swimmers earning at least one speeding bullet best times in an individual event. Our team earned 2nd place out of 19 teams and we have a shiny 2nd place trophy on display at the pool. We competed in 21 relay events (out of a possible 22). 13 of our relays earned 1st, 2nd or 3rd place - this is a reflection of our teams strengths across the board throughout all 12 age groups. We are excited about our team's overall growth and development this season and looking forward to continuing building 12 out of 12 strong age groups.

Our 4 Divisional champions included Maia Browne (25 free, 6U girls), Duncan Welch (25 fly, 7-8 boys), Madison Deeb (100 free, 11-12 girls), and Warner/James C/Duncan/Graham on the 7-8 medley relay.

If you want to go back to see the livestream footage from Divisionals (4 hours long), HERE is the youtube link for the boys pool, and HERE is the youtube link for the girls pool.

Divisionals Results are HERE (speeding bullets are posted on our website HERE).

Holiday Poolshark Spirit Wear - we are thinking about printing a special holiday edition Poolshark item for the holiday season - if we do this, it will most likely be a t-shirt/hoodie, and we will have an order form with a pickup day on an early October weekend in the Venetian parking lot.

Thank you to each of our Poolshark sponsors this season - their support & generosity helps to provide our team with many things including team tshirts for each swimmer, speeding bullets and season of commitment items, weekly donuts, and training equipment such as the bungees chords. We were also able to purchase a much needed new lane line reel along with 2 new lane lines because of the generosity of our sponsors.

Platinum: Pillow Hayes Family Law, Sarah Dickson Keller Knapp realtor, Stivers Subaru, M Cary & Daughters Plumbers

Gold: Dynamo, John Fay Wealth Management, DubBot, Amy Widener Realtor, Hammersmith

Silver:Studio Vocaire Interior Design, ACC Landcruiser Garage, Dr Cho 1st Choice Chiropractic, Carter & Associates, All 3 Sports, Dr Jernigan Dentist, Slumberpod Katy Mallory, Gill Tree Care

Bronze: Little Shop of Stories, Decatur Co-Works, Corner Cup Coffee Shop, Live Oak Fitness, Druid Hills Firewood

Friends & Family: Jabula Dog Academy, Fit Wit, Bryant College Coaching

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 Dynamo (trains in Oakhurts & Chamblee)

*club team Dekalb Aquatics (trains at Agnes Scott)

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

*club team Emory (trains at Emory)

Signing off for Summer 2023 - Have Fun, Race Hard, Do Your Best, Go Poolsharks!

- Beth