hi Poolsharks - first, a big thank you to all of our parents & families for finding ways to get to practice these first 2 weeks as May is so busy.  Thank you to our coaches for working hard each day to connect with our swimmers and help them get better.  And to our swimmers for working hard, welcoming their new teammates, and having fun!

Mid-Week reminders:

1 minute Short Version:

1) weather today - practice is ON for now - if canceled, look for remind text by 3 pm

2) big buddy app closes this sunday HERE - need 43 more big kids (ages 9 - 18)

3) download Swimtopia App (info HERE)

4) Wed May 22nd - no practice

5) private lessons with poolshark coaches HERE

6) custom swim caps have arrived - can pick up next week

7) 3-6-9 season of commitment awards HERE

8) declaring yes/no for Time Trials HERE

9) Venetian Swim Strong (room for 6 more kids) info HERE

In detail if you have time:

1) weather today...not sure what it will look like from 4 - 7 pm but typically if we cancel one practice, we cancel all practices.  As of 10 am - practice is ON for today.  If anything changes, i'll send text alert by 3 pm via Remind.  No text = practice is on.

Remind swimmer last name A - L https://www.remind.com/join/2024vpca

Remind swimmer last name M - Z https://www.remind.com/join/2024vpca00

2) Big Buddies Applications - thank you all so much for encouraging your kids to take on this leadership opportunity - we are 50% of the way towards our goal (40 swimmers have signed up), we need 43 more kids. HERE is the application link.

3) Swimtopia App - as we prepare for our first meet (Time Trials on May 21st), many of our families download the Swimtopia App (info HERE), as it keeps track of your childs heats, lanes, times, etc.  

4) Practice Update for Wed May 22nd - normally the last day of school for City of Decatur (over 50% of our swimmers attend CSD schools) is a Friday, when we don't have swim practice anyways.  This year, CSD's last day of school is Wed May 22nd, and historically this is a big day that families go to the pool to celebrate.  So we will NOT have practice on this day May 22nd.  We will still have practice at the usual 4:30 - 7:15 pm times on Thursday May 23rd.  Our first meet is Tues May 28th so it is important that swimmers still try to make as many practices as they can before the 28th.  For families that are in town on Memorial Day (Monday May 27th), we will have our annual Crack of Dawn Memorial Day practices (6:15 am - 9:45 am window), including the very popular Parent Practice.  This is also a breakfast potluck and one of my favorite events of the year.  More to come about Crack of Dawn in our Week 3 email.  

5) private lessons with Poolshark coaches - private lessons are an excellent way for swimmers to get one on one attention with their coach (or another coach) and work on specific skills they are working towards during their group practice (diving, swimming the whole 25, flip turns, legal breaststroke, side breathing, etc).  HERE is our private lesson contact info.  if you are wondering which coach may be a good fit for your child's needs (personality, skill set), please feel free to reach out to me and I can share a few suggestions and/or connect you directly with a coach.  These lessons typically get more popular as the season moves along and our coaches get busy so if you can start setting up lessons now, that is ideal to have the most availability from coaches.  

6) Swim caps have arrived (custom w/ names & traditional plain silver V) - Kerri Ohlandt volunteered helpfully to hand these out for us yesterday at the pool.  If you ordered (all caps have already been paid for so no $ exchange unless you are purchasing a plain silver V cap and did not pre-order), please plan to pick up next week (no pickups today Thursday).  

7) 3-6-9 season of commitment awards - please confirm the data we have HERE - deadline Monday May 13.  

8) Declaring YES/NO for Time Trials HERE- parents are doing awesome at this - thank you all so much for your time to declare YES/NO for your kids - we have 146 swimmers that have already completed this for us.  Deadline to declare YES/NO is Thurs May 16th.  

9) Venetian Swim Strong with Coach Blair & Coach Phil - we have room for 6 more kids.  Info HERE.  :12 sec video from this past friday HERE to see what the kids are working on.  

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

- Beth