hi Poolsharks -

If you can relate, it is only Wed but feels like it has been a full week already.  

Our goal last night, and for every meet, is for our kids to represent the Venetian Poolsharks while being the best teammates possible - this means doing their best, cheering on fellow swimmers, listening in bullpens, cleaning up their trash, racing hard, having fun, and lifting up their teammates and team.  I am very proud of our kids & team for striving towards this goal last night and each meet & practice moving forward.  

The biggest intention for this email is to express gratitude to all of the parents & families for making our season come together so far.

Thank you to the early Crack of Dawn chefs & volunteers & parents waking up sleepy children, only to have it stormed out.  We had 32 parents signed up for the Parent Practice which was the MOST ever.  

Thank you to all of our parent volunteers from last evening's meet vs Leafmore - it takes ~ 100 volunteers to make a meet come together - thank you everyone so much for your volunteering and giving back to our team.  

Youth sports are only possible because of parent volunteers and I cannot thank everyone enough for your support, time, dedication, fun and enthusiasm!

This morning was our first Donut & Awards day - swimmers received speeding bullets they earned for best times, ribbons for races, 13 age group swimmers of the week, 4 spirit swimmers of the week, and 28 IM TOUGH swimmers.  All of these donuts & awards are possible due to the generosity of our 14 Poolshark sponsors (HERE) this season - thank you to our sponsors and please consider their services when choosing local companies for your family needs.  

And now for general info:

1) crossing Scott Blvd during swim meets - we had a family cross without waiting for the office to say it was okay - this made the police officer very worried and asked for us to remind all families to wait til the officer gives the OK to cross

2) parking at home meets - please save all VPCA parking spots for the visiting team - this does not include the handicap parking spots for our families that utilize those.

3) season t-shirts & custom caps - we have 31 families that need to pick these up: Beattie, Blakely, Block, Bowers, Bryan, Clinkscales, Cotter, Davis, Max DeGrammont, Derrico, Eagle, Elder, Franklin, Fucile, Gregory, Hayner, Loya, Moseley, Power, Rogers, Russo, Shu, Silvis, Sterne, Summerlin, Thagard, Tobin, Ware, Willis, Wurtzel, Zayac

4) Meet #2 will be AWAY at Echo Ridge.  All Starfish should NOT plan to swim at this meet as it is away and no event #0.  They are a wonderful team, led by Martha Wright and Cordarro Patrick.  Martha & Cordarro also both coach for Dynamo swim club at the Chamblee location - Martha grew up swimming for Echo Ridge and it is very special to see how much she loves her Ragin Rays.  They are a 6 lane pool, also short course meters (just like us).  Deck space is a bit more crowded BUT they have a very fun water slide that they often invite the visiting team to enjoy post meet.  Be ready to stay a bit later if your child wants to slide the slide.

Away Meet timeline for next week:

4:00 coaches arrive

4:15 all swimmers arrive at the pool in this window and ages 5-14 go to sit with their age group bullpens

4:30 team meeting

4:45 timer meeting

4:50 - 5:00 warmups for our 6U/8U kids

5:00 - 5:10 warmups for our 9-10 & 11-12

5:10 - 5:20 warmups for our 13-18 kids

5:20 all 6U & 8U kids get ready for relays

5:30 pm Meet Begins - order of events LINK

9:30 pm Meet Ends 

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

- Beth