Hi Poolsharks -

Welcome to Week #3!  This week is mostly reminders.

1) Big Buddy application HERE (deadline Tues May 13) - we have 29 applicants so far (goal is 87) - parents if you can nudge & please check with your 9-18 year old if they are interested in this leadership opportunity supporting our youngest swimmers.  

2) Time Trials & Team Pic (declare & volunteer HERE - families will be able to declare for ALL meets starting this Wed).  We have about 1/3 of our families that have declared for the meet, and signed up to volunteer so far.  Goal is to get to 100% by Wednesday!  Deadline to declare is this Wednesday May 14th.

3) No Taco Tuesday this week (weather looks iffy) - this also means that we will continue with 2/3 practice dryland & team building most days this week.  The magic number for majority 'in water time' is 77 degrees water temp and 80 degrees air temp (we have had this 1 day out of 5 so far).  The pool right now is 71 degrees which is too cold for most people for more than 10 minutes.  Many of the teams in our league have heated pools and are swimming 100% of practice time - we try not to compare to other teams training in heated pools, as 'comparison is the thief of joy.'  I have coached summer league for close to 20 years, and always in unheated pools.  We have learned to make the best of it and strive to create meaningful dryland/teambuilding exercises every single day.  May is tough when it is cold and rainy, but we are investing in the kids enjoying being on the team, not freezing, and wanting to return the next day.  It will be warm soon enough and the kids will then be wishing for more situps and toilet tag, longing for the cold rainy days of May.  

4) 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.

Please continue to reach out with questions/concerns and we look forward to Week 3!

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

- Coach Beth

404.630.1440