Greetings Gators,

Weekly updates coming your way…

NEW…

(1) Swim Meets 6/25 & 6/27: We will compete against Rolling Hills this week; away on 6/25 (B Meet) and home on 6/27 (A Meet).

Tuesday, 6/25: Rolling Hills is the farthest pool we travel to. Consider it an adventure! We know traffic sucks and getting there will be the hardest part. Pro Tip: consider carpooling with another family. The silver lining is Rolling Hills has the best concessions of the league! Please see the attached info sheet.

Gator Pod: Swimmers will have the opportunity to swim a 25 at this meet if they choose at 5:45pm. Let us know if your Pod Swimmer wants to participate.

Thursday, 6/27: For our home meet, all the info is on our website. Please review and plan accordingly. Check the team calendar for food truck info.

Coach Reminders:

• Please check SwimminlyFan earlier in the day, and let your child know what events he/she is swimming before warm ups.
• Please arrive 15 minutes before your scheduled warm up time.
• Coaches will take attendance at warm ups. All swimmers please check in with the coaches.
• If something has come up and you are unable to make any of next week’s meets, please email the coaches ASAP ([email protected]).

(2) Morning Practices: Starts Tuesday, 6/25! Wait… we also have a meet that day and some kids are still in school. Good catch! Once we transition to morning practice, we get to have practice AND meets on the same day. Extra pool time! Hooray! Coaches are aware this can be a lot for some swimmers and thus morning practices on Tue/Thurs are generally lighter and more meet prep (such as starts, finishes, turns, relay exchanges, ect) and less of a challenging workout. We also know NSD is still in school and won't be able to make this practice time, but we look forward to seeing all the NSD swimmers Wednesday morning. All age groups, other than 8 and unders, will practice Fridays as well.

(3) Swim Clinic: Our last swim clinic is this Sunday, June 30 and is FULL. Reminder to those who are signed up. 

(4) Ribbons: Second to participating in a relay, the next MOST FUN part of the swim team is earning ribbons! Every family has a file in the ribbon boxes (located in the pool lobby under the bench). Shout out to our awards lead, Jen, for setting these up. After swim meets have been completed ribbons will be prepped/sorted/filed (typically 72 hours or up to eternity after a meet). Check your file regularly and please only grab your own ribbons. We will also notify the team as updates arise. For Gators, we award 1st through 4th place ribbons by event (not heat), Personal Best, and Exhibition Ribbons. (What is an exhibition? These are events where swimmers can achieve an official time (aka no DQ) but do not officially place for the meet and do not score points for the team. It is a way to get more swimmers swimming while keeping the point system of meet scoring equal. Exhibition placement is always at the coaches discretion). Away pools also award ribbons too and will be prepped/sorted/filed after our away meets. Again, typically the timeline for this is 72 hours or up to eternity.

(5) National Anthem: If you are interested in performing the national anthem at our remaining home meets, please reach out to us.

ON REPEAT…

(1) Meet Declaration: This is your RSVP (attending or not attending) to the swim meet. The deadline for declaring for meets is the Friday before at 9pm. Late declarations will not be accommodated. All regular season meets are open, you can declare for the whole season if you already know what your swimmers' attendance will look like, or you can declare week-by-week. With either option, you are able to change your swimmer’s declaration up until the deadline. Information and declaration for league champs (7/28) and division champs (7/20) will come at a later date. How to Declare

(2) Meet Preparations: Swim meets can last up to four hours, and are held come rain or shine! Meets are only canceled for thunder or lightning. Temperatures can vary greatly during a meet, so be prepared for all weather variations. Items to bring, or consider, as you prepare for a meet

(3) Meet Q & A: Information for Before & After Event Swimmer Expectations; Relays; Meet Scratching; A Meet vs B Meet, how to write events on your arm with a sharpie

(4) Buddies: Buddy matches and swimmer information are posted on the website and in the pool lobby. Pod buddies will be announced before their first meet on July 2. We will help match you up in person if you haven’t connected already. All buddies, review matches and expectations. And huge THANK YOU to all the big buddies! This aspect of the team only works because of you.

(5) Reminders:

• Subscribe to the team calendar
• Check your practice time slot (Morning practice starts 6/25 & Fridays added)
• Join the Gators Swim Team 2024 chat on GroupMe to congratulate our swimmers of the week, meet other swimmers in your age group, share pictures, and connect with the team.

As always, reach out with questions. See you at the pool, and thank you for reading. Go Gators!

Donna and Ashley