Swim Team Updates

Thank you so much to all the families that attended the parents' meeting on Sunday! It was a beautiful day and we had a lot of great information to pass along. In order to keep everyone up to date, I will summarize some of the important items below:

• Registration: opens May 1st! It will be done via the team website. Swimmer’s team t-shirt will be included this year at no additional charge! You must register by June 1st to receive a team t-shirt, so register early! REGISTER HERE

• Spirit wear: Additional spirit wear (towels, mom and dad shirts, visors, bags, etc) will also be available for purchase on the website by May 1st

• Swimmingly software: All swimmers that will be participating in swim meets, will need to be registered on the swimmingly app! There is a fee of $14/per swimmer to do this. We kept our registration fees at the same rate as last year to assist families with this additional cost. Families will need to download the swimmingly fan app and the swimmingly app from the app store to their phones. The fan app will allow you to see your swimmer’s results in real time! The regular swimmingly app will be used at meets for timing and other parent volunteer roles. The app registration will be available mid-May. I will send out additional information on this ASAP. We will use this new software for running all meets including time trials!

• Remind app: our team using Remind to send out quick notices to our team for things like weather related cancellations and more. Please consider downloading the app and signing up for our team updates. This service is FREE! Once you download the Remind app, you will need to send a text message to “81010” with the message “@2021rmm”. This will get you signed up!

• Meets: meet schedule is still being planned. We typically have meets twice a week beginning the week after school gets out. Our meets are held on Monday and Thursday nights. This year we will welcome other teams to our pool which will limit deck space available for our team (taking COVID restrictions into consideration). We are developing a meet plan which will be provided to families. As it stands now, only workers and swimmers will be allowed on deck. Swimmers will exit after their events. Parents will be allowed a “watch and go” option to view their child’s event. Most of the event staging will take place outside the pool gates. We will also have a few away meets. I will send out directions to our away meets the week of the meet!

• Time Trials: Our tentative time trial date is June 12th or July 19th. Please mark your calendars. Most swimmers will be able to participate and this will be our first trial run using the swimmingly meet software. It is a great way for swimmers to get used to meets and parents to learn how meets are run! Time trials are held in the morning before the pool opens for the day.

• Meet entries: swimmers are eligible to swim three (3) personal events and a relay. Keep in mind that not all swimmers will swim the maximum amount of events. Most years, we have about 100 swimmers on our team so we need to allow everyone the chance to swim. Coaches will complete entries for the meets many days in advance and it is takes a lot of work! Please let coaches or me know if your family cannot attend a meet. This is extremely helpful as coaches start planning meets. Swimmers must be able to swim a full 25 meters to participate in a meet. We are unable to have a coach in the pool during meets. We have a little bit of leeway with time trials so please check with coaches to see if your swimmer will participate. Many of our little swimmers that cant swim a meet at the beginning of the season will be able to participate by midseason! It is a lot of fun to watch them grow and learn!

• Parent volunteer responsibilities: Our meets (home and away) are run by parent volunteers! We can’t run a meet without your help! Each family will have to fulfill a certain number volunteer roles. Roles include timers, meet referees, stroke and turn judges, concession stand workers, marshals, event stagers, score keepers, etc. By volunteering in one of these roles, you guarantee your front row seat on deck to watch the meet! During COVID this is one of the major benefits of volunteering!! I will send out a sign up genius before time trials for families to sign up. The number of jobs depends on the number of families that register. In previous years, families were required to work three (3) meets and provide a concession donation. More info will follow soon!

• Practices: will begin on June 1st. Practices are held Monday-Friday. Practice times will be updated on the website as soon as the information is finalized. We hold afternoon practices until school gets out. Beginning June 18th, our practices will be in the mornings. Please note* the pool rules state that anyone under the age of 10 must be accompanied by an adult or caregiver while at the pool. Therefore, someone must remain at practice while your swimmer is participating. Our coaches are here to provide swim instruction and cannot be responsible for childcare. In previous years, we have had families share this responsibility. For example, one parent may watch another child as long as responsible adult or sitter remains onsite. This also applies at swim meets.

• Website/Facebook: we highly recommend visiting the team website and joining our Facebook page. We post a lot of great information and pictures so please check it often!

I think that highlights most of the information we presented at the parent meeting. As always, reach out to me with any questions. And, be sure to pass along this information to anyone interested in joining the team! I look forward to seeing you all soon on deck!