Hi Parents,

Thank you to all our volunteers for making the Orange v Blue Meet a success! It was great practice for our swimmers, our volunteers, and our coaches. Lookout for results coming soon – you can access these in your Swimtopia app or online.

As we enter meet season, I want to take a moment to clarify the meet entry process: how meet entries are determined by our coaches, restrictions imposed by our league, and how YOU can help this process be more efficient.

First, meet entries are completed by our coaches for each individual swimmer. To put that into perspective, at last night’s meet we had 170 swimmers registered, so our coaches manually entered each of those swimmers into individual events and relays – no small fete (Thank you, coaches!). To aid in this process, the coaches take attendance at practice and keep notes on individual swimmers and their stroke abilities. It’s imperative that swimmers attend practice so that our coaches get the chance to know them, their stroke abilities, and their stroke preferences.

Additionally, at our next four swim meets, meet entries will be governed by our league competition rules. You can review the league competition rules here. In sum, each swimmer can be entered in up to 3 individual events and 2 relays BUT we are restricted in entries in the backstroke, breaststroke, and butterfly events. For events other than freestyle, only two (2) heats are allowed, meaning our team is allowed a maximum of 6 entries per event. With a team of over 200 swimmers (around 50 swimmers in each age group under 10), we cannot guarantee that everyone will get to swim a stroke other than freestyle at every swim meet. All swimmers will be guaranteed the freestyle event and one (1) relay.

Entries for the strokes other than freestyle will be determined based on the following, in order of importance:

1. Practice Attendance (most important)
2. Stroke Legality 
3. Speed

If you’re catching my drift, meet entries are no walk in the park. Here’s how YOU can help our coaches in this process:

• Get your swimmer to practice.
• RSVP your swimmer(s) for each meet in swiptopia TODAY!! – let our coaches know if your swimmer plans on participating or not and update this information as soon as possible if it changes.
  • If your swimmer is not signed up for a meet, they will not swim, no exceptions.
  • Entries close 5 days prior to the meet.
  • Sign up instructions are available here
• If your swimmer is signed up for a meet but can no longer participate in a meet due to illness, let us know as soon as possible.
  • Did I mention those 6 coveted spots in strokes other than free?? Help other kids get the opportunity to swim them!

Lastly, swimmers have better success at meets and at practice when they have the proper equipment. If your swimmer has long hair, they need to wear a cap to practice or at the very least tie it back – boys too! If your swimmer doesn’t have goggles, please get them a pair. This will help them with their strokes as they’ll be able to see underwater, and it’s also safer for their eyes. Think of the chemicals in a public pool...

Goggles don’t need to break the bank, visit amazon or Swimoutlet.com and look for goggles with:

• A Double Strap
• For younger swimmers with child-size faces – solid plastic nose piece (non-adjustable)
• For older swimmers with adult faces – adjustable nose piece

Parents, your time and support are greatly appreciated as the swim season couldn’t happen without you all. Thanks for making this a great team and experience for 200+ kiddos. Looking forward to the upcoming swim meets.

Best,

Amie