Swim Team News

 

June 8th

Good Afternoon Swim Families,

This Saturday is the mini-meet for SRA.  Below you will find the information for the Meet.

Juniors, Intermediates, and Seniors will have practice at 10 AM.  This is earlier than normal.  After practice we would like the older kids to stay after to help time and run the mini-meet.

The mini-meet will be practice for the mites and midgets.  There will be no normal midget or mite practice.  The mini-meet will begin at 11 AM.  The swimmers will be led through the whole process of the meet just as they will on Sunday.  Each swimmer will be able to swim the freestyle and backstroke events.  This meet is very important for all new swimmers, especially new mini-mites, as it will allow the swimmers to see how the meets run and the coaches to see how the swimmers handle the meet situation.  Any parents who have any concerns about swimming in the first meet should contact me or one of my coaches to talk about it.  Many of our young swimmers will wait until later meets to begin swimming in the meets.  This is not a problem and is sometimes encouraged.  Thanks and make sure to let me know of any questions concerning the meet.

Thanks,

Your Coaches
Mike, Laura, Paul, Virginia, Anne Byrd, and Dillon

Hello Swim Families,

We're coming into the home stretch before the first meet. Here's your important info for the week--sorry there's so much-we've tried to put it all in one place--but please read carefully so we're all ready to go:

 

1) You must register your child by 12 noon on June 11th in order for him to swim in the first meet- Sunday, June 8th-- no exceptions--this is the JRAC league rule.

 

Sunday's meet is against Westwood and is at SRA.  The meet starts at 4:00 pm, but please be on deck by 3:05 pm for stretches followed by our warm-ups at 3:15 pm.

 

2) Mini Meet, Saturday June 12th at 11:00 am. Meet participants should arrive by 10:45 am. This is suggested for mites and midgets (but not required.)  There will NOT be mite or midget practice on June 12th.  The mini meet will be their practice. Juniors, Intermediates and Seniors will all practice together at 10:00 am-- this day only, and will be asked to stay after to work at the mini meet if possible. We strongly suggest that all New swimmers participate in the mini meet so that they can experience what a real meet will be like with less excitement and a smaller crowd.

 

3)New Families- general info:  Seating for SRA is on the long side of the pool in the grassy tiers. (Our opponents sit on the short side near the tennis courts.) Bring chairs and blankets.  Only swimmers and meet workers should be by the upper pool.  Once a child is called to clerk of course, you may accompany him to that point and assist with crowd control.  Once your child is called to the benches however, please return to your seats outside the fenced area so that our pool deck does not get too crowded. Parents may not accompany their children to the blocks.  If you must have a closer view, please sign up as a timer or work in another capacity.

 

4) The snack bar will be open during the meet-- please support them! There will also be a separate station on the lawn selling hamburgers, hotdogs, and drinks. You may want to feed your swimmers something before you come as well, but make sure that they continue to drink throughout the meet-- especially if it's hot.

 

5) Do an equipment check before leaving home: caps, goggles, lots of towels, and a sweatshirt if it's chilly.

 

6)Parking:  There will be some parking in our lot.  Please do not park in reserved spaces or anywhere that has a "no parking" sign. Please note that you may park on only one side of Prairie and Marilea and please be considerate of our neighbors and their driveways.  There is additional parking up the street at the baseball field and at Southampton Elementary School (the school is not liable for any damages to your car that may occur while on their grounds). Note that towing is enforced in the neighborhood. You may certainly drive through our lot to drop off your children and your things and then go to park.

 

7) SAFETY: Please make sure your swimmers know these rules, and if you see  rules being broken, please help us by serving as a team monitor- correcting the situation to help us avoid injury, missed events or damage to the club:

 

Team swimmers are absolutely not allowed in the lower pool or on the slide during meets.

 

Team swimmers are not allowed on the playground during the meet-There is a chance of injury and they may miss their event. We also strongly suggest that younger siblings not be on the playground without a parent supervising-- there will be hundreds of people here.

 

No children are allowed on the tennis courts during a swim meet. Tennis play by adults is allowed.

 

During meets, our ice rink will be open as a walk through only.  Playing in the rink is not allowed.

 

Thanks for your for your cooperation.

 

 

8) You can find out what your child is swimming by checking the meet entry posted on the bulletin board Saturday morning.  Be sure to recheck on Sunday at the meet in case there are any last minute changes. You may want to write the entries with a sharpie on your child's hand (or your hand!) There will be a board on the fence along our side of the pool with the entries posted on the day of the meet.

 

Remember that the Mite relays are first at every meet.

 

Please call Mike Peter's cell: 363-3733 with any last minute absences.

 

 

9)In case of bad weather, please check your e-mail for announcements. We WILL swim in rain, but of course not in thunder & lightening.  Note: per JRAC rules, a meet can only be canceled after a minimum of a one hour delay. (In other words, if it's thundering at 4:00, we at least have to wait until 5:00 before the meet can be postponed -or if it thunders during a meet, we all go and wait in our cars or in the clubhouse for an hour before a decision can be made.) Please do not leave a meet without letting a coach know that your swimmer is going.  We have learned the hard way that it is always better to wait out a storm if at all possible, rather than rescheduling for another night--

 

10)SRA has won the league's Sportsmanship Award quite a few times. Please do your part to be friendly and welcome our guests and please remind your swimmers to be on their best behavior and to always shake hands at the end of their races!

 

11) The first Mite party will be at Mite practice on Monday, June 14th at 4:00 pm--Mites should come to the upper pool first for a game or two then back out under our tree for the party. All Mites are welcome to attend, and any mite who swam in the meet will be recognized with a participation ribbon.  Those Mites who came in 1st-6th will also be recognized with their place ribbons.  This is a great way for our youngest swimmers to celebrate- they'll love the snacks and drinks. Parents and siblings are encouraged to come and cheer.

 

I hope this helps!  If you have questions, please feel free to contact me; Let the summer begin, Jenny 239-6666

 

May 28th

 

 

Hello swim Families!

 

We have two more opportunities to attend the clinics necessary for us to run our meets. This is very important for those planning on being Clerk of Course, Starters, and Strokes and Turns.  Clerk of Course and Strokes & Turns must attend a clinic each year. Starters attend every other year.

 

If you have indicated an interest in these areas, please e-mail me to let me know that you are able to attend one of these clinics.

 

 

 

	Wednesday, May 26   Avalon	Wednesday, June 2   Woodmont
Strokes & Turns	6:00-7:00 p.m.	6:00-7:00 p.m.
Referee	7:00-8:00 p.m.	7:00-8:00 p.m.
Starter	6:00-7:00 p.m.	6:00-7:00 p.m.
Head Timer	7:00-7:30 p.m.	7:00-7:30 p.m.
Head Table	6:00-7:00 p.m.	6:00-7:00 p.m.
Clerk of Course	6:30-7:30 p.m.	6:30-7:30 p.m.
Announcer

 

Thanks for being such great volunteers!

 

 

 

 

Hello Swim Families,
 
Necessary clinics for meet workers are being held this Sunday May 16th at Westwood Racquet Club and on June 2 at Woodmont.  These clinics are necessary for Strokes and Turns, Refs, Starters, Head Timers, Head Table, Clerk of Course, and Announcers.
 
This Sunday, Stokes and Turns, Starters, and Head table clinics are at 6:00 pm, Clerk of Course is at 6:30 pm and Head Timer and Referee clinics are at 7 pm and Westwood Racquet Club.
 
The last clinic date is June 2 at Woodmont. The clinic times are the same as above.
 
Let me know if you have any questions.
 
Thanks in advance for your help!

 

There is also a clinic on May 26 at Avalon. Strokes and Turns, Starter, Head Table 6:00, Clerk of Course 6:30, Head Timer and Referee 7:00.

 Jenny

 

Happy new year, everyone --
As inevitable as the turn of the seasons, here it comes, barreling toward us: the SRA swim season. And you know what that means: Swimming Takes Over Our Lives for a few weeks. You tell folks outside of SRA about the two practices a day (more if you've got multiple children), the eternal swim meets that occasionally extend over two evenings, the thouuuuuuusands of extra e-mails in your inbox, and they shake their heads at you.

They're absolutely right—you are crazy ... but in the best possible way. Seriously, we should all be so crazy. This will be the 12th season for my family on the swim team, and we're still all looking forward to it.

And, of course, the parents are the engine that make the swim meets happen, in myriad roles that we dive into with gusto. You want a job that's mysterious? Where you've got the ultimate ringside seat? Where people offer you $20 bills? (Really -- that happened to me once.) Where the rules of swimming will finally make sense to you? Where you'll actually have something to do to pass the hours between the shining moments of your children's races (and, in most cases, will be attuned to when your kids' races are)? Well. Obviously you need to be a strokes & turns judge.

Of course, first you must go through the terrifying ordeal that is the S&T clinic, in which you will be deluged with arcana such as the comparative legalities of backstroke flip turns, butterfly arm positions, the anarchy that is freestyle, and the like. Don't worry about all that! I mean, DO pay attention -- but also know that no one will throw you to the sharks (or swordfish, as the case may be) and expect you to know and understand everything at the get-go: New judges will walk with seasoned judges at swim meets until the new judges feel solid enough to judge swim meets themselves.

The thing is, there are only two clinics left, about which the wonderful Jenny Hatch has just reminded us:
May 16 at Westwood Racquet Club and June 2 at Woodmont -- 6 p.m. on both evenings, one hour of your time.

Drop me a note at cennulat@yahoo.com if you have any questions about the Strokes & Turns judging experience. It really is a great gig.

Thanks,
Tina Ennulat

Jenny Hatch
897-5774