Waverunners!

Who else is excited for our first swim meet?! I have attached our heat sheet for your convenience, this is our guide to what events are happening and when. NEW PARENTS: please read this email so that you know how to navigate a summer swim meet :).

Theme - Western Night! Wear your best Western gear to get in the summer spirit! We will have a photo backdrop as well as special heat winner prizes along with country music all night long!

Stroke Clinic on Fridays - Per request of the HOA, we will need to move our Friday schedule back to last year's with 9 AM stroke clinics (optional) and 10 AM ribbon pick up/donuts with Coach to be able to clear the pool for resident use by 11 AM.

Tips & Tricks for Parents:

• SHARPIE! It would be best to write your swimmer’s events, heat & lane number on their arm prior to arriving. Please see the image below as an example. FOR OUR LITTLE SWIMMERS, we recommend writing their full name, age and WAT on their shoulder so that volunteers can easily place them where they need to be, our littles get nervous and we do not want them to get lost

•  Swimtopia App: The heat sheet and your child's events are available in the app. If you wish to get live results, reminders for events, and other premium features the app does allow you to upgrade. However, this is not necessary and having the heat sheet is plenty enough
• Extras! Please bring extras of everything for your swimmers! Goggles, towels, swim caps - you never know when something will break!

Swim Meet Outline:

• 3:30 PM - Parking assistants arrive to set up parking lot and signs
• 4 PM - Waterton Communities Pool closes to members for swim meet set up
• 4-5 PM - Concession stand set up, pool set up, deck cleanup of furniture, team arrival (please be at the pool by 5:15 PM)
• 5 PM - visiting team arrives
• 5:05 PM - visiting team begins warm-ups
• 5:30 PM - Waterton warm-ups
• By 5:30 PM - volunteers check in at computer room
• 5:45 PM - Timers/Judges/Starter Meetings
• 5:55 PM - Bubble Heat (for our littles not quite ready to swim solo!)
• 6:00 PM - Meet begins

Meet Format:

Our swim meets tend to last close to four hours, with most of the 10 and under events coming in the first two hours. As you familiarize yourself with our heat sheet and pacing, you can better gauge on when you can leave once your swimmer has finished their events and you have served your volunteer spots at each meet. PLEASE DO NOT LEAVE THE SWIM MEET WITHOUT CHECKING WITH COACH JENNA FIRST.

Each swimmer can swim up to 3 individual events and two relays. Relays are generated by best times in each stroke or in freestyle. Each gender and age group has two relays: freestyle (all swimmers do freestyle) and medley (each swimmer does a different stroke). At our meets we will try to have as many relays as possible so our swimmers can get more practice, it just depends on our numbers at each meet.

Meet Rules & Expectations:

• Please park properly in the parking lot. We will have some reserved spots for key volunteers to load and unload their gear for the meet, but the rest of the parking lot is first come first serve. We ask that all overflow parking parks on the left side of the street (from the perspective of one driving towards the pool). This leaves room for cards to come in and out and for an ambulance to get to the pool quickly in case of an emergency
• Parents must stay in the observer's section at all times except when recording/watching their swimmer. Our area is the large area where most of the pool furniture is during practice.
• It is Bring Your Own Chairs & Shade. We cannot use the HOA furniture during swim meets. Most families bring folding chairs and towels/blankets. Some even bring a pop up canopy. Seating is first come first serve.
• We ask that the area at each end of the pool be kept as clear as possible outside of times you are watching/recording your swimmers, we need that space for our volunteers, swimmers, and coaches to operate
• There will be no traffic near the starter stand, we will have this blocked off. This area is for coaches and head volunteers only to help keep the meet on track
• We encourage good sportsmanship at all times, including at our own kids. We are all competitive, but a huge part of the success of summer swim is encouraging one another. Waterton is a positivity-only zone :)
• Please make sure you report by 5:30 PM to the computer room to check in on meetings you have first-half volunteer shifts, and by event 30 for second-half volunteers
• Keep your area clean, it makes clean up at the end of the meet much easier.

Additional Information:

• Concession Stand: Please see our heat sheet for the full menu. We have a couple of changes:
  • No BBQ Sandwiches, instead we will have Chick-Fil-A sandwiches. These run out quickly!
  • King of Pops will be outside the tennis court selling their popsicles for $5 each. We get a small kickback of $1 per popsicle for the program!
  • We will have a limited supply of ribbon books (meant to help you keep track of your swimmer's ribbons) and team t-shirts for sale as well

Thanks so much Waverunners, looking forward to a fun meet!

Gio De La Peña