WELCOME TO THE STINGRAY FAMILY!!! We are glad you are a part of our team! 

Some of you may have been on other teams before...but if this is your first swim team experience, you may find the following helpful! 

If you joined the zoom call last night, feel free to stop reading, as this is a synopsis of our meeting! However, it also covers everything I forgot to say.

PLEASE READ ALL OF THIS EMAIL IF THIS IS YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH US!

In swimming, competitions are called “meets”. Each meet in our league is comprised of 70 events. I have attached the meet event order to this email.

Warm-ups will begin at 4:30pm for our team at each meet… And the meet will start with "Event 1" at 5:00pm. I cannot stress enough to you how important warm-ups are for your swimmer. First and foremost, warmups help them physically get ready to compete. Secondly, it gets them prepared mentally. It helps them alleviate anxieties and nerves and allows us to give them last-minute tips.

When a swimmer arrives at warm-ups, we will mark their shoulder and hand with a number and the letters “SH”, using a sharpie. This number will not change throughout the regular season. However, it may change at the time of Meet of Champs. Sunscreen and bug spray will remove the number if applied after the number is written with a sharpie. Please try to have and bug spray on your swimmer before they arrive at the tent to get their number.

After warm-ups, the swimmers will return to the tents and wait for their events. Coaches and parent volunteers will help them get to their races on time, if they are in the tents when their event is called.

How long a meet lasts depends on how many swimmers are present from both teams. Most meets are complete by 9:00 or 9:30 PM at the very latest, assuming there are no weather delays. THIS IS DIFFERENT FOR SWIMMERS AGE SIX AND UNDER. Unless they are swimming in backstroke, breaststroke, or butterfly, they will finish after event 20 usually around 7 PM or earlier.

NOT AT THE FIRST MEET, but each meet after that, I would like to have our six and under swimmers compete with the 8 and under group in either backstroke, breaststroke or butterfly, depending on which of those strokes is completely “legal”.

With all of that said, I am aware that Tuesday night’s meet, May 26, is a school night for many of our swimmers. If you have a child over the age of 7, and need to leave Tuesday’s meet early to get your kids home to bed-- I understand… I just need to know ahead of time. Please reply to this email and let me know if your family will be needing to leave this meet early.

Now…HAVE YOU DECLARED FOR THE MEET?!! Please, please, please login into your account NOW and declare whether your swimmer will be participating in Tuesday’s meet or not… IT SHOULDN’T TAKE YOU MORE THAN ABOUT TWO MINUTES.

Here's how:

• Log in to your account on our website
• Click on "TEAM SCHEDULE"
• Choose May 26 meet
• Click on green box "MEET ENTRY"
• Click "EDIT"
• Choose "attending" or "not attending"

THIS NEEDS TO BE DONE EACH WEEK BY FRIDAY AT NOON, AT THE LATEST so that I have enough time to finish the heating and seeding in time to turn in to the league by Sunday. I know we are past that now...so please do it asap!

YOU CAN DECLARE NOW FOR ALL MEETS (and change status anytime, if necessary). NO NEED TO WAIT until the weekend before each meet...especially if you forget things easily!

Feel free to text or email me if you have questions. Please include your swimmer's name if you text me!

Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Tammy

713-301-1417