April 29, 2014 – Parent Meeting Agenda
For additional questions or concerns, please contact myself or any board member for assistance.
Welcome
137 swimmers as of 4/29/2014
29th season----- first team was in 1986
We swim in the Northwest Aquatic League (NWAL) – 16 divisions, 15,000 + swimmers
Board is continuing to work on better communication
· brenham.swim-team.us website allows for entry/volunteering
· Email information to parents – meet info, practice info, team roster, volunteer sign up reminders, etc. Please let us know if you are not receiving e-mails!
· We have a website—www.brenhamdolphins.com w/ link to brenham.swim-team.us website
David Jantzi – President
(979) 203-0957
Sarah Husmann – Treasurer
Mary Petersen – Secretary
Volunteers- We can’t have Dolphins without volunteers. We need each family to commit to helping out at least 12 hours during the six meets in May and June. In the past when we did paper registration, parents who were unable to commit to volunteering their time paid a $75 / swimmer fee. If anyone is interested in doing that this year, please contact a board member after the meeting. We need everyone to be helping out somehow so please sign up. Don’t be surprised if you get a phone call asking you to help in a specific spot if you don’t sign up. We already had some volunteers go to College Station for OFFICIALS training, so please consider attending OFFICIALS training in the future if you are planning on having your child(ren) swim for more than one year.
Sponsors- Pooltex has donated all of our team t-shirts. We are looking for other sponsors to sponsor the meet programs, and are looking for individuals or businesses to sponsor the Dolphins (they start at $100). If you are interested, please e-mail Mary Petersen.
Meet event signup- We are transitioning to the online brenham.swim-team.us computer entry, similar to the TeamUnify site that has worked well the past several seasons. We will send out specific directions in the future.
We need to know what events your kids would like to swim.
They can swim up to 3 individual events and up to 2 relays.
*Make sure that you select either YES or NO for relay signup.*
Signup must be by the end of the day on Wednesday.
If your kids are not signed up for an event, they won’t be swimming.
At each meet
Check in with the coaches as soon as you arrive.
If you have a last minute change, such as sickness, or vehicle problem, please contact the coach ASAP.
The big meet
The major meet of the season is Divisionals. This year, the meet is June 21st at Navasota. Yes, it will be long, as there will be around 700 swimmers, but this is the big one. We need every swimmer possible to make this meet.
Also, as a reminder, swimmers must swim in at least two meets to be able to swim in the divisional meet, and swimmers have to swim the event in a dual (regular season) meet and have a legal time, to be eligible to swim that event at divisionals.
Invitationals
Various NWAL clubs host invitational swim meets on the weekend after the divisional meet. Swimmers have to swim a specific entry time to be eligible to compete at those meets. The two meets that we normally attend are known as Ponderosa (fastest swimmers) and Red, White, & Blue (aka RWB). Most heat sheets will have the entry times posted for each event.
Fundraising Swim-a-thon
We will be having a fundraiser during practice on Tuesday, May 13th at the aquatic center. Each swimmer will swim as many laps as they can during their normal 30 or 45 minute practice. We are asking each swimmer to get either donations or pledges per lap to raise funds to help offset some of the costs associated with the Dolphins season. We are setting a goal of $50 / swimmer, and hope that you will take the time and effort necessary to help support the 2014 Dolphins season! Newcomer part of our meeting
· The 3 parts of the practice season
Clinic – Swimming practice twice a week.
After School – Daily practice
Morning sessions – Daily practice when school is out
PARENTS: We understand that many families have multiple swimmers and we try to accommodate everyone in their request to have all their children at one practice, but it is not always possible. It is possible for you to have your swimmers “swim down” an age group if you must have them all together – this means that the older swimmers will be swimming with the younger swimmers. This also means that your swimmer will not be getting the most effective workout as the practice will be geared for the assigned age groups.
· The “mock” meet in May will give everyone an opportunity to see how things are done during the meets. Swimmers will only be swimming freestyle and backstroke on this day and should be finished no later than 5:30 PM. PLEASE be there by 4:00.
· Rules for the Aquatic Center: Please do not leave your swimmers unattended at the Aquatic Center. In the past, we had multiple complaints of children running around outside and being loud and out of control inside. We even had one incident of vandalism in the boy’s bathroom. This will absolutely not be tolerated! First of all, if your child is dropped off, and a parent has not been put in charge of them and they are injured (especially out in the parking lot area), the Dolphins and the Aquatic Center will not be held responsible. Additionally, if your child is dropped off at the Aquatic Center for practice, they will be expected to practice. In the past, we had numerous incidents of children ‘hiding out’ in the bathrooms to avoid practice. Swimmer’s who are caught doing this will have their parents contacted, and if it happens again, the swimmer can face expulsion from the Dolphins – if they do not want to swim they do not need to be on the team anyway. Lastly, any swimmer caught vandalizing city property will be expelled from the team immediately and face discipline from the city. This will be a zero tolerance event.
Please also help your swimmer(s) remember to rinse off in the shower before practice.
Pick up your trash! “Leave no trace.” J
Other information
IM – Individual Medley – this means that one swimmer will swim all four of the strokes in the following order – Butterfly-Back-Breast-Freestyle at one time.
Medley Relay – the order of the strokes changes to Back-Breast-Butterfly-Freestyle – one swimmer will be assigned to swim one of the strokes (each lap will have a different swimmer).
When we ask that the swimmers sign-up for a meet, we want them to select which strokes they would like to swim at the meet. They can sign-up for up to three events, per meet - the coach then has the option to place the swimmer in up to two relay events (Freestyle Relay or Medley Relay). If you DO NOT want to be assigned to a relay, please indicate that on the online meet entry form.
Parents need to make sure to stay for the whole meet if their child is in a freestyle relay – the free relays are usually the last events of the meet. It is very selfish if they decide to leave because it affects the other swimmers on that relay. If there is a problem and they need to leave, please check with the coaches so a substitution can be made.
Relay Alternates: Please check with one of the coaches before you leave the meet every Saturday to make sure that you are not needed on a relay. We usually use some alternates at each meet!
Directions to the meets: We will e-mail directions to the away swimming meets the week of the meet.
Private Lessons: Private lessons may be available as the season progresses. Please contact one of the coaches if you are interested.
PORTRAIT OF A MEET
Most swim meets begin at 8:30 AM and end around noon, with the home team warming up from about 7:10-7:40 and the visiting team from 7:45-8:15. The meet is organized by events; each event consists of the same age group of swimmers swimming the same stroke (such as the 25-yard freestyle). Every age group will swim that event until all swimmers have competed, then the next event will begin. This allows swimmers to rest between events. Because there are so many swimmers for each event they are broken down into “heats”. Each heat has between 6-8 swimmers (depending on the number of lanes) that are fairly close in times, the final heat will usually have the fastest swimmers in that event – These are the swimmers that you must strive to beat!! A swimmer can win in his/her heat but still not win the event, so it is a good idea to keep track of your swimmers times. Heat sheets are available at each meet for $1.00 or $2.00 each; they will list the events, age groups, heats, swimmers names and best times. The event numbers will be listed on the event board. Swimmers swimming in the events listed on the board are responsible for reporting to the ready bench where they will be organized before they swim in the heats. Heat ribbons are distributed to all swimmers in the Under 6 age group but for the older groups (ages 7-8 and 9-10), only the winner of each heat will receive a ribbon. Swimmers times and places will be posted as they are entered into the computer system and calculated. At the meets, we use parent volunteers to distribute heat ribbons, time events, oversee the ready bench, bring water to the officials, run time cards from the timers to the person(s) entering information into the computer and fill out ribbons for the winners of each event. Ribbons are awarded for the first 6 places in each event.
*Many meets are outdoors, so you may bring along a pop up canopy for shade and lawn chairs for seating as well as nutritious drinks and snacks. **Many parents write the specific events on their swimmers’ arm like such
(R = race number, H = heat number, L = lane number)
R H L
1 3 4
21 2 7
31 5 1
51 4 2