Good Afternoon Lovers of the Lanes,

I want to start this week with a huge thank you to all of our swimmers that showed up yesterday at the Squirt Gun Meet. Those that swam did great, but we had a plethora of 11&older swimmers who came, some to support their younger siblings and even some just to help out with no familial connections to the meet. Army Navy had older swimmers timing, running the clerk of course, and helping seat the little people behind the blocks. I could not have been more proud to see the volunteer swimmers we had present simply to help out the team and their tinier brethren. 

A reminder that we will be collecting donations and donation forms for the YRF Aquathon throughout the week. You will find a donation box up in the front lobby for such a purpose.

Ok, plenty to get through, so let's not waste any more time:

Tonight

Deadline for Bethesda 'B' Meet Entries

At 8:00PM tonight your ability to enter the 'B' meet on Tuesday night will end. I made quite a few exceptions this past week for Squirt Gun due to the holiday, but there will be no exceptions for the 'B' meet. If the entries are not in by tonight at 8:00PM your swimmer will not be swimming on Tuesday. I am not trying to be harsh, just making sure to be clear.

While we are allowing swimmers to sign themselves of for the meet (up to 3 individual events) please make sure you are signing up for appropriate events for your swimmers. If your swimmer is not legal in breast or fly Saturday would have been the day to try it out. This meet should be reserved for events that you are sure your swimmer is capable of. There are also quite a few 10&U swimmers entered in 12&U events. Unless I hear from you that those entries are on purpose I will switch those swimmers back to their correct age group.

Monday, July 9th:

12:30-1:00PM -- Stroke Clinic:

We will be working on butterfly tomorrow during the stroke clinic: teaching it to those who have not figured it out yet and perfecting it for those that need some pointers. Again, the clinic is open to all Swim Team members of all levels.

1:15PM -- Yellow Ribbon Fund Cards Presentation:

This is a change from my email last week. They have changed the shotgun start for the golf tournament to 8:30AM as opposed to 11:00AM as it had been in past years. For this reason we will take swimmers over to the golf course after the stroke clinic to meet some of the golfers as they finish. All swimmers that would like to be part of the presentation and photo should have shorts (not just a swimsuit) and an Army Navy Swim & Dive t-shirt to wear. 

Tuesday, July 10th:

'B' Meet @ Bethesda CC:

5:30 Warm-Up and 6:00PM start. We will start a little bit earlier in order to handle the number of extra heats we will have in the 10&Under events. There will be a DJ and buffet dinner afterward so please plan to stick around. It is important that we put in our wins on the dance floor just as much as we do in the pool.

Sign-up for Washington Golf Meet closes at 10:00PM

Please make sure that you have registered your swimmer as attending or not for Thursday's meet versus Washington Golf.

Wednesday, July 11th:

10:00AM Scoops and Smiles:

The team picture will be at 10:00AM on Wednesday. Please make sure your swimmer is wearing their team suit for the picture if they have one. All practices will go on as planned around the picture. After the picture and after their practice, there will be an ice cream social for your swimmer set up on the Dive Inn deck. So swim, smile, and grab a scoop. 

12:00PM -- Entries for SuperNoVa Close:

Midday on Wednesday we will be closing entries for the SuperNoVa meet taking place on Friday evening. Please be aware that I set up the meet incorrectly and swimmers will not be picking their own events for this. I will be changing the entries to match the available spots in the meet. Please make sure to mark your swimmer as attending or not by Wednesday at noon.

Thursday, July 12th:

AFAC Food Drive:

As we did last year, the Army Navy and Washington Golf swim teams will be joining forces to collect food for AFAC. Please see the attached flyer for more information. There will be donation drop-off boxes in the front lobby of the pool house all week to collect donations.

Swim Meet vs. Washington Golf:

5:30PM Warm up and 6:30PM start for our home meet against Washington Golf on Thursday night. Washington Golf will be our biggest dual meet of the season. We have taken on all other comers and it's time to take on the best. There will be a pasta buffet dinner starting at 7:00PM during and after the meet.

Sign up for Divisionals Closes:

Please make sure to mark your swimmer as available or not for the Divisionals Meet on Tuesday, July 17th by Thursday night. This will allow us to make the SuperNoVa meet for those who are not swimming in our championship meets.

Friday, July 13th:

SuperNoVa Meet:

Our warm ups will be at 5:25PM and the meet will start at 6:30PM on Friday night. The meet will have a Halloween in July theme (you know, Friday the 13th and all) so come dressed in your scariest garb. 

We will be pulling entries for swimmers who are entered in the Divisionals meet the following Tuesday so as to give the most opportunity to that next level of swimmers on our ladder. The entries for this meet are limited and we will do our best to get everyone involved as best we can.

I tried to keep everything as concise as possible. We will have some updates and entry reports coming out throughout the week so stay tuned. Please be aware of deadlines as we have reached the point in the season where we do not have much (if any) wiggle room built in if you miss it. Thank you and here's to hoping this week is a little cooler than last.

From the Deck,

Coach Ian