Hellooooo Army Navy Swim Family,

Happy Memorial Day Weekend and welcome to everyone's favorite time of year: Army Navy Swim Season! I am excited to get everyone back in the water (even if it isn't our water at the club). This will be the first of 9 weekly swim updates that I will send out throughout the season. Each week I will try to put everything into one email for the week so there is only one place for parents and swimmers need to go for info on the week at hand. So keep an eye out and even as some of these get a bit longer, please make sure to read through everything so you know the lay of the land for the upcoming week.  I try to give you one email with all the information instead of many emails throughout the week. So let's get into our first week:

The Team

We have assembled a wonderful group to get your swimmers where they need to be this summer. Returning to the staff for her 4th season is Katie Yost continuing to run our Junior Team program along with her cadre of helpers. Back for another summer as an Assistant Coach is Allie Brown and Support Coach Kate Conklin. Joining us as an Assistant Coach this summer, taking a break from coaching college at SUNY-New Paltz, please welcome Maggie Davenport to the staff. 

New Digs

Due to some construction delays on the new pools at Arlington we have been displaced this summer. While being away from home is not ideal, we have managed to find some pretty luxurious new digs. The St. James Sports, Wellness, and Entertainment Complex is quite a grand, recently built, behemoth of all sports and hobbies. It is a very nice 50-meter pool with top of the line gutters and equipment. The facility is in Springfield, VA at 6805 Industrial Rd. 

When you arrive for practices please enter through the main entrance of the facility. Once passing the welcome desk take a right and walk to the end of the hallway passing an estimated 42 basketball/volleyball courts to reach the aquatics facility. We will try to have coaches up at the front to help direct swimmers and parents to the correct location. Parents are more than welcome to enter and watch practices from the spectator area above the pool. Swimmers may be picked up in-person outside of the spectator area or by car out in front of the main entrance. 

Practice Schedule

The practice schedule for our first week only includes swimmers registered and qualified for Swim Team (Junior Team will have to wait just a bit. See the evaluations and practice at the end of this email). For the next two weeks we will have the following practices for Swim Team members:

-Tuesday and Thursday evenings (May 31st, June 2nd, 7th, and 9th)

--13&Over Swimmers: 4-5PM -- 9-12 Swimmers: 5-6PM -- 8&U Swimmers: 6-7PM

Beginning on Monday, June 13th we will transition to morning practices. You can find all the schedules on the ANCC.Swimtopia.com website.

Evaluations

For swimmers new to the team and those that are not sure where they will be placed (Junior or Swim team), we will have an evaluation session on the morning of Saturday, June 4th at the Army Navy Fairfax pool. All evaluations will be run from 8-9AM. Please show up any time within that hour and we will have plenty of coaches and swimmers on hand to evaluate your swimmer appropriately. From 9-10AM, after evaluations, we will run a practice for all who would like to attend. 

Meets and Meet Sign Up

All of the meets have been loaded up onto the calendar on the Swimtopia website. Please feel free to start letting the coaches know your availability for meets. For those that do not know/remember how this works, we will only enter your swimmer in a meet if they are marked as attending the meet. Please have your swimmer's availability marked by the Saturday prior to the meet in question so that the coaching staff can begin working on meet lineups. There is no need to wait, go ahead and mark your availability now if you already know it. Also, if you plan on attending the meet, please also plan to help by volunteering during the meet in some capacity. Swim meets require over 30 parent volunteers to run effectively. There is no better seat in the house than down on deck volunteering.

Blue-Gold Time Trials and Parent Social

Our first meet of the season, as it is every year, is the annual Blue-Gold Time Trials on Saturday, June 11th at The St. James with warm ups starting at 10AM. Make sure to sign your swimmer up (this is one of the few meets of the season where you and your swimmer may choose their events). Swimmers should plan to compete in every race at which they are capable. 

Following the meet, we will head back to ANCC for a Parent Social. A wonderful opportunity to meet new parents and reunite with your summer friends, we will convene from 4-6PM on the Clubhouse Patio for some hors d'oeuvres (and yes, of course there will be a bar). It should be a great kickoff to the summer. If you are planning to attend please take a minute to register for the event HERE. It is not required that you register, but it will be very helpful in planning so that we can put on the best event possible. 

Well, that's all for now. As always if you have any questions please feel free to reach out and ask. You can always reach me at [email protected] and Wendy at [email protected] (as long as you have read through the whole email before sending your question). I am looking forward to a great, if not entirely normal yet, season with everyone. I cannot wait to see most of you again, and some of you for the first time.

From the Deck,

Head Coach Ian Handerhan