Good Afternoon Army Navy Swim Team,

Happy belated Father's Day to all the swim dads out there. I hope it was a great day for all of you and you are well rested and ready to cheer come tomorrow for the first dual meet of the season. Now that everyone has finally finished school it is time to really get down to business. With that in mind, here's the week in swim at Army Navy:

Swim Team Directory (of sorts)

I know that it has been difficult for many families to work around the logistics of getting their swimmers to Fairfax and The St. James as opposed to having our traditional home at the Arlington campus. To that end I have had a handful of requests from parents for a swim team directory of sorts. While I am not able to share the registration information of members, I can collect information that is readily given to that end. If you are in need of carpool help or are willing to provide some to our Army Navy swim community and are willing to have your address and contact information shared with others on the team, please fill out this Carpool Info form that I have created. I will share the results with the team at large so that we can make sure that everyone is able to make it to practice and enjoy everything that ANCC Swim Team has to offer.

St. James Notes

As we get used to The St. James and as everyone joins us now that school is finally out for everyone, there are a few things to remember about our use of their facilities. 

• Please make sure to remind your swimmers to dry off completely before exiting the pool area or locker rooms. There are quite a few other patrons at the facility who are not used to wet floors like us swimmers are.
• Please make sure you are not using the members-only locker rooms at the pool. There are separate locker rooms for use by the members and rentals. Please make sure you check before entering the locker room that you are in the correct place.
• Make sure to communicate with your swimmers (especially our tinier brethren/sistren) where to meet you after their practice. The St. James is a big place with many doors. 
• A reminder that there are a multitude of camps we have worked out with The St. James for your swimmers to stick around after practice as well. You can find information and links on that information on the front page of the Swimtopia website.

First Dual Meet vs. Washington Golf

Tomorrow, Tuesday, June 21st will be our first dual meet of the season against perennial powerhouse Washington Golf. It's the annual Arlington Derby for all you soccer fans out there. So it's time to get rowdy. As with all of our meet this season (cue: sad trombone) we will be swimming at Washington Golf & CC (3017 N Glebe Rd, Arlington, VA). Here are the details of the meet:

• Warm Ups will begin at 5:40pm. Please have your swimmer at Washington Golf ready to swim at that time. Swimmers should attempt to arrive by 5:30pm. The meet will start at 6:15pm
• For volunteers, we are still in need of a ribbon-writer (great view from the treehouse at WG) and 2 timers to fulfill our volunteer needs. You can still sign up on the Swimtopia website
• You can check the lineup (still in progress as I work out extra heats with WG coaches) on Swimtopia. If your swimmer was not marked as available to swim they were not entered in the meet. As this is the first meet, if you forgot to sign up your swimmer I will try to get them in tonight if you let me know.
• Please be aware if your swimmer is entered in relays. The medley relays are in the middle of the meet and the free relays are the last event of the night. Please do not take your swimmer home from the meet or off deck without having them confirm with a coach that they are done swimming.
• Washington Golf will have a buffet dinner beginning at 6:00PM on the Virginia Terrace, and, as if you needed to ask, chit bars will be strategically located throughout the viewing area.

Get ready to have fun and cheer through the night. Washington Golf always presents some incredible races and this is the first time in at least a decade that we have started our season out with the Washington Golf meet that is usually at the end of our dual meet season. So make a playlist, get hype (I'm looking at you Regan McGinley), and be ready to race tomorrow night when you show up on deck. We will keep the theme simple for tomorrow as the first meet: everyone wear as much Army gold and Navy blue as you can find. Wear it on your face, get to the orthodontist and change out your braces bands, color your hair (ask your parents first)... anything and everything you wear should be in team colors tomorrow (don't worry, the seniors will make sure to have some extra stuff for those that haven't outfitted their wardrobes in blue and gold just yet). 

AFAC Food Drive

A tradition we started prior to the pandemic, we are once again joining forces with our cross-town rivals to do some good for our community. Army Navy and Washington Golf are working together in a food drive for the Arlington Food Assistance Center. Please see the attached flyer for information on what to bring and how to participate. 

Team T-Shirts and Caps

A reminder that team t-shirts and custom ordered silicone caps can be picked up at the front desk of the Arlington Clubhouse from 9:00AM - 6:00PM Monday to Friday. So go get your shirt, we think you'll like it!

Fun Friday Festivities and Picture Day

This Friday we will end our weekly full team practice at 10:30AM (instead of 11:00AM) so that we can all head over to Annandale Swim & Tennis to join our Dive Team for an 11:00AM team picture. After the photo there will be field day games for the kids to take part in and a Kona Ice truck will be there to provide cool refreshments. Everyone is welcome to join the festivities. Looking forward to seeing all of you there.

That's all for this week, until the next one.

From the Deck,

Coach Ian