Good Evening My Patriots of the Pool,

We have a SUPER packed week ahead of us. Pray to whatever god you know that we get through Tuesday night unscathed as far as the weather is concerned so that everything does not go haywire. Not only do we have three meets this week, but we have three very different meets. Information will be coming fast and furious so please apprise yourself of the events to make sure there is no confusion. We start with a championship level meet that has a limited entry list with Divisionals on Tuesday, then Wednesday we have a regular dual meet rescheduled from last Tuesday, and then cap off the week on Thursday with the annual SuperNoVa meet (read more below).

Before I get into the nitty gritty of the week, I have one short PSA. The vast majority of you are very diligent about signing up for meets and letting me know if there are any changes. There are many mishaps throughout a season that are completely understandable and acceptable, but there is one that we at Army Navy cannot abide: signing up for a meet and then not showing up. I know that the schedule can get hectic and for most families quite full, but if you sign up for a meet and there is a change of plans, please make sure to let the coaches know. If you are saying that your swimmer is available for a meet, we will enter them. If you choose not to show up after that, there is an empty lane that could have been used by another swimmer, or possibly a relay will need to be scratched because someone no-shows a meet. Please know that signing up for a meet and deciding not to attend affects more than just your child and your family. Again, this is an issue that I am very proud to say, is not perpetuated by a large portion of the team, but we had a few no-shows and empty lanes at Kenwood and I felt I needed to make this point.

Ok, sorry for that, now on to the fun stuff...

A Division Championship Meet -- Congressional CC -- Tuesday, July 19th

Divisionals is the championship meet for all the teams in our division (A). Each team may enter 2 scoring swimmers and one exhibition swimmer for each event. Swimmers may enter up to 3 individual events each. The lineup has been entered and you can see if your child is swimming by logging into Swimtopia and clicking on the meet. Like Divisional Relays, this meet has a limited entry list and not everyone will be swimming, however, all swimmers are welcome to join us and cheer on their teammates. 

Where: Congressional CC

When: Warm ups will begin at 5:00PM and the meet will start at 6:30PM

Theme: We are taking it waaaay back to the late 1900s. To the decade Coach Ian was born for an 80s theme. Throw on your legwarmers,some big hair, headbands, and your best neon gear so we can jazzercize the rest of A division out of the pool.

Party: Congressional invites all teams to join them on the upper terrace for a buffet and DJ dance party following the meet. We take this very seriously at Army Navy, so please plan to come and enjoy the dance floor with our A Division frienemies. 

'A' Dual Meet @ Manor 2.0 -- Wednesday, July 20th

Our meet with Manor from last Tuesday has been rescheduled to this Wednesday evening. All the meet information is the same as last time, just with a different date this time.

Sign Ups: A new meet has been created in Swimtopia for this. If your swimmer is available for the meet Wednesday please make sure to mark them as such by tomorrow so that entries can be made prior to Divisionals. Even if you were already marked as attending last Tuesday, you will have to log in and mark yourself as attending separately for this Wednesday.

Warm Ups: Warm ups will begin at 5:50PM, please have your swimmer at Manor ready to get in the pool prior to 5:40PM. The meet will begin at 6:30PM. 

Volunteers: Just as it is with swimmer entries, we need to fill our volunteer positions again. If you were signed up on Tuesday, those sign ups did not carry over. Thank you to all of you who diligently help out at every meet. I would love to see some new names on there this week. Especially since Manor hands out free drink tickets to volunteers throughout the meet. 

Food and Beverage: Manor will again provide a buffet on the pavilion that will last throughout the meet and afterward.

Theme: The theme remains the same: Hawaiian. We didn't get to have our luau so grab that coconut bra and grass skirt and be ready to chill out on a beach somewhere.

SuperNoVa Invitational Meet -- Thursday, July 21st -- Belle Haven CC

The annual SuperNoVa meet between Belle Haven, Washington Golf, and Army Navy will again be the last Thursday before Champs. This meet has served many purposes over the years, but when we hold it in the last week of the season it has acted as a championship meet for those swimmers who are not entered in CCSDA Championships. 

Who: This meet is open to swimmers who are not entered in Divisionals (swimmers who are entered in only exhibition events at Divisionals may still enter).

What: An invitational meet of all the Virginia teams in CCSDA. We will swim all the individual events of a regular dual meet with some fun relays mixed in. The most important being the wet t-shirt relays, which we tend to do quite well on.

Where: Belle Haven CC

When: Our warm ups will be from 4:45-5:00PM, the meet will begin at 5:30PM (yes, this is much earlier than our normal meets, but that is to make sure we have time for fun and food afterward).

A buffet and drinks will be available and we will have a squirt gun battle after the meet to replace the one that should have happened after the squirt gun meet. This is a fun meet, that again, will have a limited entry list. Those that are swimming at Divisionals will not be entered in this meet. Please make sure to mark your availability for this meet by noon on Tuesday.

With this week's happenings in the books, we look ahead to the CCSDA Championship Meet coming up next week. We have not held this meet since 2019, so the anticipation is palpable. Champs this year will take place at Kenwood CC with prelims sessions on Monday morning (10&U) and afternoon (11&O) followed by finals for the top 16 qualifiers in each event on Tuesday. More information and the Champs lineup will be coming out on Thursday for everyone. The Champs meet also involves a team parade on Tuesday morning with all teams circling the pool and doing cheers. This is usually an event that many swimmers, whether competing or not, join in on. More information will follow. 

Time to roll ANCC!

From the Deck,

Coach Ian