Happy Monday, Sharks!

Thanks again to everyone who stopped by yesterday for our Meet the Coaches event. The turnout was outstanding, and our coaches can't wait to begin working with your kids! As we mentioned at yesterday's event, our team is significantly larger this year than ever before: we have 180 Sharks this year, 41 more than last year, and at least 30 more than our team has ever had! We can't express our excitement and gratitude for such unprecedented interest in the team. Such robust growth will require adjustments to our normal practice schedule, however, to maintain safe and productive practices. So, we're going to implement the following changes: 

Coaches will be available for preseason evaluations beginning at 4:30 from May 7-9. As announced previously, any swimmer who is six years old or under and has never swum competitively must be evaluated by our coaches to confirm they swim well enough to participate in practice. Our coaches will be available to evaluate swimmers beginning at 4:30 tomorrow through Thursday, May 7-9. If your child is subject to the evaluation requirement, please note that the coaches would like to base their decision about your child's eligibility on as many days of observation as possible. No eligibility decisions will be made until after practice on May 9. So, if your child can attend evaluation periods and/or practices on more than one day this week, the coaches will decide your child's eligibility based on multiple days of observation. We are taking this approach with an eye toward inclusivity: we want every child who has registered to be on the team, and we don't want to exclude anyone based on one bad day. If you are unable to get to the pool before 5 this week, that isn't a problem. Our coaches will evaluate swimmers during the 5 p.m. practice. This extra 30-minute period is optional. Additionally, if your swimmer wants to attend practice after being evaluated at 4:30, they are welcome to do so. 

We will offer a practice for ages 8 and under from 8:30-9 a.m. beginning May 28. To reduce the chances that swimmers are spending the majority of the time waiting to swim rather than actually swimming during our morning practices when we shift to our summer schedule, we will offer a practice specifically for eight-year-olds and younger from 8:30-9 beginning May 28. We will offer this practice for the full regular season, Monday-Thursday until June 27. This additional 30-minute practice should allow for more individual instruction for our youngest swimmers. Those who attend the 8:30 practice are welcome to participate in the 9 a.m. ten and under practice if they would like, though the more swimmers who attend the 9 a.m. practice, the less time our coaches can spend with each swimmer and the less time each swimmer can spend in the pool. 

Finally, a few notes about preseason practices: 

Practices will look chaotic this week. But they will get better. The first few practices are hectic under any circumstances, and things may look especially frenzied this year, given how large our team is. However, once our coaches complete evaluations and assign swimmers to specific lanes based on their observations this week, practices should flow better. No matter how chaotic things may look, please be assured that your children are safe. All our coaches are certified lifeguards and talented swimmers in their own right, and our swimmers' safety is their top priority. Further, we are continuing the program we instituted last year in which older Sharks volunteer to assist our youngest swimmers at Ten and Under practices. 

Download the Swimtopia app and declare swimmers for meets as early as possible. As mentioned at yesterday's event, the Swimtopia app plays a critical role in all aspects of our team, particularly in declaring swimmers for swim meets. Please download the app and familiarize yourself with the process for declaring swimmers. An explanation can be found here. 

Please declare your swimmers as early as possible for meets and individual events at any meets they will attend. In particular, please mark swimmers "Absent" for any meets they will miss. Your help in declaring swimmers as early as possible will make our coaches' lives much, much easier and reduce the number of annoying reminder emails you receive. Please don't hesitate to ask the coach of your child's lane at practice if you are unsure of the events they should swim at a meet. We will distribute gift bags containing QR codes to download the app, along with other helpful information and goodies, at this week's practices to those who did not receive one yesterday.

Coaches will assign swimmers to lanes based on the ability they demonstrate in practice. Our coaches created this infographic to describe the instruction provided in each lane at our Ten and Under practices, as well as the criteria for moving up to the next lane. If you have any questions about your swimmer's lane assignment, please ask our coaches. 

Thank you for your attention to this long message. We cannot thank you enough for your support, and we are beyond excited to see you and your Sharks tomorrow! 

Fear the Fin!

The PCHM Swim Team Board