Hello team!

Thanks to everyone who made it out to our quick parent meeting on Wednesday! If you weren’t able to make it, or if I spoke too fast for you while trying to beat the storm, this email should serve to contain most of the important preseason information. The information sheet and season calendar are attached to this email, please read it carefully for important information including Mini-Gator practice dates, PM practice dates, picture date, meet dates, meet themes, etc.

Most importantly, after looking at the forecast for this weekend and the coming week, we have decided to delay the start of preseason to June 1. While it is typical to have a chilly start to the summer swim season, with Mother Nature choosing to keep temps under 70 until Tuesday, we feel it will be best to give the water a few extra days to come to a reasonable temperature.

This means that new swimmer evaluations will take place on Monday, June 1. Times as listed here:

• Ages 11 and up, 4-5 PM
• Ages 10 and under, 5-6 PM
• Mini-Gators, 6-6:30
• You will receive an email with your new swimmer’s designated practice group after all swimmers have been evaluated on Monday.
• Diving, Ages 11 and under, 4-5:15 PM
• Diving, Ages 12 and over, 5:15-6:30 PM

Preseason practices will also take place starting Monday, June 1. Returning swimmers should start the season in the same group as they ended last season:

• Red Group: 4-5 PM
• White Group: 5-5:45 PM
• Blue Group: 5:45-6:20/6:30 PM
• Mini-Gators (as listed on season calendar): 5:15-5:45

Regular season morning and evening practices will begin Monday, June 15. See attachments for all of the regular season dates and times.

Please RSVP in SwimTopia for meets as soon as you can but no later than 48 hours prior to the meet. While we would like everyone to come to every meet, we understand that some summer activities can not be rescheduled. If you know already that you will not be able to come to a meet, please be sure to RSVP now so that the coaches have that information as soon as possible. Instructions for RSVPing are pinned on the SwimTopia site (umscgators.SwimTopia.com). If your swimmer/diver wants to be eligible to participate in A Champs, they must attend a minimum of 3 regular season meets. This is a league rule that is unfortunately out of our hands.

Please join us for Swim Blast at Upper Moreland this year! Swim Blast is a fun, full league meet that brings all the teams together before regular meets kick off. It’s a great opportunity to feel the energy of summer swim and as Ryan pointed out at our Parent Meeting, it’s a great opportunity to get a fast qualifying time for champs since cooler pools tend to be “faster” and UMSC has one of the “faster” pools in the league. Sign ups for Swim Blast will not be in Swim Topia, look for a sign up email soon!

If you have any questions during the season, I am the primary point of contact. You can reach me (Katie Hamilton) via email at [email protected]. While it may seem like a simple thing to ask a coach a quick question at practice, we want to ensure that coaches are always focused solely on the kids for safety and coaching, so please just shoot me a quick email if you need anything at all. If we need to ask the coaches, I can facilitate that conversation for you as needed.

Please be sure to review the attached materials and keep them handy for easy reference. We are looking forward to an awesome summer season with all of you!

Katie