Helloooooooo Hammerheads!    Homework assignment at end, please read through!   :)

Who had a blast at the mock meet on Thursday?   Me.. .me... me!!!   So much fun hearing/seeing at starter/light go off and y'all diving in!    
Our first dual meet is NEXT SATURDAY MAY 21st!   Wahooooooooo!!!    Many things need to happen leading up to a meet so I'll try to explain the process.  

Meet timeline:  1 week before I need all Hammerheads to RSVP to the next weekend's meet.  There are options to let me know if you need to leave early or maybe you're not 100% sure you'll be there so you can opt out of relays.   Sunday afternoons I start on the entries.  Wednesday evening I have to send the finalized entries to the host team's computer operator so they have time to 'seed' (combine all the entries).  Friday you will get an email that has the 'Entry List by Name' and 'Heat Sheet' (see the Heat Sheets 102 email sent this week).  Friday night the computer operator prints heat sheets for the many volunteers who need them, as well as the lane timer sheets.  We hope, hope, hope all changes have been made by this time.  Saturday morning we do any "scratches" for kids who maybe woke up sick and sub out relays if a swimmer doesn't show up (we try to keep this to a minimum since it's is hard to do in a time crunch).   

Entry Limits:  during dual meets, swimmers are allowed to swim up to 4 events:  2 individuals and 2 relays or 3 individuals and 1 relay.   Relays have 4 swimmers on them and they are FUN and LOUD because they earn us a lot of points!!  

Points: There can be many heats of the same event and swimmers are grouped by their times.  Each heat winner will get a ribbon and after all heats are complete, the computer software sorts and assigns places and points.  Yes, we are competing for points but all the coaches are more concerned about swimmers improving their times each week.   

After the meet: Once results are uploaded to Swimtopia, you'll be able to see your swimmer's times in the app and it will show if they subtracted time!  Coaches would love for you to keep a graph, chart or some visual of your swimmer's times so they can see how their hard work at practice helps them improve over the season.  
Ribbons:  meet ribbons are awarded for 1st - 6th place.  Wonderful volunteers will get the labels from the computer operator and ribbons will be put in the file boxes.  Hopefully by Tuesday each week but be flexible with us.  

As soon as we get out of the pool from one meet, we start the process all over!  Sooooooo, that leads to your 

HOMEWORK ASSIGNMENT:  Please go into Swimtopia and RSVP your swimmer for the Sat. May 21st meet.  If you are not 100% sure they will be able to attend, RSVP yes but put 'not available for relays'.   That way I can still put them in 3 individual events and it's MUCH easier to scratch, than add in later.   Swimmers who are not RSVP'd will still be entered for individual events but won't be added to relays (it's just too hard to sub those out last minute).  

Thank you for reading through and for being awesome swim parents!   I'll send info in a couple of days about what to expect at the first dual meet.  For now, just get those RSVPs in and we'll see you on deck Monday!  

Gooooooooooooo Hammerheads!!!!   

Coach Susan        904-945-6564

*don't forget to go to settings on your phone and allow notifications for Swimtopia app