Good morning Seahawks!

Grab a cup of coffee and your calendar because we have an exciting week ahead of us: Eastside Splashdown Carnival on Tuesday, Mighty Mini Meet on Thursday, Divisionals Meet on Saturday, and our end of season Banquet on Sunday.  This will be the final week of the season for most of our swimmers. Our All Star qualifiers will have one more week of practice and then have the opportunity to compete in the All Star meet on Saturday, July 26th.  

Before we get to all the details of these events, I would like to thank everyone for your patience and understanding as we work through some growing pains as a team this season.  We have many volunteers in new roles, myself included, and with that comes new learning opportunities.  Needless to say, we learned a lot with our timing system yesterday as it was the first meet where we didn't have an "expert" there to support so, shout out to our timers and ribbon writers for your patience as we worked through some issues and for swimmers and families who patiently waited for their events to start.  A special shout out to Stefanie Jackson, Courtney Bouk, and Meisheng Xiao who graciously volunteer to be stroke and turn officials for each meet, sometimes working both halves.  Thank you to all volunteers that continue to go above and beyond to make this season a success! 

MEET RESULTS

We had 110 Seahawks swimmers race yesterday, earning a total of 247 points.  Not quite enough to beat the Barracudas but we are continuing to make progress.  We are handing out 161 ducks this week to swimmers that have improved their personal best times!  Hard work pays off Seahawks! We'll be handing the ducks out at practice starting Monday.  We also want to celebrate a few new Seahawks that earned All Star times!  Congratulations to Ellie Fanning (50 Back), Kyle Jenkins (25 free) and Riley Knightly (25 Back).  We now have 15 All Star swimmers. (List here) Thank you to our coaches for all your hard work! There is still a chance to earn an All Star time at Divisionals.  Please refer here to find our meet results and see our photos. We would love to see any pictures you took as well so please add your photos to our google drive or tag us on Instagram or Facebook @villagesofurbanaseahawks

EASTSIDE SPLASHDOWN RELAY CARNIVAL

We’re going to try this again! The Eastside Splashdown—the FSSL’s first Relay Carnival—will be held on Tuesday, July 15. While we would love it if everyone could participate in this meet, given the number of teams that are coming, our entries are limited. Here is the list of relay entries for the meet and here is the meet information. There will be no Stroke and Clinic practices.  

If you have a swimmer participating, please plan to arrive no later than 4:45 to get checked in. Warm ups start at 5:00 for our team.  Please take note that there will be no tents allowed on the pool deck except for our team tent because of how many teams will be attending. Our Seahawks tent and swimmer check in table will be on deck to signify where our team is located and to check in with coaches.   

MIGHTY MINI MEET

The Mighty Mini Meet will take place on Thursday, July 17 from 5:00-7:00 PM (there will be no stroke and turn practices). This meet is for swimmers—both Seahawks and Pre team—8 and under, and we are partnering with the Blue Crabs and Mini Crabs at Stone Barn Pool since it's closed on Thursdays. Each lane will have a helper assigned that will be in the water to assist swimmers as needed.  Junior Coaches, please sign up here. We are encouraging all the Pre Team swimmers to sign-up for the kickboard race and freestyle. If you are a Seahawks swimmer and you have participated in at least two meets, we are requesting that you do not sign-up for the kickboard race and only sign-up for 1 or 2 events that you have not finished in the top 3 previously.

Swimmer Entry: Every swimmer who is participating needs to declare themselves as either “attending” or “not attending.” Only those swimmers marked as “attending” by Midnight on Tuesday, July 15, will be eligible to participate.  We need to submit our entries to the Blue Crabs by Wednesday so no late entries will be accepted. 

To declare your swimmer for the Mini Meet, follow these instructions:

• Start by going to the Swim Meet & Event Sign-Up page and then click on the green "Meet Entry" button located next to the event labeled “Mighty Mini Meet.”
• Next click the "Edit" button at the bottom of the page.
• For each swimmer select an option from the dropdown list next to his/her name: "Attending" or "Not Attending."
• Then select the events you would like your swimmer(s) to participate in.
• Click the "Save" button at the bottom of the page.

Volunteer Sign-Up: We also need a handful of volunteers to run this meet. I transferred the volunteers from the original Volunteer Sign Up to the Meet Entry.  I had asked for 8 Timers but I was just informed that we don't need any, however, there were other jobs that needed to be filled so I assigned those same parents the new jobs.  If those don't work for you, please remove your name.  Job signup takes place on our website on the same Meets & Events page where you enter your swimmers. Simply click on the green "Job Sign-Up" button listed by the Mini Meet and then you can sign up for a job. Thank you!

DIVISION 3 CHAMPIONSHIP MEET

The Division 3 Championship Meet will take place on Saturday, July 19. Our meet theme will be Rock and Pop Stars. The meet will be hosted by the Braddock Heights Barracudas at the Middletown High School pool and their theme is 80s. We can totally combine both! The meet will begin at 8 AM. Once we have additional meet information from the host, we will pass that on to our families. In the mean time, here are a couple of things to note:

Swimmer Eligibility: To be eligible to compete at this meet a swimmer must have competed in two or more meets during the regular season. If you only swam in one meet, we are sorry, but you are not eligible to compete.

Swimmer Entry: Whether you plan to attend the meet or not, please take a moment to declare whether your swimmer will be “attending” or “not attending” the meet. In a division championship meet, swimmers are only permitted to participate in up to 3 individual events and only 1 relay. To participate, you must submit your swimmer declaration by Tuesday at midnight. Our entries are due to FSSL on Wednesday so there are no exceptions to this deadline. 

END OF SEASON BANQUET

We are looking forward to a fun event next Sunday evening, July 20, as we celebrate this fantastic and fun summer swim season! Please RSVP no later than Wednesday night, so that we can provide enough food for all families attending. The team will be providing dinner for swimmers and their parents, as well as the swimmer’s siblings.

We are planning on having exclusive use of the entire Harris St pool from 5:00-8:00 PM. During this time, we will be hanging out, having fun, and we will have dinner available from 5:15-6:30 PM. This will be followed by an awards ceremony that will take place in the grassy area at 7:00. Dessert will follow the awards ceremony.  We hope to see everyone there!

SCHEDULE RECAP THIS WEEK

Monday July 14th

Morning Schedule

• 10 and under- 8:00- 8:45
• 11 and over- 8:45-9:45
• Pre-Team- 9:45- 10:30

Afternoon Schedule

• 11 and over- 5:00- 6:00 pm
• Pre Team- 6:00- 6:30 pm
• 10 and under- 6:30- 7:15 pm

Tuesday July 15th-  (Deadline to Declare for both the Mighty Mini Meet and Divisionals by Midnight!)

Morning Schedule

• 10 and under- 8:00- 8:45
• 11 and over- 8:45-9:45
• Pre-Team- 9:45- 10:30

Afternoon Schedule- Eastside Relay Carnival for those attending (No practice)

Wednesday, July 16th

Morning Schedule

• 10 and under- 8:00- 8:45
• 11 and over- 8:45-9:45
• Pre-Team- 9:45- 10:30

Afternoon Schedule

• 11 and over- 5:00- 6:00 pm
• Pre Team- 6:00- 6:30 pm
• 10 and under- 6:30- 7:15 pm

Thursday, July 17th

Morning Schedule

• 10 and under- 8:00- 8:45
• 11 and over- 8:45-9:45
• Pre-Team- 9:45- 10:30

Afternoon Schedule- Mighty Mini Meet for those attending (practice canceled)

Friday, July 18th

Morning Schedule

• 10 and under- 8:00- 8:45
• 11 and over- 8:45-9:45
• Pre-Team- 9:45- 10:30

Saturday July 19th- Divisionals Meet at Middletown Pool (More info to come)

Sunday, July 20th- End of Season Banquet from 5- 8 pm

Let me know if you have any questions!

Emily