Penguins-

Attached are the entries for the swim meet tomorrow night at Brookwood- warm ups at 5:25 pm and the meet starts at 6:00 pm.  Please be on deck and ready to go by 5:15 pm. The theme is COUNTRY!  Wear your boots, cowboy hats, bandanas, etc.!  

A few updates and reminders:

- We have 155 swimmers- just swimmers- on the team!  This makes us the largest team in the league—even before you add in divers.  Wow!  What this means is that there is A LOT for the coaches to manage (and some of them still swim themselves!) at meets.  Coach Maddie takes notes during swims and Coach Raine gets the kids lined up and provides reminders before and after swims (except when she takes a break to swim or eat).  This week and next, Jaeger Ellerman is helping get the younger kids organized.  With this number of swimmers, it is extremely important that each swimmer go directly to the coaches area (chairs by Coach Maddie) immediately after each swim for feedback and a piece of candy.  With many heats of 6 Penguins, any delays in getting coach feedback may result in coaches not being able to provide the level of detail they would like to each athlete.  They work VERY HARD during the meets to make it positive, fun, and a growth opportunity for all swimmers, and swimmers going directly to them for feedback after each swim (including relays) helps everyone be successful.  Thanks! 

-Meet entries- Each week’s meet entries are a puzzle of the coaches attempting to be equitable with all athletes, get swimmers in events they want or should swim, ensuring that the team scores appropriately, getting legal and winning relays entered, giving all swimmers relay opportunities if numbers in the age group allow, etc.  With so many kids on the team, this requires days of work and adjustment.  This week, with the 40 meter pool at Brookwood, and with entry limits in events, it was especially challenging to get the entries completed.  The coaches attempted to honor requested events, but not all requests were possible.  In the younger age groups, swimmers who are not legal in 25/50 breast or fly were not entered in 40/80 breast or fly, for example.  This also resulted in fewer medley relays in younger age groups.  Adjustments were also made for the 160 meter, versus 100 meter, IM.  Therefore, entries may look different than most weeks.  

- Arm markings and wranglers:  We are going to try something new for the sharpies at meets, with swimmers putting their name on their shoulder AND getting arm markings in a color based on age group as follows:

6 and under = purple

8 and under= red

10 and under = blue

12 and under = silver

We will have a laminated sheets to go with a basket of sharpies for the coaches and wranglers at the meet tomorrrow.  We hope this will make getting kids lined up easier. 
- Please make sure that 12 and under swimmers stay in or near the team area so they do not miss events.  The meet announcer will call events by number and give all swimmers plenty of notice. 

- Please hydrate and eat during the meets.  It is extremely hot and important for all athletes to drink and snack during meets to have energy to get through the evening.  We always have a parent volunteer bring a cooler of drinks for kids- thank you!  We encourage everyone to bring a water bottle and snacks as well- or cash for concessions.  With the extreme heat, this is especially important.

We are looking forward to a fun and fast meet tomorrow night!  See you there!