News from the Pool- Week of June 24
UPCOMING EVENTS
Monday, June 24- Fall registration opens to current members
Wednesday, June 26- mini-meet at WGHS (hosted by BAY)
Sat-Sun, June 29-30- Valley Splash meet
Monday, July 1- Fall registration opens to the public
Tuesday, July 2- last day to RSVP for 7/6 BLOCK PARTY
Thursday, July 4- no practice
Saturday, July 6- BLOCK PARTY MEET
Fri-Sun, July 12-14- Silver State Championships
Tuesday, July 16- last day to RSVP for 7/20 BLOCK PARTY
Thurs-Sun, July 18-21- Sectionals (qualifiers only)
Saturday, July 20- BLOCK PARTY MEET
Sunday, July 21- Team Awards Celebration and last day of the 2023-24 season
Thurs-Sun, July 25-28- Far Westerns (qualifiers only)
WGHS/WGMS PRACTICE SCHEDULE
TEAM SHIRTS: I don’t know who else was super fired up after watching the past 9 days of Olympic Trials in Indianapolis, but our swimmers for Team USA looked outstanding. In celebration of the Olympic season, we have special shirts for all of our team members (no additional charge.) See your coach to pick one up in your preferred size. We also have some for purchase for family members. Just fill out this form and I’ll have them available for pickup!
TEAM TOWELS: New super plush team towels are in and ready to wrap our swimmers in comfort. Available for purchase ($45) via this form. They will be charged directly to your account. Limited quantity available, so don’t delay!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 26- No afternoon practice for the PM Gold, JV and Prep groups, as we will be hosting a meet that afternoon at the high school. If you normally swim in the afternoon and are not participating in the meet, you are welcome to attend the morning session of your group’s practice. There IS regular Race Team practice at the middle school for the 3:15, 4:00, 4:45 and 5:30 groups.
BLOCK PARTY: For the past 18 years, even before our team was “Swim South Bay”, we would run the Friday Night at the Races events. These events would feature 100-150 of our swimmers competing in a mini-meet setting, racing against their own teammates, having fun on a Friday Night (or Saturday morning) with treats afterwards. Ribbons were won, kids went home clean (and tired) and parents got to see how swim meets could be fun and easy. Because, let’s face it, we have to encourage the PARENTS to sign their swimmers up for these events and WANT to spend their time at the pool.
Fast forward to now and we are seeing dwindling attendance at the Race Night/Time Trial events (less than 30 out of 240 swimmers attended the last one.) Parents don’t know the events are happening (they don’t read the newsletter), kids can’t sign themselves up for them and we are losing the competition part of being on a competitive team. That’s where the USA Swimming Block Party steps in. The “Block Party” events are just like the meets we’ve been running for nearly 2 decades except they are OFFICIAL meets where the times count! These are not meant to replace the weekend off-site meets at local pools, as those are still great to race against other people and take the “next step” in the swimming journey. But we have to get kids racing again! Attending practice without going to meets is like having your swimmer learn math, but never take a quiz or a test to determine their comprehension. WE NEED TO SEE THEM PUT INTO PRACTICE WHAT THEY ARE LEARNING!
So help us help your swimmers by signing up for one of the two upcoming Block Parties on July 6 or July 20 at WGHS. Signups can be done on the events page of the website. We estimate an 8-10am event time. Parents can time, coaches can coach and we can all have fun together!
FALL REGISTRATION: If your swimmer would like to join us for the new season starting August 26, be sure to register NOW before it opens to the public this weekend. ALL swimmers in ALL groups must register for the new season if they wish to join us in the Fall. Swimmers are not automatically enrolled in the new season. This registration is for Blue, Yellow, Gold, JV, JV+, Prep, Varsity and Senior swimmers. Details can be found on the registration link or clicking on the large yellow “Fall Registration” button on the homepage.
ENDLESS POOL: Is your swimmer interested in trying the Endless Pool? Are YOU interested in trying the Endless Pool? This pool is a water treadmill that we can adjust the speed to your stroke rate. There are underwater mirrors for additional visual support (I call them the “in water coach” so swimmers can SEE their strokes.) It is the most powerful coaching tool we have at BAY and has been so helpful to so many of our swimmers!
We have weeklong sessions, Saturday only classes, as well as trial classes if you’d like to try it for just a single 25 minute class on a Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday. The trial classes are available via email only. This week, we have weekday appointments at 10:30, 11 or 11:30am. The classes are $45 each and billed directly to your account. You can also have 1 or 2 swimmers in the class (no additional cost for an additional swimmer.)
SUMMER CAMPS AND LESSONS: Our summer programming is open and ready for registration. Besides private lessons, we also offer swim camp and junior lifeguard camp. Check out our programs here (also on the “swim lesson & camp” tab of the website.) There are many ways these programs can align with your regular swim team practice.
SAFE SPORT: We are up for Safe Sport renewal for the season. This means, we must have at least 10% of our membership participate in the SafeSport training. We have hosted meetings listed below OR a course you can do anytime here: Safesport online training info
USA Swimming Safe Sport staff is hosting Zoom training for parents, minor athletes in order for families to know about SafeSport and keeping our sport safe. These are optional, but important to keep everyone on the same page about safety and boundaries. All participants will need to register to attend training.
Parent Training:
Wednesday, July 17 at 8:00 p.m. ET – REGISTER
Wednesday, August 7 at 8:00 p.m. ET – REGISTER
Athlete Training (12-17 years old):
Thursday, July 18 at 8:00 p.m. ET – REGISTER
Thursday, August 8 at 8:00 p.m. ET – REGISTER
LINKS:
Team store (password: BAY)
