Good Evening Dolphins, Apologies for the late cancellation this evening. We hope to have our Fun Friday AM practice tomorrow, weather permitting. Note: fun Friday's are still normal practice, with some fun games at the end as well as bagels provided by the team. :-) 1) Meet info for Tuesday: we are AT SCC against Ashby. Our first in person home meet! Home team swimmers should arrive by 4:15PM. Those of us that arrive early can park around the circular drive, which we will close off at 4:30PM to allow extra space for Ashby to spread out. I will ask you all to park on the PERPENDICULARLY in grass around the pool so that we can save parking spaces for our guests. More info to come on Sunday/Monday. We will again sign out using the swimmingly website. 2) Banquet this year will be different. Because of the calendar shift which places champs on the last day of July, the first week of August starts on Sunday August 1. Both myself and our head coach grace depart early on August 1, so our Tuesday post champs banquet won't occur as in the past. As an alternative, we thought we would do our parent/kid mock meet on Friday July 30 at the pool from 5-8PM, and have a pool party banquet instead. If you have ideas, comments, concerns please let me know. Think low key fun pizza party with swimming and fun games, with awards at 7PM so we can all get to bed in time to be rested for champs! 3) CHAMPS: Planning for the championship at JMU is in full swing. I think we (the VSL) are crazy for trying to pull this thing together in 5 weeks (thanks, Covid), but I am also glad we will be able to provide a bit of normalcy for our swimmers after the past 16 months. Here are things to know: a) Mark your calendars for Saturday July 31. With the exception of any graduated relays, 10U swim in the AM between 8am-12n; 11+ 1-4PM. Ending times are flexible simply pending how quickly we finish. Normally we all are housed in the JMU Godwin gym, and we will do the same this year AND there will be added outdoor space for anyone who prefers not to be inside in a large group. b) Please let us know if you will attend by filling out this google sheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1MGG_S3ONxqggTHhUu5UORsxwxjWMwVr5t7ynGi7wKKA/edit?usp=sharing c) Please volunteer for jobs at champs. Sign ups to come later... just know we need 4-5 AM timers; 4-5PM Timers; clerks of course, AM & PM ribbons, 4 stroke and turns (half day each); team photographer, d) Heat Sheet Sales: an 8.5x11 booklet of information is given out at champs (cost of the booklet is $5 and was INCLUDED in your team registration fee). This booklet contains the competitive heat sheet/meet line up, as well as team rosters, advertisements, commemorative picture ads congratulating swimmers, etc.... it can also be used as a fundraiser for our team, as we sell ad space to interested parents. They are sold in full page, 1/2 page or 1/4 page options (see image). These are VERY EASY to create on your own using canva.com, or even Apple Keynote or Microsoft Powerpoint. If you need help, please let me know. I am still waiting to hear back from a local photographer on our team pictures, but hope to have that in place for next week. If there are any photographers on the team who would want the job, let me know! :-) SUBMIT PDF ADS by uploading ad pages to your team google folder by Noon on Monday, July 19th, using the following link: VALLEY SWIM LEAGUE FOLDER LINK: https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1gr28B-4EKwLuPI7YTdMdE72uSigqj1EK?usp=sharing If you have any questions, please let me know. Again, ALL ARE DUE BY MONDAY JULY 19th.
- Hilary Irons