Dolphin Update: Post-Meet Info on June 18, 2025

Great job at the swim meet everyone!! I feel thankful this morning that the weather held off and that we were able to both complete the meet, and to also enjoy the pizza party!! Massanutten is always a great match for us, in size and in competitive spirit.

I am feel thankful to our team parents. I have been running this team for ten years, and last night was literally the FIRST TIME EVER that I didn't have to beg for volunteers to take unfilled spots on the signup genius. Every role was filled by the time the meet began. That is a testament to the generous hearts of our swim families, and so I say thank you!!

Team store closes soon, so please place your orders: https://2025-spotswood-country-club-swim-team-webstore-june.itemorder.com/shop/home/

1) Post Meet Info:

a) The first meet of the year always offers a few bumps regardless of how prepared a team is, as a live dual meet presents with things out of our control, particularly in regard to the technology.  The good news is that the experience gained in every aspect of the meet is of benefit going forward, not only within our team from swimmers up through adult volunteers, but also across the VSL collectively. All are now equipped with the understanding that comes with experience, and I hope all feel assured. Special thanks to those with particularly intense roles: Jenny on computer and Holly and Laura at clerk. You ROCKED IT.

b) Meet results are posted in the Swimmingly fan app.

c) Ribbons: all participating swimmer's will receive ribbons as evidence of their accomplishments! Elizabeth Kistler is our resident ribbon lady, and she will plan to complete them for us each week. They will be ready by Friday mornings.

2) Preparing for next week:

a) please make sure to sign out your swimmer(s) by Monday morning of each week. This is called "declaring." Many of us already know when we are going to miss for vacation so you can let us know all at once! There are 2 ways to do this:

1) Using the bulletin board at the pool entrance: you will find dated sheets where you can write your names Swimmingly: log into the swimmingly account.

2) Use the swimmingly.app browser. Parents or guardians can declare a swimmer as "Not Attending" by logging into their Swimmingly Clubhouse account, going to the Meet Schedule tab, and selecting the relevant meet. If the Club Admin has enabled parent event entry, you may also be able to deselect individual events. Declarations save automatically. 

3) Of course, last minute changes are sometimes necessary; in those cases please text Alexis and/or Hilary.

b) Next week's is against ERRA:

1) Timing: this meet will take a bit longer given the size of the ERRA team (which is 3x the size of our team). Pure speculation? I bet we finish closer to 9PM (if all goes well). Plan to arrive BY 4PM to claim some space.

2) Space: the deck will be a TIGHT squeeze and we will likely spill up into the circular driveway. Do not park there if you plan to leave early.

3) Other parking notes: our team will arrive first, so there should be plenty of open paved spaces. But, as a gracious host -we should do our best to create a welcoming experience for the guest team. If you are willing to park in the grass, park perpendicular to the road to create more available spaces. We can fit double the cars that way and it will help ensure our guest team isn't having to park at the road and take a long walk!

Last reminder: Fun Friday this week will also include make up team pictures.

Have a great weekend, and look for my next update on Sunday evening/Monday morning.