Parents of 6 & Unders,

Thank you for a great start to the Stingray season.  The kids have been putting in some great effort, and many of them are making good progress in their freestyle and backstroke.  I have especially appreciated how you, as parents, have really respected our off deck policy.  As a fellow parent, I understand both sides of the fence, and can really understand the difficulty of your position.

Several issues came up last week regarding safety of our 6 & Under practices.  I am asking for your assistance with the following:

Bathroom breaks:  Please have your children use the restroom immediately before practice.  It is a safety problem to have children coming and going from practice without supervision, and we do not have the manpower to take them to the restroom.

Behaviorial issues:  Last week, at least one child left the fenced pool area during practice time.  If you see any 6 & Under swimmer leave the pool area, please do not ignore this.  If a coach is having behavior issues with a child, they will have them sit on deck for a few minutes or may ask the parent to take them home for the day or even take a week off.  No 6 & under swimmer should leave the fenced area without a parent.  Again, this is a safety issue, and with the large number of 6 & Unders in the pool, it takes all of us to be aware.  Thank you for your assistance in this.

Swimming ability:  Coach Dore and I conducted a trial swim on Thursday, May 27, to help us identify those 6 & Unders who are not yet able to swim across the pool without assistance from someone in the pool with them.  As discussed during the parent meeting (and outlined in the parent meeting notes), Stingrays must have the ability to swim the length of the pool (freestyle) without a person in the water with them and without excessive rests or pulling along the laneline in order to participate in swim team.  We offered two weeks of our best efforts to get them to this point.  After two weeks of Stingray practices, we still have some non-swimmers, though not all have been identified yet.  This process will continue through time trials on Saturday.  If your child is not able to swim across the pool, you have several good options:

1.  Contact Gretchen Hinojosa to withdraw your swimmer from the team for a refund for the non-swimmer.  Please come back to try again next year!  I highly recommend refresher swim lessons once a week beginning in January.

OR

2.  Allow your Stingray to continue membership.  Sign them up for swim lessons with a reputable instructor now (Sharon Thomas is one of my very favorite people who also teaches great swim lessons, email [email protected]).  As soon as the swimmer can successfully complete one length of the pool, they are welcome back at practices and swim meets.  They can restart anytime before May 30.

Please understand we are doing everything we can to make Stingray practices a safe environment for every swimmer, and that is why we have to maintain a standard for participation.  We want your family to have a great Stingray season, and for every swimmer to have a positive experience every day. 

If you have further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact me. 

Sincerely,

Elise Selz

832-971-8494