Parents,

It has come to my attention that in one isolated incident, a parent has accused/questioned one of our junior coaches directly.  Please know that our junior coaches are 13 to 18-year-old volunteers who are giving their time to keep our practices safe and allow us to teach a large group of young children at a time.  Ultimately, I am the one who is responsible for everything going on at the pool.  If you have an issue with what you see happening at practice, please speak to me directly, preferably between practices unless it is a safety issue.  The only thing that should be said to our junior coaches is “thank you.”  We all (I especially) owe them a huge debt of gratitude.  Thank you for your cooperation in this.

With this one exception, I am really happy with the start we’ve had to the Stingrays season.  The kids are amazing—great listeners who are trying and conquering new skills on a daily basis.  Coach Dore and I are working hard to learn all their names, teach them something new, and encourage every swimmer to race a little every day.  Thank you for trusting us with your kids.

This week at Stingrays we’re going to focus on strokes.  Each day’s focus is:

Backstroke (Tuesday).

Breaststroke, two-hand touches, and pullouts (Wednesday).

Fly and IM transitions (Thursday).

Freestyle and flip turns; rock Fun Friday.

No meet this week.

If you miss a day, you miss a lot! 

Equipment we’ll be using:  Fins for all ages.  Towel that you can get dirty.  Paddles for ages 11 & up.  Suit, cap and goggles always.  Please label everything.  Remember that lost equipment can be reclaimed for a limited time from the bin for 50 cents on the honor system.  This spare change will be used at the end of the season for “diving for dollars.”  We do not keep loaner equipment, so please bring and keep up with your own equipment.  It takes too much time out of practice to fit everyone for fins.

Weather:  We won’t get in the pool if there is thunder/lightening, but I’d really prefer not to lose this week of teaching/training and getting to know the kids.  Kids will meet under the awning across the pool from the entrance with their dryland towels if and only if it is safe to do so.  Parents may stay under the awning at the pool entrance or may drop off/pick up at normal times.

Heads up for next week:

If you have old tennis balls that you want to get rid of but haven’t thrown to a dog yet, we could use some donations.  Tennis balls should be relatively clean; no bounce required.

See you at the pool!

Coach Elise

 

Practice schedule:

4:15 - 5:15 pm	13 & Up
5:15 - 5:45 pm	6 & Under
5:45 - 6:00 pm	Break
6:00 - 6:45 pm	7/8
6:45 - 7:30 pm	9/10
7:30 - 8:15 pm	11/12