Happy Friday, Seals!

Tomorrow morning, we welcome our visiting teams, Travis Country and Belterra! It is going to be a large meet (585 swimmers), a timely meet (proposed 12:30pm end time), and we are all going to be feeling HOT, HOT, HOT (as in 100+ degrees!). Coach Colleen has mentioned this to your swimmers at practice, but please do remind them to drink A TON of water and reapply sunscreen as needed!

Below, please find additional swim meet details:

TIMELINE: BE ON TIME!

6:05 am: Set Up Crew Begins Set Up, Early Gate Keepers Arrive

6:30 am: Age Group Parents Check In

6:45 am: Age Group Parents Ready to Check Swimmers In

6:50 am: Swimmers and All Other Volunteers Arrive and Check In

7:05-7:25 am: Circle C Warm-up (BE THERE or scratched from relays)

7:25-7:45 am: Away Teams Warm Up

7:30 am: Volunteer Meetings (see below)

7:50 am: First call to Ready Bench.

7:55 am: National Anthem

8:00 am: Meet Begins

10:30 am: Approx time for shift change and break – between events 26 and 27 – time permitting there will be parent/coach relays (see note below!)

12:30 pm: Meet Ends

Please note some volunteer positions (e.g. Set-Up and Age Group Parent) will require you to arrive prior to warm-up's. Look for information from the Head Parent in an email to volunteers.

VOLUNTEER MEETINGS (7:30am):

Timers: Meet under the timer tents – Head Timer – Susanna Eilers

Stroke and Turn Judges: Meet under blue umbrellas near concessions on deck area – Head Stroke and Turn – Chad Gallun

Ready Bench: Meet at the Ready Bench on the southeast side (bathrooms/main entrance side) of the pool – Head Ready Bench – Shannon Berndt and Tyson Thomas

Runners: Meet by computer awning (located on the parking lot gate or south side of the pool) - Head Runner – Erin D’Andrea

Age Group Parents: You’ll receive an email from Head Age Group Parents - Brittany Christiansen and Betsy Spears. Please read the guidelines carefully. This email takes the place of a pre-meet meeting. Come early, and come ready to receive swimmers upon checking in!

VOLUNTEERS:

As soon as you arrive at the pool ALL volunteers must check in with Lynn Waldman and Susan Williams at the General Volunteer Check-In located by the back entrance, covered, picnic tables.

Return Volunteer Badges when you’re finished volunteering! There will be a tub to drop them into in the same spot as you picked them up.

If it is an emergency and you can’t fill your shift, please EMAIL our Volunteer Coordinators DIRECT at [email protected]. If it is the morning of, please TEXT our Volunteer Coordinators, Lynn: 512.653.7013 and Susan: 713.376.1463.

NOTE: We are currently in need of 2 volunteers for Clean Up! Please let our Volunteer Coordinators know if you are able to fill in!

AGE GROUP TENTS:

***Please do not enter the Age Group Tent area to either check in your swimmers or to set up your own chairs until AFTER set up is complete:

Check in: Drop your swimmers off at their appropriate age group tent and check them in with the age group parent. Make sure they are sun-screened and marked up BEFORE you leave the area :) Events on arm, name on back of shoulder. See instructions. Also, please don’t remove your child from their tent unless you notify the Age Group Parent

Snacks and Possessions: NO NUTS, no food sharing due to other allergens and intolerances. Please be cognizant of breakfast tacos if there are any egg allergies in your tent. Make sure all possessions are marked, carefully consider what you bring, NO SLIME, and whether or not to bring valuables (electronics, favorite Pokemon or Baseball cards, etc). Of course, we expect everyone to make sure their kids are respectful of others’ possessions but you can’t be too careful.

Check out: Notify the Age Group Parent when you’re leaving for the day and actively check them out.

Head Age Group Parent Note:

NO balls or other big space activities should come to meets. We just do not have enough room. We will be advising age group parents to ask swimmers to put balls and other big space activities away or "hold' it for them if they are repeatedly asked to put it away.

OTHER IMPORTANT REMINDERS:

Changes to Traffic Flow & Spectator Views:

- There will be a roped off area poolside (South side of pool, or "announcer side") where you can watch your swimmer’s events. With the large numbers of participants, there will also be extra spectators. After your swimmer’s race, we ask that you please exit the area so that other folks can step in and view their swimmer's races. 

- We have created an extra pathway located behind the DJ booth where you can access the parking lot, cafe, and restrooms.

- For our visiting teams, we will open a third gate, located in the Visitor's Zoo by the basketball courts. Here they can access the parking lot, cafe AND the two porta potties that we have rented. Of course, please feel free to use this entrance and the facilities if you are so inclined! ;)

- Reminder from last week: Please do not visit your swimmers at the Ready Bench or walk them to the chairs behind the blocks. We have the experts in place, and this will help prevent further congestion on the deck!

Swimmer Cancellations: If your swimmer can't make it at the last second, please TEXT Matt: 512.808.7900. Matt lets the coaches know and adjusts the heat sheets (and for future meets, the relays).

Print your own heat sheets: The HEAT SHEETS will be available in Swimtopia this evening and our computer team will let you know via email and Facebook. There won’t be any for sale or pre-printed on Sunday. Strictly BYO!

Parking: You can enter through the two gates located in the parking lot or the gate along Escarpment. We have handily marked the Escarpment Gate entrance location with arrows on this map. Like last year, the main entrance to the pool will be closed.

Concessions: The Cafe listened to your feedback and will be serving tacos, fruit cups, beer brats, hamburgers, and hot dogs. Bring your appetite!

Weather: We will be keeping a close eye on the weather. Any meet changes will be sent out via Facebook, text message, and email. Make sure you’re signed up for text alerts. Text @seals2018 to 81010 NOW to sign up if you haven’t yet.

Extra Resources: We post results to the Meet Mobile App if you’d like to see them sooner rather than later. Results are posted during the meet, with some delay after each event.

We update MeetBop, so you can see which heat and event we’re up to in real time, compared to the timeline (handy for parents at home, hoping to just swoop in to see kids swim). Beware: typically meets run at home run a little faster than the meet timeline.

Results: Matt will post meet results on the website, usually by Sunday evening after the meet. Check the website. Your swimmers’ times are also updated in your “My Account” section of the website.

Meet Set Up: Attached, please find the 2018 Set Up Map. The first page is a general overview of the pool set up. The second page tells you exactly where your kiddo’s tent will be. Please note: We will be making changes to the Set Up Map AFTER we have confirmed that our new systems will work!

S.E.A.L. Parent/Coach Relay…Thanks to the mastermind of Jeff Grosso,”The Seriously Entertaining And Laughable” Parent/Coach Relay will be ON for this week’s meet. Please get your four person team together and join us for some fun after event 26! The sign in sheet will be with the Gate Keeper located on the Escarpment side.

Can’t wait to see you all decked out in your orange and black, and don’t forget this week’s theme is Hawaiian!

GO SEALS!

Kim