Hello Gator Families! 

We had a great meet yesterday at Woodbourne! It has been so incredible to see how much all of our swimmers have grown this summer as athletes, teammates and individuals. We are so proud of all of them! This coming weekend is our League Championship meet at home. There is more information below, but league entries are due earlier than regular meets. Please enter or sign-out of the meet by this Tuesday the 19th at 10:30 am. If you are wondering which events would be best to enter please feel free to reach out to the coaches.

Team Picnic: This Thursday, July 21st, we will have an informal team picnic at Ladybug Park. Bring your picnic dinner and hang out with the team. Coach Avery is organizing nail painting for the girls. There will be football and capture the flag games. Coaches will not be responsible for supervising young children, so please plan accordingly. 

League Meet: All swimmers who are able to independently swim the length of the pool are eligible to compete in the League Championship Meet, unless they are concurrently competing with a year-round team. Swimmers may choose up to three individual events. Swimmers may not enter an event without a time (ie: you must have swum the event during the season). The coaches will set the relays. These will be based primarily on times. Relays are limited to two per team per event so not everyone will be able to participate in relays at the Championships.  

The 200 freestyle, 400 freestyle, and 8 & Under 100 freestyle will be swum on Friday night at Bear Creek. Warm-ups will be held at 4 pm and the meet will begin at 5pm. Holding these events on Friday night will ensure that we can complete the remainder of the meet on Saturday in a timely manner. It also allows those swimmers who enter these longer events the chance to recover before competing in their other races on Saturday. We will still have regular practice on Friday.

You can sign up for League events under the "Schedule/Sign-up" tab on the website. You are able to enter all events through the League Championship meet entries on July 23rd, even those events that will actually be swum on Friday the 22nd. 

We still have volunteer roles that need to be filled! Please remember, in order to complete your commitments for volunteering this season, your family must fill 3 volunteer shifts. If you haven't done that yet, this is your last opportunity! If you don't fulfill your roles, we have to cash your volunteer deposit check. 

Junior Coaches: One of the things that makes our team so special is our junior coaches. They get up and swim at their practice, and then stay for another 2 hours to coach all of our younger kids. They are incredible role models and coaches, and they do it on a totally volunteer basis. One of our families would like to collect money to get them a little something extra as a thank you this year, if you would like to contribute please venmo Andy Hellman at @Andrew-hellman-2. Please put Gator junior coaches as the reason. 

State Meet: We currently have 24 swimmers who have qualified for the State Meet! This year, the State Meet will be held at the Applewood Knolls pool on July 29th AM (400 Free's) & Splash Pool in Golden on July 29 (PM), 30 and 31. For full meet details, please see our website. If swimmers are very close to qualifying, typically within a second, we may have time to swim "last chance" events at the end of the league meet. This is a race after all events have been swum, where they get one final chance to earn a qualifying time.

End of Season Banquet: Our end of season celebration will be held on August 21st this year at 5:00 pm at Grant (Ladybug) Park. We will give out awards, congratulate our graduating seniors, and celebrate our season! We will be sending out a sign up genius to bring food as it gets closer. 

Lost and found: There is a glass casserole dish left from the Endurance Challenge breakfast. We also have a great collection of lost goggles! Come claim your items.

Coaches Corner

Responsibility

Responsibility means being accountable for your choices and the results of those choices. It is recognizing that you have control over your thoughts, words, and actions. As an athlete you have a responsibility to represent your team and community well. You have a responsibility to represent yourself well by what you choose. Athletes are also largely responsible for their own performance. Coaches provide training, feedback, and inspiration, but they cannot control what an athlete does with these. Those who excel take responsibility for their own growth. They take coach feedback and put it into action. They use workouts to push themselves and learn new techniques and habits. Taking responsibility doesn’t mean you have to do everything on your own; we need parents, coaches, and teammates. It does mean that you take ownership of your decisions and opportunities. Those who demonstrate the characteristic of responsibility “do the right thing, in the right way, for the right reasons.”

Coach Meagan, Coach Avery, Coach Jackie, and your Junior Coaches

Ongoing reminders:

• Fellowship of Christian Athletes (FCA): Every Monday morning from 6:45-7 am athletes from our team meet for a time of devotion, discussion, and prayer. Anyone is welcome to join the FCA group at any time.
• We have a growing collection of goggles and clothing that have been left behind at practices and meets. We put this out on the picnic table every day at practice. Please come check it out, especially if you know you are missing something! 

As always, please reach out if you have any questions!