Hi All,

Thank you to everyone who helped out at our last meet!  This week is our first away meet and there is alot of information to pass on to you.

This week's update:

• Practice Change for Thursday 7/2 and Saturday 7/4
• Munchin Marlins 
• Meet Tuesday 6/23 away at Lifetime Raleigh
• Volunteers needed for 6/23 meet
• Declaration changes
• Swim Team Registration fees and Sponsor donations
• T Shirts
• Ribbons
• Los Tres Vaqueros Fundraiser
• Saving Grace Fundraiser
• End of Season Awards Ceremony
• Lessons
• Meet Recap
• Action items
• *****Lifetime meet details- at end of this message

Practice Change for Thursday 7/2 and Saturday 7/4- Practice will not be held on these days next week due to the July 4th Holiday. I apologize for any inconvenience. 

There will only be practice Monday, Tuesday AM and Wednesday next week. due to the July 4th Holiday.

Munchin Marlins 

Munchin Marlins tonight is Baked Potato Bar/Hot Dogs, thank you Brandi Norman for hosting. The theme next week is Taco/Nacho Night. Sign ups are open, Thank you to Connie Garkalns for hosting. Thank you, also, to Bethany White for hosting our Brakesfast for dinner event last week. We do still need a lead host for our last dinner of the season on 7/13.

Meet Tuesday 6/23 at Lifetime Raleigh:

This is our first away meet this season and there are many specific details for this location. I will be pasting their instructions at the end of this email. You will need to arrive at Lifetime so that your swimmers are ready to stretch on the pool deck by 5:15, our pool warmup time is 5:30-6. Meet starts at 6 PM. 

***There is a check in procedure at their front desk so it may take longer than usual to get on deck, please plan accordingly.

***Lifetime does not have lights and cannot operate after dusk so this meet will be short, should be over around 8:45. 

Volunteers needed for 6/23 Meet

Open positions are:

• 9-10 All Kid Pusher
• Timers-need 2 more
• Runner

Declaration Changes

Any change you need to make for this week's meet (fingers crossed there are none 😊 ) should be reported immediately to Coach Sam (919-455-4975) and me (919-345-9359) as there are updates we need to make in the meet software and printouts for the meet.

Registration Fees and Sponsor Donations:

Thank you to those who have paid and/or collected sponsor donations. If you have not done so yet, please drop off payment at practice or place in my folder in the ribbon box. You can also venmo me @Jackie-Miller-160

T-Shirts

Shirts have been picked up and are being distributed. Thank you to Connie for handling this task!

Ribbons from last week:

All ribbons are in the ribbon box in the kitchen. Each family should have a folder in a black box by the microwave in the kitchen. Each week you can collect your ribbons from there. Thanks Coach Sam for doing ours and Oak Park's!

Los Tres Vaqueros Fundraiser:

Gift cards available for purchase. How this fundraiser works:

• Pay $20
• Receive $25 in restaurant value
• $5 from every card goes directly to support our swim team!
• Contact Bethany White (724-433-9389) if interested in purchasing

Saving Grace Fundraiser:

We will be collecting items to donate to Saving Grace Animals for Adoption. Collection will take place during our Awards Ceremony, or another time that you rearrange with me. Full details to come next week, just wanted to make you aware we were planning it. 

End of Season Awards Banquet:

Will be held at the pool Wednesday 7/15  (or Thursday 7/16 if there is any postponement of 7/16 meet.) It will be a Potluck with cake provided. Bring your own drinks. Will start at 6 with dinner then awards. If you have any pictures from the season please forward to me. If anyone would be willing/able to help with coordinating thius event please let me know.

Lessons:

Our MSRC Coaches are available for swim lessons. If you are interested, or know anyone who is, please contact Coach Sam at 919-455-4975. She will assign a coach to the lesson based on swimmer skill level and scheduling availability. Evenings after practice or weekends are the nest time but we can work around your schedule. Cost for members is $25 for individual 30 minute lesson and $30 for group 30 minute lesson. If you have any questions you can also contact me at 919-345-9359.  If you know of anyone looking for lessons we do teach non-swim team members so please refer us?.

Meet Recap from 6/16 against Oak Park:

I will be sending out a full recap for the first 3 meets of the season- I apologize for the delay. I did want to pass along a proud moment for our team.  At the end of the meet Oak Park's Coach (also the person hired by the TSA League to conduct the annual required Coaches Clinic) approached Coach Sam and told her that she has competed against many, many teams and that our Manchester Marlins had the best Sportsmanship she has ever seen. She was very impressed with how we conducted ourselves and said that we were an absolute pleasure to swim against. This is a huge compliment and one that we should be very proud of.

Action Items:

Prior to Sunday 6/28 at 6 PM

• Declare your swimmers
• RSVP for Munchin Marlins
• Sign up to donate to Munchin Marlins if able
• Volunteer for open meet positions

As always if you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact me. And again, thank you all for everything you do for our team!

GO MARLINS!
Jackie Miller

Manchester TSA Rep

Lifetime instructions:

Concessions: We have indoor and outdoor cafes that will be open during the meet to provide food and beverages for purchase! We are a cashless club, so we only take cards. We don't allow outside food/coolers at our club. We do allow people with food allergies to bring small snacks and such inside of their pool bag/backpack/etc., but anyone who brings a cooler in will be stopped at our front desk. We should have plenty of seating available, although y'all are welcome to bring chairs of your own if you prefer. Your team will be on the Cafe side of the pool (to the left when you walk onto the outdoor pool deck)

Directions and Parking: Our address is 8515 Falls of Neuse Rd, and y'all are welcome to park anywhere in our parking lot!

Warm-ups: As the visiting team, you will warm up at 5:30 pm.

Timing and Judging: We use a TimeDrops system earlier this season. We appreciate y'all having 6 timers available (2 buttons per lane, 1 LT timer and one Manchester timer per lane) and an Order of Finish judge that will work in conjunction with ours as a supplement to the TimeDrops system. Per TSA rules, we will only utilize order of finish if there is an issue with the timing system.

SwimTopia:  NOTE: We do NOT have outdoor lighting to operate past sunset, so we ask to limit entries wherever possible (3 individual events for 7 & up's, 2 for 6 & under's so everyone can still hit their max number of main events but we can also speed up a lot that way, we've had to cut all heats starting with breaststroke/butterfly for our two home meets so far this year - typically with that we've been wrapping up right around 8:45-9pm)  ****Note from Jackie- the time limitations will mean that for 6 and Unders only a select few will swim breaststroke. Most will only swim freestyle and backstroke as their events. For 7 and up it means that if you swim mains, you will not swim your heat event. 3 events total for your age group.

Monday night we will go through the meet and make changes to reduce heats, including combining boys and girls relays wherever possible. Please let me know by then if you have any objection to not having a lane between girls and boys relays in a combined heat. We will print the meet documents at 2:30 on Tuesday afternoon, and will have documents on deck to make minor changes/scratches beginning at 4:45pm on Tuesday evening.

Officials Meeting: Timers, judges, TSA Reps, and the Starter will meet near the starter’s stand at 5:40 to go over final meet instructions.

Awards: At the meet, we will hand out Heat Participant ribbons and Heat Winner ducks as swimmers exit the pool. We will take care of the rest of the ribbons in the days after the meet and will deliver them to you as soon as possible (likely Thursday).

Additionally: Everyone will have to sign our MUA agreement upon arriving to the club. They should enter and exit the building ONLY through the front of the building. They will be directed to our staff behind the check-in desk at the front, where we will have printed copies to sign — for our home meets last year this only added a few minutes to the arrival for the visiting teams.