Dear Colonies Swim Team,

Awesome job at the meet on Thursday night! All the swimmers swam so well, we had a lot of best times! Thank you to all the volunteers who helped make the meet run so smoothly and safely!

RSVP Reminder:

Looking forward, we have our next meet on Tuesday (7/14). I have extended the RSVP deadline by 12 hours so it will now close at noon tomorrow. Please take a moment and quickly indicate your attendance! I did receive some feedback that the Swimtopia app makes it difficult to RSVP. I recommend using a computer to RSVP, not the Swimtopia app. If you experience an difficulties trying to RSVP, please let me know by noon tomorrow. Thank you!

Parent Events:

You may have heard that swimming is a lifelong sport. When I first started swimming in the summer of 2004, I lived in Roanoke and swam for a summer swim league that included a 19+ age group. This allowed my dad to compete in the same meets as me, which I always thought was really fun and made my dad a "cool parent." While I love everything that GRAL does for young swimmers, I wished GRAL would similarly add a 19+ age group to give parents the opportunity to swim in the same meets as their children. 

With one successful meet under our belt, I am excited to announce that the average age of a Colonies swimmer will increase significantly starting Tuesday! Beginning with Meet 2, we will add a series of parent events at meets for swimmers ages 19 and wiser. For simplicity, we are going to keep the parent events very unofficial. Here's how it will work:

1) We will add the following events to our order of events:

• "Event 5.5" - Parent 50 Meter Freestyle
• "Event 13.5" - Parent 50 Meter Backstroke
• "Event 27.5" - Parent 100 Meter Freestyle Relay
• "Event 33.5" - Parent 50 Meter Breaststroke

2) During the meet, we will call each parent event to the clerk of the course in order. 

3) All the "cool parents" who would like to compete in that event will report to the clerk of the course and randomly be placed into heats and lanes by gender.

4) Parents will follow the same procedures their children follow for each event, expect there will be no timers and no official results. 

5) Parents can compete in as many events or as few events as they would like and can change their mind at any time!

For example:

If a parent would like to compete in the 50 Freestyle to amuse their children, they should come to the meet with their suit and be ready to swim at the conclusion of Event 5. After Event 5 is called to the clerk of the course, the announcer will call for "Event 5.5" (also known as all parents who want to swim the 50 Freestyle) to report to the clerk of the course. The clerk will sort parents by gender into random heats and lanes and send them to the block to compete. 

With this plan, there is no need for parent-swimmers to register, RSVP, complete meet entries, or look at a heatsheet. This is simply a fun opportunity for parents to compete in the same meet as their kids. While the coaches will not be providing any practices for our parent-swimmers, I'm sure all your swimmers will be more than happy to coach you! 

Please let me know if you have any questions or concerns! I'm looking forward to making swim meets an event for the whole family!

Go Cruisers!

Very Respectfully,

Coach Jack