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Hood Hammerheads/Pups 2019!

Hammerheads and Pups 2020 Summer Swim Season

Welcome to the Hood Hammerheads 30th season!

We are very excited for this season to begin!!!

Registration opens April 1.

We have decided to keep our registration date as it is amid the uncertainty of how COVID-19 may affect our season. We will deal with the Registration fee before our first practice.

The FSSL will be following any and all Local, State and Federal guidelines that are imposed during our season.

Hopefully all your questions will be answered here. If not, please feel free to email us and we will respond as quickly as possible.

Mission :
The Hood Hammerheads Swim Team mission is to provide ALL participants with an enjoyable experience, developing great sportsmanship, furthering competitive swimming skills, and cultivating special friendships and lifelong memories.

Hood Parent Board

Alex Brown (Team Rep)

Laurie Larsson (Team Treasurer)

Jennifer Lolli-Hall (Team Activities and Team Apparel)

Tara Fager-Morcock (Team Concessions Manager)

Stephen Lindell (Banquet Coordinator)

Michael Kokoski (Team IT)

Hood Coaches:

Head Coach - Ashley Gardner

Assistant Coaches - Emma Lindell, Ashley Taylor, Charles Bennici, Josie Hall, Lauren Wetzel, Caleb Lindell and Nate Tilley

Jr. Coaches - Kiersten Larsson, Lyndsey Brown and TBA

Swimmers: We as coaches ask that all swimmers be able to swim a length of the pool unassisted before joining the team. If you have a little one who can’t quite make it yet, we suggest our Hammerhead Pups Pre-team program.

Registration :

Registration begins April 1.

All swimmers must be registered and paid for by this date or they may not swim in the league this season. Registration will be online on our Team Unify Website (payment will be sent to the Team Treasurer or handed in at the first practice your swimmer(s) attend. We do have a trial period of one week (we will refund your registration cost minus the non-refundable insurance cost.)

Pricing:

Competitive team: $110 for the first swimmer in your family (this includes a $10 non-refundable insurance fee). Additional (2nd/3rd) family Hammerhead swimmers are $100 each ($90 + $10 non-refundable insurance fee) and a flat fee of $90 each for the 4th or more swimmers in a family (maximum insurance fee for Hammerhead swimmers is $30 per family)

Hammerhead Pups Pre-Team: $130 per Pup participant. This also includes a $10 non-refundable insurance fee. All Pups will be registered as FSSL swimmers (same as the Hammerheads team) so that they may try a meet if they are ready at any time during the dual meet portion of the season.

Competitive Team (Hammerheads):

Pre-season weekend practice dates:

Thursday, April 30, from 7:30-8:30pm (all age groups together)

Thursday, May 7, from 7:30-8:30pm (all age groups together)

Thursday, May 14, from 7:30-8:30pm (all age groups together)

Saturday, May 16, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Sunday, May 17, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Saturday, May 23, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Sunday, May 24, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Monday, May 25, from 10-12pm - (12&U from 10-11, 13&Up 11-12)

Saturday, May 30, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Sunday, May 31, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Saturday, June 6, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Sunday, June 7, from 3-5pm - (12&U from 3-4, 13&Up 4-5)

Thursday, June 11, from 7:30-8:30pm (all age groups together) Last practice before 1st meet!

All swimmers must be registered and fees paid, before getting in the water.

Hammerheads Competitive Team Summer Practice Schedule - TBD

Monday-Friday 9:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

The first hour of practice is for our 12&Unders and the second hour is for our 13&Up swimmers.

Note: This may change depending on the number of swimmers registered in each age group hour. Our younger age group was very large last year, and we may need to move an age group to the 2nd hour if the same is true this year.

Also to note: If you have children in 2 different age groups/practice times (competitive team) and need them to swim at the same time, let the coaches know and they will make every effort to work that out for you. (This does not include Pups)

Hammerhead Pups Practice Schedule:

Pups will begin -Tuesday, June 16
(This may change due to COVID-19 school closings. We will update when FCPS announces the last day of school.)

Interested swimmers will be evaluated by the Coach during a swimming skills assessment & registration session on our first day of Pups practice on Tuesday, June 16th to determine the appropriateness of participation.

FSSL Weather Policy for Practices and Meets can be found in the Parents section below.

2020 Meet Schedule:

June 13 - Hood vs Dearbought (out of Division) @ Dearbought

June 20 - Hood vs Mt. Airy @ Hood

June 27 - Hood vs FCY @ Walkersville HS

July 04 - BYE Week (No meet)

July 11 - Hood vs Clover Hill @ Hood

July 18- Divisional Meet @ Hood

July 25 - FSSL All Star Meet @ Spring Ridge

Other dates to note :

Last day to register TBD

Picture Day TBD

Ida Lee Water Park days TBD

Pep rallies TBD

Banquet TBD

Suits and team apparel: Coming Soon!

Once logged into our website, you can view the Team Apparel tab for all suit information! -

Parents:

FSSL Weather Policy for Practices and Meets:

The leagues inclement weather policy is that we practice and compete if it's raining.

In the event that we have thunder/lightning when your child's practice is scheduled, practices will be cancelled (I'll send an email out as soon as I hear). If it is thundering/lightening at 8:30, no practice for 9:30, if it's doing the same thing still at 9:30, the 10:30 practice will be canceled as well. Use your judgment before leaving home. I know it's hard for some of you to judge when you live outside of the city and the weather can be vastly different from town to town, so if you have a friend in the city, give them a call first.

For meets, if you wake up and it's raining and an email hasn't been sent out, the meet is scheduled to go on as planned and we expect you to be there. If, while we're at the meet, thunder/lightning starts, we stop the meet for the required time (around 30-45 minutes) to see if we can continue. If it is raining hard with no thunder/lightning we still go on unless the visibility of the drain in the pool is obstructed. The stopping of the meet or a postponement, is called by the Pool Operator on Duty, not the Team Reps or coaches. Do not leave the meet without speaking to Coach Ashley!!!

If we have begun the meet and have to completely stop, here's what happens... If we have passed the first half of the meet (end of event #34), the two teams have the choice of calling the meet at that point "finished" or (if it's a close one) we can also choose to do a "make up meet" during the week. If we have not passed the half way point, we will have to schedule a make up day that both teams agree on to complete it. If that happens, we have to keep our same line up, we cannot add swimmers that we not on the original entries for that meet.

We will post on Facebook a notice if a cancellation is happening and send out emails through Team Unify and the alternative Distribution list I send from my personal email. Again, If you have not received an email or you don't see it on Facebook, we expect our swimmers/volunteers to show up.

Family Responsibilities:

The Hammerhead Swim Team, with the exception of our paid coaches is completely run by volunteers. In order to make it a fun and successful season, we require that each family volunteer for, at minimum, four meets during the season. If you will not be able to attend 4 meets, we still need the volunteer time filled. That can be done by volunteering a whole meet one or two times to help meet your requirements.

Volunteer duties include, but are not limited to Timing, Stroke & Turn judging (see below), Clerk of Course (getting kids to the seating area), concessions, ribbons and set up and tear down of tents and pool deck area and more!. You will be able to sign up electronically on our Team Unify website.

Stroke and Turn Training:

If you are interested, and we really need your help, you can volunteer as a Stroke & Turn official or Starter. It is mandatory you attend one, 2-hour clinic to be able to officiate a meet (returning judges from the 2019 season must attend one of the refresher sessions or any new trainings). You need only attend one of the sessions offered.

FSSL Mandatory Annual Official's Training: (For ALL New and Returning FSSL Officials)
Training dates will be posted soon

Things to know once you have registered your swimmers online with us:

The Hammerheads work off of Team Unify (TU). TU allows you to sign your swimmers up for specific meets (declaring their attendance) and to sign up for your volunteer responsibilities. You are responsible for having your swimmers signed up to swim at the meets. If they are not signed up by the deadline (Tuesday before that Saturday meet), they will not be able to participate in that weeks meet. Note that you will not choose the events that your child will swim in, the coaches will handle that.

Entering your swimmer(s) for meets:

Swimmers will be signed up (or "declared") for meets (by you) on our Team Unify website (if you are unfamiliar with Team Unify, directions will be sent out to guide you).

Swimmers must be "declared" for the meets by Tuesday afternoon to be entered in the following Saturdays meet. Swimmers should only be "declared" if you know the swimmer will attend the meet. (The team will be penalized if the swimmer is entered into events and doesn’t show.) Of course, we know you can't anticipate illnesses, but if your child does fall ill, or if for any reason they cannot make a meet they are "declared" for, please let us know as soon as possible so that we can adjust our line up if need be.

Swim meet attendance and Divisional and All Star Meet requirements:

Meet Attendance: We have 4 regular meets, 1 Divisional meet and an All Star Meet (invitational meet with time requirements). Our first dual meet (June 13) is an Out of Division meet. (not scored and no points are awarded to the team towards our Divisional standings. Ribbons are awarded.) This is a good meet to miss if you have to miss one. All other Dual meets are In Division meets and are important meets for ALL of our swimmers to attend. We expect our registered Hammerhead swimmers to attend our practices and to participate in the meets.

Divisional Meet: To be entered into the Divisional Meet, swimmers must have participated in at least 2 Regular season Meets to swim for points for the team. Exception: Swimmers can swim at this meet as an Exhibition Swimmer for All Star times as long as they have competed at one regular meet. (This would also give that swimmer the second meet for the meet attendance requirement for All Stars.)

All Star Meet: This meet has a 2 Meet attendance requirement as well as an Event Time Requirement. If swimmers meet both requirements, they are invited to swim in this meet that includes all 15 teams in our League.

Volunteer Job Descriptions

Clerk of Course- This is the area where swimmers line up for their events. We need people there to help get them in the correct order for their events. You will be given a program so you have the names to call, and there will be a few of you there to work together with. Great job if you like being with the kids, and it's the best way to get to know the team!

Concessions- Concessions is our only way of fundraising for the team. We need several people to make this work. You will be serving food, and depending on which half you work, you will either help finish setting it up, or help clean it up at the end.

Head Timer - At Home meets only. This is usually someone who has Timed before. The Head Timer has 2 watches they star at the beginning of race and they keep an eye on the Timers in case someone needs a replacement during the race (ie: they forget to start theirs or a malfunction after the start of their watch) they will exchange one of their watches with that Timer until the finish of the race and the time is given.

Heat Ribbons - Heat ribbons are the ribbons the swimmers earn if they come in first in their Heat. The Heat Ribbon person keeps an eye on the heats and hands one of these ribbons to the swimmer who touches first. You have to keep an eye on the swimmers.

Heat Sheet Runner - Each lane has a clipboard that the Heat sheets are on. After each event or a couple of events, this person collects the sheets from each lane and takes them to the scoring table in the conference room.

IT Support - Our scorers table needs one other person to help read the times to the IT person, or helps an any way that they may need with the timers sheets.

Parking Attendant - We have a public road that runs right through our team areas. We have to have this monitored at all times. Swimmers and spectators cross the road from our team area, and our visitors are not often as aware that there will be an occasional car that will drive through.

Ribbon Writer - Our ribbons will have a sticker placed on the back for each swimmer that comes in 1st-12th. We need people to place those stickers on the ribbons. This is done in the conference room at our pool, and we will let you know of the location to do this at our Away meets.

Safety Marshal - This person wears a recognizable vest and walks around our team area and any other area where the team may be (concessions area, bathrooms, play areas etc) to make sure we are acting appropriately and report to your Team Rep if we are not.

Stroke & Turn Judge - This is the only position that requires training. These persons are responsible for watching swimmers and making calls if the swimmers have made incorrect stroke, turns or other violations while swimming their event.

Stroke & Turn Runner - At Home meets only. This person will collect the DQ slips from the Judges.

Timer - There are 3 Timers at the top of every lane. In dual meets they will split it up so that both teams have an equal number of Timers for each half and equitably placed in the lanes so no lane has timers from only one team. This is quite possibly the best job to have. You right there in on the action, you won't miss your child's events (you can still watch your child swim even if they are not in your lane), you just have to make sure you keep an eye on your lane so you can stop your watch. You will simply be hitting the plunger on the watch at the start of the race, and stopping it at the end. You will read your time to the person in your lane that has the clipboard to record the times. If you have the clipboard, you will record the times as well as time the event.

Water Runner - Only at Home meets. You will make sure all volunteers on deck either know where the water is to grab on their own, or bring water to the volunteers.

Looking forward to another great season! GOooooooooooooo Hammerheads!