Coaches Note 08-11-09

Lots of good stuff to read, then back to the break! Enjoy!!!

-Western Zone Championship Meet

Our Waves swimmers swimming on the IES Zones Team did fantastic and had an incredible experience in Hawaii. Overall, the team got 5th place--one the highest finishes of all time! Everyone of our athletes on the team thoroughly enjoyed the experience and swam very, very well!!! Congratulations to Faith Barr, Mitchell Beck, Melissa Kirby, Maddy Lydig, Carlie McGregor, Taylor McGregor, Amanda Merrick, Kyle O’Malley, Megan Schuh, Matt Stapleton, and Regan Steinert on a job well done!

-USA Junior National Championship

Rachel Millet begins competing this morning at the Junior National Meet being held in Federal Way, WA. She swims the 100 freestyle today, the 100 butterfly tomorrow, and the 50 freestyle on Friday. To follow the meet, go to the USA Swimming Website, and click on the Juniors Button on the right side of the page. Good luck Rachel!

-Movin’ on Up and Group Changes

Coaches will be in contact with families that will see their swimmer moving up to a different practice group. 

For 2009-2010, we are combining the Development and Junior Group into one large group that will be called the "Age Group" and will be coached by Coach Keddy. He will have two amazing assistants on deck with him, Coach Ariana and Coach Rory, to help him reign in all the kids. We are incredibly excited about the practice group that will be begin practice on Monday, August 31 at 5:30 PM!!!

Similarly, all Ripples swimmers will practice together from 6:30-7:15 Monday-Friday. Again, we will have 3 coaches running 3 groups: Coach Ariana, Coach Rory, and (hopefully if his schedule will allow it) Coach Quinton. 2 Groups of 8-10 will be in the shallow pool, while 1 Group of 8-10 will be in the deep pool. The 3 groups will share that space during the course of the practice session.

-Practice and Meet Schedule

The 2009-2010 Practice Schedule is posted on the Website under the Calendar section. Here is how it works: Click on the Calendar button on the top of the home page. The "General Calendar" is the main calendar for the team, and has all of the major team functions such as Meets and Special Events. If you click on the drop down menu in the middle, you can view the practice schedule for each individual practice group. Again, please take some time to play around with the site to familiarize yourself with it--it is an incredible resource, but can only be utilized by those who take the time to use it!!!

-First Practice: August 31

Please make sure that you have gone to the website, clicked on the "Attend this Event" button, and followed the directions. Again, this is how we will do Meet Entries this year, so it is important that you familiarize yourself with this process--this seemed to be the perfect opportunity to do a practice run, so take advantage of it!!!  First time log in directions can be found here.

Tryouts for New Members: September 14

If you know of any friends or neighbors who are interested in joining the Waves, please let them know that we will be having tryouts on Monday, September 14 beginning at 5:30 PM. Anyone who is interested can be directed to our website: www.spokanewaves.org