SPY Newsletter - May 2019

Alex Totura

SPY Families - There has not been a newsletter for a while now since we elected to go with some more specific informational emails this Spring to those who were registered, but here is a Newsletter with some things coming up and a recap of some items from the Spring.

Things Coming Up

We hope everyone has a safe Memorial Day Weekend! We know there is lots of traveling so over the weekend so hopefully everyone gets to their destinations safely and the weather cooperates. There will not be practice on Monday May 27th due to the YMCA being closed. We have regularly scheduled practices on Friday and Saturday, and practice will resume on Tuesday May 28th. See below for some reminders on the practice schedule changes coming up.

Summer Practice Schedule Reminders

  • Here is the summer practice schedule as was sent out a few weeks ago.

  • We will not start the AM practices at Nelson Center until Monday June 3rd.

  • Next week starting Tuesday May 28th, Senior and Senior Prep swimmers will start AM practice at Kerasotes from 7:30 AM to 9:30 AM Tuesday through Friday.

  • We will follow the current PM practice schedule through May 31st.

  • The Summer PM schedule will begin on Monday June 3rd

If you sent a coach an email specific to your swimmers and when to attend practice, they will get back to you after the Holiday. There will be general emails to each roster group on what to expect and goals for attendance through the summer.

Summer Training Rosters

Attached you will find the Summer Training Rosters. These should be up to date based on the registration from the Spring, college swimmers returning for the summer, any changes that have been communicated to me the past few weeks, and includes removal of athletes who were signed up for Spring Training only.

If your swimmer is not on the roster and should be, or you would like to enroll them for Summer Training please email Alex.

Meets

There are two more “regular season” meets that you can register for during the summer. The June Intersquad meet on June 7th, and the EDWY Independence Celebration on July 5-7. The meet information for the EDWY meet has been posted and you should be able to declare your swimmers and select events. The deadline for the meet will be June 5th to give us a couple days to put entries together before they are due. The EDWY meet is the last Long Course racing opportunity for anyone not qualified for the Y State meet or beyond. The June Intersquad meet will run similarly to the May meet and we will put out some more information next week.

There will be more information next week on the Long Course YMCA State meet. This should include an updated meet packet and event file. I did put the event file on our website since I am the entry chair for the meet and needed to test it. You should be able to start registering qualified swimmers for the meet, but there will be more detail next week still.

Spring Recap

It has been a while since we have done a newsletter so there are a few things to recap since the short course banquet in March.

SPY has had 4 competitions since the start of the long course season. 3 long course meets in Edwardsville and the Pie for the Y intersquad meet. Thank you to all who participated in the Pie for the Y meet this season and all who have pledged to the Strong Kids campaign this year. SPY families have accounted for $11,885  in pledges in 2019 which is fantastic and makes a big difference for kids in our community. Even though the rest of the YMCA didn’t participate in the Pie for the Y this year, I think the swimmers enjoy getting to relentlessly pie coaches in the face. If anyone has any video or pictures they can share please do so to [email protected].

Rob and Alex hosted the Illini District Meeting in April and then attended the IL YMCA State meeting in May. Alex was nominated and voted as the new Illini District chair, replacing Rob. There was not a whole lot of new news from the meetings. A lot of the meetings is going over the previous season’s state meet and deciding what can be done better. Long Course time standards were finalized and have since been shared, the Short Course time standards will be available after the meeting in the fall. Rob and Alex will serve again on the State Meet Committee for the next year with Rob as the facilities coordinator and Alex as the entry chair. There should be information in the fall that comes from the newly formed Safe Sport Committee as the state continues to try and figure out the best policies and procedures for meets

Here you will find a recap of the achievements of swimmers over the 2018-19 short course season. Some was shared at the banquet in March, but this now includes results from Y Nationals. New records have been ordered and will likely be here sometime during the summer to go up in August in all likelihood.