Author: greenmountainswimteam

Gator Update: Week of 6/10

Summary:
Wednesday 6/12: Intrasquad #2
Thursday 6/13: Night practice cancelled
Friday 6/14: Donut Day
Saturday 6/15: Tri-Meet @ Golden

Details:
– Intrasquad#2: warm up @ 4:30 pm / start @ 5:00 pm
We will have pizza, nachos, snacks and al the Gator Gear for purchase.
Volunteer sign up: click here
– Night practice: We will hold upper division night practice on Tuesday, but not Thursday. The Swim Club is hosting a movie night on Thursday, along with the fact that the coaches will be working hard at the meet on Wednesday night.
– Donut Day: We will have donuts at our Friday practice to pump the kids up for our meet against Golden. We have a friendly rivalry with the Golden Marlins and always like to pretend it’s a bigger deal than it really is. They are an awesome team and we love swimming against them.
– Tri-Meet: warm up @ 6:30am / start at 7:00 am @ The Splash in Golden
Golden has an 8-lane pool and will be hosting 3 teams, instead of our normal 2 teams. Team Candalas will also be at this tri-meet. They have a very small team (less than 30 swimmers), so you may not even notice that a third team is there.
volunteer sign up: click here
– A massive thank you to the parents! This is the first season where we have not been pulling people out of chairs and forcing them to volunteer. We are incredibly grateful that everyone is stepping up this season. THANK YOU!!!

Meet Entries Sat 6/8

Because AK is a large team (larger than us) we need to make sure the meet runs as fast as possible. We have a hard deadline of 12:50 and although we don’t want to cut events, we will if we do not make the deadline. For that reason we are trying to make the meet move quickly by tweaking a few things. We spoke with swimmers at practice today, but I wanted to reiterate some suggestions for this weekend so parents can help reinforce them.


1. We are limiting relay entries. We will have one relay per gender per age group. That means we will have 8 swimmers in relays across the two relays. If your swimmer signs up but does not swim in a relay, it is for that reason. We will get as many kids as possible in relays.
2. If possible we would like kids to swim two individual events instead of three. If your swimmer wants to swim three events, that is ok, but if they are willing to drop one and save it for next week, that would help our timing a lot. Next week we have an intrasquad meet on Wednesday and a dual meet on Saturday.
3. We are working on “fly-over” starts. When a swimmer finishes their race at the starting block end they should stay in the water until the next heat starts (flies-over) them. Once the next heat starts then they can exit the water. If a swimmer starts exiting the water before the next heat starts, the starter has to wait for them to exit before starting the next heat. Fly-over starts make the meet run smoothly and faster. The exceptions to this are 8 & Unders finishing at the turn end of the pool after their 25 and the backstroke events because swimmers start in the water.

Thank you for helping the kids understand the expectations and suggestions for this meet. The entries are being pulled off the wall today, but if you want to make changes we will finish the entries tomorrow, so your kids can talk to the coaches at practice. Please let the coaches know if you have any questions. Thank you!

Gator Updates: Week of 6/3

  • Dual Meet on Saturday 6/8 at GMSC. Warm up @ 6am / start @ 7am. We are swimming against Applewood Knolls and they have a HUGE team. Our last meet ended at 11am (with a small team). Plan for this meet to possibly go until 1:00pm)
  • Quick reminder our parent expectations during the meet: Please help your swimmer get to the heating shed when their event is called. After that, the Shed Boyz will take over and get them situated into their heat and onto the deck for their event. Unless you are a Timer, parents should not be in the heating shed or behind the blocks. It is VERY crowded on deck and we need to keep the kids organized and keep the deck as clear as possible. Thank you for your assistance.
  • Volunteer sign up for the meet: click here (we are currently short 23 people)
  • Iron Gator: We like to encourage swimmers to try every event in their age category and we recognize this achievement at our end of the year banquet. If your swimmer competes in every event in their age division and receives a time (DQ’s do not count), they will be an Iron Gator! The coaches will work with your kids to attempt this, but we understand that all kids are not ready. This could be a right-now goal for your swimmer or a future goal.
  • Upper Division Night Practices start this week: Tuesdays and Thursdays from 8:00pm – 9:00pm. These practice are for 13 and older swimmers only. Your swimmer can speak directly with Coach Ethan at practice for additional information.
  • Photos from our meets: you can find photos from our meets on our Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/greenmountaingators). We will also be printing out some of the photos to hang in our display board throughout the season. Have questions? Talk to Danielle or email us at gmstgators@gmail.com

Starting out Strong!

We have a lot happening this week, so please read through the post.

Summary:
Monday 5/27: Memorial Day – no practice
Tuesday 5/28: morning practices start
Wednesday 5/29: Intrasquad #1
Friday 5/31: Tie-dye and Ice Cream Party
Saturday 6/1: GMST vs. GEN – first dual meet

Details:
Morning Practices: We have a very big team and may adjust practices times based on how crowded each age group is. As of today our practice times are:
– 6:30 am – 8:00 am: 13 and older
– 8:00am – 9:00 am: 10-12 years
– 9:00 am – 10:00 am: 9 and under

Intrasquad #1: This is our first meet of the season with just our team and it is a good way to shake out all the kinks and make sure that we are all ready (swimmers and volunteers) for the rest of the season.
-warm up: 4:30pm / start 5:00pm
Sign up to volunteer: click here – we are currently short 23 people to make the meet run efficiently. (18 of those are timers and we won’t start the meet if we don’t have timers)
– Pizza + Gator gear: We will have pizza, nachos and other snacks to purchase along with a new batch of Gator swag. You won’t want to miss it!
–Old team suits: if you have an old team suit that no longer fits and is in good condition, please drop it by the Gator Gear area. We hate those suits to go to waste and someone on the team could definitely put it to use.

Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party: (5:30pm – 7pm) This is a fun event that the swimmers look forward to every year. We will have white Gator shirts and tank tops for purchase that you can tie-dye, or you can bring your own item. Parents and siblings are welcome to join in. THIS IS A NON-SWIMMING EVENT. We will be on the back lawn with dye buckets in our team colors and will have tie-dye assistants if you don’t know what you are doing. We will then hop your kids up on sugar and can answer any lingering questions about the swim season.

GMST vs. GEN: (6am – 11:30-ish) This is our first dual meet of the season. It is at our pool and as always, we need lots of volunteers!
– warm up: 6:00am / start: 7:00 am
– sing up to volunteer: click here – we are currently short 29 people.
– Food and gear: we will have breakfast burritos, pancakes, donuts, coffee, hot chocolate and more! We will also have our awesome Gator Gear to purchase.
– A note for new parents: we will have a team tent area that your kids can set up in or they are welcome to sit with you. Lot of kids bring sleeping bags and/or blankets. Make sure you have lots of towels (preferably 1/event that they are in), water, sunblock and snacks.

Helpful notes about our website: If you are on your mobile phone, you are missing out on the side bar. It probably the most important piece of our site!
– click on the MENU button on the top right
– click on the MOBILE USERS: SIDE BAR
You will now see the upcoming events, volunteer sign ups, top times and more.