Week of May 31st

Morning practices start Tuesday 6/1:
6:30 am – 8:00 am:  13 and older
8:00 am – 9:00 am:  10-12 year olds
9:00 am – 9:50 am:  9 and younger

Optional practices: 
8:00 am – 9:00 am: 13 and older dryland practice M/W only
7:00 pm – 8:00 pm: 13 and older only- Night Practice

INTRASQUAD Meet #1 + PARENT MEETING
This is our first meet and we will have a brief parent meeting to level set and answer any questions.  The coaches will work with your swimmers to get signed up for their races. There is a physical sign up sheet at the pool. All swimmers can swim in a maximum of 3 events.  Please allow your swimmers to choose their races and do the sign-up themselves. 
Note: all race sign-ups for Intrasquad meets are due by Tuesday (end of practice)

Wednesday, June 2nd @ GMSC
warmup:  5:00pm
parent meeting:  5:15pm
meet start:  5:30pm

We will have pizza by the slice for purchase, as well as Gator Gear (swim caps, shirts, tank tops, hoodies, etc) for sale. 

AWAY MEET #1:
We have our first in-person dual meet on Saturday, June 5th. We are still waiting for the schedule to be finalized to know who we are swimming, but we do know that it is an AWAY meet. Please check the “Next Event” for details regarding location, warm up times, etc. 
Note: all race sign-ups for Dual meets (home or away) are due by Thursday (end of practice)

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS ONLY:
We are working on an electronic sign-up for the HS boys only to use while they are still in season. You will not need to sign up at the pool (although you can.)  Same cut off dates above apply.  Do not expect to deck enter each meet. We need you to sign up if you want to swim.

PARENT VOLUNTEER – SIGN UPS:
Please go to the section of the blog titled “Parent Volunteers”. You will find sign up genius links for each meet and you can choose how you want to volunteer. Don’t worry if you don’t know how to do any of the jobs. We’ll teach you and they are all very straight forward. 

Practice Week of 5/24

 Afterschool practices start Monday. 

Monday:  We are waiting for the pool to warm up and it will be close on Monday. We will either have the kids in the pool OR have dryland practice. Please send your kids with both swim gear AND sneakers so they are prepared for either option. 
Tuesday – Friday:  We are feeling confident that the pool temp will be where we need it by Tuesday. Swim suits and goggles needed.

Practice times this week:
4:00-5:00 pm:  10 and under
5:00-6:00 pm: 11 and older

Note: If your child is coming to practice this week to see if they are ready for swim team, please wait until Tuesday. They may not have a chance to get in the water on Monday. 

Announcing GMST Coaching Staff

 Head Coach:  Emma Berg
Assistant Coach 9 – 12 year olds:  Ali Ouelette
Assistant Coach 8 & Unders:  Kati Livingood
Junior Coach/Team Manager:  Kayli Langan
Junior Coach/Dryland Training:  Beck Nicholson


All of our coaches have been swimming with the Gators since they were 8 & Unders and we are proud to see them all step into these coaching roles. We are excited to have Emma’s passion and coaching skillset as she steps up to the Head Coach position. Kati is an experienced swimmer with a love for the sport and is looking forward to engaging our youngest division.  Ali comes to us via Alabama where she coached summer club and then moved to a CARA coaching position in Lakewood.  Beck has been an in-water coach for the past few years and will step out of the pool to work with our upper division with dryland training.  Finally, Kayli will serve as both our Team Manager (a position I didn’t know we needed until she said she could help!) and as our in-water coach with the 8 & Unders. 

We are excited to welcome all of our coaches for the 2021 season. 

Swim Team Start Date: Monday 5/24

 Our first week of after school practice will be Monday – Friday 5/24-5/28. Practice times are below…

 4:00 – 5:00pm  12 and under
 5:00 – 6:00 pm  13 and older

Morning practices will start on Tuesday 6/1.

 6:30 – 8:00 am  13 and older
 8:00 – 9:00 am  10-12 years
 9:00 – 9:55 am  9 and under

Night Practices 

7:00-8:00 pm  upper division only (no exceptions due to COVID)

Dryland Training

Mondays and Wednesdays 8:00-9:00 am  upper division

Guidelines for Summer vs. Year-Round Swimming

 I have been getting a lot of questions regarding this topic. Here are the rules for clarification:

From Article VI: Section H (2.) of the CSSCSA Bylaws: On or after May 16, a swimmer may practice only with their summer club swim team and compete only in their summer club swim team’s meets in order to be eligible. To clarify, a swimmer may NOT practice or compete for another summer club team, a year-round team, etc. on or after May 16. Notwithstanding the above, a swimmer may practice or compete on or after May 16 interscholastically or inter-collegiately without losing eligibility.