Stingray Families:

It's almost that time... Time Trials is this Saturday, June 7! The meet will be at Hunt Valley. This meet is for ALL swim team members.

**VERY IMPORTANT: If you have not declared your swimmer yet in Swimtopia, please do that NOW! The deadline is tomorrow – Thursday 8pm sharp! If you do not declare your swimmer, they will not be seeded (i.e., assigned a heat and lane) and will not swim. Swimming at time trials is important because it gives the swimmer an official time in each of their events; without an official time, they will not be eligible to be selected for our first A meet the following Saturday.

Below is some important information you should read to best plan for the morning.

Schedule – EARLY MORNING! 6:15 Arrival!

Rise and shine! This will be an earlier morning than usual for some of us. (On the bright side, a gourmet coffee truck is coming starting at 6:30!) The reason for the early start is because we have nearly 200 swimmers on the team this summer and we are asking swimmers to swim every stroke they are legal in. We want to prevent the meet from overlapping the pool operating hours. In order to do this, we need to start early. Below is the schedule for Saturday:

• 6:15am – Arrive at Hunt Valley
• 6:30 am –Warm ups
• NLT 7:15 am – Meet Starts
• 11:00 am – Estimated time the meet will be over

The order of events will be Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, and Butterfly. Each event will be divided by age group: 8 & under, 9-10, 11-12, 13-14, and 15-18.

Weather

As seems to be tradition for Time Trials, we are seeing some potential rain in the forecast for Saturday morning and chilly. We will still swim in the rain if we have to (as long as no thunderstorm). Make sure you and your swimmer come to the pool with the expectation to be in the rain for a few hours. Bring umbrellas, rain jackets, warm clothes, and extra towels to wrap up in.

**If you have an extra canopy we can set up to shelter some swimmers or volunteers from the rain, please bring them!!**

While we don’t expect this to be the case Saturday, in the event of a thunderstorm during the meet, we will follow the guidance of the pool manager as follows:

• All spectators, swimmers, coaches, and officials shall go immediately to their cars or designated areas. A pool is one of the most dangerous places to be during a thunderstorm. The decision to clear the pool and halt the meet shall be made without hesitation. We will take no chances with the lives of our children.
• Team Reps will report to the pool office with the Pool Manager and Referee. The Pool Manager, Team Reps and Referee will make a final decision concerning the continuation of the meet. If the meet cannot be safely completed as scheduled, a suitable alternative time shall be identified. Generally, there is at least a 30-minute wait between the last thunder and/or lightning, and the continuation of the meet.
• No one should leave until official word on the meet’s cancellation is received. Team Reps will inform you of any and all official decisions. Information from other sources may be false.

We highly recommend all parents download the Swimtopia app on their phones. Have push notifications turned on after downloading the app. Alerts can be sent to you immediately from us and the head coaches in situations as outlined above.

What Swimmers Should Bring

Swimmers are to come prepared to race, have a positive attitude, and cheer on their fellow teammates! As far as items to bring:

• couple of towels
• goggles
• swim cap (optional)
• water bottle
• umbrella!
• warm, dry, clothes to wear in between races
• a chair (recommended)

Would be a good idea to bring a chair for your swimmer and yourself. The grass is where the team area will be for the swimmers and coaches and it may be too wet to sit on just a towel. Also, the tables will more than likely fill up quickly. Just in case that happens and you are without a table, bring a chair for yourselves!

Team Area

The Swim Team members (the swimmers only) will have its own team area located in the grassy area behind the baby pool and diving boards. We would prefer all the swimmers to remain in the team area until they have swum all of their events. The reason we need the swimmers there is so the coaches know where to look for a swimmer when it is time to line them up to go to the clerk of course. If you see your swimmer walking around the pool and they are not in their team area, please encourage them to head back. We will have some tents up in the team area to try and keep the swimmers dry. (As noted above, please bring extra tent canopies if you have them!)

Marshals

We need all who signed up to be Marshal to be on deck, with vests on, during warm-ups. That means be at the pool and on deck by 6:30 am. We will have the vests and “quiet” signs for you.

Volunteer Apparel

For all meets we ask those who are volunteering to wear a white shirt and navy-blue bottoms. This is the standard NVSL volunteer apparel. This helps us identify who is working and who is not. If you do not have the right attire for Saturday, it is okay since this is not an NVSL sanctioned meet. But we still would prefer you to try and dress this way if you are volunteering.

Parking

The parking lot will fill up quickly. If you arrive and there are no spots in the Hunt Valley Pool parking lot, please park at the Hunt Valley Elementary School across the street. The Pool Board has advised people to not park in front of the pool on Sydenstricker Rd. You can park on Sydenstricker Rd. but just across the street from the pool.

Concessions

We will have Anita’s breakfast burritos, donuts, and coffee in the morning for purchase. Additionally, we will be selling the usual snack shack food/drinks.

Reminder: Swimsuit Swap/Sale

If you would like to sell any old suits or swim gear, place them in a Ziploc bag labelled with the following information on the outside of the bag:

• Size
• Price
• Your name
• Your Venmo information (no credit cards accepted)

Drop them off under the pavilion and come back at the end of the meet to pick up any remaining suits. A volunteer will be monitoring the sales as suits are purchased.

Looking forward to seeing everyone on Saturday!