This Week in Swim Team News (6/28)

 We have team pictures and some time off this week. See below for details...

Team Pictures and Pancake Breakfast:
Pictures: We will start taking pictures at 7:30 am witH the team picture to follow around 8:00 am.  Our photographer, Alex Hearn, will provide us with a digital link after the photos are taken to order whatever you want.  Please have your swimmers take individual (or buddy photos) only if you intend to purchase them. Have your swimmers wear their team suits and be at the pool by 7:30.

Pancakes:  We will be cooking up gator cakes (green pancakes) in both traditional wheat-based and gluten free versions.  Swimmers will be served pancakes after the team picture and age group photos.

What happened to Water World?  The decision was made to not have our traditional Water World day along with team pictures this year.  We plan to have it back on the calendar in 2022. 

PRACTICES:
6/30 Wednesday: No MORNING practices due to Team Photo & Pancake Breakfast
7/1 Thursday: No NIGHT Practice due to holiday
7/2 Friday: No MORNING practices due to holiday
7/5 Monday: No MORNING practices due to holiday

Saturday Meet vs. Golden

Welcome to swimming in Colorado! We intend to go for it rain or shine on Saturday. We may have delays due to lightening/thunder but we dont want to cancel in advance. Bring a tent for the family and extra towels to stay warm.

Practice Updates for the Next 2 weeks

 6/24 Thursday: No Night Practice due to Swim Club Movie Night
6/30 Wednesday: No MORNING practices due to Team Photo & Pancake Breakfast
7/1 Thursday: No Night Practice due to holiday
7/2 Friday: No MORNING practices due to holiday
7/5 Monday: No MORNING practices due to holiday

Week of 6/21

Wednesday 6/23:  Intrasquad #2
warm up @ 5pm
start @ 5:30
please sign up to volunteer

Saturday 6/26: Home Meet vs. Golden
warm up @ 6am
start @ 7am
please sign up to volunteer ASAP. This is a home meet! We need LOTS of help. We have many families who have not volunteered yet. We need your help. Your child is only able to swim in the meets due to the number of people stepping up to make it happen.

Next week: Team Pictures and Pancake Breakfast
Wednesday 6/30
7:30 am - 9:30 am
please sign up to volunteer
We will not have practice this day. Bring your swimmer in their Gator Suit (or whatever they normally wear to a meet) and smile big. Our awesome photographer Alex Hearn will be taking the VERY BIG team photo, along with individual or group swimmer shots if you would like them. I will have a price list soon.

Away Meet - What to Know

 For our new Gator families....

On the blog under "Up Next" you will always find the location, warm up times and start times of our next event. 

We will set up a Team tent area at every away meet and you are welcome to bring a family tent (at most meets) as well. We will have the Individual Race Events posted for the swimmers at our Team tent and your swimmer should start here to check in with the coaches. We will also have the Parent Volunteer list at the tent. If you see open spots the day of the meet, please take one. (We prefer to fill the sign ups before the day of the meet so we are not spending our time finding volunteers). For away meets we only need timers and officials, but just like our home meets, the meets can't run without volunteers. 

Sign up here to volunteer or find the sign up on the blog.

Week of 6/14

 New this week:
- Wednesday, June 16: Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party from 5-6:30pm
- Upper Division Night Practice has been moved a half hour to 7:30-8:30pm (Tue/Thur)
- Saturday, June 19th: Dual Meet against Wheatridge

Details:

Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party:
Join us on Wednesday 6/16 @ 5:00pm for some creative team spirited fun.  We will be selling our white Gator t-shirts and tank tops for $5 and the whole family is welcome to join in to tie-dye their gear. We re low on certain sizes, so be aware that we might sell out of your size. We will have expert creative consultants onsite to help out. Ice cream will be served around 6:00pm.  You are also welcome to bring your own shirt, shorts or tank to dye. You'll want to make sure that your item is cotton or it won't dy. You do not have to buy our gear in order to participate. 
Note: this is NOT a pool party. We will only be using the grounds of the swim club for our creative fun, but please do not plan to swim. (The pool will not be staffed up to handle that).

Saturday's Meet: We are scheduled to swim against Wheatridge at the Anderson Pool. Warm up will be at 6:30 am with a start time of 7:00 am. Swimmers can sign up for races at the pool and parents can sign up to volunteer by using the link under "Parent Volunteers". We only need timers and officials for away meets. We hope to see you at the Anderson Pool.

Swimmer Folders:  Each family has a swimmer folder that will have ribbons from the meets or any other small items that we want to pass on to the families. Many Gator families still have items from 2019 to pick up. Please check your folders this week. The coaches will put the swimmer folder box out at practice.

Photos: If you are interested, you can like us on Facebook and see photos from our meets, as well as see some team updates. 

Team Awards:  We wanted to remind our families and swimmers about two special awards that can be earned with the Gators.  The Iron Gator and the Golden Gator award.  In order to be an Iron Gator, you must swim in every event in your age division and receive a time (not DQ).  If you want to be a Golden Gator, you'll need to earn a State time in every event in your age division. For some swimmers, this is a great way to challenge yourself throughout the swim season. 

Upcoming Events of Note...

- Wednesday 6/30: Team Pictures & Pancake Breakfast from 7:30-9:30 am
- Saturday 7/3:  BYE weekend - No Meet
- Sunday 7/11: Last Chance Meet (for those swimmers with "B" times that are trying to make League, they get one last shot to swim fast.
- Friday 7/16-Sunday 7/18:  League Championships  -- we are still trying to find a pool to host League. Currently the Gators are scheduled to host the Upper Division 400s on Friday 7/16. Golden is trying to get the city to agree to 1 day of League and Wheatridge is trying to get the other day. Nothing has been confirmed. Please know that our entire FSA League is working hard behind the scenes to make this happen.  The current plan is to have the 400s on Friday / Lower Division only (12 and under) on Saturday / Upper Division only (13 and older) on Sunday.
- State Meet: This is still TBD. The current rumor is the Ken Caryl is trying to get approval to host State, but nothing has been confirmed.

Night Practice - Update

 For the remainder of June night practice will move from 7pm to 7:30-8:30 pm.
For the month of July, night practice will be at 8:00-9:00pm.
Tuesdays / Thursdays only

NOTE: this practice is for upper division only.  If your upper division child would like to attend night practice they MUST communicate with Coach Emma. If she does not have enough people, then we will skip night practice that evening. 

Join our Lifeguarding Team today @ GMSC

 Green Mountain Swim Club is looking for Lifeguards! If you are 15 years or older and have a current lifeguard certification, you can start immediately! If you are 15 years or older and able to get a certification ASAP, you can start as soon as you are certified. Please contact staffing.gmsc@gmail.com.  Head down to the pool and start the best summer job you'll ever have.

Week of June 7th

Practice: the usual laps. Swim fast gators.

Dual Meet:  Saturday 6-12 @ GMSC vs. 5 Parks. - warm up for GMST @ 6:00 am. Yep 6am!
5Parks is a big team. Please prepare to be in a crowd. If you are unvaccinated, the CDC recommends wearing a mask outside in this type of situation.  You can certainly plant yourself on the hill and watch from a distance or grab a free mask from the concession area. 

A few swim meet reminders:
- Relays: If your swimmer signs up for the meet and checks the boxes to do a relay, they are expected to stay for their relays. If they can't make the relay, it is the swimmers responsibility to let their Coach know ASAP so that the Coach can try to find a replacement. This puts everyone in a tricky spot, so please tell your swimmers to only sign up for a relay if they know they will be there. Also, not all swimmers will get a relay. You need four kids and sometimes the number of swimmers in an age group just don't work out for everyone to get a relay. The coaches will do their best.
- The parent volunteer link is posted for our Saturday meet.
- Virtual Meet Results: We have posted the GMST only virtual results. As soon as we receive the combined results from Golden and AAC we will post those as well. 

Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party:
We had to delay our tie-dye party and we now have a date!  Join us on Wednesday 6/16 @ 5:00pm for some creative team spirited fun.  We will be selling our white Gator t-shirts and tank tops for $5 and the whole family is welcome to join in to tie-dye their gear. We will have expert creative consultants onsite to help out. Ice cream will be served around 6:00pm.  You are also welcome to bring your own shirt or tank to dye. You do not have to buy our gear in order to participate. 
Note: this is NOT a pool party. We will only be using the grounds of the swim club for our creative fun, but please do not plan to swim. (The pool will not be staffed up to handle that).

MEET CHANGE FOR SATURDAY 6-5-21!! PLEASE READ

 Details for Saturday:  The meet will be held at our pool and will be a "virtual" meet. This means that we will swim with our team only and will then combine our times with Golden and possibly AAC since they too are doing virtual meets as well. We will have relays and all the standard dual meet events.  We will need to create a new volunteer sign up sheet for our home meet. This will be done by Friday. Please check in Friday to sign up.  THANK YOU.