Good Afternoon Barracudas! 

Thank you all for your patience as we navigated the mock meet last night. Mock meets are great for helping us learn what we need to do to make the regular season go smoothly and be fun for kids and parents. Its so much easier to have fun when we know the routine. We appreciate the constructive feedback we received and want to make sure we are ready for a great season starting with our meet next Tuesday at Glenridge. 

Communications: We will be emailing out two main communications each week. We will send these via Swimtopia. These emails should go to your email you used when you registered for the season as a parent. Additionally, they will be posted to our Swimtopia page as “news”. Please expect an email on Friday asking you to declare your child (more details below) by 6 PM on Saturday. Additionally, we will list out open volunteer jobs, the theme for the meet and contact information for the coaches. If Volunteer assistance is needed please expect to get an additional email from Kelly Stefanacci. The other main email will be sent on Monday prior to practice with more information about the meet for Tuesdays (Arrival time, directions for away meets, warm up times, staging area for swimmers, theme for the meet, concession options and day of meet emergency contact). Additionally, you may receive periodic emails with guidance from coaches, additional practices, weather information, etc. 

Communicating with the Coaches: The coaches want the best for your kids. They are as excited as the child that improves their time or when the lightbulb goes on when they "feel" the stroke is better than before. The coaches can see it and rejoice with your child about improvement. Please let the coaches know about concerns or health issues or anything else they may need to be aware of. Swim is a healthy, lifelong enjoyable activity whether its competitive or recreational and the coaches want to instill this into the kids. The Coaches can always be available in between practices or via email. Coach Kourtney: [email protected] 

Coach Meghan: [email protected] 

Coach Kayla: [email protected] 

Declare: "Hit the button". Please declare your child by 6pm on Saturday. Declaring is not just saying you will be there but also saying if you will not be at a meet.  Not declaring will send a red flag to the coaches. The coaches will reach out for clarification if they do not see your child declared either way. If you still have not responded to the coaches by the absolute deadline then they will mark that your swimmer will not be attending the upcoming meet. It is extremely challenging to add swimmers once a meet is "locked" and unfortunately they will not be able to swim at the meet. Please follow the following instructions to declare your swimmer for each meet going forward. 

To do this: 

-Please log onto Swimtopia via the link or app: https://bentwindsbarracudas.swimtopia.com/login 

-Once logged in, hover over the Meet and Events tab and click on Sign up Calendar 

-Click on the green Meet Entry Button -On that same page you will see your swimmer(s) listed. Please click the edit button at the bottom of the page. 

-The next page will have your swimmer(s) listed with a drop down box beside each name. Please select either "Not attending this meet" or "Attending this meet". 

-Click save. All swimmers that are undeclared will be assumed not attending and will not be included on the heat sheets to swim. 

-Additionally, you will go to the green button Job Sign Up and sign up for your volunteer role. 

- The entire season is live, so you can go into each meet and declare your swimmer/ sign up for a job at this point for all meets. 

Swimmers: 

Numbers: Please have your child’s number on both their arms when they arrive and their last name on the back of their shoulder. This will assist us, expedite the check in process, and it will also help kid pushers who do not know all the kids. We would also like to start adding the heat numbers and lane numbers to the kids arms so they can listen for the call of their heat and easily know if its theirs and if they should line up.  More information coming about this.  

Expectations: We will have designated areas for each age group. The kids need to stay within reach of this area. Feel free to pack small games/entertainment for your kids to be occupied. This will also help our volunteer kid pushers find the kids for their events. The only time they should leave their staged area is to swim or get concessions or use the bathroom. 

Older kids: Just like parents and adults - Our young adults are hero’s to our littles. Please ask them to be positive and encouraging in front of the little kids. They can surely "find the joy" in swim practice and swim meets and relay to the littles a positive attitude. Perhaps our young adults have some great ideas that they can share with us to help the coaches out. ( asking for less reps or "Not doing it again" isn’t what we have in mind. ) 

Volunteers: Volunteers are the backbone of swim meets. They are much needed and appreciated more than you know. No small handful of people can manage an entire swim meet. We are all in this together. Please embrace volunteering for any position with a positive mindset. It is absolutely Ok to not know what you are doing. We have plenty of seasoned swim team parents who have been where you are. They can help out. It will be fine. If you need more help or are uncomfortable just let us know. If you feel you would like a little practice for various jobs please let me know. We can arrange for some mini adult practices for the various positions. I am sure there are others thinking the exact same thing you are. Please don't hesitate to ask. 

Staying until the end: Please make every effort to stay until the end of the meet and join us for a free ice cream cone after our home meets at Dairy Queen in Fuquay. If you absolutely cannot stay until the end of the meet PLEASE be sure your child speaks with his/her coaches before departing. (6 and under are the exception unless they are swimming up -but they still should speak with coach before departing for the evening - even if its just for a high five "good job".) This shows respect for the coaches and recognizes that their job is not over when you leave. 

I am here for each and every one of you. My desire is for the swim season to be fun for everyone. Please let me know if you have any questions or need more information. I am available to you.

Go Barracudas!

Kim Hilt, TSA

Bentwinds