Garner Dolphins Update - Meet recap
Hello GDST Nation,
We had a great meet on Tuesday against Kitts Creek. There were a ton of good races and lots of dropped times when converted from meters (our pool) to yards. Although we lost (final score was 317 to 191) it was a great showing considering their team has twice as many athletes. Our swimmers showed up with some strong swims and great team spirit. They competed and had fun. So it was a success!
Huge thank you to all of the volunteers at the meet. Your helpfulness made the event run smoothly which contributed to a great experience for the athletes.
Don’t forget the theme for our next meet, Hawaiian Luau! Wear your aloha shirts. Leis will be provided. Please consider signing up to bring decorations:
https://www.signupgenius.com/go/30e0a48aba92da6fe3-garner#/
We’re swimming against the Arbor Creek Dragons. They have 53 swimmers registered on their team this year. We have 55. This will be a fun, competitive meet.
We’re fortunate to have Old Bones BBQ serving pulled pork, grilled chicken, salads, drinks, and snacks this Tuesday. If you ever had their goods at club pool events, you know it’s the real deal. See the attached menu for their full offerings.
We need a few more volunteer spots filled for Tuesday. If you haven’t volunteered at the mock meet or last week, please consider doing so for this next meet. Sign up here: https://garner.swimtopia.com/swim_meets
- Hospitality (1)
- Order of Finish Judge (1)
- Timers (4)
We want to share some information and best practices for next week’s meet. Coach Julie and Coach Jessica have reviewed these things with the swimmers and we’d appreciate you reinforcing these topics with your kids as well.
- Athletes should stay in the water until all swimmers finish the race. Swimming is a hard sport. Just watch the average person try to swim 1-2 laps of butterfly. All athletes that race are in elite company, work hard, and deserve respect from fellow competitors. Staying in the water and fist bumping/congratulating the competition is a sign of respect and good sportsmanship.
- Pack in / pack out. Families and athletes need to pick up after themselves and not leave a mess at home or away pools. Anything you bring to the pool, take home or throw in the trash.
- Jump into the pool quickly and get going when coaches say it’s time to warm up. Warm up time is limited. Getting muscles warmed up is important to swimming a good race. Kids will have time to socialize throughout the meet. Use the warm up time to swim.
- Minimize candy during the meet. Use it as an incentive for finishing races, good sportsmanship, and giving their all. Sugar may provide a short burst of energy but won’t sustain swimmers throughout the meet.
- Get a good night's sleep prior to a meet and stay well rested before the meet. This puts an athlete in the best position to drop time and have fun. Conserve energy for the swims by not running around during the meet.
- Attend practice on Saturdays. There are limited days to practice so attend every one possible. Morning practices make kids strong. Coaches will be holding fun competitions on Saturdays plus we’re working on getting breakfast snacks sponsored.
If you didn’t know, a few of our members are excellent photographers. You may have seen Sam Ray on the pool deck with an SLR and long range lens capturing the athletes in action. Here’s a link to our shared photo album courtesy of Sam. This album is only viewable if you have the link. You're welcome to add any of your photos to the album, and they may make it in the end of year slideshow. If you have any concerns or want any photos of your athletes removed, please let us know.
We’ll have a parents meeting Monday at 7 pm to make sure we have all our ducks in a row for next week’s meet.
As always, holler with any questions and see you at the pool!
GDST Board
