Neptune News
By Coach Sue
Week of September 26, 2005
Hello to everyone! Welcome returning Neptune swimmers! Also, welcome to the former TCY and Penguin swimmers, summer swimmers, and swimmers who have never been on a team before who have decided to become a Neptune this year. It’s great to see how our team is growing. It looks to be a very exciting season for the team this year!
This is your weekly newsletter. It should be in your mailboxes each Monday. The mailboxes can be found on the table in the Youth Lobby next to our Neptunes’ Info Board. Each family has a hanging file. This is where your newsletter, your personal best ribbons; and other information you need to have can be found. It is important to grab this newsletter and read it since it is our main way of communicating! Can’t make it to practice on Mondays, but want to know what’s going on? The newsletter is also published on our website at www.y-neptunes.com. There you will find all sorts of other information, so be sure to visit the website on a regular basis as well.
Practices – Due to our team’s continued growth, I want to offer a solution to how crowded the 9 & 10 practice has become. If you are 10 and Under, and especially if you are a beginning swimmer (regardless of age), please come to the 4:25 p.m. to 5:25 p.m. practice sessions in the shallow pool (the one with the new slide). Please start doing this after the pre-swim session is done, so the first day for this would be Monday, October 10. The second practice (6:30 to 7:30 on Mon and Wed, and 7:00 to 8:00 on Tues and Thurs) will now be for 11 & 12 year olds and older kids wanting to swim two hours. The third practice (7:30 to 8:30 on Mon and Wed; and 8:00 to 9:00 on Tues and Thurs) will be for swimmers 13 and older. I will make up a new, separate practice schedule for everyone so there is no confusion. I also recognize that not everyone can make that earlier time, but if you can, please do. The first practice has loads of open water space – even with the slide – and it will only benefit everyone to have more space. The lane lines will be in and each lane will have a practice based on the ability of the swimmers in the lane, giving us the ability to work on technique and endurance at different levels. As always, feel free to give me feedback!
Parents’ Meeting – Our first official Parents’ Meeting of the year will take place next Wednesday, October 5 at 6:30 p.m. in the Youth Lobby. Y-Neptune President Tom Nasic will be filling everyone in on what will be going on this year, from team suit try-on day to an update about our new timing system. Melanie Emerson will also be on hand to discuss our concession stand and working at meets. A sign-up sheet will be available so you can choose what jobs you’d like to do. I will also be there to answer questions. Please plan to attend this meeting. Please come with any questions, ideas or concerns you might have.
Team Suits and Fins – Though the actual date has not been set, know that we will have a vendor here the week of October 10 or October 17 so those who need team suits may try on and purchase them. Also, we do use fins in practice, so if you do not have fins, be sure to buy a pair that day. If anyone has fins that he or she has outgrown, put a note up on the Neptunes Info Board to sell them, or we are always glad to take donations to the team! Also, swimmers need goggles; actually several pairs of goggles as they break or get lost. Please be sure to have goggles and wear a cap if your hair is long. It’s hard to swim correctly if hair is in your eyes!
Fees – All pre-swim fees are due! We are into our third week of the pre-swim session and there are several people who have not paid. Everyone who is participating needs to have paid at least the pre-swim fee. I have a list of who has yet to pay and I will be contacting those swimmers who have been in the water, but have not paid their fees. Also, know that this pre-swim fee is taken off of your swim team dues if you decide to continue swimming for the rest of the season. Also know that if you decide to join the Neptunes, you must have paid your team dues and have a Y membership BY the first official day of practice – Monday, October 10. We will need to send in a roster by the middle of the October and if you have not paid your fees (all of them) you will not be on the roster and will not be able to swim in our first meet on Saturday, October 22 to be held at our YMCA against Green – a new team this year. Let’s get all those fees paid so Jan, the woman who takes care of this for our team, can get her work done! Also – everyone has to have turned in a medical release form to be permitted in the water. I (Coach Sue) have forms if you need one. Please get these in!! Thanks for your help with this!
Sign-Off Sheet – Posted on the Neptunes Info Board is a packet of papers with each page having the date of one of our meets listed on it. If you know you will NOT be able to attend a swim meet, you must write your name on the sheet of paper that coincides with the meet you will be missing. Your name must be on that sheet by the Thursday before the week of that meet. I (Coach Sue) do the line-up the weekend before the meet and enter it into the computer the week of the meet. I understand that kids get sick or things come up at the last minute, but if you know you won’t be there ahead of time, write your swimmer’s name on the correct sheet so I do not include him or her in the meet.
Also, if something comes up the night before the meet and your swimmer will not be able to attend, you may call my home until 10 p.m. Friday night or as early as 7 a.m. Saturday morning to let me know you will not be attending the meet. This way I can change the cards, print out new line-ups to be posted, correct my meet disk we put in the computer for the Colorado timing, etc. I hate being told by someone else minutes before the meet that, “Oh yea, so and so won’t be coming today.” We lost a meet two years ago because people didn’t show up and I was told at the last minute and could not change the line-up because the meet had started. All I ask is that you let me know! My home phone number is 330-424-1128 and my cell phone number is 330-692-2447.
Here’s to the start of an exciting and fun season. As always, if you have any questions – just ask a coach.