Sunday, June 24, 2018

A Note from your Coaches

A Meet Saturday, June 23rd

Congratulations on starting the season with a big win Neptunes!

This was one of our less competitive meets, as our opposing team was struggling for numbers. However, we don’t ever have a factor on our opponents. We can’t determine how many swimmers they have or how fast they are; all we can do is our best, which we did! The Neptunes swam 105 individual events on Saturday, and 73 of them were new best times! Our swimmers did a great job pushing themselves to be better, even when there wasn’t always someone in the lane beside them pushing them to their best.

Thursday night Skills Practice

This week on Thursday night, we will work on racing techniques.

• 10 and Under from 5-6pm
• 11 and Older from 6-7pm

This will include dives, turns (9+), finishes, and some sprints and breathing control.

Coach Fiona Recovering from Injury

Coach Fiona is recovering from an ongoing injury. She will not be coaching this week as she takes time to recover and come back full strength. It is a relatively minor injury, but in trying to coach through it she not only extended her recovery time, but increased the severity of the injury.

Minis Starting Monday!

We are very excited to officially start off our 2018 Minis Program!

As you come in for your scheduled practice time on Monday, please have your Mini Swimmer line up sitting on the side of the pool, just as they did to begin their assessments.

Don’t forget, the first Lollipop Swim of the year is Monday night! Minis will open our first B Meet of the year with their swim across the diving well. They can use a kickboard or noodle, and we will have an older swimmer with each Mini as they cross the pool. This is right by our team area for the meet, so it will be the first chance to be cheered on by their Neptunes teammates! Any Minis wishing to swim please arrive by 6pm. We will call for Minis to meet by the slide, and they are scheduled to swim at 6:20.

Swimmers of the Week!

Now that we have switched to morning practices, the coaches are choosing Swimmers of the Week each week. There will be one boy and one girl from each of the three practice times. We are looking for swimmers that are consistently at practice and always trying their best and looking for ways to continue to improve.

Our first Swimmers of the Week are:

• 8U Eli Edwards and Addison Cordovez
• 9-12 Rylan McConnell and Charlotte Ockerman
• 13-18 Craig Allison and Haeley Hall

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Team Rep Report

B-Meet – Home vs. Rolling Forest on Monday, June 25

We are hosting our first home meet on Monday June 25th at 6:30 PM. B-Meet entry is open to all swimmers – the only restriction is that a swimmer cannot swim in an event that they competed in during the previous Saturday’s A-meet.

Declaring Swimmer Availability: Make sure to declare your swimmer’s availability for the B-Meet by 10:30 Monday morning on the team website, or you may not be able to swim. Through the website, swimmers may mark your preferences for which two events (two strokes or one stroke and IM) they would like to swim. Please note, these are swimmer preferences but may be changed at the coaches’ discretion based on needs of the team or where they think you will be most successful.

Volunteers Needed: We also need to fill a few additional volunteer positions including marshal, traffic safety, and runner. We could also use help setting up the pool.

• 4:45pm – Parents help setup
• 5:15pm – Swimmers PROMPT arrival (timeliness is imperative)
• 5:30pm – Neptunes warm-up (20 min max. Visiting team warms up after.)
• 6:00pm – Minis arrive. Minis swim at 6:20pm.
• 6:30pm – Swim meet begins
• 9:00pm – Swim meet ends (& cleanup begins)

Parking: Parking is limited. When our lot is full, you can park on the street (Rushing Creek) across from the pool as well. PLEASE be sensitive to parking too close to driveways and mailboxes. Also, be careful when crossing Southrun Road.

Fort Hunt Sportsman’s Relay Carnival on Wednesday, June 27th

Wednesday, June 27th at 6:00 PM @ Little Hunting Park - 7000 Canterbury Ln, Alexandria, VA 22307

This is a unique friendly relay competition with 12 teams from the Mt. Vernon participating. This event is the only event where boys and girls can swim together in a wide range of age groups. There are only 12 events with two heats each. It is a great chance for your child to swim and lots of fun.

Declare your swimmer as available. We will include as many swimmers as possible, but swimmers will be chosen based on regular practice attendance & effort.Once your swimmer has been selected, sign up for volunteer jobs on the website (We only need 1 Clerk of Course, 1 Stroke & Turn, and 2 Timers)!

Be sure to stay for the Coaches Relay at the end!

A-Meet – Home vs. Springfield on Monday, June 30th

Our next A-Meet is a home meet against Springfield on Saturday June 30th at 9:00 AM. Make sure to declare your swimmers as available by the 10:30 AM deadline on Wednesday the 27thor they will not be able to swim!

• 7:15am – Parents help setup
• 7:45am – Swimmers PROMPT arrival (timeliness is imperative)
• 8:00am – Neptunes warmup (20 min max. Visiting team warms up after.)
• 8:30am – Minis arrive. Minis swim at 8:50am
• 9:00am – Swim meet begins
• ~11:00am – Swim meet ends (& cleanup begins)

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A Message from the President and VP

Swimmer safety is very important. While we want to make sure your kids have fun this summer, we do have to enforce rules to make sure we can keep having fun. Anytime we’re on the pool deck, during regular pool hours or during practices, we still follow the HOA pool rules. One rule we want to make sure you all are aware of concerns drop off. If your child is allowed in the pool without you during regular hours, you can drop them off/send them on their own for practice. But if they are under 12, they must be accompanied by an adult/family member that is 16 or older. Unfortunately the coaches don’t count as the accompanying adult. They have a big responsibility during practices and meets. They will have their eyes on all of the swimmers. We need you to keep eyes on yours. If it helps, make arrangements with other parents to trade off, but always know who is responsible for your swimmer while they’re on deck or in the water. Let’s have a safe and fun swim season!

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Let’s get Social

Did you make it to the P-Nats game this weekend?

Our first of many social events to make this out best summer yet. Here are some photos of the fun!

Monday, June 25: “B” meet & Buddy Pictures

• If you have not met your swim buddy yet, we will introduce you to each other on Monday at our first 'B' meet and take your picture together.
• By Monday morning during swim team practices, find the Buddy bin located at the entrance to the pool where you come in each morning. Leave your something sweet with your swim buddies FIRST and LAST name on it in an envelope or brown paper bag (both located inside the Buddy bin). Check your buddies name off the list (located inside the Buddy bin)
• On Monday (probably after warm-ups), we'll have the buddies exchange their something sweet to save for after their race.
• Cheer your buddy on during their races if you can. If your buddy is new to swim team, it might be helpful to help show them the ropes about where to sign in to the clerk of course if they need help

Wednesday, June 27: Bagel Breakfast (at the conclusion of each swim practice)

Friday, June 29: Olympics Pep Rally 6:00-7:00 PM

Please RSVP to let us know how many guests will be joining from your family. We will be grilling hot dogs and having chips/water.

Come join us for games, a light dinner and to kick-off of first Home A meet

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FUN-draising!

Concessions: NEW - We now have $1.00 concession cards available for purchase. Think about this as an option to gift to your Buddy. We still have the $20 pre-paid concession cards for families.

Spiritwear update: We have some NEW merchandise we want to tell you about!

Neptune Tattoos .25 cents each.

Redesigned Neptune Magnets are $5.

We have more of the new swim cap in stock for $15 each. We still have some of the old (silver) caps for $10 each.

If you have not picked up your team t-shirt please see Robyne Henry or Lisa Pratt to pick up your merchandise during the 8-9 practice. If you practice at one of the practices before or after that one, plan to stay a few minutes late or arrive a few minutes early to pick up your items.

Dining for Dollars on Saturday, June 30 at Marco's Pizza. We have lunch together as a team at 12:00, right after the home A meet, but it is open to all swimmers, not just those swimming in the A meet. If you can't meet us for lunch, the fundraiser is good all day, just tell them you are participating in the Newington Forest Swim Team Fundraiser.

Swim-a-thon: Swim-a-thon packets will be handed out this week. The Swim-a-thon is on July 18. Please reach out to our friends and family (even out of town ones) to pledge your swimmer per lap or to give a flat donation. This is one of our biggest fundraisers, your support to make this a success is appreciated.

Sponsors: Some of our sponsors will be on display at our Monday B meet or the Friday pep rally. Please stop by and talk to them and thank them for supporting our team.

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Communication

We’re implementing new ways to keep you in the know this year. How are we doing? We want to hear from you.

Are you following us on Facebook?

Have you signed up for text alerts from Remind? If not, text @nfneptunes to 81010. We do our best to send alerts for inclement weather, and any other late breaking news that you need to know.

Look for the weekly newsletter every Sunday night, because there is going to be a LOT going on this summer and we don’t want you to miss out on any of it.

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