HEY GATOR FAMILIES!

And just like that, the first week has flown by! We were so thrilled to see all of our swimmers back together again at the pool to begin our season. We saw lots of returning swimmers, but also lots of new faces as well! We’d like to welcome all of the new families and swimmers to Avalon. We’re looking forward to getting to know you all throughout the season! Every Sunday, the coaches are planning on sending an email like this with updates and plans for the week ahead. Almost like our own weekly newsletter! After preseason is over and our meets start up, we’ll send information regarding future meets, meet themes, our Swimmer of the Week, and other important highlights.

We had some very warm weather this week, which our swimmers were very quick to point out. Fortunately, the pool was cold, but that will not be the case as we get further into the summer season. We really want to encourage all of our swimmers to bring water bottles to practice to stay hydrated during these hot months.

For this week, we want to recognize all of the swimmers and their hard work during this first week of practice. We’re so proud of the effort that our swimmers were already making during the first week. We understand that a year or even a few weeks out of the water makes it very difficult to hop back in the pool and swim a normal practice without feeling a little out of breath. Encourage your swimmers at home that the more you come to practice, the stronger and more comfortable they will feel over time! This season, we will be recognizing 2 swimmers a week as “Gator of the Week”. The coaches are looking to recognize 2 swimmers in each group that demonstrate qualities of a great leader and team-player at practice and at meets. This is by no means a swimming skill award, but rather an award to recognize those swimmers that are showing respect, kindness, and other qualities of a leader above and beyond what the coaches ask to see. We will begin this next week.

Another important reminder is that our Pre-Team tryouts are not until Thursday, June 17th, 3 PM. We have stated on the team website under “About Us: Our Team” about our requirements to be on the pre-team, and what we are looking for in our evaluations. Swimmers must be 4 years old, able to swim freestyle for a width of the pool with minimal assistance. If you are interested and not able to bring your swimmer to evaluation, feel free to reach out to either Coach Leslie or Coach Elyse about finding a better time for evaluation for your child. Coach Elyse and Coach Leslie will be working with our pre-team this season!

Last week, we had some thunder and storms rolling through practice. Be sure to follow instructions sent in an email by our parent representative, Mrs. Chang, with information about Rained-Out! This is how the coaches will communicate with all of the families when we have thunder delays and practice cancellations due to inclement weather.

Our first home swim meet is scheduled for June 13th against CCV. Sign-ups for swimmers and for volunteers are open. You can find this information sent in an email from Mrs. Chang. Just a reminder to sign up and read other important information and requirements for the first meet! Also, the coaches are planning a goal-setting session in practice this week for all of the groups. Stay tuned for a follow-up email about information regarding our plan for that. Don’t hesitate to reach out to any of the coaches or parent representatives with any questions!

Have a great week everyone! GO GATORS!

Coach Leslie and Coach Wil