Good afternoon Hurricane families!

Warning: This is a LONG email but contains VALUABLE information!

1.This Saturday’s swim meet, June 18^th, will be against Inwood. All the info you need to know is on our team's website here: https://hunterscreek.swimtopia.com/swim_meets (scroll down to Inwood meet) – Please note the time change – start time is 9:00 am. We will begin warm-up at 8:30 am so arrive at 8:15 with caps, goggles sunscreen, and marked with events ready to get in the pool for 8:30 warm up. Please see details in our website regarding parking and pool location.

S&T JUDGE MEETINGS AND TIMER MEETING WITH REFEREE will be approx. at 8:15.

COACHES NEED TO KNOW BY WEDNESDAY IF YOUR CHILD WILL NOT BE AT THE MEET THIS SATURDAY. Your swimmer will be included on the roster unless told otherwise.

If you know that your child will not be at this Saturday's meet, MAKE SURE TO DECLARE HIS/HER ABSENCE on the website by this Wednesday by following the steps below:

You must do 2 things if your swimmer WILL NOT BE AT A MEET: Here are the keystroke by keystroke instructions to follow if your swimmer will NOT be at a meet:

Number 1: Log into the team’s site (https://hunterscreek.swimtopia.com/login)to “declare” his/her absence: log in, click on “Schedule” tab, then “Swim Meets and Events”, then click on the green “meet entry” box for the meet your child(ren) will miss, click on “edit” and use the drop down menu to declare your swimmer(s) as “not attending”.

Number 2: Let the coach know – either at practice or via email @ adowney@trinity.edu

Please note that if we enter your child in a meet, but then he/she doesn't participate, there's a fairly lengthy "trickle down" effect, as meet volunteers are forced to make last minute changes to heat and lane assignments and relays - this affects both teams and often delays the start of the meet, so PLEASE let us know if your child won't be there!

LAST MINUTE CHANGES IN AVAILABILITY- Life happens...kids get ear infections, etc. - if something comes up and your child will NOT be at the meet, please contact Coach Adrien immediately at 210-854-4986 so heat/lane/event assignments can be adjusted accordingly.

FOR CONCESSIONS: Please make sure to bring cash!!!! They will have breakfast tacos and other snacks.

VOLUNTEERS: As a reminder, these swim meets can only happen if we have parent volunteers! If you have questions about your volunteer commitment at this meet and/or need to change/cancel your commitment, please contact Kaidan Nguyen and/or Kentrel Poole ASAP(kaidan@coral-studio.com, 210-580-6649; kmpoole35@gmail.com, 773-569-5179) as they will have to quickly determine who will be your replacement.

2. Our divisional championship is next Saturday, June 25^th (can you believe how time flies) and this is the biggest meet of the season!!!! We need to know by this Saturday, June 18^th, if your child will NOT be attending the event. Final entries are due this Sunday, June 19^th. If we don’t hear from you then we will assume your child will participate. It is VERY important that you either declare your swimmer as NOT attending or let us know by email. It is the same process if your swimmer will NOT be attending as mentioned above. The championship has a fee for each event for each swimmer that is part of your registration fee as follows:

• $4 per individual event, $2.50 per relay event.

Please let us know if your swimmer(s) will NOT be there - we want to avoid paying entry fees for swimmers that don't participate.

• Arrive 1:45 PM - Be ready (suit, cap, goggles on) to jump in for warm up
• Warm-up: 2:00-2:30 PM
• Meet Start Time: 3:00 PM
• End: 7:00 PM (estimated)

The location is Blossom Athletic Center, Walker South Swimming Pool. The pool is located at 12002 Jones-Maltsberger, San Antonio, Texas 78216.

Parking:  Will be located directly west of the Natatorium between the pool and the football field. As well, parking will be up on the hill by the gymnasium. NEISD Policy prohibits from tailgating in the parking lots.

Entrance Fee: A $5 entrance fee will be collected from spectators upon entrance to the facility.

Entrance into the Facility: Entrance into the facility will be at the main entrance into the Josh Davis Pool. Spectators will enter through the far right hand side doors. Athletes and Coaches will enter through the far left hand side doors. There will be signs posted designating the entry procedure. Once in the facility, all spectators will proceed upstairs and walk through the breezeway into the Walker facility. Seating is limited to a maximum of 800. Spectators and parents are not allowed on the pool deck unless they have the correct deck pass identification. There will be overflow seating in the Davis Pool North side bleachers. That seating will have the scoreboard on displaying the meet via video, event numbers and heats in progress.

Deck Passes: There will be no parents allowed on the pool deck unless they have the correct identification, such as a League Deck Pass that states they are a timer, ready bench, meet marshal, or a coach.

• To clarify: all Hurricanes spectators and volunteers need a wrist band to enter the facility. Volunteers will receive a League Deck Pass to enter the lower level/pool deck area. Parent committee will pass out deck passes the morning of the meet.

Meet Seating: Swimmers will remain on the pool deck, seated with their team and will not be allowed to go up in the spectator bleachers. Once the swimmer has completed their events, the coach may release the swimmer to their parent and the swimmer will not be allowed back onto the pool deck. Parents will sit above (2nd floor) and watch from the viewing area above (no parents, aside from meet volunteers with a deck pass, are allowed on deck with swimmers). Consider sending a small snack/beverage with your swimmer, but keep in mind, swimmers are NOT ALLOWED to bring in personal coolers (there just isn't space).

PLEASE PRINT/BRING YOUR OWN HEAT SHEET - ESPECIALLY MEET MARSHALL/READY BENCH VOLUNTEERS! (the league will provide a few complimentary heat sheets to each division - but don't count on this! Tell your swimmer what he/she is swimming BEFORE entering the facility.

Additional Rules:

• No posters/banners/streamers/confetti allowed in the facility.
• No cake or pastries allowed in the facility.
• No body-painting/body glitter/"eat my bubbles", etc is allowed on swimmers' bodies (allowed: only name and event #/heat/lane).

Additional Insight....

The Divisionals/Champs meet is the biggest (and most exciting) meet of the season.
The Hurricanes will be competing against the other 3 teams in our league's division at the same time, in a large, deep, very "professional" pool setting.

It's a large, LOUD, fast-paced event. Swimmers stay on deck down below; parents watch (and cheer!) from the observation deck on the upper level. Note - parents/swimmers DO NOT sit together at this meet. Coaches and a handful of our team's volunteers (those with deck passes only) will be with the swimmers on deck, helping them get to their events.

Due to the size of the meet, we are limited in the number of swimmers/relays we are allowed to enter in each event; at this meet, your swimmer MAY end up swimming events that they don't routinely swim. We try to make sure we enter a relay in every event, so sometimes we ask our younger swimmers to "swim up" with older relays so Hunters Creek Hurricanes are represented.

Swimmers earn MEDALS for 1st-3rd places (always fun to get, am I right?) and ribbons for up to 16th place. Plaques will be given to the boy and girl who score the most points in their respective age group. Banners will be given to the team that scores the most points in each age group, by gender (these are the banners that we proudly display along the fence at the pool.)

I explain all of this because, sometimes, swimmers (and parents?) are intimidated by the large, deep pool, high starting blocks, amount of noise, and the fact that they can't sit with their parents between events. For most, it's a fantastic opportunity to swim in "fast pool" (tall starting blocks, lane ropes, gutters, etc. designed to decrease turbulence) with a cool automated touch-pad timing system. Our swimmers tend to break their own personal records at this meet - and there are ALWAYS super-exciting finishes to watch! It's a great experience, and we hope that ALL HURRICANES will participate and believe that knowing some of the above details will help your swimmer (and you) be adequately prepared. 

Again, we know this is a lot of information so let us know if you have any questions!

Go Hurricanes!!!!

Monica