Wahoos Families,

Welcome to the 2021 Wahoos Swim Season. This email contains a lot of information to provide details about the swim season and help you know where to find more information, what to do, where to be and when to be there. It will also be saved to the news section of the Swimtopia site.

We are very excited to get the kids back in the pool after the 2020 season was canceled. The Wahoos team is comprised this season of 146 swimmers from 88 WSRC families. This is a net gain of 16 more swimmers than the team had in 2019. 40% of the swimmers are new to the team. Should be a fun time seeing returning faces and welcoming lots of new swimmers to the team. The coaching staff and Wahoo Committee Volunteers are excited to get the season started!

Practices

Wahoos practices begin next week (Monday, May 17). They are held each weekday afternoon barring bad weather. Light to moderate rain does not stop practices, but heavy rain and thunder and lightning do. Coaches will make best efforts to make timely communication for any cancelations of practices due to threatening weather.

Schedule. The practice schedule is posted on the Swimtopia site. For May 17-28 practices will be held Monday through Friday from 4:00-6:30. Practices will be broken down by age group.

6 & Under: 4:00-4:30

Ages 7-10: 4:00-5:00

11 & Over: 5:15-6:30

Swimmers should attend their designated age group practice slot. You can drop off your swimmers or stay to watch practice.

What to bring. Swimmers should come dressed to swim and have cap, goggles, and a towel. It’s a good practice to bring a water bottle to keep swimmers hydrated especially as the weather gets warmer.

COVID Guidance. If you or your swimmer are feeling sick or have been in recent contact with someone who is experiencing COVID symptoms, then stay at home and do not attend practice. Though masks restrictions are being eased in North Carolina (and of course are ever evolving), USA Swimming, CDC and NCDHS still advise face coverings in outdoor crowded settings and in indoor settings. We ask that swimmers wear a face covering when entering and exiting the pool facility or going into the clubhouse or restrooms. No mask is required for swimmers while participating in swim practice activities (dry land nor in pool). The locker rooms are not available for changing currently. Coaches will be working as best they can to manage swimmers congregating together on the pool deck and in pool lanes. We will be mindful and make updates as new guidance emerges.

Practice attendance. Practices are not mandatory, and we recognize that other activities and issues will create schedule conflicts. Swimmers will of course benefit from getting as much practice time in the pool as possible. Swimmers participating on year-round club teams are encouraged to attend their clubs’ practices to supplement or replace some of the Wahoos practices.

Practice sign-ups. To assist coaches in planning practices we are asking that you note if your swimmers are attending each practice or not. You can do this using Swimtopia (app or website) by going to the schedule, choosing a given practice day and using the “meet signup” feature to declare each of your swimmers to be attending or not.

In June practices will switch to mornings from 8:30-11:00. * The breakdown of practice groups is still be finalized for June and will be communicated by May 21.

Team Suits & Team Apparel

All team members will receive a Wahoos team swim cap and towel. Please see previous emails and news postings about team suits and the Team Store from our Apparel and Merchandise committee members, Kimberly Barker and Jen Wright. Here is the news post on team apparel.

Volunteering

In typical seasons we would have begun volunteer signups for meets in conjunction with registration. We’ve used a wait and see approach to allow us to calibrate based on COVID circumstances. Please know that we will need volunteers to be able to run our meets, so your opportunities are coming. Our Volunteer Coordinator, Cathy Osmera, will be following up with more information and signup requests for filling out our various volunteer jobs as the time trials and swim meets approach. You can familiarize yourself with descriptions of volunteer jobs here.

Time Trails

Our time trial is scheduled for Thursday, June 3. Swimmers will swim lots of events to get baseline times to use to assess their progress throughout the season. This also serves as a mock meet to help swimmers and parents get a feel for the meet format as well also allow team management and volunteers to practice and test processes for managing swim meets.

Meets

The meet schedule is on the Swimtopia site. GSCL swim meets are Mondays and Thursday in June with our first meeting on Monday, June 7. Our Social Coordinator, Alison Titherington, has created a schedule of themes and activities for each meet which can found in the schedule. Alison will be sending out more details as each meet approaches. Check out the What to expect at a swim meet guide to learn more about Wahoos swim meets.

Registration fees

We have collected registration fees from about 75% of the families registering this season. If you haven’t paid your registration fee, please to do so this week.

You may pay by check/credit card or by using Zelle for electronic payments.

Zelle: To make a payment with Zelle use [email protected] as the payee address. The payee will may display as "Country Haven Swim and Racquet Club" by some banks (the original incorporated name of the club). Once the Zelle payment is received the member will be emailed a receipt from the club.

Check or Credit Card: please bring your payment to the front office at Weddington Swim & Racquet Club.

Useful Resources

Wahoos Swimtopia Site – includes team info, practice and meet schedule, ability to declare to attend or decline practices and meets, news archive, useful links, etc.

Wahoos Swim Team Managers’ contact info can be found on the Swimtopia site. You can contact head coach Nathan McCormick, Wahoos Committee member volunteers, the WSRC Board Member Pool chair, etc. with any questions, concerns, or suggestions.

What to expect at a swim meet is the latest iteration of document that has helped Wahoos families for many years. If you are new to swim team and swim meets this is an essential read. The timing of meets will change with virtual meets in GCSL Division 2 for 2021, so even Wahoos veterans will get some new information from this document.

Hope your kids are getting excited about swim team starting. We look forward to seeing them at the pool next week.

Sincerely,

Joe Guy

Wahoos Team Rep