We are so excited the start of the 2026 swim season tomorrow. Coach Bianca is returning for another season and will be spearheading a great group of assistant and swimmer coaches.  She will be assisted by the fabulous Coach Olivia who is joining us for her first year.  You may know her from the Colonial Forge High School Swim Team!

Our first practice is supposed to be 26May26. Kids ages 12 and up will practice from 5-6pm, Kids ages 9-11 will practice from 6-7pm and Kids ages 8 and under will practice from 7-7:30pm for the first two weeks of practice. Please have your swimmer wear their swim suit to practice and, if they desire, bring a cap, goggles and a towel. We also suggest bringing a sweatshirt as these first few weeks can sometimes be quite cold.

That being said, tomorrow and Wednesday look horrible and I don't know that we will be able to get in.  We are going to try.  If you feel it is too cold or miserable for your kid, we get it.  Feel free to keep them at home.  The last thing we want is to scare kids off with a horrible first practice.  

We have three main lines of communication:

1. Emails, if you are registered, that email will receive our email traffic.

2. Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/1CjUrf7HD9/mibextid=wwXIfr

3. Remind with remind code: @austinridg.  We highly suggest this as this is how we communicate last minute cancellations and changes.

We will have a mandatory parents meeting at 6:30pm on 01Jun26. We will meet at the middle cabana on the pool deck.

We need people to get safe sport certified so they can act as safety marshalls at our meets.  This will enable them to walk through the bathrooms twice a meet and check on things. If you are safe sport certified from another sport, please send Jill your certificate at [email protected]. IF we have enough volunteers for the rest of the meet, this will count as your volunteer spot! If you are not safe sport certified but want to be you can get certified here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/16wGUSxXHpGwMf...

Lastly, our league’s certified training sessions are now open at https://rsl.swimtopia.com/training. We will discuss this at the parents meeting but please try to get certified for a volunteer position. We are always desperate for people to fill these positions. These positions include:

Stroke and Turn Judge: This position allows you a front row seat to the meet. You will be watching the kids swim and making sure their strokes are legal. This is always our hardest position to fill. This is not a good position if you will need to be the sole parent watching toddlers on the pool deck.

Starter: This person works with the referee to start each swimming event. This person also is front and center at the meet. This is not a good position if you will need to be the sole parent watching toddlers on the pool deck.

Head Timer: This position is in charge of giving the timers meeting before the meet and making sure each of the timers gets a good time for each swimmer. You could strap a baby to your chest and do this position, it would be a difficult job with a toddler though.

Clerk of the Course: This person is responsible for putting children in order and making sure they get to the correct lane. You work with a group of people for this job. You could do this position with small children as you are relatively stationary and out of the way.

We always have non certified positions as well, these include:

Timers: You stand at a lane and time swimmers. You work with 2 other timers in your lane. You could strap a baby to your chest and do this position, it would be a difficult job with a toddler though.

Concessions (only for home meets): Sell concessions. You work with another person. You could do this position with small children as you are relatively stationary and out of the way.

Non Certified Clerk of the Course: This person works with a group toward putting children in order and making sure they get to the correct lane. You could do this position with small children as you are relatively stationary and out of the way.

We look forward to a great season. Please let me know if you have any questions.

R/Andrea

[email protected]