Hello, Fall Conditioning Swimmers and Families!

I hope this email finds you well! This has been an awesome week of practices-- super grateful for the beautiful weather!

Week in Review:

The swimmers worked SO hard this week! We finished up breaststroke week with continued work on glides as well as some pace/sprint work. Then we started up our butterfly practices-- which went very well! Many 8U learned breaststroke and butterfly for the very first time (and are now able to swim a full lap of either stroke!), which is incredibly exciting. I’m very proud of them, as they should be of themselves! Many 9-12 swimmers worked intensely on breaststroke and butterfly techniques, then transitioned to more speed work/worked with higher yardage. The 13+ swam some longer yardage, as well as some faster paced practices-- challenges that they met with hard work and persistence! These were some of the best practices we’ve had this season.

Swimmers of the Week:

Below are the Swimmers of the Week that have been chosen for their hard work this past week of practices.

Name: Emmanuel Blecken

Age: 12

Favorite thing about swimming: “Putting on sunscreen before swimming”, also likes pretending to swim away from a water tornado

Favorite Vacation: went to Germany with grandparents, “it rains a lot there.”

Favorite food: Rice crackers

Quote: “Can my brother be swimmer of the week?”

“I don’t think anyone works harder than Emmanuel. Breaststroke in particular was a really tough challenge for him, but I was so impressed by how tenacious he was. Emmanuel is inquisitive, excited, and persevering. I am so proud of the hard work he’s put into this season! Keep up the great work, Emmanuel!” -Coach Tjasa

Name: Nico Chou

Age: 15

Favorite thing about swimming: meeting people

Favorite vacation: Hawaii

Favorite food: In-N-out

“I picked Nico because he comes to every practice ready to work hard, he always keeps going no matter how hard the workout is. He is super respectful to his teammates and coaches and is always a pleasure to coach!” -Coach Malia

Special shoutout to Group 10! The coaches have been so impressed with this hard-working, enthusiastic group of swimmers during their practices the past week and feel they deserve to be recognized! Great job Leza Hervy, Katie Spitzer, Jack Spitzer, Brett Hodson, Nessa Kmetec, Beverly Lamis, and Emerson Ames! You guys rock, keep up the good work!

Notes About Air Quality:

We will continue to assess the air quality day-by-day, considering each day whether it is safe to hold swim practice and, if not, canceling. The coaches will make our final call by 2 pm; If we deem it unsafe, parents will receive an email notification via Swimtopia canceling swim practices for the day. If it is safe, there will be no email sent out. In other words, the assumption will always be that practice is happening unless we cancel via email! We use many different air quality online measuring tools-- AirNow.gov and Purple Air most of all. If we see that the air quality has surpassed 150 (marked “unhealthy for all groups”) we will cancel practice. We will also cancel if the forecast shows the AQI surpassing 150 during the afternoon swim practice times. The pool will remain open unless the AQI reaches 190-200. If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me at [email protected], or Coach Caleb at [email protected] .

Practice Schedule/Lane Assignments:

Please find our fall conditioning practice schedule and lane assignments here .

Practice Structure:

This upcoming week, we will continue our butterfly focussed practices. Here’s what you’ll need to bring to practice:

• Mask (make sure to always wear a mask on deck and to remember to walk one-way around the pool!)
• towel/flip-flops/clothes
• Goggles
• Cap (optional, but encouraged)
• Water Bottle (pre-filled, this is especially important due to the poor air quality) we’ve noticed that the majority of swimmers have not been bringing water to practice, this is essential! Imagine going to soccer practice, in this air quality, and forgetting water! Please make sure that your swimmers bring a pre-filled water bottle to practice.
• Kickboard (we can provide kickboards that we sanitize between groups, but it is recommended that you bring your own)
• Fins (encouraged)

Gear:

If you want to buy gear for the upcoming season, check out the Greenmeadow team store on Swimoutlet.com for everything from t-shirts to goggles to kickboards and fins.

Parent Reminders:

Parents, please make sure your swimmers are bringing water to practice! We’ve noticed that the majority of swimmers have not been bringing water, it is so important to stay hydrated when you work as hard as our swimmers do in their practices.

Also, coming up at the end of October will be our Spooky Time Trials. Please keep an eye out for registration information for this super fun event! :)

Contacts:

If you have any questions, please feel free to reach out to any of the coaches:

Coach Tjasa Kmetec [email protected]

Coach Caleb Fenner [email protected]

Coach Malia Jefferson [email protected]

Thank you, everyone!

Coaches Tjasa Kmetec, Caleb Fenner, Malia Jefferson