Hello, Fall Conditioning Swimmers and Families!

I hope this email finds you well! The cold weather has been creeping up on us slowly; I think it’s safe to say we got our first taste of fall this past week!

Week in Review:

The 8U worked on flipturns and learned underwater dolphin kicks. They also got some extra butterfly work in-- especially on the timing of their stroke. The 9-12 did a lot of IM work, as well as turn work. They also worked on their freestyle, focusing on rotation, pacing/tempo, and more. The 13+ had some hard sets this week, and they really pulled through! These were some of the best practices we’ve had-- a lot of pace work, but also working on their prime stroke/IM.

Swimmers of the Week:

Name: Oliver Archell

Age: 6 ¾

Favorite stroke: “It used to be freestyle because I thought it was easy, turns out it’s pretty hard! I like something mellower, and I found it, and it’s breaststroke!”

Favorite thing about swimming: “Miss Tjasa (Coach Tjasa blushes)! I love this pool!”

Favorite food: “My favorite food category is fast food!” Also likes carrots!

“It’s obvious that Oliver loves swimming, his team, and his coaches! What I love about Oliver is that he is such a dedicated cheerleader for his teammates. He tells his teammates what he loves about them, tells them good job, and cheers with such enthusiasm for them throughout practice. Not only that, but he is so actively engaged during practice he will even add extra inspirational quotes to our regular quote of the day (he’s a big Mary Poppins fan!). Keep up the great work, Oliver!” -Coach Tjasa

Name: Riley Hill

What’s your favorite part about swimming? “I like to race and I also like that swimming is both an individual and team sport.”

How long have you been swimming? “I think I started as a Marlin at 6.”

What’s your favorite stroke? Butterfly

Where is your favorite vacation spot? Costa Rica

“Riley is very committed to the sport and has a very strong work ethic in the pool. She is always thoughtful of her teammates and coaches and never complains about a hard set! I’m sure Riley will be a very successful swimmer!” -Coach Caleb

Name: Tove Kaleba

Age: 12

Favorite stroke: Breaststroke

Favorite thing about swimming: “It’s kind of like flying!”

Favorite vacation: Lake Alpine in Bear Valley

Favorite food: Calamari, also fudge ice cream

“Tove has been a consistent hard worker both in the summer and the fall sessions. She is so great about making swim practice fun and light-hearted while also listening well and working her butt off! She has been such a joy to coach the past few months and I’m so excited to see her growth and her rockin breaststroke at the Spooky Time Trials!” -Coach Malia

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 here .

Practice Structure:

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 to practice, it is so important to stay hydrated when you work as hard as our swimmers do in their practices.

Also: our Spooky Time Trials Registration is now open!! Please sign your swimmers up at https://greenmeadow.swimtopia.com/

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