Hello everyone- (I APOLOGIZE FOR MY FIRST EMAIL, TRIED TO INCLUDE SOME PHOTOS, OBVIOUSLY DIDN'T WORK, THIS IS THE SAME TEXT, NO PHOTOS)

Well, we finally have our meet entry and job sign-up buttons live on the website! Thanks for bearing with us- I know you've heard me say it before, but Covid has delayed a lot of our meet planning this year!

For our returning families, you know the drill! Please declare your swimmers and sign up for jobs for time trials from the Calendar page (and while you are on the website, do it for as many meets as you can!)

For our new families- what we call "meet declarations" in swim team language is just you letting us know which meets your swimmers are able, or unable, to attend. The critical need right now is that you let us know if you swimmers can attend Time Trials this upcoming Saturday June 12th. Please declare your swimmers even if you are unsure of whether they can swim across the pool. The coaches will advise you on if they should participate, and if so, which strokes they should swim. Time Trials is the event at the beginning of every swim season where swimmers will get their baseline times for all strokes they are able to swim. For our older swimmers, this generally means they will swim all four strokes. For our younger swimmers, this may be only be freestyle and backstroke. Time Trials is like a swim meet, except there is no visiting team, it is just Hammerheads! It is a great way for swimmers to be introduced to the meet atmosphere.

We need you to please declare your swimmers for Time Trials no later than 6PM on Tuesday, 6/8. The reason that meet declarations are due 4 days before the meet is because a lot goes on behind the scenes after you declare your swimmers. First, the coaches have to "seed the meet" which means they select which swimmers will swim every event. After that, our data coordinator needs to work with the other team (in the case of time trials, they just work alone) to "build the meet" in the software that we use and print time cards for every swimmer in every event. There are a lot of moving parts! This is why we need meet declarations done ON TIME for every meet. If they aren't, you will hear from me, because the other steps in the process can't happen until meet declarations by parents are completed. Don't be the cog in the machinery!!!

That was just a brief overview of what goes on before a meet, but if you have any questions about this process, please feel free to ask me!

To declare your swimmers as able to attend or NOT able to attend- go to the Calendar on the homepage here

https://herndonswims.swimtopia.com/swim_meets

Click on the green "meet entry" button next to Time trials and fill out your info.

If you generally know your schedule for the summer, go ahead and declare your swimmer for every meet! This is what I do and I think it makes my life easier because then I don't have to think about it! You can always change it if needed.

If your swimmers can't make it to Time Trials this weekend, just go ahead and declare them as being absent. The coaches will work with your swimmer to get baseline times for them at an upcoming practice or meet.

Finally, you will also notice that there is a job signup next to each meet, including Time Trials. We encourage every family to have at least one parent signed up for a job. Meets take A LOT of volunteers to be successful, plus, volunteering is a great way to meet other parents! All training will be provided on the job :-)

PLEASE NOTE- The NVSL required "uniform" for any volunteer on deck (this includes timers, table workers and marshals) is a white top with navy bottoms. Time to dust off my white t-shirt and navy shorts from 2019! ;-)

Here are some of the jobs that are good for first time meet volunteers:

Have a passion for food? ;-) The concessions workers at time trials will just be serving a simple menu (probably coffee and bagels), which will be different from our full meet menu, so this is a good way to ease yourself in to helping with concessions!

Like to sit in a chair on a pool deck? The Deck marshal position is for you! You will be monitoring the ingress/egress points on the pool deck to help keep the flow of people going in the right direction.

Sitting in the shade more your speed? Good with numbers? Maybe being a table worker is up your alley! You will work with the data coordinator to check the times on the time cards and enter them into the meet software.

Is herding cats your thing? We need team area parents to keep the mayhem to a minimum while swimmers are waiting for their events.

Like getting your feet wet and want the best seat in the house? Be a timer! No experience necessary for this most-exciting swim meet job.

Like lifting heavy things? Sign up for the pool setup on Friday June 11th (see green button next to this calendar item). We will get the pool ready for Time Trials on Friday evening so that we can all just show up and get started on Saturday.

When you volunteer, the expectation is that you remain in your position until the end of the meet. We have approximate times listed for all positions, but these do not take into account unforeseen circumstances like weather delays. Also, it is OK to split a position with a spouse or other Hammerhead parent. For instance, if you sign up to be a timer, you could do it for freestyle and backstroke and then switch with someone else for breaststroke and butterfly. The responsibility is yours to arrange the job split.

I know this is a lot of info! If you have any questions, just let me know.

Thanks!
-Jill