Barracuda Parents,

Tomorrow is our first official meet of the season! The kids have worked hard and are excited for the meet. The meet is at Rocklin High School. Check-in will begin at 7am, and all swimmers must be checked in no later than 7:20. Our check-in table for swimmers and volunteers will be right by the pool in the front of our team area. Volunteers must check-in to get credit for working their shift.

Please text Coach Katie with any scratches 916-879-3296. It is not too late or too early to text. The sooner I know of a swimmer who is sick/cannot be at the meet the better.

Warm-up info:

Levels 5 and 6 will be in the water 7:40 - 7:53

Levels 3 and 4 will be in the water 7:53 - 8:03

Levels 1 and 2 will be in the water 8:03 - 8:10

Since this is an away meet, we will be putting the 6&Un swimmers in the water for a warm-up. The pool is deep and we want all the nerves out during warm-ups. Warm-ups are for all swimmers. Please have your swimmer behind the blocks with caps and goggles on 5 minutes before their group starts. If your child is in the 6&un Free Relay or a Medley relay, please have them go straight to their Age Group tent after getting dried off after warm-ups. We need to get the 6&un and 7/8s together and make sure all are ready to begin the relays. The first event of the day is the 6&un free relay. 11 and up swimmers can gather near the Age Group tents to get their relay teams together, then proceed straight to the blocks.

Team Area Set-up:

The area just outside the fence by the pool is our team area. There is a concrete pathway from the parking lot back to our area. You can set-up anywhere on the asphalt basketball court. The team age group tents will be set up in the walkway area right by the pool. That will be the walkway to the coaches table and ready bench area. Please do not set up your personal tents there. The asphalt area is large and will easily accommodate all family tents. Luckily, we are on the asphalt and will not need protection from wet grass this weekend! You might want to bring a blanket something to put down if you have young swimmers who will be playing in the ground. Again, the walkway area is not for family tents, please set up on the basketball court area.

Age Group Tents Info:

We have Age Group tents to help you get your 10 & unders to the ready bench. All 6&under, 7/8, and 9/10 athletes must go to the Age Group tent before each event. From there, a parent volunteer will take the whole group to the ready bench. After checking the athlete in to the age group tent, please do not hover around the tent. Let the parent volunteers do their job and take the athletes to the ready bench. This is a process to eliminate congestion in the area and ensure that all swimmers get ready for their events.

Events and Relays:

Attached is the entry report by athlete name. You can find out what events your child is swimming. We have been reminding the children at practice, but please remember that when you select events it is a request, not an entry. We take requests into account when doing the entries, but they are not a guarantee. With 200 athletes and limited heats, we do our best to create a competitive meet and also try to honor requests. Some children are not ready to swim all events and will need the free and back races. Please understand that we are trying our best to serve all 200+ Barracuda swimmers. Relay assignments can change if swimmers scratch from the meet. Age Group parents will know if there are any changes by 8AM.

Team T-Shirts:

Amber Sutton will be at the meet with the team t-shirts. If your swimmer has not received their shirt, look for her in the team area.

Things to bring:

Please bring plenty of towels. The morning will be cool and a warm towel after a race is needed.

A sharpie marker - all parents will need to mark event/heat/lane on their swimmer's arms. This helps the Age Group parent, ready bench parent, and volunteer behind the blocks to ensure each athlete is in the right place. The meet program will come to the Age Group parents shortly before the meet start with that information.

Snacks and drinks for your swimmer and yourself!

Patience. This is our first away meet and many of our families are first time swimmers. Seasoned parents, please help out the new families. Answer questions or direct them to someone who can.

Thank you to all the parents for supporting your children and the team by volunteering this weekend. Race Day is important and a reward for all of the hard practices your children have been putting in each week. Please encourage your children to have fun and do their best and let the coaches give critiques and racing advise. As my mentor and favorite Barracuda Coach John Hooten always said, "The best day of the week is race day!"

If you have any questions or concerns, please reach out to me.

Go Barracudas!

Coach Katie