Barracuda Parents,

Are you ready for another Race Day? The kids are ready. If at all possible, please get your kids to practice Thursday and Friday. We have worked on breaststroke a lot so far this week. Today is going to include fly work, dives, and some relay exchanges. Friday is an important workout each week. It is the day before race day and will be full of starts, turns, finishes and the kid’s favorite - relays!

Check-in will begin at 6:30 am, and all swimmers must be checked in no later than 7:00. Scratches will be done at 7:05, so if you don’t check-in we assume you are not there and will scratch your child from their races. Our check-in table for swimmers and volunteers will be right by the ice machine. Please send your children to the check-in table as soon as you arrive. 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 warm-up: 6:50 - 7:05

Level 4 warm-up: 7:05 – 7:20

Level 3 warm-up: 7:20 – 7:32

Level 2 warm-up: 7:32 – 7:40

Since this is a home meet, level 1 will not be warming up. Please have your swimmer behind the blocks with caps and goggles on 5 minutes before their group starts.

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.

Individual races: 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.

Relay Events:

If your child is in the 6&un Free Relay or the 7/8, 9/10 Medley Relays, please go straight to the Age Group Tent after the team cheer. The best way to do this is take them over to the team cheer in their caps and goggles. That way they are ready to go straight to the Age Group tent and gather with their relay team. Parents are needed for those few minutes in-between organizing the four children and taking them to the correct end of the pool and the blocks. If your child is in the relay and you are not working a volunteer shift, please stay near the area so the Age Group Parents have some assistance getting the teams to the lanes on time. Laura Holmes is the Parent Lead for 10&un relay teams. She will have the finalized relay assignments if there were scratches and changes made. The relays should be finalized by around 7:45ish. Please be patient while scratches are done and the computer team works on getting everything printed. It is a lot of work on race day and they are a little short handed this weekend.

Free Relays:

When the fly events begin or when your child finishes their fly race, please take them straight to the Age Group tent. They will be gathering teams for the free relay. Again, parents are needed for the 7/8 and 9/10 age groups to get the kids to the proper lane and end of the pool.

If your child is not in a relay, please see Coach Dave before you leave for the day. Sometimes we have a child get sick and need to leave the meet and we will need an alternate. Last week we had two alternates make it onto a relay team.

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.

Relays are always subject to change. We often have a child get injured, sick, or not get better soon enough for race day. That means changes to the relays. Sometimes the order for the relays change, which isn't too big of deal for the Free Relay, but it sometimes means a different stroke in the Medley Relay.

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.

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

Go Barracudas!

Coach Katie