Dear Parents and Swimmers,

To say that the coaches were delighted by the performances of our swimmers at the Eastern Cluster and Michigan Open Meets would be an understatement. Our swimmers exceeded our expectations (and in many cases theirs!) With this being the first of our meets in the championship season the forecast is favorable for a great deal of success.

The basic reason for our swimmers success is the structure of the program. At the beginning of the season I described the commitment it would take to achieve our goals—-regular practice, participation in meets and competing in championships. That is why there are requirements. We want to ensure the success of every swimmer. And you saw how well it is working. That is why it is so disappointing when families do not follow through. This weekend we will be swimming at our 42nd YMCA Eight and Under State Meet where we are the perennial champions. It saddens me that we have several swimmers who are missing the meet (a required meet) even though we advertised the date of the meet in September at our organizational meetings. We had a long waiting list of swimmers we could not accept who would have fulfilled the team’s requirements who were denied that opportunity.

There is nothing easy or convenient about developing into a fine athlete. Swimmers and their families make a lot of sacrifices in order to achieve. And while we are in the championship season, the board and coaches are planning for the future. This is always a challenge because BBD is like a house of cards. We rely on dedicated coaches and board members, but we have no control over facilities. Southeast Michigan has a severe pool shortage to accommodate the number of swimmers in our area. This spring the Cranbrook Pool will close for a major overhaul. While we be back in that beautiful facility in the fall, it is not available to us in the spring and summer.

Coach Mike Wind has spent a great deal of time searching for facilities so that we can offer a quality program to our swimmers, but it won’t be as convenient.

For our spring programs we will be using facilities in Royal Oak and at the YMCA (for our younger swimmers). Mornings practices will be at Royal Oak Middle School (the former Dondero) and evenings will be at Royal Oak High School (the former Kimball.) For swimmers who are planning to swim long-course IT IS IMPERATIVE that they do the spring program. The summer season is too short to see positive results without beginning in the spring.

For our summer program we will be at Southfield Civic Center in the morning and Seaholm in the afternoon.

While we are blessed to have a great number of excellent swim and country clubs in our area who do a fine job of introducing children to competitive swimming and training them for sprint events, when a swimmer reaches the age of thirteen that type of preparation isn’t sufficient if they have goals of competing in high school or reaching Zone and National competitions.

IT IS ALSO IMPERATIVE that swimmers are registered early for the spring and summer programs. We are still a business operation and if our numbers are too low to support the program we will have to make adjustments. Sign up early and relieve us of that stress.

I want you to have this information because we will begin discussing this with swimmers at practice and you will need time to plan…create car pools, coordinate schedules etc.

Enjoy the rest of the season. I sure will. Our swimmers always make us look good!!

Kevin