Dear Parents and Swimmers,

We had a very productive weekend. Our swimmers distinguished themselves at the OLY Meet. At practices, the 9/10s trained for their most challenging events and Coach Pat was able to film some of our new 11-12s at Saturday’s practice. One of our senior swimmers, Madison Helmick, just signed with the University of Illinois at Chicago!!!! Congratulations, Maddie!!

We are all looking forward to our meet on Saturday and Sunday. Some reminders…

- PLEASE be on time! Our team will warm up first and then we will need time to get the relays organized. That is no small feat.

- All young swimmers should have their event numbers on their hand BEFORE they come to the meet.

- Only parents who are working on the deck are allowed to be there.

- We are all learning at this first meet. Many of our swimmers, timers and officials are rookies. I am sure our swimmers are going to impress us! It is going to be a lot of fun.

Thank you to our parent board for giving us this opportunity!

Have a great week.
Kevin

P.S. – Please be aware that all practices on this Saturday on Sunday are canceled because of our hosted meet.

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

​

We schedule a lot of practices for our swimmers because we know there will be times when the school’s schedule precludes us from using a pool. If an age group misses one practice in a week, we don’t worry. If they miss two, we try to make an adjustment. This week Cranbrook has an invitational on Thursday and Friday so this week…

​Thursday

9-10s are canceled at Cranbrook

11-12s are canceled at Derby

13-14s will be at Derby from 5:30-7:00

15-17s will be at Derby from 6:45-8:30

Friday

8 and under practice is canceled

11-12s will be at the Y from 5:00-6:15

​So, nothing at Cranbrook on Thursday and Friday. Any practices not mentioned here will run as normal.

Thank you to the swimmers who came to the National Team’s Clinics on Sunday. It was a very productive session!

Good luck to those swimmers who are attending the OLY meet this weekend! Remember, you must do a positive check-in at US meets. Late swimmers will be scratched from the meet…so be on time!!

Have a great week!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

By now you have received the invitation to our Fall Meet. You, in conversation with your swimmer, will select their events. Take a look at the events offered. Swimmers should swim three or four events at each session. They should pick one or two that they would like to swim and one or two they know the coaches would like to see them swim. Remember, sometime during the season they should swim every event available to them in their age group. This provides the coaches with important feedback to guide their training. Our coaches are training swimmers to swim all strokes and distances. For example, last night the 9-10 girls worked on the 200 IM. After instructions and drills, nine girls swam the event very successfully in practice so they are ready to do that at a meet. On Saturday the 11-12s worked on the 400 IM.

We will try to make sure swimmers get a chance to swim a relay or two. The team pays for relays and the coaches enter enough teams to accommodate almost everyone.

Remember this is our meet (we plan to have two.) Parents of swimmers are expected to sign up to help run the meet, There are many ways to be helpful, but it is unacceptable not to volunteer,

​A few reminders…

…swimmers must be masked at all of the venues we use.

​…parents are expected to bring swimmers into the building and retrieve them after practice. We had a swimmer dropped off at Cranbrook on Tuesday when practice was canceled—- a very scary situation for that swimmer. Plus, when you come into get your swimmer you have a chance to socialize with other parents…and that helps build a stronger team.

​I see every swimmer training several times a week. It is great to see how much they are learning and how much they have already improved. I can hardly wait for our first meets!

​Speaking of meets, our high- school girls ( representing their schools) lit it up at the Oakland County Meet this past weekend! We saw swimmers from Groves, Seaholm, Marian, Mercy, Royal Oak, Troy, West Bloomfield, Cranbrook and Detroit Country Day and others add state meet events etc….Congratulations!

Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

​Our second week of practice went well. Dry-lands for our older age groups began on Monday. Please encourage swimmers to take advantage of these sessions for the thirteen-and-up athletes on Monday and Wednesday from 6:15-7:00 before the in-water practice begins. These sessions are provided courtesy of our board.

​*Beginning this week there is a change to Monday night practice for 11-12s. We have secured pool time at Covington (BCS) which will allow us to have two practices instead of one. Girls will practice from 5:30-7:00, boys from 6:45-8:15. This change has been made to the practice grid on the website.*

We have updated our meet schedule. It continues to be a work-in-progress. US Swimming has created new championship formats. They have announced dates of the competitions, but no information beyond that. We will keep you up-dated as we learn more.

In our effort to provide as many opportunities for swimmers our practices on Sunday morning are occurring even though the YMCA is not open. Coaches will meet the kids at the door to let them enter. I know you will all be on time, but if we have already gone down to practice please come down the outside steps. The door at the bottom of the steps will be propped open while the weather is reasonable.

Coach Pat has gotten our underwater camera ready to go. Coach Pat will be at practices at Cranbrook occasionally to film our nine-and-up swimmers and review footage with them. Coach Pat takes a group of five swimmers at a time and we begin with our newest swimmers. He can usually do three or four groups at a practice. It’s nice feature of our program

​Please encourage swimmers to wear their masks. It is a requirement at all of the buildings we use. We cannot afford to lose a facility because everyone is not complying!

​The Y is currently collecting gently-used bedding, towels and cleaning supplies for Afghan refugees. There is a box at the Y for donations.

​Kevin

Dear Parents and Swimmers,

BBD is off to a fine start!

We have tweaked the schedule and we plan to offer some more opportunities as they become available. Thank you for your flexibility.

A few reminders…

… If you were unable to attend our parent meeting, please take some time to read our parent handbook to understand our team’s philosophy and procedures.

… Safety first! Everyone (swimmers and parents and coaches) MUST wear a mask inside the buildings. Swimmers can remove them just as they are reporting to their assigned lanes and put them back on when they are getting ready to leave.

… Safety first! Please escort your children safely into the venues for practice and retrieve them at the end.

… I don’t think I need to say it, but never send a swimmer with any kind of symptoms to practice. If they miss school, they shouldn’t be at that evening’s practice.

… All swimmers must bring fins to practice.

…Drylands for 13-14 and 15-18 swimmers will be on Monday and Wednesday from 6:15-7:00 before practice on the courtyard at Cranbook outside the pool (as weather permits) and above the pool if the weather doesn’t cooperate. These sessions are provided by the board to supplement in-pool training. Please take advantage of this great opportunity.

I’m glad you are all with us. It’s going to be a great season!

Kevin