In this Pre-Meet Newsletter:

• Red/White Theme + Meet Details + Buoy Bowls Food Truck
• Meet Volunteer Needs
• Declare Your Swimmer by noon on Friday for the Red-White Meet.
• Don’t Be A No-Show at the Meet (who to contact if an emergency arises)
• Warm-Up + Volunteer Schedule
• Parking, Concessions, General Meet Information
• Heat Sheets + Finding Swimmer Numbers
• Kid Pusher’s note to PARENTS
• Swimmer Times
• Withdrawing Your Swimmer Deadline
• CCM Theme Survey
• Upcoming Events
  • 5/29 Welcome Back Party TOMORROW
  • 6/1 Red/White Meet
  • 2nd New Parent Orientation Save the Date: June 5th at 5:15pm

Hello Killer Whales!

This week, we are looking forward to a splashing good time at our Welcome Back Party tomorrow night (5/29) and our Red-White Meet on Sunday morning. We'll have spirit wear for sale at both these events, which includes team sweatshirts for these chilly nights and morning ahead.

Our Theme for the Red-White Meet is Pajama Party! It is going to be cool on Sunday morning, so wear your favorite PJs and/or bring a favorite cozy blanket.  

We still need these Volunteer Roles filled: 2 Timers and one 7/8 Boys Kid Pusher.

Do you want to sing the National Anthem for the Red-white meet (or any future home meets)?. Let us know! Parents and swimmers welcome. We love it when kids step up and have fun with this. It can be a solo or small group.

A note about the Red/White timing: The SVKW Swim Board recognizes that Sunday morning might be a schedule conflict for some families. While the Red/White is helpful to log starting times before our first dual meet, it is not mandatory to attend. If your swimmer cannot participate in the RW Meet, they can still have their times entered before our 6/10 meet by asking the coaches to enter their best 2024 times, we can time them swimming during practice, or year-round swimmers can send us their USA Swimming times. Please reach out if you need one of these options.

As we start up our weekly summer swim meets, please remember that the key to a smooth meet is communication. We know that plans can quickly change and when they do please make sure to communicate with our Volunteer Coordinators and the Coaches so there are NO surprise empty spots at the meet.

Finally, if you are new to swim meets, Our Swim Meet 101 webpage has all the general info you need for navigating your first swim meet. At the meet, please reach out and ask for help from those around you if you find yourself confused! Our established parents, and the Swim Board, are all happy to direct you and answer questions as they arise. 

See you on Deck!

Your SVKW Board

How to Declare Your Swimmer (Deadline is Friday Noon for RW):

Declaring your swimmer means letting us know if you will or will not attend. Everyone should be declaring their swimmesear for each meet. ALL the meets are open for declaration so you can do it weekly, or all at once. We'll send out reminders to double-check that your declaration is accurate before each meet. 

(click here for detailed step-by-step instructions)

In general, make sure you complete both steps below to declare EACH registered swimmer:

1. Find the Meet on the Sign Up Calendar and click “Meet Entry”
2. Declare attending or not attending for EACH swimmer registered.
3. Declare if your swimmers are or are not available to swim Relays (default is available).

Please note for this season: If you do not declare your swimmer as “available”, they will not be entered into any individual events.If you miss this deadline, there is no guarantee that your swimmer will be able to swim this meet. The Meet Admin team will determine if this late add is possible. A Lot of work goes into merging teams and it isn't always possible to make changes past the deadline.

Additionally, Don’t be a No-Show! If you declare your swimmer attending, please show up. When you arrive, please double check the Heat sheets to see if you're signed up for relays (on purpose or on accident) and make sure to show up for them if you are. The other relay teammates cannot swim if one person is a no-show and that is not fair to them. It makes for some super sad swimmers. 

Declaring your swimmer: After-deadline emergencies:

We know emergencies happen, despite the best planning. If something comes up and you must change your declaration past the noon deadline, please contact the respective person below, as early as possible.

• Prior to meet: email the Coaches as soon as possible at [email protected]. If an emergency arises after 3:30pm, the Tuesday of the meet, and your child will be missing all, or part, of the meet: email the coaches. But ALSO, if you can, text a friend who is at the pool so they can pass along the information for you to the Coaches in person. After 3:30pm the coaches are en route to the pool so the more people who know, the better
• At the Meet: If you arrive at the meet and realize your swimmer is signed up for events you’ll miss (or an emergency happens and you have to leave early), please inform your Coaches in person right away before you leave. Don't just leave without communication and leave us with empty spots.

6/1 Red/White Meet Details

Stroke notes: We'll be swimming Medley Relays, Freestyle, Backstroke, and Breaststroke. If time allows, we will add in Butterfly. We do have to end this meet at 11:30 am. If we don't make it through Butterfly, we'll use a swim practice to log those times before our 6/10 meet.

Meet Schedule:

• Volunteers, check-in as you arrive on the upper deck, by 8:30am at the latest, but it's recommended to show up earlier.
• 8:30am: Warm Ups
• 8:45 am: Meeting for timers in the baby pool area.
• 8:45 am: Meeting for kid pushers by the lifeguard stand in the diving well
• 8:55pm: Team cheer
• 9:00am: Meet begins

Volunteer Notes: All meet volunteers will receive an email prior to the meet with specific job start times and group meeting times. Please refer to your job signup schedule (under “my account” in swimtopia) for your assigned dates & jobs. Make sure you arrive in plenty of time to check in and fulfill your full obligation. If you cannot fulfill your obligation, contact our volunteer team at [email protected] as soon as possible.

Meet Concessions:

The Buoy Bowls Food Truck will be on site from 11:30 am - 1:00pm serving up their delicious acai bowls and smoothies.

The SV Pool Concessions will also be open during this meet.

Spirit Wear: Will be sold at this meet. Pick up your tees, SV swim caps, sweatshirts, and so many other fun things to be ready to show off your KW pride at our upcoming dual meets. Get them now before things start to sell out.

Parking Lot: The pool lot is open to our team for this meet.

Street Parking: This is allowed; however, please be courteous to our pool neighbors and avoid blocking anyone’s driveway, mailbox, greenway crosswalks, or parking too close to the intersections. Especially at future meets when our entire team street  parks.

What to bring: LOTS of dry towels due to the chilly weather prediction. A wide tip black Sharpie (name brand works best), your swimmer's goggles (and back-up pair), swim caps, snacks, lots of beverages to stay hydrated, folding chairs for you, sunscreen, warm clothes for chilly nights and a few small toys/activities to entertain your swimmer. The black Sharpie is used to write your swimmer's number on their arms.

Reminder:  Swimsuits and Caps Swimmers are encouraged to wear this season's swimsuit, but previous team suits are also allowed. Any suit worn must be in the team colors of red, white, and/or black.

Black or SV swim caps are also encouraged. Swimmers of the week will receive a special SV swim cap to wear.

When You Arrive: Heat Sheets

Upon arrival at the pool for a meet, check the posted line-up sheets to find out the events in which your swimmer(s) will be participating and their swim number.

We try to publish the heat sheets to the Swimtopia mobile app on Tuesday if we can, but please make sure to recheck these at the meet in case there were last-minute changes.

Where are my Swimmer Numbers?

In Black Sharpie, please write “SV” followed by your child’s swim number (“SV xx”) on BOTH of your swimmers arms, large and neat. Swimmer numbers can be found on the Heat Sheets, the swimmer number is the last several digits after their age:

Jones, Sally (age) XXX

Please NO Roman Numerals or adornments around the numbers, such as smiley faces and curly Q's The timers need to be able to read these numbers easily. Make sure you use SV because other teams may use similar numbers.

Kid Pushers Role, Note to Parents

All 10 and under swimmer age groups will be assigned Kid Pusher volunteers at each meet to help them line up at the correct time and in the correct order, and then escort the group to the Clerk of Course prior to their scheduled swim (look for your age-group sign!). The announcer will call swimmers to the deck when its time to line up. Parents, please note that it is NOT the Kid Pushers' job to go looking for your kids. Please keep them close to the pool deck and paying attention to first calls. Swimmers are encouraged to sit and hang near their age group flags instead of playing on the playground. This allows for faster and more efficient meets.

Post-Meet Swimmer Times

Swimmer Times will be available on the Swimtopia app after each meet (see the POST MEET email for specifics). Swimtopia Pro will often show times after each heat, but this is not guaranteed and might be subject to change once we confirm official final times.

Withdrawing Your Swimmer

Registration fees are refundable through June 7.

Please email us at [email protected] if you need to withdraw your swimmer. Because the team has to absorb a number of fixed costs regardless of enrollment, no refunds will be honored after this date.

7/12 CCM Theme Survey:

Each year we participate in the Cary City Meet. It's a full day of swimming against multiple teams in the TSA league. We dress up, deck out our tent, and have a splashing good time. More details will be coming soon, but right now Kara Snoke is taking theme suggestions to add to our voting poll. Vote here by email.