Otter Newsletter and Additions for Week of Nov. 24, 2008
We are now entering the full swing of the season. Here are a few reminders and instructions.
Due to a home college meet and the Thanksgiving holiday, the practice schedule is altered this week. Please note the changes on the schedule. (If you lost your copy, you can check it out on www.swimotters.org.) NOTE: There is NO practice on Tuesday, November 25 or Thursday, November 27. (High school dryland practice will still take place on Tuesday from 4:30-5:30.) On Wednesday, only the ADVANCED/OLDER group will practice from 4-5, and on Black Friday the team will practice in the afternoon. ADVANCED/OLDER will practice from 1-2:30 p.m., and the YOUNGER group will practice from 2:30-3:00.
Our first meet is Saturday, Dec. 6, at Cumberland Valley High School. Otter swimmers should plan to be on deck at CV by 8:15. (We’ll include directions in next week’s email.) So that our coaches and volunteer coordinators can begin preparing, please do the following:
1) By Friday, November 28, complete the meet sign-up sheet which can be found on the desk outside the locker room. Indicate YES or NO so the coaches don’t have to hunt you down! Jim has ALL of the season dual meets available, and he has requested that swimmers sign up for all of the season now. If you will not be at the pool this week, you can also let him know your intentions by emailing him at jgardner@acschools.org.
2) On the same desk, please sign up on the volunteer sheet to help staff the meet. CV is an 8 lane pool, so we need 18 timers (2 shifts of 8 plus 2 back ups), 2 finish judges, 4 stroke and turn judges, 2 recall starters, 2 ribbon writers, and at least 8 line-up ladies or dads to help get the kids to the blocks.
If you missed out on orders for team suits, the Lower Dauphin High School swim team has a team suit similarly colored (a royal blue Aquablade) and they have several extra new suits to sell. The prices are $50 for female suits and $40 for male jammers. Sizes available: female - 34, 34, 26, 26; male - 32, 36. If interested, please contact Tracy Cooper, tracyac15@hotmail.com.
As the weather turns frosty, please note that cancellations are always posted first on the Otter website. We will also try to send out an email, but the website is the FIRST method of notification. When in doubt, check the website, and always use your best judgment even if practice hasn’t been officially cancelled.
Locker room etiquette—We’ve had a number of complaints about “opposite sex” children in the locker rooms. We understand and appreciate the efforts of parents to supervise and assist their young kids in the locker room before and after practice, but the presence of these kids in the shower and common areas of “opposite” locker rooms is causing concern among the slightly older and growingly modest swimmers showering and dressing at the same time. So, in an effort to mediate between the two interests, we request that, if you wish to supervise your “opposite sex” child in the locker room (moms taking boys in the ladies locker room and dads taking girls in the men’s locker room), you use the exterior hallway to take your children into the locker room and dress them in the bathroom stall or sink area of the locker room. Please do not take them into the locker room through the shower area. Thank you for your cooperation.
See you all at the pool,
Kathy Wingert, Secretary