Good morning,

Happy Father's Day to all our SS2 dads!  Enjoy the day!

Congrats to our swimmers who participated in the A meet yesterday at Lake Braddock!  We had some great swims and the Piranhas had our first win of the season! Attached are the meet results.

IMPORTANT NOTE: Please remember that we need everyone available and committed to our Saturday meets. If we have swimmers who are scheduled to swim who do not show up, or if anyone leaves in the middle with no advance notice to the coaches, this hurts not only the individual swimmer’s opportunities, but also impacts the relay teams on which those swimmers are scheduled to swim and the three other swimmers. Remember, swim team is like any other sport: our swimmers are expected to be at the meets, stay at the meets, and do their best when swimming. Once committed (and seeded into the meet each week), attending the meet and participating should not be an “optional” activity. Unless there is advance notice to us, we expect all swimmers to be available! We understand that the first week is challenging with other Spring sports wrapping up, beach week, etc., but remember that absences must be communicated. Thanks for your understanding, and please let us know if you have any questions.

Monday is our first B/Developmental Meet, but it is different than a typical Monday night. This is just our SS2 swimmers participating (due to one less team in our B Meet League this year), and we will run it just like time trials.  Officials will work as usual, but we will not run time cards and times will be recorded like we did at Time Trials, right after the swimmers finish their events.  All hands on deck to help with the meet in a volunteer capacity for timing, etc.  No concessions tomorrow night.

Our first Monday night “B” developmental meet – is Monday at 6p at home (Intrasquad meet) – we need to have everyone’s selections in by SUNDAY at 5p. Reminder swimmers can choose two strokes plus an Individual Medley (IM) if they choose to swim that event. So, for example, a swimmer can select two from among free, back, breast, and fly, and add the IM if they are approved to swim the IM by the coaches – see below. Also, if there are any swimmers that did not get times from last week's Time Trials and need to have times in more strokes, this is an opportunity to do this.  BUT, we do not want to have swimmers who placed in an event yesterday swimming those events again on Monday.  

Here is the key info for tomorrow:

TIME: Arrive at SS2 5:00 PM

SS2 Warm-ups 5:15 PM

Officials Arrive 5:30 PM

Meet begins at 6:00 PM (or earlier if we are ready to go and all officials have arrived!)

Thanks for sending an email with your swimmers name and selections for Monday by 5p SUNDAY to Heather ([email protected]) AND Chris ([email protected]).

Finally, PLEASE let us know if your swimmer is going to ABSENT for our Meet on Saturday, June 22nd at HOME vs Annandale. Send an email today to [email protected]

As a reminder for returning families, and for our new families, here is the format for our typical B meets for reference.  Tomorrow's meet will be slightly different and run as stated above.

PARTICIPATION IN “B” MEETS (MONDAY MEETS)

The goal of the Fairfax Area Swim Teams (FAST) Developmental meets is to provide competitive swim meets to those swimmers who have not had the opportunity to swim or to swim “off-strokes” in the Saturday NVSL meets. Ideally, swimmers should have the opportunity to compete in at least two events per week, either on Saturday or on Monday.

Meets are not scored, and times are not official NVSL times; however, these are refereed meets designed to provide competitive conditions which are similar to the NVSL Saturday meets. Ribbons are awarded. FAST also hosts an Individual Medley (IM) meet at the end of the season.

EVENTS: Freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly, and Individual Medley.

ELIGIBILITY:

1.All swimmers are eligible for the IM events. However, if your swimmer has never swum an IM before, they will work on the IM in practice before the coaches will approve them to swim an IM in the B meet.

2.Max Entries (All Swimmers) : 3: 2 entries from free, back, breast, or fly AND 1 entry in the IM (if eligible and approved by the coaches)

3.An NVSL 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd place winner in a particular stroke in the last seven days is not eligible to compete in that stroke in the current B meet. If the 1^st, 2^nd, or 3^rd place was won by default or disqualification (DQ), then the swimmer may compete in that stroke. A swimmer does not become eligible by swimming up an age group.

4.Team Representatives, by mutual agreement, can add “exhibition” events to the meet for swimmers who would otherwise be ineligible to swim. Heats for these events will not be combined with other FAST event heats, and will be conducted after all scheduled developmental meet events.

5.The IM meet will consist of IM events ONLY.

Weather Problems for B Meets: We swim rain or shine. If lightning occurs, swimmers should wait in cars until a decision has been made by the Team Reps for a delay, postponement, or cancellation. Meets can be delayed up until 7:30 PM. We will try make up meets as soon as possible (ideally the next evening) depending upon the host pool availability and mutual agreement of the Team Reps.

Time Cards: For 2024, a psych sheet will be created prior to the meet and lanes seeded with like swimmers. No deck entries will be authorized for all meets.

Clerks of Course: The Clerks of Course will use the psych sheet or seeded meet sheet to place swimmers in the appropriate lanes. Swimmer will be placed from fastest to slowest, in the lane order of 3, 4, 2, 5, 1, 6, with the fastest overall heat last.

Ribbons for B Meets: 1^st through 6^th place ribbons are awarded. The home team provides 1^st through 6^th place ribbons for the meet. Each team provides its own Competitor ribbons if they choose to use them. Ribbons will be given to 1^st through 6^th place winners in each age group. 6 and unders may be given 6 and under Star ribbons. Heat winner ribbons may be given at the conclusion of each heat.

The swimmers who learn to swim breaststroke and butterfly legally have a much greater possibility of getting into an “A” meet because these are the harder strokes to swim. Don’t just focus on freestyle and backstroke, learn to do all four strokes!

Swimmers should be at the pool on Monday afternoon at 4:30p ready to set up for home meets and arrive at 4:15p to depart for away meets. Our schedule is different for tomorrow.

The season is off and running. Enjoy!