Good afternoon, Barracudas!

Yesterday's Fundraiser: Thank you to everyone who dined in, picked up food, or simply donated yesterday for our Texas Roadhouse fundraiser! I haven't heard how much we earned yet, but any amount is helpful to keep our registration fees down, pay our assistant coaches what they deserve, and get the equipment and tools we need to run our non-profit program.

Monday's Meet: We have our next swim meet this coming Monday, June 16th at the Jefferson City Outdoor Pool. Please RSVP (or double-check your old RSVP) on SwimTopia by Friday at midnight! Warm-ups will be at 5 PM, so be on the pool deck no later than 4:45 PM and send your child to find me for check-in! The meet starts at 6 PM. Barbara Nichols will be sending her own email soon about volunteer jobs, concessions, and other non-coaching parent details.

Relay Expectations: Many can agree that relays are the most fun part about competitive swimming! It's where the individual aspect of the sport suddenly becomes very team-oriented. With that in mind, I like to explain a few things about how we choose relay teams early in the season.

• Relays are always subject to change; days before a meet, right before the meet, and even during the meet itself. Just because you've been on an "A" or "B" relay in the past does not mean you'll stay there.
• Us coaches primarily choose relay teams and orders based on season best times. However, sometimes best times from prior championship meets are taken into account for older swimmers due to the effect of resting and tapering following proper training.
• Relay spots are considered "earned" positions. We try to cycle through who swims the 25 free (for 10&Unders) and 50 free (for 11&Ups) at dual meets so swimmers have the opportunity to go best times and earn those relay positions.
• If you ever have questions about relays, us coaches are happy to answer them. Middle school and older swimmers are strongly encouraged to ask us those questions themselves and remember that we ultimately have the final say.

Team Pictures: We were going to take individual and team photos before Monday's meet—that has changed! Pictures will now be before our home meet against Whittington Creek on Thursday, June 26th. More details to follow.

Newspaper: Our local Jefferson City newspaper, The Standard Banner, regularly covers our swim meets, so checkout the sports section following any meet this summer! If it's a home meet, they often come and take some photographs to include as well.

Thanks for reading! I'll be away from the pool tomorrow afternoon and Friday, but feel free to ask any questions to board members, assistant coaches before or after practice times, or simply shoot me a text.

GO CUDAS!!!

Josh