Happy Monday Blasters! This coming Saturday, July 12 we have an away meet against the Southbridge Seals. Today is the deadline to declare for the meet. If you are unsure how to declare, please check out this instruction guideline. This year you can declare your swimmers from both our website and the swimtopia app. 

Please note, we will NOT ADD swimmers to events after the declaration deadline tonight. Attached is a list of those who have declined or are undeclared. PLEASE CHECK THIS LIST, EVEN IF YOU BELIEVE YOU DECLARED, DOUBLE CHECK TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT ON THE LIST. If you appear on either list but plan to swim this weekend, please edit your swimmer(s) commitment on the website by 11:59 pm tonight! While not preferred, if you are unsure whether your swimmer(s) can participate during the weekend, we highly recommend you sign them up to attend and then scratch later. We CANNOT add anyone after the deadline but can remove them. If you sign-up and find out any time prior to the start of the meet that you cannot make it, we have a scratch form on our website that you can fill out any time. Additionally, if you would like to suggest an event your child should swim, please include that in the notes while declaring. These are just suggestions, but the coaches will pay attention to them.

Events this week: As a reminder, unless specifically stated, all events are for both Micros and Blasters.

1. Thursday, July 10: Spirit night comes to us! The Two Smooth Dudes food truck will be at the Iona Sound pool from 5 - 8 pm. Come out and grab dinner while the kids practice!
2. Friday, July 11: 13 & over pancake breakfast after practice. This is a favorite of all the older kids, so please sign-up to bring a fully cooked/cut item.
3. Friday, July 11: Make-up pep rally at Clareybrook park–6 pm. More details to follow.
4. Sunday, July 13: Twilight swim practice for 13 & up only fro 9 - 10:30 PM! Just a reminder that you will not have practice Monday, July 14th due to the twilight practice the night before.
5. Monday, July 14: Micros you have a make-up practice at Iona Sound pool from 7 - 8 AM.
6. Monday, July 14: Nominations for the open board positions are due by 10:00 pm. Note, each family received an email allowing them to nominate someone for the 3 open positions: President, Treasurer, and Secretary. Each position is a 2 year term. Each family can only make 1 nomination for each position.

Here are a few additional reminders:

1. The weather is going to be HOT and WET!! Please make sure the swimmers come prepared to practice with water bottles and towels. Thank you again to our sponsor Momentum Chiropractic and Rehab for the cooling towels! If you did not pick up yours during the meet, feel free to see Kristen Adams during practices. Also, this is shaping up to be the rainiest swim season yet–which means a lot of practices get cancelled at the last minute. First, thank you for your patience and understanding as we will try to hold practices as long as it is safe to do so. Second, please make sure you have downloaded the app to get the weather alerts. That is the quickest way to learn about cancellations or delays due to weather. Third, as a reminder only swimmers age 13 or older can be dropped off at the pool for practices.  All swimmers 12 and under MUST have an adult guardian at the pool during practices.  If you are dropping your 13 and over child off, please stay close by in the case the weather is bad.  
2. Merchandise will be available at both evening practices this week from 6 - 7 pm ONLY. If you have not yet picked up your stuff, stop by and see them.
3. Ribbons will be available each week starting on Tuesday at Iona Sound pool only.
4. Don’t forget, volunteering for Blaster families is MANDATORY. Our swim meets cannot run without volunteers, so please make sure you are completing your selected roles and communicating with your committee head. If you have missed shifts, you will be called upon to make those up by doing double shifts or filling in as necessary.
5. Do not forget to bring your pool passes—resident and non-resident—to practices.

Anticipated Timeline for Swim meet 7/12:

6:30 am: Warm-ups

6:30 am: Officials meeting

6:45 am: Timers meeting

7:00 am: Meet Start

1:00 pm/TBD: Meet End

Volunteers are needed to run this meet and you should be hearing from your committee heads soon on your specific roles. Please pay close attention to the emails/communications forthcoming. If you CANNOT make it to the meet, please let your committee head know ASAP. As a reminder, the following committees have the ability to sign-up on the website/app when declaring their swimmers: computers, clerk of course, timers, ribbons, runners, and stroke & turn. A guide on how to sign-up for job shifts is available on our website.

Please do not hesitate to let us know if you have questions in the meantime.

Looking forward to seeing you all on deck!