Contained in this Newsletter:

Redfish Spirit Day!

So...About the FOBs...

First Week of Practice

Practice Etiquette

Monday Practices

Friday Practices

Dry Land

Severe Weather

Remind App

Big Fish/Little Fish

Senior Swimmer (11 & Up) Meet Up at Orange Leaf

Merchandise

Hello Redfish families!  PRACTICE STARTS TOMORROW!!!  YAY!!!  There is a lot of information in this newsletter (ripe with typos, I'm sure), but please read through it so you are fully informed for the start of our season.

Redfish Spirit Day!

We would like to encourage all of our Redfish to wear their Redfish shirts to school Monday!!! If you haven't received yours yet or it's in the dirty laundry, any day this week is a great day to wear your shirt.

So...About the FOBs...

Welp.  Thank you to everyone who has sent in your FOB numbers.  Unfortunately, the HOA has informed us that they will not be enabling the whole team's FOBs for Monday practices after all.  I am sorry especially to those of you that worked extra hard trying to figure out where to send your numbers.  We'll only have a few FOBs that work on Mondays, so be prepared to bang and yell. Please let your Redfish friends in when you see them looking longingly from the other side of the fence.

First Week of Practice

• The first day of practice is TOMORROW, MONDAY, APRIL 29. For those that like to know such things, the NAAL begins practice every year on the Monday of the week of May 1.  Please see all practice times here.
• Please arrive a few minutes early to sign in and get your swimmers' lane assignments.
• Please bring goggles and fins to every practice. Kick boards are provided.
• Please label fins (and towels, and team shirts, and pretty much everything). It is best to label fins on the top-side, as markings wear off much more quickly on the bottom. New fins may need to be wiped with a bit of alcohol for best Sharpie results.

Practice Etiquette

• Parents are respectfully asked to refrain from coaching their children during practice.
• Parents are asked to remain behind the red line so as to give coaches the space they need to effectively coach.
• Coach Kate, Coach Kailah, or Coach Kathy will be available to speak with and address questions during each practice time. Please feel free to approach them with questions.
• Please do not approach the other coaches while they are coaching on deck.
• Please make sure your child is ready and present at their lane at the start of each practice. Coaches should not have to track swimmers down.

Monday Practices

Redfish family members not in practice MAY use the wading area in the big MAC pool and the baby pool during all practice times. Please REFRAIN from using the Round Pool on Mondays.

Particularly because your FOBs will not work on Mondays, please be careful to only open the gate for Redfish families. Residents may use the other 4 pools in the neighborhood, but the MAC pool is closed to general resident use on Mondays.

Friday Practices

Please note that the HOA has asked us to shorten Friday afternoon practices to accommodate any potential pavilion reservations. Please see all practice times here.

Dry-land

Cool water temperatures often dictate the need for dry-land practices during these first few practice days. Coach Kate has laid out specific guidelines for the coaching staff to determine whether to hold in-water or dry-land practices. Coaches take both air and water temperature into consideration, as well as the age of the practice groups. Coaches may also decide to hold a split style practice, with some dry-land first and an abbreviated in-water practice. It is the coaches' sole discretion to decide for or against in-water practice.

If you are concerned about your swimmer and possible cool water temps, you may choose to forego practice any given day. The 2 practices per week requirement does not go into affect until the week of the first meet (May 11). However, we strongly encourage all swimmers to attend practice regardless of dry-land versus in-water, as these first days of practice are critical for the coaches and swimmers to get to know each other.

Severe Weather

Some severe weather is always a possibility. In the event that practice is canceled, families will be notified via the Remind App, E-mail, Parent's Facebook Group, and it will be posted on the website. Remind will be the first line of communication for cancellations. Instructions on how to join are below.

We understand families' need to know as soon as possible whether practice will be held or not. However, in order to ensure practices are not pre-maturely canceled simply due to the chance of severe weather, the decision to hold or cancel practice is made as close to the start of practice as possible.  

Remind App

Remind is a service that allows us to send practice/meet updates and cancellation/dryland notifications directly to your phone via text. This a new Remind group from last year, so you will need to join, even if you were in the group last year.

If you would like to sign up to receive text notifications from the Redfish, please follow these instructions: Text the message @2019Redf to the number 81010. *Standard text messaging rates apply.

Participation in Remind is entirely optional. We will continue to update the website and Facebook page with practice and meet notifications.

Big Fish/Little Fish

• Big/Little forms will be available at all practices this week.
• Forms are due to Susan Menchaca by Friday, May 3rd.
• Big/Littles will be announced on May 6th.
• For questions about the Big/Little program, please contact Susan Menchaca at [email protected]

Senior Swimmer Meet Up @ Orange Leaf

All 11 & Up swimmers are invited to meet up at Orange Leaf this Friday (5/3) at 7:00pm after the combined Friday practice!  Don't know what I'm talking about by "combined Friday practice?"  Take a look at the Friday practice schedule linked above.

Merchandise

• Please check your merchandise bags to ensure correct sizes and you aren't missing anything.
• Additional merchandise can still be ordered online from the team store and will be delivered to practice.
• A second order will be placed on May 13th for sizes that are already out of stock.
• Red practice caps will be available at practice.
• Silver team caps, towels, and swim suits are coming soon!

Upcoming Dates

A printable team calendar can be found here.

April 29: FIRST DAY OF PRACTICE!!! (See website for times.)

May 3: Senior swimmer meet up @ Orange Leaf (7:00PM)

May 20: Team Pictures

May 27: No Practice

June 3: Lap-A-Thon

June 4: First day of morning practice

June 30: Champs

July 1: Team Banquet