Hello Swim Families!

Championships are this weekend! This Friday, Feb. 23, Championships for 11 & Over swimmers will be held. On Saturday, Feb. 24, Championships for 8 & Under will be held first in the afternoon, then 9-10 will be directly after that. Below you will find all the details.

IF YOUR SWIMMER CAN NOT ATTEND CHAMPIONSHIPS, REPLY TO THIS EMAIL ASAP.

🦈A swimmer MUST have attended at least 2 swim meets this season in order to attend Championships. If you are unsure, you may check Swimtopia. If you are still unsure, you may reply to this email.

🦈 This meet is at Harris YMCA located at 5900 Quail Hollow Road, Charlotte NC 28210.

🦈 FOR 11 & OVER: On Friday, Feb. 23, you are to arrive at 5:15pm. Warm-Ups begin at 5:30pm and the meet starts at 6:30pm.

🦈 FOR 8 & UNDER: On Saturday Feb. 24, you are to arrive at 12:15pm. Warm-Ups begin at 12:30pm and the meet starts at 1:00pm.

🦈FOR AGES 9-10: You are to arrive at 2:45pm. Warm-Ups begin at 3:00pm and the meet starts at 3:30pm. Their aquatics director said he will confirm this time at the end of the week. I will email you with any updates or changes.

🦈 Their aquatics director is quite strict about spectators and capacity. Here is the direct quote from his info email: “This is most important. The championship will be limited to one spectator per swimmer and this needs to be relayed to your teams pronto. There should not be any non-swimming siblings attending unless they were in one of the Saturday sessions (we will not have room for strollers nor wiggle room for toddlers to run around). If one parent is volunteering to time or move swimmers, they are welcome to come. I had a couple of ugly incidences last year and I understand it can be tricky for single parents to get childcare. Be that as it may, I also have a strong obligation for safety, and overcrowding this facility will not be good if we have to evacuate for fire or emergency care (and we have evacuated three times this year for fire alarms).PLEEEEEEEAAAASE, prep your parents for this right now. We will most likely have well over 150 swimmers at the first two sessions. 2 adults per swimmer would mean 300 more people in here and this place is not meant to hold 300 people around the lap pool. I am not an ogre, I understand that childcare for single parents can be difficult and there are grandparents that want to come see some swimming, but this is not the place and I am sorry if that counts out some swimmers.”

🦈 You must bring your own chairs to this meet. They do not have seating available.

🦈 We have tried to get this meet held at our facility but have been unsuccessful thus far. We will keep trying for next winter!

🦈 Another direct quote from their director: “People are welcome to bring drinks into the Aquatics Center, but snacks are forbidden for spectators. As much as possible, please keep swimmers from bringing snacks. My discovery is most of them snack because they are bored. If a snack is an absolute necessity, they most certainly should have one on hand. Please insure all trash is policed up after the meet. If swimmers on Saturday have a good lunch prior to their session, that should more than sustain them.”

That is all of the information we have received from Harris YMCA about Championships this weekend. If you have any questions, just reply to this email and I’ll try my best to help get you an answer.

IF YOUR SWIMMER WILL NOT ATTEND, REPLY TO THIS EMAIL TONIGHT TO LET US KNOW SO THE COACHES CAN TURN IN ACCURATE ENTRIES. If you can’t attend, that’s fine, just let us know.

Go Tiger Sharks! 🦈