Hard to believe it, practice starts next week! Practice is by age group, so we will require everyone to show up in their allotted time. Practice schedule is on the web page under Schedule -> Practice Schedule!

Coaching Update! Late last week, Coach Janet was offered a full-time swim position that she had been seeking for awhile. She offered to delay starting that new job to honor her commitment to us, unless we were able to find another coach. Though we are saddened to say goodbye to Coach Janet, we are excited to introduce Coach Kelsey Johnson! Coach Kelsey has a history of swimming in her summer league growing up in San Antonio, then then in high school and college. She is a swim and dive coach at Lake Travis HS, where she also teaches special education. We’ll have an updated bio on Coach Kelsey shortly on our website’s Coaches page. Coach Ryan will be leading the earlier practices, assisted by our helpers. Coach Kelsey will be arriving after the early practices from her work at the high school.

Procedures - Please make sure you review our updated safety procedures for how practice will work, including things like how to enter and exit the pool area, who is allowed on deck (just swimmers), etc. Please also discuss these with your swimmer so they know what to expect. https://www.bcwbarracudas.com/2021-covid-safety-policies .

Team Suits are now in stock at Swim Freak!!! More information on our web page under Team Store -> Team Suits. The store is open for fitting or you can mail order. We do request that everyone wears a team suit this year, it makes it easier to line swimmers up at meets. This year it will help keep an eye on everyone for social distancing. If it isn’t possible to wear the team suit, you may wear a plain black suit and the Barracuda cap. Remember, no club swim caps!

What to bring to the first day?

1. Your mask to wear to/from the pool, and a baggie to put it in if you like.
2. Bring a bag for your stuff, including Mask
3. Fins if you have them. We have some spares but they will not be sanitized except by pool water.
4. Goggles (no loaners available)
5. Kickboard (optional, recommended, loaners won’t be sanitized other than the pool water)
6. Water Bottle (fountain broken from the ice age freeze)
7. Be sure to put your name on everything!!!

The pool has been cooled off by recent weather. At practice time on Wednesday it was 70 degrees, and only 68 on Thursday, which is a lot less than the 80 degrees it was a week ago. If your swimmer will have a bad experience if it is too cold, you’ll need to make your own call on when to attend. Friday’s storms could make it worse, but the weekend and next week’s weather should help quite a bit. If you choose to wait a bit, you don’t need to let us know.

Watch the top of the home page for any weather-related updates, including an occasional pool temperature update.

Your Friendly Neighborhood Volunteer Barracuda Swim Board