Happy Saturday, Barracudas!

What a great first meet of the season! Thank you swimmers, coaches, helpers, and volunteers and CONGRATS to first time parents and swimmers on a successful forst swim meet!

RESULTS: The results for the Intrasquad have been posted in the app and on the www.bcwbarracudas.com -> Schedule -> Swim Meets & Events page. Once there, you will have to click on “past events” at the upper right and look for the linked files under the “Intrasquad” event. Results for Home meets are generally posted the day after a meet after the Computers squad has finished processing any flagged timing results, DQs, and other final processes. For Away meets, we post the results when the Home team provides them, which depends on their processes.

MISSING ITEMS: If you accidentally brought home your lanyard badge or a timer button, please let us know ([email protected]) and return them to the pool during practice ASAP. Likewise, our Lost and Found container is already brimming with towels, shoes, clothes, fins, goggles, and assorted other treasures. PLEASE check the bin during practice and help us clear items home.

ACTION NEEDED: Next up, we travel to Barton Creek Country Club on Friday for our first official dual meet of the season. You will find the details on the Swim Meets & Events page (www.bcwbarracudas.com -> Schedule -> Swim Meets & Events, scroll to BCW at BCCC). We need EVERY swimmer to RSVP as “Attending” or “Not Attending” by 7pm on Wednesday 5/10 at the latest– feel free to sign-up NOW if your schedule is certain. It is an away meet, so we don’t have much flexibility for late requests: Please carefully read through the “Meet Signup Expectations FAQ” section below.

More detailed information on our upcoming meet and other important information from our volunteer Barracudas Board will be sent out on Sunday evening!

Thanks and Go Barracudas!

Meet Sign-Up Expectations

The parents of every swimmer are expected to mark their swimmers' attendance as “Attending” or “Not Attending” in Swimtopia before the registration deadline each week. We had about 10% of our families miss the deadline last week even with reminder emails. For Intrasquad, we were able to be accommodating for additions, changes, and miscommunications, but that isn't the case for all meets. Likewise, accommodating these  changes after deadlines pass will affect other Barracuda swimmers and require additional unplanned time from our volunteer staff.

We do reasonably expect extenuating circumstances like injury, illness, and other unforeseen complications to require some scratches and changes between the entry deadline and meet start, so we kindly ask that our families support us by meeting the regular deadlines otherwise. Please understand and expect that your swimmer will not be able to swim at a given meet if you miss the weekly deadline this season.

To avoid these problems, here's what we recommend you do for each of your swimmers each week when you are notified meet entry has opened:

1) If you are SURE YOUR SWIMMER WILL NOT BE ABLE TO SWIM, mark “Not Attending” in advance so we know your status and you don't get pestered by reminder emails. Even if you *think* someone “in charge” knows about an injury or conflict with a given swimmer, please mark the absence for each affected meet each week yourself.

2) If you are SURE YOUR SWIMMER WILL BE SWIMMING, mark “Attending” and make your best guess for individual events and relays as soon as registration opens. Set a reminder before that week’s deadline to review your entries since the system will allow you to edit your entries and relay status up until the deadline. If your swimmer’s attendance is at all uncertain, please see advice below.

3) If you AREN'T SURE if your swimmer can swim this week or not, sign up for individual events but select “ATTENDING: No Relays” as soon as the meet entry registration opens. You can always withdraw from individual event entries with minimal meet disruption, and at least you will be able to participate if you end up available to swim. However, it’s a whole lot of work if you miss a relay with a domino effect of changes to the Heat Sheet that affect the Relay Coordinator, AGPs, Ready Bench, and Computer volunteers, and most importantly, scratching relays sometimes leaves 3 other teammates disappointed and sitting by the side of the pool.

Note about reminders: Parents, if you get an email reminder that says you haven't RSVP’d for a particular meet, that means none of the parents have registered YOUR swimmer and we are talking to you directly. Those emails are not blasted as a general reminder to the whole team: those are only sent to the families of swimmers that have not been registered by any parent, so PLEASE consult with your co-parents and remedy ASAP.

Still have questions? As always, email [email protected] and a volunteer in the know will get back to you as soon as we can.