Hi Dolphins,

What a week!

Before getting into the recap of last week, we wanted to remind everyone about the importance of positive team spirit as we continue with our competitive season. Division E is a competitive division. Meets have been really close for all teams. We unfortunately lost our first two meets of the season by less than 20 points.

The team’s attitude around these losses has been disappointing. We have observed swimmers blaming each other for our losses and noticed that we are not cheering as a team when our score is announced. We want to emphasize that it is NEVER one race, swimmer, relay or DQ that dictates the result of a meet.

Our focus for the rest of the season is creating a positive attitude about our meets, regardless of the result. To accomplish this we need the help of swimmers, parents, coaches and other spectators. We are one team. We win together, we lose together.

We can and will win meets this season, but we need to remember that fun and sportsmanship are the most important parts of summer swimming.

We are under a heat advisory for most of the week. Please make sure your swimmers are hydrating during the day, bringing water to practice and wearing sunscreen.

Coaches have updated their lesson availability through 7/6. Please check the swim lessons page on Swimtopia to sign up. Please limit your sign ups to one lesson per swimmer per week to give everyone a chance to get one on one time with the coaches.

Here are some highlights of last week:

1. We had our first day of morning practice! This week we continue to have morning practice M-F and evening practice M, Tu & Th. See Swimtopia for the practice times.

2. We hosted the Daleview Feet for our first meet of the season! After thunderstorms canceled the meet, we were able to pivot and host a wonderful home Intrasquad meet. We had 170 best times! We are so proud of all of our swimmers for showing up and swimming their hardest. Thank you to all our volunteers who made this possible so last minute.

3. The Dolphin Bake-Off was a huge success, full of many different sweet and savory treats. We have lots of talent!

4. On Saturday, the Dolphins traveled to Manor Woods for our second A-Meet of the season. We came decked out in Pride gear. Manor Woods even complimented our spirit and thanked us for being so inclusive. As a team, we had 95 best times and many first time A-Meet swimmers. Many Dolphins who were not swimming came to support the team. The cheering during our relays was electric! Also, FOUR Manor Woods pool records were broken. We didn’t get the result we wanted, but there is still lots to celebrate. We are proud of all our swimmers!

Coming Up:

1. We have a meet on Wednesday AT Franklin Knolls. The theme is PRIDE. The deadline to declare your swimmers is tonight. As a reminder, swimmers can pick their strokes and coaches will review them. The MAXIMUM number of events is 3. You can pick any event that your swimmer wants to swim, just know that coaches have final approval and may decide that a swimmer is not ready for a particular event.

2. The deadline to declare for Saturday’s HOME A-Meet is Wednesday at 5pm. As always, please declare regardless if you think your swimmer will swim, as well as if you are unavailable.

It is a normal week of practice, pep rallies and meets. Let’s get excited!

Maddie, Caya & Teddy