IHCC Families,

I hope everyone is doing well and enjoying their Memorial Day weekend. I apologize in advance, but this email will be quite lengthy. However, it has very important information regarding regular practices that start this week and our first meet of the season. Many of these items were gone over at the parent meeting and/or with your kids if they attended practice last week. We wanted to share in an email so everyone is on the same page. We'd really love for you to read this entire email, but if you choose to only read bits and pieces, please read the 1st and 4th bullet points under INFO FOR OUR FIRST MEET (and future meets).

• NO PRACTICE: Monday, May 29. Enjoy your Memorial Day Weekend!
• TIMES: We will begin our normal morning practice schedule Tuesday, May 30. As a reminder, our practice times for Swim & Dive are listed on the website. Our practices are short, so please try to have your kid(s) early or on time to practice. CLICK HERE FOR SWIM SCHEDULE. CLICK HERE FOR DIVE SCHEDULE.
• MINI GATORS: Practice will begin on Tuesday, May 30 as well. Please only send your Mini Gator to the days they are assigned (either Monday/Thursday or Tuesday/Friday). The coaches have split up the groups so there is an appropriate coach to swimmer ratio. Please visit the website if you are unaware of which group your kid is in.
• ATTIRE: As we begin morning practices please have your child in the appropriate attire. Appropriate attire includes practice suit (please no bikinis, swim trunks or swim shirts), cap and goggles. We are trying to teach our team that we practice each day the way we will swim in meets, which includes our “uniform”. Obviously, after practice your kid is more than welcome to change suits, add a swim shirt and play with no cap, but please try to help us by sending your kid in the appropriate attire to BOTH practice and meets. *If your kid does not have a cap we will be handing those out at practice. We do not have enough caps to hand out multiple to every kid, so please try to keep up with what we give them. We do have extras for when caps break.
• GATOR OF THE WEEK: Last season, we began awarding one swimmer and/or diver on Friday of each week who: came to practice each day, attended the meet, was a great listener and teammate, was coachable, positive and showed great Gator Pride. We will continue this tradition this year and will have a prize for each week’s winner. Each Gator of the Week will be posted to our Instagram and website.

• TIMELINE: Our first meet will be at IHCC this Wednesday, May 31 vs Hartland. The timeline for both dive and swim is listed below.
  • Dive
    • Arrive- 12:45p
    • Warm Up- 1:00p
    • Volunteers Meeting- 1:45p
    • Meet Begins- 2:00p
  • Swim
    • Arrive- 4:15p
    • Warm Up- 4:30p
    • Volunteers Meeting- 5:15p
    • Meet Begins- 5:30p
• THEME: The theme for this meet is Western. We would love to have all kids AND parents involved as it makes it more fun for everyone.
• HOT HEATS: This season we will be starting Hot Heats at our home meets. A hot heat is a random heat that is chosen and announced either right before the heat is sent off or during the race. Music will play as the heat is ran indicating the heat is a Hot Heat. The winner of a Hot Heat will receive a prize from the Hot Heat Bucket.
• MEET SETUP: This year we will be changing the setup of the deck in an effort to, again, practice how we will swim in meets, specifically conference. ALL races (6 & Unders – 15 & Overs) will ALL start from the block end of the pool. We are doing this because at conference, which is our biggest meet of the season and what we are preparing for all season, ALL age groups will start their races from the blocks. It makes sense that we practice and prepare our kids for conference all season long. Due to this change, TIMERS will switch ends after the 9-10 girls finish each stroke. There is a map below showing how this will affect the deck set up, please pay close attention to this map. Clerk of course and the computer table will be switching spots. IMPORTANT: Age Group Leaders who bring our 10 & Under groups to clerk of course, please bring them around the side walk and through the gate by the Summer House and locker rooms. Dive meet setup will NOT change. I know this is a big change, but we as coaches feel this is one that our kids will benefit from significantly. Please be patient with us as we initiate this change and please help us out at our first meet so it all runs as smoothly as possible.

• VOLUNTEERING: If you have not signed up to volunteer for the meet and are wanting to knock off 1 or more of the 4 shifts required by each family (unless you chose the volunteer opt out option) please use the website to sign up for volunteer positions. We still have 13 open positions for our meet on Wednesday that need to be filled. We CANNOT run our meets without your help.
• RESULTS: Results from the meet will be sent the morning after the meet is completed
• FIRST MEET: Get excited for our first meet! We have had very few practices leading up to this meet, so we will still have plenty of ways to improve moving forward, but as you always do, please support us and the kids so we have a great start to what is going to be a fun and successful season for the Gators!

• OFFICIALS CLINICS: For the parents who have signed up to be a Dive or Stroke & Turn Judge this season. The final opportunities for training are on Tuesday, May 30. Stroke & Turn for swim will be virtual from 7-8pm. Be prepared to turn on your camera in the beginning and remain on the zoom until the completion of the training to receive credit for attending. The link will be sent in another email to those who have signed up for Stroke & Turn. Dive Judge clinic will be at Hartland (4910 Hartland Pkwy, Lexington, KY 40515) from 5:30-6:30pm.
• JUNE 7 MEET ATTENDANCE: Please indicate your meet attendance (even if your kid(s) are not coming) for our next meet Wednesday, June 7 by this Friday, June 2 at 12pm. CLICK HERE TO MARK YOUR ATTENDANCE.
• CONFERENCE ATTENDANCE: If you already know your child’s status for conference, please indicate that on the website. We have to know everyone’s attendance by June 20. CLICK HERE TO MARK YOUR ATTENDANCE.
• TEAM TRIP ATTENDANCE: Please sign up for our team trip of you have not already. Sign- ups close this Friday, June 2. We need a lot more people to sign up, so if you are in town please consider signing up to attend as this will be a fun event for our team. If you are unable to go, please indicate that as well. CLICK HERE TO MARK YOUR ATTENDANCE.
• PHOTO ALBUM: Coach Morgan will be adding one parent from each family to our shared photo album. Please accept this invitation and add photos you take of your kid(s) and the team throughout the season. All photos added to this album will be compiled into a slideshow that will be played at the end of the season banquet. 

I believe this is all the information I have for now, which I know was a lot. Please reach out to any coach or via email with any questions you may have. We had a great first week of practices and are excited for the rest of the season. 

Best, 

IHCC Coaches