Good morning Stingray Nation!

We have our first swim meet this weekend! Over 20 Stingrays will be competing at the Huron Valley Penguins IMX Challenge being held at Lakeland High School. Good luck to all of those competing this weekend!

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TEAM UPDATE - URGENT

DESPERATELY NEEDED - Home Meet Concessions Leader(s): We are looking for someone, or a pair of someones, to take over coordinating concessions for our two home meets  this year. (December 1-3 and February 9-11)  This is a big money-maker for our team!  You WILL have help and support from other parents. Bonus: This fulfills ALL of your volunteer slots for the season!

Please contact Dave Rembiesa at [email protected] if you would like to fill this important and necessary position.

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Practice updates:

The Practice Schedule is available here! You can also sync the Practice Schedule to your smart phone by clicking  here and following the instructions!

Event updates:

This week:: Fall Social Event at Three Cedars in Northville on Wednesday, October 25th.  The evening will include a hayride, bonfire, cider, donuts and all of your favorite Stingray family members! This is a great chance to meet other swimmers, parents, and coaches! Practice is CANCELED so EVERYONE can attend. Don’t miss it!

MEET UPDATES:

BBD Fall Festival October 28-29: This meet will be at Lake Orion High School.  Coach Rich strongly encourages EVERYONE to sign up for this meet. High School boys - this meet is mandatory! Again, if you have any questions about what events to put your swimmer in, please ask one of the coaches. This is our first YMCA meet of the season, all swimmers should participate!  Meet entry closes on October 14, 2023.

RAYS Invitational - November 10-12, 2023  at Zeeland HS in Grand Rapids: This meet is NOT yet open for registration, BUT we have a block of hotel rooms, at a slightly discounted rate, in Holland, MI for our team at the Fairfield Inn.   The deadline to reserve a room in the team block with the team rate is October 14, 2023.  This may be before we will open the meet entry.  Helpful Hint: Reserve your room as soon as possible! (Remember how I mentioned that you should familiarize yourself with our website at the beginning of this email?  Maybe even bookmark it on one or all of your devices.) If you need to adjust your reservation, you can do so without penalty later, usually up to a few days before the meet.  Hotel Reservation information can be found on the website under the Meet Info tab.

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Stingray Sponsorships

We are asking ALL of our families to please try to get at least one sponsor! Simply take or email this sponsorship form to your…

• Dentist

• Orthodontist

• Massage therapist

• Florist

• Ice cream shop

• Insurance agent

• Favorite restaurant or brewery

• …Or any local business!

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Officials Training

There will be training for YMCA Officials on Saturday, October 21. The training will be held at the Farmington YMCA. It is free of cost to us.

• Level 1 (new officials): Saturday October 21 8:00 am -12:00 pm, registration link: https://lcdc.yexchange.org/s/c52d49r

• Level 2 (returning officials): Saturday, October 21 12:30 pm -4:30 pm, registration link: https://lcdc.yexchange.org/s/c40w76b 

  • ​Prerequisites for Level 2 clinic: 

    • For new Level II officials, they must have been certified for at least 1 year as a YMCA Level I Official and worked at least 8 sessions on deck as a Level I Certified Official. 

    • For re-certification, they must have worked at least 12 sessions on deck as a Level II Certified Official over the previous three-year certification period

Our YMCA branch will pay for your training, so there is no cost to you.   Registration Deadline for the trainings at our Farmington Hills YMCA is 11:59 pm on Wednesday, 10/18/23.

Please click the registration link above for registering if you already have a YMCA account, or you can create a new YMCA account by following the instructions HERE.

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This week in the pool:

Miniray/Bronze - Coaches will be working freestyle and backstroke flip turns and the breast and butterfly finishes. A review of some of our practice rules will also be gone over again such as eyes and ears on the coaches when they are explaining sets. Coaches will also review proper ready position for pushing off the wall and streamline technique under water.

Silver - There will be a lot of Individual Medley work this week along with the transition turns from one stroke to another (fly to back, back to breast and breast to free). Remember that if you are signing up for the BBD meet at the end of the month, talk to the coaches to see if your swimmer should be entered into the 100 or 200 IM.

Gold - Aerobic work load will increase this week and the set repeats will be on some faster intervals (example 8 x 100 @ 2:00 may move down to @ 1:50). This increased workload will help improve the overall aerobic base that we are trying to build up in the fall. The Individual Medley will also be a focus this week along with turns for the 4 strokes

Senior -Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays have been great. Thursdays and Fridays - not so much. It is important to start stacking full weeks of practice together so that we are all in shape and ready to compete at a high level by Mid-November. In the pool this week, there will be a focus on each swimmer’s major stroke, as well as incorporating some challenging freestyle work, focusing on race pace speed. 

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Swimmers of the Week: Congratulations to our swimmers of the week!

Congratulations to Kaden Patterson (Gold) and Hank Blanchard (Silver) on their swimmer of the week honors!  Stay tuned for the names and pictures of the other winners in Miniray, Bronze and Senior.

Fire up Stingrays! Swim fast!!