Dear Stingray Parents and Swimmers,

 

The Flint YMCA Fall Classic on Sunday, November 2nd at Brandon High School is our first YMCA Meet of the year.  Registration opens soon!  ALL SWIMMERS SHOULD SWIM THIS MEET!  

 

The 2025 RAYS TYR Thanksgiving Classic, our second YMCA Meet of year, is open for registration.  This is a travel meet.  The meet is at Zeeland West High School in Zeeland, Michigan on November 15-16.  It is a great meet at an amazing pool, and is a lot of fun to attend.  If you are able to attend, please do!  We have a hotel block set aside for our swim families.  You can find it on our Stingray Website, under the Meet Info Tab: Meet Hotel Info.  It is not a requirement to spend the night.  You are welcome to drive out and back for one day of the meet or for both days of the meet. ALL HIGH SCHOOL BOYS SHOULD ATTEND at least ONE DAY of this meet!

 

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS - You need to attend these meets:

11/2 - Flint Invite @ Brandon High School

11/15-11/16 - RAYS Thanksgiving Classic @ Zeeland High School

12/6-12/7 - FFYS Holiday Invite @ Waterford Kettering High School

Swimming these three meets will fulfill your THREE MEET YMCA requirement before your high school season starts!  If you have questions about this, please ask Coach Rich, Coach Matt, or a Booster parent!!  

 

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MEET UPDATE

 

HVP IMX Challenge Open Invitational - October 10-12

Milford High School, Highland, Michigan

This is a USA Meet.

 

2025 BA Halloween Town USA Open - October 25-26

Brighton High School, Brighton, Michigan

This is a USA Meet.

 

Flint YMCA Fall Classic - November 2

Brandon High School, Ortonville, Michigan

This is a YMCA meet. ALL SWIMMERS SHOULD SWIM THIS MEET!

Entry Information: Coming soon!

 

2025 BBA Fall Quack-Tack-Ular Invite - November 8-9

Seaholm High School, Birmingham, Michigan

This is a USA Meet.

Entry Deadline: October 9, 2025

 

2025 RAYS TYR Thanksgiving Classic - November 15-16

Zeeland West High School, Zeeland, Michigan

This is a YMCA Meet!

Entry Deadline: November 3, 2025

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MEET INFORMATION

 

Meet Entries: When meets open for entry, you will receive an email from 'Sean Smith' via SportsEngine Motion.  The first step is to click on the button that says “For more information about this event click here.” This will take you to a page with detailed information about the meet, including the very important Meet Packet, that can be found under FORMS / DOCUMENTS.  Be sure to read this packet!  Next, sign your swimmer up for the meet by clicking the ATTEND/DECLINE button AND choosing his or her events BEFORE the deadline. Some of the deadlines come up fast, so please keep an eye on our Meet Calendar and look for those emails from our very own Sean Smith.  Click this link: Entry Instructions for more meet sign up directions.

Meet Structure:  Meets are made up of days and sessions.  Each meet is unique, varying from 1-3 days and from 1-8 sessions.  Sessions are based on the age of your swimmer, and may be different for each meet.  For example, one meet might have AM sessions for 12 and Under swimmers and PM sessions for 13 and Up, whereas the next meet might be a completely different age group structure.  Swimmers can sign up for just one session on just one day of any given meet.  It is not mandatory to sign up for all days or all sessions. 

Meet Packet: Every meet has a packet with LOTS of information about the meet.  Reading this entire document is the best way to make sure you have all of the relevant meet information. 

Individual Events: Meets have a certain number of individual events per session that a swimmer is allowed to swim.  These are described in the meet packet and are always part of the meet entry process.  Additionally, the order of events varies for each meet, so reading the meet packet can help inform your event choices for your swimmer as well.  Parents choose individual events for their swimmers. If you are not sure what to choose, please talk to your swimmer’s coach.  

Relays: If there are relays, the coaches place swimmers in the relays based on who attends the meet.  Sometimes relays are at the beginning, but they can also be at the end.  For some meets, relays are at the beginning and the end!  Relay placement decisions are usually made by the coaches on the day of the meet, often at the end of warmup, so pay attention to the warmup schedule in the meet packet, and help your swimmer be on time!  

Meet Entry Fees: Our Meet Entry Booster enters all of our swimmers who sign up for a meet in one meet entry submission.  You do not have to individually send anything to the hosting team.  (There is a meet submission page included in the meet packet.  This is for our Meet Entry Booster to send in our team entry.)  Fees for meet entries vary, but are usually $5-$7 per individual event, per swimmer, plus a $1-$10 surcharge or facility use fee.  Individual event costs and surcharges/facility use fees are charged to individual Booster accounts.  Relay entry costs are picked up by the Boosters.  

Please note, once the meet submission deadline passes, if your swimmer cannot swim for any reason, you will still be charged for the events for which you signed your swimmer up to swim, since we are charged by the hosting team at the time of entry submission.

Questions:

How to sign up for a meet?  Please ask!  A Booster parent is happy to help.

What events should my child swim?  Please ask!  A Coach will be happy to help.

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PARENT VOLUNTEERS

The Boosters are seeking one volunteer for a critical position. If you are interested, please reply to this email.  

Sponsorship Coordinator - We are looking for someone to shadow Teresa Chisholm this year, as her son is a senior, and it is her last year as our sponsorship chair.  Teresa will teach you everything that she knows this year, so you are prepared to be the chair next year.

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PRACTICE UPDATE 

 

There are several changes this week, please note time and location changes.

 

Thursday, 10/9

Senior 6-8pm YMCA - no dryland

Gold 7-8:30pm YMCA

 

Friday, 10/10

Senior 5-6:30pm YMCA

Gold 5:30-6:45pm YMCA

Silver 6:30-7:30pm YMCA

Bronze 7:15-8pm YMCA

Miniray 6:45-7:15pm YMCA

 

Sunday, 10/12

No practice - Our coaches will be at the HVP IMX meet with our swimmers

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STINGRAY MERCHANDISE UPDATE 

FFYS Car Magnets - Display your Stingray Spirit as you drive endlessly to practice and swim meets this season! Interested??  Please see Jen Birmelin at the Y’s pool window on M/W/F from 6:00-7:00 P.M.  Cost $10 - Will be billed to your FFYS Booster account.

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YMCA OFFICIALS TRAINING

 

NEW CLASS DATE: Saturday, October 25

 

Level 2 Class - AM

 

Level 1 Class - PM 

 

Do you like free food?  Do you like a front row seat to the action at our YMCA meets?  Do you have a little bit of competitive swim knowledge or even perhaps some personal experience?  These classes are FREE for FFYS parents!  All parents are welcome!  

 

 

Questions?  Please contact Tom Ludden at [email protected].

 

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And finally, the best part of our Newsletter…

SWIMMER OF THE WEEK 

 

Congratulations to our first Swimmers of the Week of the 2025-2026 season!

 

Senior - Erik Nikolli

Gold - Kinley Birmelin

Silver - KeLiyah Williams

Bronze - Talia Killgrove

MiniRay - Clara Main

 

 

Each week, our coaches choose one swimmer from each practice group to recognize.  It could be for working hard, being a great listener, showing improvement, being a good teammate, showing good sportsmanship, swimming well at a meet, or anything else that the coaches want to consider.  

 

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Fire Up Stingrays!