July 22 update: Final stretch of the summer season!

Good afternoon Tritons,

It's already almost the end of the month! We got a few more events lined up and I wanted to give you a quick update as we near August and our swim team's break.

• This Saturday (July 26) is our team picnic and our run+swim!
  • Our team picnic is a potluck, please bring something to share if you can and sign up here so we know what's on the way: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/10C0948A5A922A1FCC61-57258006-2025
  • We will meet for the run+swim / biathlon at 12:00pm, and have it start at 12:30pm. Please be there early to sign up!
  • The picnic will be at around 1:30pm
  • I will bring lifejackets and the kayaks for swimmers to use and have fun with
  • Forecast says rain happens later in the evening, so we should be okay (hope I didn't just jinx it). If the weather ends up being bad, I will let you all know
• Next Saturday (August 2nd) is our last meet of the swim year - the Pentathlon!
  • Registration has passed, but I am compiling entries and getting things together tonight, so if your swimmer was interested just let me know and I am able to sneak them into the meet still.
• Monday, August 4th is our swim team tryout day
  • If you know someone interested in joining swim team, our team is hosting tryouts on August 4th from 2:00-4:00pm.
  • Tryouts are drop-in and there is no pre-registration
  • This is for newcomers, anyone already on the swim team is automatically invited to rejoin us in September
• Wednesday, August 6th is our last day of practice before our break!

While we are on break, the pool will be open (other than during the cleaning closure). Swimmers are welcome to stop by as members of the Y and continue to swim - but only if they want to! This is a programmed break and a time for our team to have a reset. I recommend still staying active, (go on walks/runs, play sports, exercise, swim, and have fun) but do not push or feel obligated to push hard swim practices on yourselves. I want us going into the Fall season refreshed and hungry for swimming improvements! We had a great year, and I have high hopes for even better to come!

I am finishing up a couple of things, but also want to let you know that I will be sharing a little bit more information in my next/final update before the break:

• Swim team meeting September 2nd (all are invited, looking to host the event in the Mount Vernon Library or MBMS cafeteria)
• First day back is September 3rd
• Meet schedule being updated (many meets on the USA side of things are invites, and so I will have to wait for official invitation. The Y meets will be easy for me to put up on the schedule since I am a board member of the PSSA).
• Events like Trunk-or-Treat, and no practice days will be put on our website
• I will have our team handbook updated, and that will be shared during our team meeting on September 2nd
• The team's registration fee will remain the same as last year; $50 per account/family rather than per swimmer as it was in the past. I hope this change was helpful especially with how expensive things are getting. This will be charged to all accounts in September automatically, so please let me know if you need to update billing or if you have any questions
• USA Swimming membership will open in September (date to be announced). If you re-register between September-December, you will get those months free on top of having membership for the 2026 swim year. Please do not sign up yet! I will send the link when it is ready

As always, I appreciate you all and all the support our families have for the team! If you ever have questions, please don't hesitate to reach out to me. If I forgot to mention anything in this newsletter, I will update/edit it and you can find these messages on our website's homepage (should be there if you scroll down a little bit)!

Best,
Joseph Shelly