Reminders Team Wisconsin Family
Hello Team Wisconsin Swamily!
First, CONGRATULATIONS on being part of the Team Wisconsin Swamily! Representing Wisconsin at the Zone Championship level is an awesome accomplishment! Zones is a great experience for these athletes – it should be a really fun weekend!
Sorry for the information overload – I know you’re getting a lot about the logistics of the meet in this email but please make sure you take the time to read it to the end.
Our head coach is Phil Davies. Instead of re-typing more of his bio or listing all of the other coaches, I’d urge you to check out the Team Wisconsin page that has a list of all of our staff. Odds are you’ll recognize a few! One particularly exciting thing about this year’s staff is that it covers a wide geographic range of the state; from Madison over to Milwaukee, and all the way to the North Woods!
VERY IMPORTANT - TEAM WISCONSIN PSYCH SHEET
Please check your email for the Team Wisconsin Psych Sheet. We can no longer update events but if there are any errors, please respond to the email by 8 AM August 5th.
OVERALL COACHING PHILOSOPHY
Our aim is to promote the best possible meet experience for your athletes! We want to facilitate warm-ups, get swimmers prepared to swim fast, and be positive support and cheerleaders. We are NOT here to change your swimmer’s technique or how they swim their races. They got here under the excellent guidance of your club coaches – it would be quite inappropriate for our coaches (who are basically just ‘renting’ these kids for a long weekend) to try and change what’s made them successful. For swimmers that are used to in-depth feedback from their coaches before or after races this might be a bit of an adjustment, but hopefully the reasoning behind it makes sense.
TEAM WISCONSIN RELAY POLICY
This is the relay policy that we’ve used for the majority of recent Zone meets. No policy is going to be perfect in anticipating and resolving every potential issue, but we’ve felt policy has served us well at past meets.
Team WI will field the best possible relays to represent our state at the Zone level. Our default position is to let the times speak for themselves, and to select relays objectively using a swimmer’s best times* up to and including swims done at the Zone Meet. However, situations may arise where the coaching staff feels that an adjustment will lead to a better relay, and we reserve the right to select relays as we see fit.
*LCM times from a flat start will be considered, including relay lead-offs. Spots will be assigned based on a swimmer’s best time in an event, not how the swimmers may have placed in that event at either the State Championship Meet or at Zones. For example, if swimmer A has a best time of 30.20 and Swimmer B has a best time of 30.21, Swimmer B would need to go a 30.19 to be considered; simply beating Swimmer A at State or Zones would not necessarily affect the relay.
WHAT WE (PLEASE) NEED FROM YOU!
First of all, don’t hesitate to communicate any questions or issues you have – we would greatly prefer to handle a few extra emails than to have potential problems go unresolved. My email is [email protected]. During the meet I’ll be going back and forth from the deck to the stands a lot, so feel free to grab me if something comes up.
Second, we have a pretty short period of time to get to know over 170 Team Wisconsin swimmers! The staff has some great icebreaker activities planned for each age group and we do what we can to get the kids interacting. But if you have anything specific about your swimmer – swimming related or otherwise – don’t hesitate to share it.
POOL IS IN EST ZONE
WEDNESDAY EVENING SWIM:
For all families making the trip over to Holland on Wednesday, Team Wisconsin Coaches will be at the Holland Aquatics Center from 5-8 PM for a loosen swim for any athlete that would like to attend.
TEAM INTINERARY:
Click Here to See The Team Itinerary
****Please note that the Team Wisconsin Shirt for Thursday and Sunday is navy blue, not white like the photo*****
SCRATCH RULES:
All individual events will conform to USA Swimming National Scratch Procedure Rules (207.11.6 A-E). There is no penalty for failure to compete in a timed final event. A coach or a swimmer may declare a false start.
SCRATH DEADLINES:
A scratch box will be available at registration, the General Meeting, and throughout all meet sessions. All athletes or their coaches are required to fill out a scratch slip, verified by the Clerk of Course, and place it in the scratch box prior to the scratch deadline for that event. This applies to all events, timed final, preliminary and relays. If your athlete plans to scratch please have the athlete talk to his/her coach on deck. They will assist with the procedure.Scratch deadline for First Day’s events shall be 15 minutes after the conclusion of the General Meeting.
Scratch deadline for Second Day’s events shall be 30 minutes after the start of First Day’s evening finals session.
TENATIVE RELAYS:
Mixed Relays will be sent out by Wednesday Morning. All other tentative relays will be completed and communicated at the Parent Meeting. As always: Team Wisconsin Coaches will always put the best possible relays together based on all information available and we reserve the right to make changes to relays up to the time of race.
DECK PASSES:
Each athlete, coach, official and volunteer will be issued a meet credential. Credentials must be displayed at all times while in the venue.
TEAM WISCONSIN INFORMATION TABLE:
At the facility, in a place TBD, there will be a Team Wisconsin Table set up for the entire meet. In the beginning of the meet, this is where team gear can be found and as the meet goes on, athletes will be able to pick up their 9-16 ribbons, etc. , athletes, parents and siblings should check in at the table for Team Wisconsin Swag and actives through out the meet.
TEAM WISCONSIN MERCHANDISE FOR SALE:
We will have some additional Team Wisconsin T-shirts and caps available for sale. The sale will open on Thursday during the first session of the meet. Please stop by the Team Wisconsin Table for your Swag. $15 per item cap and $25 per shirt. Cash or Venmo. First come, first serve.
TEAM WISCONSIN WARM UP ASSIGNMENTS:
Once we have our warm-up assignment, we will email out the times. If your athlete is not competing on a during the middle of the meet, Team WI coaches encourage your athlete to come to the pool, after the meet starts, check in with a coach and go to the warm-down pool to swim. We also encourage Team WI athletes to come to the deck to cheer for their team, even if they are not competing during a session. They will need their deck pass to cheer for their teammates.
If your athlete has finished all events for the meet, please have him/her check in with one of the coaches, prior to leaving the venue for the last time, coaches try to track all available athletes for any relay changes or updates.
Please watch for more emails from Coach Phil and myself in the next few days as more information becomes available. Information may include session reports, warm up start times and any other information communicated from the meet host and Team Wisconsin Coaches.
If there is anything you need or have a question about, please do not hesitate to reach out. We are very much looking forward to working with your athletes and seeing some fast swimming!
Safe Travels and See you Holland!
Swim Strong,
Coach Angela
