Manta Rays News 11.7.25

Jocelyn Paxton

Happy Friday Manta Rays!

Here's your weekly team news:

Practice Equipment

Some of our veteran swimmers still do not have all required practice equipment for their assigned practice group!!!  This makes it extremely difficult (and sometimes impossible) for your swimmer to participate in drills or skill activities that we conduct at practices. 

November Invite: 11/15/25:

As our first home swim meet approaches, here’s some helpful tips & reminders for all families, rookies and vets!

  • Start checking the team website Hosted Meets tab Wednesday/Thursday for job assignments, event lists and other important meet information: https://www.gomotionapp.com/team/ymca-2205/page/hosted-meets
  • Once job assignments are posted on the website, it becomes the responsibility of the assigned family to find a replacement in the event they are unable/unwilling to cover their assigned slot.
  • Job Assignments are listed by swimmer name (unless the job has special requirements like Lifeguard or Officials).  If you have more than one swimmer in the meet, chances are, you’ll have more than one job.  
    • We do our best to only schedule each swimmer one job, but this isn’t always possible due to varying factors (number of swimmers signed up, job requirements, etc…)
    • Job assignment coordinators are VOLUNTEERS! They do their best to accommodate requests whenever possible.  
  • Please keep in mind that any job training documents/videos related to the timing system & scoreboard will not be accurate but we will provide hands on training to anyone that does a job related to the timing system. 
  • Please check out the following documents if you haven’t already! These are great reminders and overviews of what to expect at a swim meet, how to prepare yourself and your swimmer!

I’ll be posting more information in Heja and possibly via email as the meet approaches! Please be sure to have your notifications on and read emails carefully!

Team T-shirts & Caps

Team T-shirts have arrived! We will distribute them on Monday, November 10th & Tuesday, November 11th at Team Photos.  A parent must sign for the shirt at time of distribution-we are not responsible for misplaced team t-shirts!

Team Caps are still in production.  We hope to have them in time for the first home swim meet, but with the large quantity of our team order, this may not happen.  Your swimmer will be permitted to wear another cap at our first meet if our team caps do not arrive in time.

Team Photos:

Mississippi Pearl Photography will be onsite at MHS on Monday, November 10th  and Tuesday, November 11th to take individual athlete photos for our annual team picture!

Pictures will be starting around 5:30 pm on the pool deck for White and Purple Junior practice groups so they can go to practice as soon as they’ve had their photos taken.

Purple Senior, Gold Junior, and Gold Senior will have their photos taken immediately after we’ve taken all the White/Purple Junior that are present that day! This could begin as early as 6 pm. Siblings can have photos taken together or back-to-back times regardless of practice group.

It will not be required for parents to purchase photos taken this day, but we are asking that ALL Manta Rays have their photo taken so we can include them in the team photo and social media posts that occur as the season progresses.

We ask that swimmers wear either a solid black competition style suit or their 2025-2026 black team t-shirt for a unified team look.  Team shirts will be distributed on site on picture day unless they arrive earlier than expected.

Raffle Ticket Fundraiser:

If you have not picked up your raffle tickets yet, you will need to contact Charity Erwin via Heja to schedule a pickup date.  An adult will need to sign for the ticket packets at time of pick up.

 

Thanks all & have a great weekend!

Go Manta Rays!