Fins Families -

If you are receiving this email, it is because you have a swimmer or swimmers signed up to swim at the ASA meet on Friday, June 27th at Georgia Tech! This may be the longest email you ever read, but please read the whole thing as it contains very important information!

First, please save the following numbers in your phone. The best way to communicate will be by texting Katherine, Dana, or Asheley.
Asheley: (770) 367-1730
Katherine: (586) 242-6400
Dana: (770) 633-0986

PRACTICE: 

We will have practice on Wednesday and Thursday for all swimmers going to the county meet. All ages will have practice at their regular practice time (no dryland). If your child practices in a different age group, they should plan to attend practice with their correct group on Thursday to practice relays! We will have a parent meeting following each practice time on Wednesday for all parents of swimmers attending county (9am, 10am, & 11am). Please plan to attend one of these meetings! We will try to record one for anyone who can't attend, but we cannot guarantee this option so please attend if at all possible.

ILLNESS:

If your child does not feel well Thursday or Friday, please text Coach Asheley ASAP and let her know if there is a possibility your child may not be able to attend the meet.  This allows time to reorganize our relays so other swimmers get the chance to swim in a relay.  Your child can still remain in individual events if they wake up feeling better. We have over 160 swimmers attending from our team so last minute changes can be chaotic.  We cannot stress this enough to please communicate if you think there is a chance your child may not be able to attend.

ARRIVAL:

• Prepaid parking will be available in the W10 parking deck that is adjacent to the CRC. To park in this deck, you must pre-buy a parking pass, you cannot pay at the gate. To pre-purchase parking please visit https://gatech.parkmobile.io/events . Be sure to select the morning session on Friday, June 27. Parking costs will be between $12-15. Overflow parking for W10 and any day of parking for those who did not prepay is located at the W23 lot at 905 State St. These are relatively short walks from the pool.  W10 is right next to the CRC pool.
• Please arrive at Georgia Tech by 7:55am. The address of the pool is 750 Ferst Dr NW. We will be out front with a green neon sign that says FINS. We will have a check in table for swimmers & volunteers so please check in first so we can account for all swimmers. We must enter as one team at the same time. Please have swimmer's first and last name, FFINS, and age on their shoulder in sharpie prior to arrival. If your swimmer is 8 or younger, please also write the parent's phone number on the arm without their events. We will try to write EHL on arms during practice on Thursday as well.
• Swimmers and parents are allowed to enter the building at 8:25am. Our warm ups are from 8:55-9:10 with the meet starting at 9:30. If you are running late, please text Dana (770) 633-0986 or Katherine (585) 242-6400 to let us know. Our team must enter the building all at once, but one of us will remain to collect any late arrivals.
• Please have your swimmer wear their FINS cap with their name for this meet! This will help coaches and staff to easily identify swimmers and get them where they need to be! If you need a new cap, please let us know at practice on Wednesday. Latex caps can be purchased for $7 and silicone caps can be purchased for $10 (no names).

SEATING:

• The team will have a designated seating area/ “bullpen” in the stands in sections 101 & 102. Swimmers are required to sit in the assigned section and are not allowed to sit with parents during the meet until they have completed their swimming events. Spectators can ONLY sit in the spectator seating areas in the upper sections. You cannot be on the deck unless you are a volunteer with a wristband. Only swimmers and volunteers can be on the deck.  Deck Diagram/Seating Chart
• Swimmers should arrive in suits ready to swim! Please also pack at least 2 towels, personalized swim cap, goggles, and extra cap/goggles if you have them!
• Please pack something for your child to do - the swimmers have to stay in our team area unless they are in an event. We will be in our area for many hours and it can get boring. The aquatic center has very strict "deck traffic patterns" and we cannot allow swimmers to go back & forth to the spectator areas.
• Please pack snacks and drinks for your swimmers. They can bring a small cooler/lunch box if needed. There will be limited concessions, and concessions/vending machines are credit card only. For spectators: you may also bring food and drinks, but no large coolers or alcohol/glass containers are allowed inside the building.

HEAT SHEETS:
Heat sheets will be emailed before the meet. If you want a heat sheet, you must print it out before you come to GA Tech. There will not be heat sheets available for purchase! Please use the emailed heat sheet as SwimTopia will NOT be accurate.

ORDER OF EVENTS:
There is a boy’s pool and a girl’s pool at GA Tech that will run simultaneously. Please note that the order of events will be different than our normal meets. The medley and free relays will be at the beginning of the meet. The heat sheets will have the correct schedule they will be swimming, but the numbers will not be in number order per usual. 6 & Under will be done with their events early in the meet. The order of events at the beginning of the meet will be:

6 & Under Free Relays
All other Age Group Medley Relays
6 & Under Freestyle Races
All other Age Group Free Relays
6 & Under Backstroke
Proceed with all remaining events in usual order.

**We will have as many volunteers and coaches as are allowed working together along with ASA staff to get your swimmers to their events. If your swimmer misses their event, please text Asheley: (770) 367-1730, Katherine: (586) 242-6400, or Dana: (770) 633-0986 ASAP and every effort will be made to get your swimmer into the next available heat.

DEPARTING:
Once your swimmer is finished with their events, all swimmers 12 & under must be signed out with their assigned bullpen parent. 6 & Under swimmers should plan to check out and sit with parents after they are done swimming unless parents are volunteering. Please be patient as we have a large number of swimmers competing. The swimmers’ safety is our top concern. Parents cannot go on deck unless they are volunteering and have a deck pass to show to security. Please do not take your child without signing them out! This is a huge responsibility and we do not want any child getting lost or left behind.

VOLUNTEERS:
We will be sending more info about volunteering tomorrow.  If you are interested in helping, please email and let us know!

MEET MOBILE:
The meet will be on Meet Mobile, not Swimtopia! This is different from our meets this season. You will need to download and follow the meet on Meet Mobile app if you want real time results.

LOCKER ROOM/ BATHROOMS:
The locker room restrooms located directly off of the pool deck are for SWIMMERS ONLY. Coaches, age 18 or older, meet workers/volunteers, or anyone age 18 or older must use the restrooms located by the diving well, any of the upstairs restrooms, or the other locker facility located by the lower lobby of the CRC.

LIVE STREAM:
There will be a livestream this year! Live Streaming

Please let us know if you have any further questions that have not been answered in this email or during the parent meeting on Wednesday. I know this was a lot of information. The best way to communicate the day of the meet is through texting so please text Coach Asheley, Dana, or Katherine with any meet day concerns.

Thank you!

Katherine & Dana