Dear TSA Reps, 

I wanted to send out a final message of well wishes prior to our first meet of the season. Thank you to all of the board members and volunteers who have put in so much time and effort to get this season up and running and to this point. A special thanks to the executive board, leagues and scheduling, rules, the task force, and our clinics committees. Without these efforts and extra time and dedication, we would not be able to kick off the season. You are all a big part of what makes this league so special. Our next big endeavor is to plan and execute the TSA Championship meet. This committee is already putting in the time to make this huge production go off without a hitch. Let's all please be ready to step up and help where needed for this event and let's start to engage swimmers and families to participate in this great event. 

A few reminders: if you still have missing requirements (please see Tracey's email), you will be required to forfeit your meets beginning next week until these are complete. You've all had plenty of time and fair warning to get these things complete prior to our first meet (and we have the same requirements every year, so, come on). Please get these in to me or Tracey before 6pm on June 17th. 

A few other things. As I've stated several times over the past 18 months, please DO NOT reach out to other teams to ask or suggest that they limit the number of swimmers or number of events that they can swim. My expectation in this rec. league is that every swimmer that wants to and can safely swim, swim all events. This is not fair to swimmers and families, sets a negative precedent, and does not align with the league's mission. Teams in TSA have been swimming late into the night for over 50 years and we should not be setting the expectation to parents that we will be rushing through the meet or cutting the number of events/swimmers just so we can get home earlier. We should be achieving this by running efficient meets, not limiting swimmers. In my opinion, the only acceptable reason to suggest limiting the number of events in advance of the meet is in cases with inadequate deck lighting not allowing meets to go beyond dusk. We will always have some swimmers with school the next day until Wake county phases out year round schools. 

Now that we are several years into using our Swimtopia platform, it becomes increasingly evident that merging and locking meets later, rather than sooner seems to be a better plan, and is more time efficient. There always seems to be the last minute drop outs, or those who intended to declare and did not, or any number of life events or excuses. Unless your position as a team is to make no changes once locked (which I wouldn't recommend for a summer rec. league) locking and merging as late as reasonable for each team (e.g. sometime Tuesday afternoon) will reduce the number of deck changes and writing all over heat sheets, or reprinting. Please consider this point and discuss with your TSA counterparts.  

And finally, please remember to communicate with the TSA reps from the opposing teams well in advance (preferably the Wednesday before the next meet) in order to adequately plan for the upcoming meet. My preference is for verbal communication rather than just texts or emails to best reduce confusion or miscommunications. Please also keep your teams (swimmers, parents, coaches) in check during the meets so as to provide a safe, fun, and non-confrontational environment. We don't need rude parents or coaches harassing swimmers, timers, or judges during the meets. This is a bad example for the swimmers and kills the fun. Please let me know if these types of issues arise during the meets. 

Now, please go and have a wonderful swim season! Thank you again for all that you do for the kids! Swim fast and have fun. 

See you at TSA Championship Meet! 

All the best, 

-Shawn