Dearest Swim Families,

I have never been more embarrassed for my communication skills - or lack thereof. 

Long story short: I found out today that the senior conference (afternoon session) is designed for the fastest two swimmers in each event to compete. The junior conference (morning session) is for everyone else to compete. I quickly went to work making changes and adjustments, but when doing so, several things felt "wrong".

Thing #1: Swimmers were going to be entered into races that weren't necessarily their strengths since I could only choose two kids per event. 

Thing #2: By moving some of our swimmers to the afternoon, it would break up our already small team (25 swimmers total) into two smaller groups, making us less competitive and not a swim family.

Thing #3: By splitting our team up into smaller groups, we had WAY less relays. Some kids were being moved up for being "fast" but wouldn't get to have as much "fun".

I am getting on a call at 7:45pm with all of the other coaches, and I am going to strongly advise that our entire team swims in the morning at the Junior Conference. It will be less competitive, yes, but we will get to be an actual team. I don't know how they will respond, but I will do what I can to advocate for our kids!

As soon as the meeting is over, I will update everyone on where we stand for Saturday.

Thanks for hanging in there,

Coach Rachel 🦦