There is a lot of important STING news for this week into September:

• There will be NO PRACTICE on Monday, September 2, for the Labor Day holiday. The YMCA will be closing at 6:00pm that day. Normal practice schedule/times resume on Tuesday, September 3.

• The vendor who sells the team bathing suit will be at practice on TUESDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 4:30-6:30pm. This is an opportunity for your swimmer to try on a bathing suit before you place an order. Please arrive at least 15 minutes before your practice time so your swimmer is dry when he/she tries on a suit. Please be aware racing suits are not standard sizes like street clothes. If you have never purchased one, I would strongly suggest having your swimmer try one on.
  
  
  • The team suit is $59.99 for girls and $31.99 (brief) or $43.99 (jammer) for boys depending on style.
  • The link to place an order and more details will be communicated next week after the bathing suit fitting. 
  • The team suit is optional. If you do not wish to purchase a team suit, girls need to have plain black racing suits and boys need to have plain black jammer suits for swim meets.
  • If you are unable to come for the suit fitting, the team suit is TYR brand. Dicks Sporting Goods and Academy Sports carry TYR suits in store. Your swimmer can try on a suit there and place the order on the team website.

• The swim meet schedule is still being finalized. As soon as the meet schedule is available it will be sent to the team. We anticipate the first meet being at the end of September or beginning of October.
  
  
  • Meets are Saturday afternoons at 4:00pm. Swimmers will arrive by 2:30/3:00pm-ish for warm-ups. Typically the meets are scheduled once a month.
  • We will host meets at the Alpharetta YMCA as well as attend meets at other metro Atlanta YMCA locations.
  • Last year the meets were approximately 3 hours long.

• If you have not had an opportunity, below are links for the equipment your swimmer needs to purchase and bring to every practice. Please be sure to label all equipment with your swimmer's name.
  
  
  • Fins: Sporti Essential Floating Swim Fins (Color) at SwimOutlet.com
  • Kickboard: TYR Junior Kickboard at SwimOutlet.com

• The team uses GroupMe for communications, last minute changes, reminders, etc. If you have not joined the STING GroupMe, please reply to this email to Emily Crenshaw and she will text you the link to join. Be sure to include your mobile number when you reply.

• This is the link to the team's Swimtopia website: https://iaysting.swimtopia.com. When it is available the swim team schedule will be posted here. This is also where you will go to declare your swimmer's meet attendance and sign up to volunteer. It is a work in progress right now to get set up for the new season.
  
  
  • There is also an option to download a Swimtopia app for your phone. You can use the app in the same way as the website. I personally think the app is easier to use for sign ups. In addition, you can pay for the "pro subscription" which will give you access to the meet results as they are posted. It is $1.99/month or $9.99 for the year.

Thank you for your flexibility with the practice schedule. We have almost 60 swimmers on the team. Coach Juan Carlos is working to create the most effective practice session for all levels of swimmers. If you have any questions regarding which practice group your swimmer is assigned to, please contact Philipp (Aquatics Dir) at [email protected].

Please feel free to reach out if you have any questions.
GO STING!