Hi!
Thank you to everyone that came to Meet the Coaches night last night! We hope that you're as excited about the season starting as we are! 

If you missed the beginning of the evening or weren't able to attend, here is a recap of the night:

-2023 Coaching Staff: Nate (head coach), Jacob, Nick, Spencer, Cassidy, Taylor and Emma. This staff brings a lot of years of swimming experience and are eager and excited to help your kiddos grow! The staff will rotate between age groups so all swimmers will be coached by all coaches.

-2023 Board of Directors: Laura Graybill, Ashley Taber, Suzie Gillespie, Kayla Sheer, Jen Kimball and Liz Stalone

-USA Swimming Registration: all swimmers must be registered through USA Swimming before they can enter the water. Year-round swimmers must verify registration. High School and Summer swimmers must register and pay the USA Swimming fees.

-The New Mark Stingrays website is https://www.newmarkswimteam.com/ Please use this resource for any questions you may have! There is a wealth of information and most likely any question you have, will be answered here. There is also a swimtopia app that you can download to your phone. 

-Communication: Communication throughout the season will come through 3 different means. If you have not signed up for the Remind messages, please do so ASAP. If you have a teen swimmer who drives, please have he/she also sign up. This is the fastest way we can get information to you in the event of a cancelled or delayed practice due to weather. It will also be used for any other time-sensitive announcements. To sign up, text @newmarkst to 81010  Facebook will also be used for save-the-dates, awards throughout the summer, and is just a fun community tool. If you've not requested to join, please do so. Please answer the questions requested to get a faster approval. Email will be used as sparingly as possible and will include all of the detailed information throughout the season. It's a good idea to create a summer swim folder within your email to save emails for a quick reference. 

-If you have a question, you will receive the fastest response by emailing [email protected]

-Volunteering: if you can't fulfill your role, please find a replacement to fill the spot. Try to make this happen at least 24 hours in advance. A quick post to the FB page will often be a good start to finding a replacement. If you can't find a replacement, please contact Melanie or Ashley. Your volunteer roles can be found on the website at https://newmarkswimteam.swimtopia.com/swim_meets

-Officials: if you are interested in becoming a swim official, please contact Liz Stalone [email protected]

-Practices: The first week of practice, swimmers may do team building or dry land activities. Be sure to send your swimmer with tennis shoes as well as a suit, goggles, a cap, a water bottle and a towel. If you have a question or concern regarding practices, contact Nate at [email protected] The practice schedule can be found here: https://www.newmarkswimteam.com/practice-schedule

-Meet Sign-ups: Swimmers can sign up for a maximum of 3 events per week. Relay teams will be decided by the coaching staff and will be communicated during the meet day morning practice. In order to swim at the conference meet at the end of the season, swimmers must have a legal qualifying time AND have participated in 3 meets. In order to swim in a relay, swimmers must have swam in the individual event in which he or she is swimming in the relay. You will receive an email each week to notify you when to sign your swimmer up. https://www.newmarkswimteam.com/swim_meets

-Rookie Program: rookie swimmers will practice from 10:00-10:30am, Monday-Thursday at New Mark Brookings Pool. There are 2 rookie events (Rookie Relays): June 16th and July 14th at 10am. These events allow the rookie swimmers to get an idea of what a meet feels like. Rookies are able to swim in Thursday night meets if you talk with the coaches the week before the meet you want to participate. In addition to the coaching staff, the rookie program is supplemented by Rookie Assistants. The assistants are current swimmers for NMST and went though an application process to be chosen to assist. 

-T-shirts, spirit wear and caps: Pick up for these items will be available at various times during the first week of practice as well as at Picture Day. The team store is currently open if you missed it the first time. The store will be open until June 4th. https://newmarkstingrays23.itemorder.com/shop/home There will not be another opportunity to order personalized caps. 

We know this is a ton of information so thank you for getting to the end!! If you have any questions, check the website first and if you can't find your answer, please email [email protected]

We can't wait to see your swimmers on Tuesday!!

-Your 2023 New Mark Swim Team Board