Wallingford Dolphins: News and Information

We are  “Adopting Past/Potential Olympians” for the Summer 2012

Each practice group has 4 swimmers (2 male, 2 female) that have qualified for the Olympic Trials and are working hard to represent the USA in London this summer.

Squad – Nate Adrian, Jason Lezak, Jessica Hardy, and Dara Torres

Purple – Tyler Clary, Ryan Lochte, Missy Franklin, and Chloe Sutton

Bronze – Garrett Gale-Weber, Michael Phelps, Natalie Coughlin, and Rebecca Soni

Silver – Brendan Hansen, Eric Shanteau, Elizabeth Beisel, and Madison Kennedy

Gold – Cullen Jones, Peter Vanderkaay, Amanda Beard, and Katie Hoff

Each week we will ask 1 or 2 questions to different swimmers or to the group to research about the swimmers their group has adopted. This week we are asking the practice groups to find out the ages of their swimmers. This is an extremely exciting summer and I hope you all help to find out as much information about your these amazing athletes (there are many more so please feel free to join in and find out about any of the other qualifiers).

This schedule begins May 7th, 2012 and continues until June 15th, 2012. A second half of the season schedule will be distributed end of May beginning of June. This will relocate our team from Sheehan to Community Pool.

USA practices will begin the week of May 14th, 2012 - please attend regular practice group times during May 7th - 11th.

Squad recommended attendance 1 out of 2 practices

Purple recommended attendance 2 out of 3 practices

Bronze recommended attendance 2/3 out of 4 practices

Silver recommmended attendance 3/4 out of 5 practices

Gold recommended attendance 4/5 out of 5 practices

USA - both Wesleyan practices the week of a USA meet

Equipment- we will not be loaning out equipment, please bring equipment to practices every practice and contact Coach Kait if there is any concern

Bronze/Silver - recommended equipment - FINS, PULL BUOYS, KICK BOARD 

Gold - recommended equipment - FINS, PULL BUOYS, SNORKEL, KICK BOARD

Home meet results can be viewed on the Meet Mobile app if you have an iPhone or iPad.   http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/meet-mobile/id422154977?mt=8 Thanks, Mark and John! This is awesome! 

For those of you interested in a more robust app to track your swimmer's progress, download the iSwim Times app http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iswimtimes-the-ultimate-swim/id369059884?mt=8 and you can customize it for your swimmer to keep track of their times in different meets and to enter their best times.

I believe these apps are only available for the iPhone or iPad at this time.

You can expect meet results to be uploaded to our Wallingford Dolphins website 2-4 days after each meet, sometimes longer for away meets or USA meets.  

Arrival and Departure

·         First of all, please arrive on time, we ask that all swim team members participating in meets arrive no later than 15 minutes before the start of warm up. (At home meets that is 8:45AM).

·         We ask that swimmers check in with a coach as well as on a sign in sheet which will be posted at the home meets near the boys’ locker room. This will also allow you to see what your swimmer is swimming. Typically swimmers mark their event, event number, heat and lane on their hands in a Sharpie in a table-like format. It will also help to have swimmers first names and age written in Sharpie on their shoulder – this is for parents who are aiding in lining up all 8 and unders’ during the events can look to be sure they have the right swimmer.

·         8 and Under swimmers are asked to sit together (typically nearest the block end of the pool) bring small (cloth) deck chairs for swimmers to utilize during the meet.

·         All 8 and under swimmers are expected to remain in suit/t-shirt/sweatshirt until the completion of all 8 and under 100 freestyle relays. We ask swimmers to remain on deck and cheer on their teammates. At this point swimmers are permitted to go get changed and are dismissed from the swim meet.

·         The rest of the team is asked to remain on deck, in proper team uniform attire until the entire swim meet has concluded, the team has done a team cheer, and the coaches have dismissed the team. This can be 5 – 6 hours typically.

During the Meet

·         Absolutely NO ELECTRONICS are allowed on deck. We ask that swimmers do not have Ipods, Nintendo DS, PSP, Gameboys, cell phones, mp3 players, etc. We ask swimmers to pay attention to the meet, cheer on their teammates as to avoid any missed events.

·         No junk food is allowed – this only slows you down (contrary to popular belief, the hype of sugar does not benefit a swimmers performance). Healthy snacks (purchased from the snack bar, or brought from home) are allowed. Pretzels, Goldfish, Apples, Oranges, water, light sandwiches (PB&J, Turkey, Ham, etc.) and Gatorade is allowed. Chips, cookies, candy bars, nachos are asked to be saved for purchase until the end of the meet. If a coach sees a swimmer with these items they will be asked to put it away until the end of the meet.

·         Parents are asked to remain in the stands or on deck at their volunteer point. We also ask that swimmers remain on deck where they can be easily located for races and not in the stands.

·         All swimmers are asked to keep their areas clean of any garbage throughout the meet.

What to Bring to a Meet

·         Yourself, if you signed up for a meet, your teammates and coaches are relying on you to be there. Provided there has not been a family or medical emergency if you said you’ll be at the meet please be there.

·         Team Uniform – Suit, Cap (for girls – mandatory for boys – optional), team t-shirt, and team sweatshirt if you have one. Otherwise any warmer clothing that is gray, black or purple will be great!

·         Goggles – if possible bring 2 – 3 pairs. Many times swimmers break the straps or they suddenly become leaky and the last thing we want is for our swimmers to be uncomfortable.

·         Deck chair – the small cloth pop-up chairs that typically come with their own carrying tote are perfect for swimmers of all ages and sizes. Not at home meets, but some away meets ask that parents/guardians bring a deck chair for themselves as well.

·         Towels – 2 is better than 1. 1 for during the meet, and 1 to dry off after.

·         Healthy snacks – pretzels, goldfish, water, Gatorade, turkey sandwich, veggies, fruits, apple sauce, yogurt, etc. (NO COOKIES, CHIPS, CANDY, SODA)

·         Team Spirit – pay attention to your teammates and the meet, swimmers can learn a number of things about stroke, competing and technique just by watching. Everyone on our team works extremely hard and deserves to be cheered on toward their best times!

·         A couple bucks – at all meets, meet heat sheets typically cost a dollar and this will allow you to follow along with the meet and find what lane and heat your swimmer is swimming in  as well as concession stands are often provided and serve some delicious options for breakfast and lunch!

·         Something to wear between events – sweatshirts/pants are strongly recommended, swimmers also tend to bring and wear bathrobes.

·         Parents attire– please be aware that we are asking swimmers to bundle up to keep muscles warm, you will not have this problem it tends to be about 84 degrees and humid in the stands.

Swim Suits

·         Please check your swimmers’ suits – the chlorine does a good job at eating away at the fabric and stretching out the suits. Please be sure swimmers are utilizing suits that have become see-through as drag suits (an extra layer of suit that causes resistance during practice to be worn over non-see-through suits).

·         Team suits are absolutely NOT permitted to be worn during practices.

·         Rinse all suits in cold water as soon as possible after each use, and hang to dry – please attempt to avoid throwing the suits into the washer and dryer to promote longevity.

The Wallingford Dolphins are registered with Recycle4Fundraising. This is an ink, toner, and cell phone recycling company that will pay us cash for eligible cartridges and phones.

To view the list of eligible items, visit this link: http://recycle4fundraising.clientrecycling.com/buyback_list.aspx Here you'll also see how much money we earn per cartridge. It adds up!

You can bring cartridges and phones to the YMCA Aquatics Office and Karen Blakeslee will pick them up there. At some point Karen will make a collection box and put it upstairs near the team bulletin board. If you can, please check the approved list so we don't have to throw away your trash. We get charged $1 for every cartridge that we send in that is not eligible. :)

If your swimmer has worn out his/her practice suits, Toad Hollow Athletics has some great deals!  www.toadhollowathletics.com   Click on Bargain Bog for the Grab Bag.  You won't get to pick the colors, but you'll have 2 great suits at a fraction of the cost you'd pay elsewhere.

Another great website is http://www.swimoutlet.com/wdol.  The team receives a percentage of the proceeds from Swim Outlet.

If you are not currently receiving email updates from the Dolphins, we might not have your address.  Please make sure that you included your email address on your child's registration form or email it to wallingforddolphins@hotmail.com .  This is a critical way that the team will communicate information.