Hi Parents,

Our first practice is right around the corner! Here is what to expect:

Upon Arrival

We will have a check-in table for you to do the following:

1. Pay for your registration/and or merchandise if you did not do so through WePay. Please make checks out to Olympia Otters Swim Club. Your swimmer(s) will not be allowed in the water until you have paid the registration fee.

2. Collect your merchandise and team gear. Please double check that sizes are correct. If your swimmer has a latex allergy, please let us know at this time as well.

3. Sign your swimmer in to the attendance binder. An initial is fine. Your swimmer may also sign themselves in. They will sign in each day they attend practice as attendance is tied to some awards for the team.

Practice

We have a lot of new Otters this year which is great! We need to assign lanes based on skill level especially for the learn-to-swim group for a few reasons:

1. We don't want kids to get run over in their lane by other swimmers. It's best to keep similar skill levels together in a lane.

2. We want kids to be challenged, so coaches can adjust the practice to fit their lane's needs.

We can always make changes to lanes throughout the season because kids learn at different paces, so these lanes are not permanent. In order to assign kids to the proper lanes, we are dedicating the first couple of practices to skill assessment. For the 6 and under/Learn-to-swim we will probably only utilize a couple of the shallower lanes with a coach in the water in case they need help. We will have a pretty good idea where they are in the first few yards.

Virtual Otter Kick-Off

We will be doing a Virtual Kick-off event tomorrow, so please share pictures or videos on the Parent Page showing how excited your Otters are for the season! They can be as silly as you want! We love to see Otter pride!

We can't wait to see you all Monday!

Your Otter Board

Erin Kessel - Team Rep and Co-Head Coach

Kelsey Tolle - Vice Rep

Kristeen Kessler - Secretary

Jessica Grindrod - Treasurer

Jennifer Henson - Head Ref

Amanda Tedrow - Spirit Coordinator

Ryan Murphy - Co-Head Coach