We had the best first week of practice! We could not have a more enthusiastic group of swimmers and especially loved watching some of our new swimmers gain confidence and watch their fears disappear as they conquered the pool! We also learned...never trust the radar when it says the rain has "cleared" :-)

(Can we get a shout out for Coach Sara and the 8 and Unders...we cancelled practice after this!)

Please read all the way through for important information about this week!

Our First Meet: Everything You Need To Know!

It’s no secret, we love our home meets! The fun, the music, the ORANGE everywhere…it’s the best!

Swimmer Arrival: 4:20pm

Swimmer Warm-Up: 4:30pm

Meet Begins: 5:30pm

Meet Theme: Hawaiian Punch - Leis provided at the door -- wear your brightest tropical attire. Free Hawaiian Punch candy at the Concession stand for all swimmers!

Concessions offerings will be:

• Chick-fil-A food truck – chicken sandwiches and nuggets
• Paige’s Shaved Ice
• Queen of Acorns: Cocktail and Mocktail truck (woohoo! Please enjoy responsibly)

Our regular Concession stand will have a variety of offerings like fruit, nuts, candy, popsicles, chips and drinks. The food trucks do take credit cards, but the Mills Farm stand (for all other items) is cash only!

How Will You Know What Events Your Swimmer is Swimming?

To Do: Download the SwimTopia App. We highly suggest paying a few bucks for the premium version of this app. It will list your swimmer's events and notify you when the heat sheet is ready on Wednesday. It also stores all your swimmer data and results for the season. Your app login/password is the same as your website login/password for our team.

Where Do Swimmers and Parents Sit?

Swimmers should sit with their age groups in the crash areas, parents should bring chairs for the spectator area. Please chat with your swimmer about 1) good behavior in the crash areas and 2) the importance of staying in the crash area so that the Team Parents for their group can find them when it's time to swim! You are always welcome to (and encouraged) to check on swimmers in the crash area.

IMPORTANT: Team parents and coaches do their best to get kids to their races, but if they can’t find someone the race will start without them. Parents, it is so helpful if you double check that your kiddo is lined up long before the race begins.

Before the Meet - Mark Your Swimmer!

Please make sure your swimmer's arm is marked with their events BEFORE arriving at the pool. (Tutorial here, use a thin Sharpie.) Please also write their first and last name on the back of their right shoulder! This makes it so much easier for Team Parents to get them to their events. IMPORTANT: With 156 swimmers, we will not have time to do this for you at the meet. SWIMMERS MUST COME WITH ARMS MARKED AND NAMES ON THEIR BACK. If you check out the tutorial and you're still thinking "Omg Help!" reach out to Lindsay before Wednesday and we'll hook you up with a veteran parent in your age group! We are so happy to help BEFORE Wednesday (Wednesdays are absolutely NUTS!)

Swim Caps

If you ordered team caps, we expect to receive all of them by Wednesday’s meet. Fingers crossed as we are at the mercy of Swim Quik on this! We'll keep you posted.

No other caps except Mills Farm caps can be worn during our meet. If you need extra Mills Farm caps, we should have some spares for sale!

Race Etiquette

We share this with our swimmers but wanted to share with you too…we ask our swimmers to do two things at the end of every race:

• Stay in the pool until every swimmer in the heat has finished. (For relays, this only applies to the last swimmer.)
• Say “good swim” or “good job” or fist bump swimmers next to you – they may or may not return the sentiment, and that’s ok!

Not all teams will do this, but it’s a Mills Farm tradition and we love it!

Parent Seating at Our Home Meets

Mills Farm sits anywhere marked in orange or in the ‘Best View’ seating outside the upper gate. Please do not save spots/chairs for the meet before 3pm. Lifeguards will move chairs aside prior to 3pm.

Meet Parking

Parking is NUTS for our home meets, so if you can walk, ride a bike etc. that would be awesome. If you need to park, please obey all No Parking signs. Parking is a common complaint from neighbors not on the swim team and we really want to respect and keep them happy!

Kickboards for 10&U Backstroke Head Protection

If you have a new swimmer who is nervous about hitting his/her head in the backstroke, we will have orange kickboards available to hold against the ledge of the pool during the backstroke races. You can grab one and ask a timer in their lane or coach to hold it for your swimmer! These kickboards will be located on the rock ledge right above the lane line spool.

Teen Night Begins Monday

Our first teen night is Monday (tomorrow) beginning at 7:30pm. We have almost 60 teens! Teen Nights always include food and fun…here’s a schedule for upcoming Teen Nights:

Team Shirts

Your swimmers picked up their (bright orange) team shirts (and any extras that the family ordered) last week at practice. If you haven't seen them yet, check their swim bag! A few kids did not pick theirs up, so they will be available at practice this week.

Donuts & Ribbons Thursdays

We always have donuts after practice on Thursdays and kids can pick up any ribbons they earned from the first meet! (This week we’ll actually be having PANCAKES as we try again for our pancake breakfast that was rained out Friday.) Look for the big blue ribbon file boxes on the pool deck -- kids can pick up their ribbons there! We totally admit -- the donuts are bribery -- sometimes kids are tired after a long meet on Wednesday night, but donuts usually do the trick to get them out of bed for practice!

Mustang Market Friday

The Market is a Mustang tradition -- it's basically a giant prize booth where swimmers can spend their Mustang Money. Swimmers earn virtual "money" for attending practice each day. They can choose to spend their money however they choose -- but the Market is open June 7, 14, 21, 28 and July 11 or 12 (not sure yet). The Market is a fan favorite and open 8:30-10:45am! Huge thanks to parents Shawna Levy and Angela Jones for running this and Trisha Kuhlman for being our "buyer"!

Families Signed Up To Work Wednesday's Meet

Just a reminder for the volunteers signed up to work Wednesday's meet. If you cannot make it, please send a replacement! All volunteers should check in with Lindsay at the Mustangs table to ensure they get volunteer credit.

Nicklaus Golf Club @ Mills Farm

June 5, 2024

If you made it this far, THANK YOU! I promise the weekly notes are not always this long!

-Lindsay 

Helpful Links:

Practice Schedule

Swim Lesson Info

Mustang and League Records

Meet Themes (it's not a Mustang meet without a good theme! Parents, swimmers and coaches join in on the fun...)