Happy Monday, makos!

A big thank you to all the parents that attended last week's parent meeting. I know we covered a lot of information, and I will reiterate some of our discussion here, but I definitely value a good face-to-face conversation. I appreciate you!

1) The most pressing topic is the Regional 4 Championship meet in Pensacola, FL held Friday, Feb 28th - Sunday, March 2nd at the UWF campus natatorium. All entries are due on Friday, 2/14. I will e-mail all participating athlete parents separately with your swimmer's events and entry fees. Please have all fees paid by this Friday as well; You may do so at the front desk via cash, CC, or check made out to The City of Orange Beach. As of now, we have 11 athletes attending this meet! Again, attached you will find the meet invitation in which entails the rules and protocol to attending and parking as well as the warm-up times and event schedule. (I will further outline our warm-up times for each age group closer to date.)

2) Secondly, the Mardi Gras parade! We will be participating in the OB Mardi Gras parade to take place on Tuesday, March 4th at 2:00 p.m. The city is asking for all participants to be present at City Hall at 11:30 a.m. that day in order to organize and board floats. The route is two miles in length and I will have further logistical details after the "krewe meeting" on 2/19. Please be sure to wear an OBST shirt. I will have shark fins for all swimmers. All are welcome and beads are provided!

I mentioned at the meeting that we will be in a time crunch, however, as materials arrive, I will set aside time after practices for us to get together and flex our creativity. That will most likely take place the week before the parade when we physically have access to the trailer. Amongst other ideas, we will proceed with the foam board perimeter and paint a beach shore incorporating all of the kids footprints (since we are riding the Leave Only Footprints float). More to come!

3) Next, we finally have a team portal with Swim & Tri! As I said at the meeting, we have the choice to have either a suit sizing day in which the Mobile store comes to our pool to measure our athletes OR a sizing kit would be mailed to us for a two-week period and we can get everyone's appropriate size at our leisure. I will probably move forward with the latter. All sweats and warm-up sets are currently in the store as are swimsuits, if you'd like to take a peek or order if you already know your swimmer's size. If you are needing equipment, the bundles I mentioned are still being prepared, but I can steer you in the right direction for any equipment needs.

Swim Team Store Link: https://www.SwimAndTri.com/TeamView_OrangeBeachSwimTeamAL.aspx

To access the portal from the web page without using the link above:

1. Load: www.SwimAndTri.com

2. Click on "Team Portal" at the top of the Categories section on the left side

3. Enter the following portal code: OBSTmakos

*** If you are wanting to purchase the classic OBST orange tee or the new long sleeve Got Grit? tee, you may purchase those in person at the front desk of the OBAC.

4) We talked a bit about what it takes to host under USAS regulations and what that will look like for our facility. There are USAS sanctioned, approved, and observed meets. We went over the goal of hosting USAS approved competitions because that allows non-members and members to compete at the same meets while still acknowledging USAS swim times. This also sets everyone up for success to learn and compete under the technical legalities of each stroke. Therefore, when we host a summer league meet in the future, we will be DQing for illegal actions. It's only fair.

With that said, we need help! In order to host a meet like this, we need at least 2-4 stroke and turn judges, 1 admin official, 1 referee, and 1 starter. These positions require training and certification. If you are interested in becoming an official, please reach out to me on how to do so. The city will have you fill out a W2 and you will be paid $30/hour at whatever meets you work. All timers are considered volunteers.

If you want to explore what it takes to officiate, please visit: https://www.usaswimming.org/officials/how-to-becom...

5) Lastly, team morale and expectations! If you were at the parent meeting on Friday, we talked about this in closing. I know attendance was spotty given the winter weather earlier this year, however, attendance lately has been seriously low... 58% for the overall team to be exact.

OBST only practices M-F, with our youngest group not even swimming 3 hours a week in total. This is an incredibly compromising schedule, especially if you are a USAS swimmer. This sport is a commitment. It is an individual sport as much as it is a team sport. It is not easy. It builds character and well-rounded people, not just athletes. I understand if you cannot make every practice/meet all the time, and if that's not what you desire, that's fine too. I want everyone to succeed and enjoy this sport, but this isn't rec league swimming. We have the summer league team for a reason, amongst the other programs under the OBST umbrella. I hold our year-round athletes to a different standard. Be positive! Do the work! Be accomplished! Be proud! As I tell the kids, align your actions to your goals.

WOWWEE! I know that was a long one... but lot's to cover. Remember to access your OBST Handbook on the website if you have further questions or reach out to me at your convenience.

I couldn't do this without supportive parents. Thank you for being you!

Best,

Dakota Heflin
Orange Beach Swim Team, Head Coach
Programs Coordinator | Parks and Recreation
City of Orange Beach
P. O. Box 458 | 4853 Wilson Blvd.
Orange Beach, AL 36561
o: 251-974-7946
c. 941-993-2734
www.orangebeachal.gov