Dear Otter Families,

As we begin the long awaited summer swim season, we want to welcome our returning families and our new families! We are so happy you are here! We have been hard at work ensuring that we can have a safe and fun season. We also want to remind everyone that the safety of our swimmers and coaches is a shared responsibility and remains a priority this season. As our local and state governing bodies continue to change health guidelines, we must keep in mind that more than half of our swimmers are not of age to be vaccinated for Covid-19. We must remember that if a practice group is exposed, depending on the situation, then the entire group could be out for ten days. We do not want to see this happen and we hope you will help us keep everything moving in a positive direction.

This email has a lot of important information about the upcoming week. Please read carefully.

• Practice updates
• Covid guidelines
• SwimTopia declarations
• Volunteer sign-ups
• The Splash
• Team Suit

AFTER SCHOOL PRACTICES (June 1 -11):

• All swimmers entering and exiting the pool must wear a mask. Swimmers may remove their masks immediately before entering the water.
• Parents are strongly encouraged to drop their swimmers off for all practices.
• As of June 14th, no parents will be permitted on deck for morning practices.
• In order to keep our swimmers distant in the water with limited lane space, we are using a Sign-Up Genius to sign-up for practices from June 1-11. You must sign up for the practices your child will attend by age group. Please do not show up for practices if you have not signed up.

MORNING PRACTICES (begin June 14)

• There have been changes to the morning practice schedule. Please check here for updates.
• First Otter Pups practice is Monday, June 14.
• No sign-ups will be required for morning practices as we will have more available lane space.

SWIMTOPIA

All meets and social events are open in SwimTopia. Please declare your child’s availability for swim meets ASAP. Attached is a document that shows you how to do so. You can always make changes and update as your plans change. If you do not declare your swimmer for both A and B meets then they will not be permitted to swim. Coach Laura needs this information to prepare Saturday’s meet sheet and there are strict entrance guidelines and deadlines for the B Meets.

VOLUNTEER SIGN-UPS

• Volunteer sign-ups will open at 7PM on Tuesday 6/1. We will send a link and directions on Monday 5/31.
• Parents that only have an Otter Pup will need to satisfy 2 volunteer points.
• All families with a swimmer(s) will need to satisfy an 8-point volunteer requirement.
• Volunteer sign-ups will close on Wednesday 6/9. All families that have not signed up for their required 8 points will be assigned jobs by the volunteer coordinators.

If you have any questions, reach out to our volunteer coordinators [email protected] Coordinators will also be available at OSRC on Tuesday at 6:00 PM under the tennis tent if you have any questions. You can also read more about our volunteer requirements on SwimTopia.

THE SPLASH

The Splash is our weekly social and swim news. Please sign up for it here.

TEAM SUITS

Don’t forget to get your team suit at SuitUp. You can “try before you buy” in store, or order online here. SuitUp is located by the Giant in University Mall in Fairfax.

The health guidance is hopeful and continues to bring us closer to “normal”. Let’s all continue to work together to keep our swimmers and coaches safe and healthy. We thank you in advance for your adherence and cooperation to the health guidelines we have in place. As the NVSL gives us more health information, we will share that with you in the coming weeks.

Sincerely,

Rachelle, Lauren & Heather