Hi Gators Families, 

There are great things happening this week, but we can't forget to celebrate the accomplishments of last week. The JV meet at Pennypacker and Varsity meet at Aronimink were great showings for many swimmers.  Thanks to our fantastic volunteers -- whether you have volunteered at one meet or every meet we appreciate you!  Special thanks to Jenny Rosen for organizing, and Chrsity Weikel for helping set up the Pasta Dinner -- a great time was had by all.   Our gratitude also to Elizabeth Trostle for organizing the Swim-a-thon, she is collecting pledge money if you still have any to turn in.  33 swimmers swam 2700 lengths of the pool to raise funds for our team!  Topping the list of the individuals with the highest number of laps were Ryan Taylor, Luca Sgaramella, Aaron Taylor, and Lydia Mosier, also many of our younger swimmers really pushed themselves and swam impressively -- congratulations and thank you! 

Practices this week:

Monday July 17 AM and PM Practice
Tuesday July 18 PM Practice
Wednesday July 19 AM Practice
Thursday July 20 AM and PM Practice
Friday July 21 AM Practice
All practices are at Plymouth Swim Club. Times as usual - see calendar for details.

Events and Meets this week:

• Tuesday, July 18th is an away Junior Varsity meet with Martin's Dam,1045 Croton Road, Wayne,PA 19087.  Swimmers should arrive by 8:30 am for 8:40 am warm-up and the meet gets underway at 9:00 am. This is a dual meet and the host team is planning that it will end by 11:00 am.  Please note, the host club does not allow any food or beverages other than water in the pool area, any food you bring may only be consumed in designated picnic areas.  At a JV meet there are no events for ages 15 & up but the older swimmers are welcome to attend and help with line-up, timing, or just cheering on the team. Use the sign-up calendar to declare availability for swimming and volunteering at this meet.  

• Wednesday, July 18th our Varsity meet is HOME vs Hidden Hollow. Warm up starts at 5:00 pm, the meet begins at 6 pm.  Don't forget to sign up for our final dual meet of the season where we will be recognizing our graduating senior, Bridget McTamney.  If you signed up to volunteer for this meet, just check in with Jo-Ann upon arrival.   Line-ups can take hours to put together, if you need to let the coaches know of any last minute changes or emergencies contact Coach Dave with as much advance notice as possible.

• Rock the Block - B Champs Saturday, July 21st  at home. Warm-ups begin at 7:00 am, please be there by 6:45. Meet start time 8:00 am. Three other teams from across the league will be visiting our pool for this fun event. There will be music, ribbons, and lots of excitement!  It is looking like our volunteer jobs are almost filled, thank you to everyone who already signed up.  There a few spots still open to help with guiding guests into the correct parking areas in the morning and a couple of other duties, we may need to assign people to jobs if no-one chooses these.  Also if you have a canopy tent you are able to lend us for the morning that would be greatly appreciated.  T-shirts & sno-cones will be for sale, and Personal Best will be here to sell swim gear.  If you want to get into the theme, feel free to wear a rock & roll concert t-shirt, a poodle skirt,or dress as a rock star-- whatever says "Rock & Roll" to you!
  
• Team Picnic & Awards - Sunday July 22nd 5:00 pm at PSC. Rain or Shine. Bring the family to enjoy an afternoon at the pool with all of their swim team friends. There will be time for swimming, food & drink and a short awards presentation. This is for all swimmers and their families whether they have competed or only joined us at practices. We hope we will see you there. To RSVP or sign up to contribute to the picnic click here. For picnic questions or to offer to help with preparations or setting up, you can contact Christy Weikel.

Other helpful reminders:

• The League website is ssl-summer.com here you can find information from the league as well as meet results -- including each swimmer's times from all of our meets.
• A Champs information regarding practices, meets and volunteer needs will be forthcoming for those swimmers who have qualified for next week's meets.
• For those who wish to contribute a few dollars to our end-of season Coaches' gifts, please see Robi Renna at any meet this week.
• Ifyou loved being a gator and wish you had ordered Gator Gear, it is still available, orders are taken on a rolling basis and you can have your items shipped to you. These are available through our Gator Gear Team Store.    

Thanks so much for your continued support this summer. Please ask Sally, Christy, Jo-Ann, Jenny or any veteran Gator parent if you have any questions. Go Gators!