Hello Maple Ridge Swim Families,

We hope everyone's school year has gotten off to great start! It's sad to see the summer go, but we're ALWAYS looking forward to our next swim season together.

It has been pretty busy since we wrapped up county, but we wanted to be sure to address the survey results with you. Thank you to all those who took the time to share their thoughts and complete the survey. We are thrilled to share that the overwhelming majority of response was very positive. With the highest positive remarks in our  coaching section! We wanted to do our best to address a few things we "heard", but do not want to create a novel for you to read. Therefore, if there is something you feel strongly you would like to address, that is not mentioned here, please reach out to the board!

We had many new families this year and it was awesome. We know that summer swim league is A LOT, and there is much to learn and understand; it often takes more than one season to do so. The majority of comments we received in the survey were things that were addressed at the parent meeting (pre-season) and/or could be found in the handbook. As we say each season, it is imperative that at least one parent make it to this meeting. 

Reminder, we operate under the Governing board for the Gwinnett County swim league. This board sets MUCH of what we do, when and how we operate. I.e. dates, meet schedule, times, events (when they're swam and how many swimmers we can allow in heats), software used. All team admins across the county meet monthly with the board, starting in January, sharing ideas and thoughts on things. We operate in most all the same ways. 

Registration ~ This process seemed to be pretty simple and for everyone. One mention was what to do after you register. When you register, you immediately receive a confirmation email with ALL the next pieces of info and dates for upcoming things, that you will need. Keep your eye out for this after your next registration. 

Volunteer ~ Summer swim takes a lot of people to pull off. It is 100% volunteer run and has been since it was established in 1973. Every team runs the same way and has all the same positions that need covering. We are required to have so many people from each team overseeing particular areas during the meet. 

Parents should expect to volunteer each meet - this is stated at the parent meeting. If you are able to get a week off, what a great surprise! As always, we do not schedule both parents in a week. There are many families on our team in which both parents jump in and cover areas every week. When we hit a week and all of a sudden 23 families are out of town (yes this happened), it takes EVERYONE who is left to pull off a meet. 

If you are NOT on the schedule one week, it means you're off! We do everything we can to be fair. Therefore, next season, there will be very explicit expectations for families. In the same vein, we will also have explicit expectations for swimmers showing up and participating in meets. 

This is a competitive sport. It is not swim lessons. It is not "come when you want, be involved when you feel like it". We are a team. As much as we always want our swim families to come back year after year, we also understand that this organization may not be conducive to all families schedules and abilities. 

Lastly, it did us no favors that we did not get a mock meet in. There was a lot of feedback from teams across the county regarding the meet schedule starting before school was out. We are hoping for a better schedule next year with the ability to run a mock meet that first week instead; which gives swimmers and volunteers a practice run on meets. 

Coaching ~ WOW! What an overwhelmingly positive response. Yes, we loved our coach staff just as much as you did. Yes, we always want them back. These coaches LOVE the Manta Rays and your swimmers. They will always give us another summer is they are able. 

We did take note on some stroke work comments and will be addressing these next season. 

Awards/Motivation ~ Reminder that swimmer of the week is not based on swim skill/ability, but character/team spirit/sportsmanship. Overall, everyone was happy with the ribbons and loved the paper plate awards at the banquet (always a favorite). This year we decided to add a few more most improved awards which was well received. The main goal is seeing swimmers improve from beginning to end. 

Practice ~ Swim team is a guest in the Maple Ridge neighborhood. All swim teams who operate out of neighborhoods with and HOA are subject to those HOA's rules and regulations. 

We will not add a third practice night because we are not taking more pool time away from the neighborhood. Maple Ridge is one of the very few teams that offer night practices. These were added years ago to do what little we could to help working families be able to participate. 

We hear your thoughts on starting morning practices earlier for working families and kids who go to camps. This is something we will discuss. It comes down to the coaches schedule/ability.

We appreciate parents desire to be on deck during practice, but this is something that will not change. Since Covid, many teams across the county also made this decision and it has been very beneficial for swimmers and coaches. Swimmers are less distracted, coaches are less interrupted and don't have to try to pull swimmer attention back. It also creates a much safer and controlled environment when swimmers are in the water. 

General Comments ~ 

• County swim practice moving to 8am instead of 9. We like this idea and are considering doing this. This will result in moving the minis practice up a bit as well during that week. All based on next years calendar. 
• Meet info is locked in county wide on Tuesday evening at 6pm. This is why you receive info when you do. If we try to get some info out earlier it will just result in twice as many emails. However, we will discuss if there is a way to get volunteer schedule out sooner.
• Arrival times - as soon as the meet schedule comes out it is a good idea for families to adjust their work schedule as best they can. HOME meets, swimmers are in the water for warm up at 5pm. We need everyone there by 4:45. AWAY meets, warm up is 5:30. We need everyone there by 5-5:15. Count on this schedule every thursday in June. Also consider reaching out to others on the team who can help transport your swimmer if needed. 
• Parking lot seating and bull pen - also something we adopted after covid, and still the majority of swim families prefer it this way. We have now gotten to a place where our team has outgrown the interior bullpen we used to use. Int he same way, the increase in adults and swimmers on the deck makes it very crowded. We unfortunately do not have a lot of deck space. We work with what we have. It has been MUCH better to move swimmers back and forth between bullpens to staging without rows of chairs on the open side of the deck. As we mentioned this season, if you see room on the visitor side, feel free to throw a chair in there. Especially if your have elder visitors. Many of the teams we swim are smaller than us. We will be much more strict in the boundaries of our bullpen. It will be outlined and will be for swimmers ONLY. With the number tree and heat sheets, there should be no reason for spectators to miss a swim they want to watch.
•  Dessert banquet was decided early in the planning; not last minute. With the cost of everything rising, we are having to make some adjustments. The very last thing we always want to do is raise our fees and make it harder for families to participate. Therefore, we look at other areas we can cut coast. Serving dinner at the banquet is one of those. We also feel that the kids like to swim and hang out more. Having dessert only affords us this time. We will always reassess with each season and make changes we feel will benefit the swimmers best. 

Thank you for taking the time. As we mentioned before, if you have a something you'd like addressed or would appreciate a follow up to something above, please send us an email! 

Look for 2024 registration info to come out February/March sometime! We wish all our awesome Manta Rays a fabulous school year and see you next summer!

MRST