Happy July, Piranhas!

The last few weeks of the swim season are definitely the busiest, so please don't read through this email until you are near your calendar and ready to mark it up. Seriously, this is a LOT of information... Here we go:

• Tues, July 4th: No AM/PM practice OR Fry School. Enjoy the 4th with your family!
• Wed, July 5th: Away Meet @ Valley View. Here's your reminder to declare your attendance NOW for that meet if you haven't already, this weekend is going to be busy...
• Sat, July 8th: Make-up meet @ Dresden (warm-ups at 8:00am, meet starts at 8:30). We know many people can't make this time work and that's OK; we'll only have a couple of coaches there, so it will be a smaller meet. Please sign your swimmer up for this if they need a 3rd meet to qualify for Champs (explained below) or if they've haven't swum at Dresden before and want to familiarize themselves with the pool before the Champs meet there. Look for an alert from us as soon as the meet sign-up is live so you can declare your swimmer ASAP--we need to know what we're looking at as far as numbers go... 
• Wed, July 12th: Last home meet vs. Johnstown-Northridge
• Fri, July 14th: 1st Annual Piranha Relay Rally from 7-9pm (replaces PM practice). More info and sign-ups will be coming, but now is the time to put it on your calendar and GET EXCITED!!! Everyone--including parents and coaches--is invited to suit up and get their relay teams organized, as this *completely optional* new tradition promises to be a Fun Family Night to remember!
• **Friday, July 14th is also the last day of Fry School**
• Mon, July 17th: Last Day of Practice & 1st Annual Breakfast of CHAMPions! Coach Caroline wants all Piranhas to get a good night's sleep before Champs, so there will be no PM swim that day. PM swimmers are encouraged to join AM swimmers in the morning at their age group practice time (see times HERE).  After practice, come over to the snack bar area for a bowl of Wheaties (the Original Breakfast of Champions!) or any other cereal available at our Cereal Bar, and hang out with your fellow swimmers one last morning. Meghann Chute will take cereal box donations starting the week of July 10th, and we'll remind you that week as well...
• Tues, July 18th (rain date July 19th): CHAMPS @ Dresden. In order to swim at Champs, you MUST have swum in 3 meets this season, per TCAL by-laws. Please check and make sure you have attended/plan to attend 3 meets before you sign up for Champs. That's why the meet on Sat, July 8th is a great option for those who need that 3rd meet! More specific info will be coming as far as how the day of Champs will go, but for those needing to plan in advance, it's essentially divided into 2 age-group meets. 11 & Up swimmers swim in the morning, with the meet usually ending around 12 noon. After a short break, 10 & Unders start their meet, usually ending around 4-5pm. These are very general timeframes but should help with getting work off, babysitters, etc. Also, Champs is a long, very busy meet with lots of people, so we ask that only swimmers and parents attend; non-swimmer siblings will be miserable at this kind of event! 
• Thurs, July 20th: Piranhas End-of-Season Banquet at MCC Ballroom (time TBA). The only time all season when you'll see your coaches and fellow swimmers (and parents too, who are we kidding?) dressed up in nice clothes with their hair done, so join us! We'll have dinner, a slideshow, play some games, and awards from Champs will be handed out. Mark your calendar if you haven't already...

Phew! I think that's it for now. Be looking for another email soon about our July 5th meet (the day after the 4th!) and another one about the make-up Dresden meet on the 8th. Thanks for hanging in there with us... and we hope to see lots of Piranhas hanging out together in downtown Granville this weekend. Happy Fourth, everyone!