Water Temperature

Kids love the warmer water! By the way today it is down to 88 degrees and falling, yeah!

Check out the new time conversion site which is a permanent link at the bottom of this page as well as here for now:

http://www.swimhsa.org/forms/timeconvert.html

Enjoy!!

An Announcement from Coach Carrie

Coach Carrie would like to announce that she is officially looking for another job. She hopes to make it through the school year at the Calhoun County YMCA; however, one can never be sure how long it will take when your resumes begin to circulate. Our team members and parents are saddened by her need to move on and only hope that she finds the perfect job which will give her stability, creativity and peace in a new environment.

Please, keep her in your prayers and she begins this search and transition process.

Since Coach Kelly has moved on; Samantha Kelly’s mom, TY will become our new assistant coach to help out with the Minis!! Yeah, TY! Thanks for stepping right up to help out. She may become our transition leader if Coach Carrie should need to move quickly.

Please, pray for our team that we find the right Coach out there to fill the void that will be left when our Coach moves on!! If you know of any names of possible coaches, please, email them to carriesmith55@yahoo.com

Coach Carrie says, "It's going to be really hard to leave these kids who I love to pieces.”

Coach Carrie is also looking for a couple parents who might like to build things. We need a trophy case for all of our team’s trophies. Again, please, email her if you know any one who loves to build things from wood!!

:) SWIM TEAM LOCK IN:)

The lock in is over! All the comments we've heard have been greeat!! It was a fun time that only took Coach Carrie two days to recooperate from!! HA!! Many, many thanks to all the parents who stayed and chaperoned. Bunches of thanks to everyone who donated munchies! We heard that Trey Huggins had a great Birthday Celebration!! Belated Happy Day to you!

Lock in is for those who have turned in their SWIM-A-THON $Money$ and made their goal. It is not too late to turn in your pledge money and come to this fun night!!

WHEN: THIS Friday, January 25th
TIME: Friday night @7:30 p.m. until Saturday morning @ 7:00 a.m.
What to Bring: water proof Flashlight (Very, very important), sleeping bag, pillow, P.J.'s, Swim suit and towel, water toys....warm clothes, too
AND>>>>>
oh, and JUNK FOOD to "share" with the team!!! YUM<>

PICK UP: Please do NOT be late in picking your swimmers up in the morning!!
Be there between 6:30 and 7:00 in the morning!! SHARP!!!

****We still need chaperones!! Some parents bring their inflatable mattresses with them. FUNNNNN NIght........

>>>>>>If your swimmer does not want to spend the night, but still wants to come and have fun: PICK UP @12 midnight!! THANNKSS

NEW!!! Morning Practice: is it for you???

A couple folks have started practicing Monday and Wednesday mornings from 6:00 a.m. to 7:15 a.m. Sometimes there are other lap swimmers in the pool with us, so we are going to make this for the older swimmers. Ages 12 and up!! Workouts will be written on the whiteboard but it will be up to your swimmer to work through the routines on their own. Miss Amy will be guarding.

Join us next Monday, bright and early, if you dare!!

How Many People can you fit in a Hotel room??

Here are a couple pix from The Paducah Spaghetti Dinner held in the LaRue's Suite!! Whew. I am pretty sure the entire team could have fit.

Next WEDS. we will celebrate Coach KELLY getting a new job and leaving our Swim Team for the Truman Gym Aquatics Director position!! Congratulations, Kelly! !

So join us for PIZZA in the Guard Shack! Think the entire team will fit? If you'd like to bring Coach Kelly a good by card or surprise that would be a great time to do it!! Pizza after practice, around 5:00!!

Deadline! Deadline! Deadline!!

Parents,
please take a moment to stop by the swim hall way and sign up for the Auburn Meet. The meet is being held Feb. 2 and 3rd. Be sure to sign up for events and days your swimmer would like to swim.

The DEADLINE is this WEDS. Jan. 16. Please, try to sign up today!!!

Sunday Paducah Sun Paper Features Article on Our Team

We had a blast at the Paducah Swim Fest! We were so thankful to be included in such a great meet. Our swimmers all did pretty well during the races. Coach Carrie will have more on that later.

The Spaghetti Dinner was so much fun and not too much hard work for anyone! Many thanks to all the folks who helped with it. Richette Harris, our old friend who now swims with Madison, was a blessing. She made sure all the toast was toasted. Jennifer Wright stayed around and washed dishes; thank-you! Cheri Hamilton assembled the salad and helped with the noodles and so much more!! Thank-you! Ty Kelly, thanks for all of your help in so many ways. Many, many thanks to all the people who sent their crock pots over and helped. WE really appreciatied the way so many of you pitched in and helped out! We thought it all tasted pretty yummy, too.

Coach Jan counted up the donations and we broke even from all the expenses of food purchases! Yeah!!

Be thinking about if you'd like to stay in a suite next year and host the spaghetti dinner for fun!!

The most fun was had after the dinner when most of the teen agers ended up in the room playing cards until ??? weee hours of the morning!! Watch for some pictures to come!!

I apologize that the articles aren't easier to read. Newspaper scans are never too clear. I did try to go the www.paducahsun.com site and cut and paste it in the blog; but, you have to be a subscriber to their paper. Paper copies of the article are posted on the board in the swim hall.

Poolside with Coach Carrie

Dear Parents,
This may be my last letter sent through the post office. We now have a web page which is a blog site that I am sending home with this letter. Amy LaRue has set up this wonderful site, and soon to be a site for just our team to be able to access. This blog site should have my next letter home to you.....as well as meet information, meet directions, cancelled practices, pictures from swim meets, team special eventsand so much more!

IMPORTANT UPDATES:
Our NEW practice times starting January 2nd are Monday - Thursday for the Big Team 4:15pm - 6:15pm.
Our younger swimmers on the Big Team only practice 4:15 to 5:45pm.....and our older swimmers swim until 6:00pm or 6:15pm. Mini Tiger Sharks still practice Mon/Wed/Fri from 5:00pm - 5:45pm.
Please see me if you have any questions concerning practice times for your swimmers.

Just a reminder that we do not have practice on Friday January 4th or Monday January 7th....most of our swimmers are heading to Paducah on Friday, and will be recovering on Monday. :)

YOU MUST HAVE ALL YOUR MEET FEES PAID UP IN ORDER TO SWIM IN PADUCAH.....PLEASE PAY BY THE 3RD AT THE LATEST!!!!

We have a few families that still need to turn in their Swim-A-Thon money. Please understand how important our fundraisers are. We use this money for Banquet awards, backpacks, jacket and parkas, weekly incentives, pizzas, scholarships and so much more.

If your child(ren) turned in their moneyand made their goal......they are allowed to come to our swim team Lock-In on January 25th. We will post information up on the outside wall with information for that fun night. Yep, I could use some chaperones! The most important item your swimmer needs is a waterproof flashlight.

PADUCAH

We plan to have a speghetti night get together for the team on Saturday......we plan to eat dinner inthe LaRues hotel suite.....more information on the minimal cost will be given this next week either by a note home or a phone call.

We will be asking folks to bring crock pots/toaster ovens.

Remember.....9,10,11,12 year olds swim in the morning.....6,7,8,13 and older swim in the afternoon.

Our team will have a team room by the pool so the kids can hang out there before their events.

For those who will be swimming on Sunday afternoon, you must check out of your room by 11:00am....but you can bring your bags in the team room and let your swimmers shower in there before you head home, if wanted. If you do not check out in time, the hotel will charge you an additional day.

Please let your swimmers know that the host team will not tollerate horseplay in the hotel of any kind. Your family will be asked to leave if your child(ren) are found throwing items off the balcony, playing on the elevators or rough housing in the halls or hotel in general. Our team is VERY honored to be able to swim in this meet. This meet is so popular and fills up so fast, the Paducah swim team turns away as many as 8 teams each year.......let's not give our team a bad name with bad behavior.
We want to be able to come back each year. Thank you for discussing this with your swimmers.

UP COMING MEETS

Jan. 19 - 20 Chattanooga USA
Feb. 2 - 3 Auburn USA
Feb. 16 - 17 Southeastern Districts (all USA swimmers will be allowed to swim this meet) Huntsville
Feb. 21 - 24 Southeastern Championships Nashville
March 1 - 2 YMCA State Meet Montgomery
March 29 Home Meet Invitational
April 5 - 6 Scottsboro USA
April 12 - 13 Tuscaloosa USA

HOME MEET INVITATIONAL

We will be posting our blog site about our March 29th Home Meet Invitational Fundraiser.
Each family will be obligated to get 4 or more ads for our heat sheet. We will explain in detail on thus site.

This is our biggest fundraiser of the year....and we can't run a successful meet without the help of our parents!

Stay tuned.

Your monthly YMCA dues have increased by $5.00 each child. Please make sure you are currently updated on your dues to the YMCA. I really appreciate this so much.

Keep Kicking,

Coach Carrie