Welcome Letter

May 5, 2010

The Board and the Coaching Staff would like to welcome you to the Pearland Swim Team for our 2010 season.  Because the season is short, we do a lot of stuff in very little time.  Please make sure you check the website daily for new information such as pool closures and meet announcements.  All our communication will be via e-mail and website.  If you or someone you know on the team is not receiving my e-mails, please add gmburchell@yahoo.com to your Safe Sender’s List.  I may be going in the trash.  You will also need to add jo_annsprague@hotmail.com to your Safe Sender’s List in order to get our Clerk’s e-mail.  Her messages are even more important than mine.

Below are some important dates for the season:

May 8th or May 15th (choose one) - Payments Dates - where you will make your payment for the season, choose your practice times, and choose your volunteering spot.  It will be at the Morgan Road Pool from 8:00 am to 12:00 pm.  Make sure you have studied what the committees are and which one you are interested in and which meets you can work (minimum of 3).  And please print and bring all three of the attachments completed and signed; you will not be able to pay, choose a practice time or a volunteer spot without these.   

May 17th - Parents Meeting - 7:00 pm at Silvercrest Elementary, cafeteria.  This meeting is mandatory for all new swimmers, returning swimmers need not attend.  

May 18th - 1st day of practice!  All practices will be held at the Silverlake Pool the first week.  Please come to practice at your assigned time to the Silverlake Pool.  Swimmers will not be swimming on the first day of practice.  

May 18th & 19th - Purchase team suits at practice.  Swim Shops will be at the Silverlake pool.  All swimmers must purchase a new team suit, they are different from last year's suits.  Team suit are to be worn at meets only! 

Team Pictures - Date to be announced soon.  

May 25th - We will begin swimming at our assigned pools (either Morgan or Silverlake).  You must go to your assigned practice time.  Some of the rules to remember while at practice are:

• Please remember that we are guests of the pools where we practice.  We must clean up after ourselves and our children to be invited back next year.  Without a pool, we do not have a swim team.
• Please keep an eye on your younger children.  They are not to roam freely inside the pool area.  They are not allowed in the pools.
• Please sign your child in, there will be sign-in sheets at the pool.
• Please do not approach the coaching staff.  This is the time they devote to your children.  If you must speak to the coach, please send him an email at coach@pearlandswimteam.com.  He will then answer any concerns you may have.
• Please refrain from parental coaching.  We have a fantastic coaching staff that will do that for us.  When you coach from the sidelines, you become a distraction to the kids and the coaches.
• Please be on time.  When your child walks in late for a practice, it creates a disruption to the kids who got there on time.  Our practices are only 45 minutes long.
• Once your child is released from practice by the coaching staff, you will need to be there to get them.  There will not be any adult supervision for your child.
• If your child is 8 and under, you must have a responsible adult in the pool area at all times.  If it is not you, then it must be someone in your stead (and this does not include the coaches or the board).

May 28th - Pep Rally!  Team Fundraiser at Chic-fil-A, 4:00 to 10:00 pm.   Come out and support your swim team.  It will also be your first opportunity to update your wardrobe with PST apparel, so come with your checkbook.  All proceeds collected go towards the swim team.  We will not have any other fund raising events or drives.  Yay!!  There will be no practice on this day. More details to follow. 

June 5th - 1st Meet at Friendswood.  I will send a note out the week prior answering the many questions I am sure you have.  I will say that it is an outdoor meet, so bring your tents and chairs.  You will receive an e-mail from our Clerk of Course, Jo Ann Sprague, two weeks prior to our first meet.  She will be asking whether or not your child will be participating in that meet.  You will need to make sure you respond soon.  If you do not, your child will not be put in any events.  A non-answer will be considered a NO.

Please check out the website for any questions you may have.  If you have any questions after viewing the website, please feel free to e-mail me or a member of the volunteer Board.  And again, we welcome you to the team!

GO PIRATES!!