Hello Croc Parents!

I hope all of you are enjoying the summer. Your crocs are swimming great and all of the coaches are seeing MUCH improvement from all of them. I cannot wait to see what we will do at the Smoky Mountain and City Meets!

I wanted to make you all aware of a couple of things that will be starting this week and next. First, we will be doing the “Crocodile Mile” as well as the “Skills Mastery” program for the 10 and under age group, and the “Crocodile Challenge” for the 11 and up age group.

For those of you new to the program:

-Crocodile Mile: Your children will have the opportunity to swim 1 mile (66 laps) in an hour. We will have some of the older swimmers there to help us count, and it will be a great chance for our crocs to test their stamina in the water! Each person who completes the Croc Mile will earn a special award at our end of season banquet!

-Skills Mastery: This is a program in which we test our 10 and under age group in different techniques they have been working on during the season. They are split up into 3 subgroups: “Bronze”, “Silver”, and “Gold”. The kids will get the chance to LEGALLY swim: Fly, Back, Breast, or Free for the “Bronze” award, a legal 100 IM for the “Silver” Award, and must complete a legal Butterfly to Butterfly open turn, Backstroke to Backstroke flip turn, Breaststroke to Breaststroke open turn, and a Freestyle to Freestyle flip turn for the “Gold” Award. Each child who completes one of the levels will earn a special award at our end of season banquet!

***THEY DO NOT HAVE TO DO EACH GROUP. They just have to complete at least 1 of the skills to earn the Bronze, Silver, or Gold status!

-Crocodile Challenge: This challenge is for the kids to try and reach and beat times from the last 2 years City Meet from the top 16 swimmers. Reaching these times will help them A) see how close they would most likely be to making Finals at City, and B) give them goals for where they want to be to also try and make Finals at City. Each child who completes one of the levels will earn a special award at our end of season banquet!

The Croc Mile and Croc Challenge will take place the week of the 7th, either on that Monday or Tuesday. Your child will have a chance in the morning and afternoon to complete the Croc Mile or Crocodile Challenge. The Skills Mastery Program will start this week after practices for those kids who choose to participate.

We will also be talking about these opportunities in practice with the kids.

Have a fun and safe 4th of July to those of you heading out of town, and see the rest of you in practice or at the meet on the 8th!

Thanks for all you do,

Erin Gaeckle