Wells Branch Armada

What a fantastic week for the Wells Branch Armada! Our swimmers made a big splash at our first away meet of the season, bringing home personal bests, event victories, relay wins, and plenty of Armada pride. Whether you were racing, volunteering, coaching, or cheering from the sidelines, thank you for helping make the trip to Block House Creek such a memorable success.

This week we're looking ahead to another exciting road trip as we head to Cedar Park for our second away meet of the season. Be sure to review the meet information carefully, especially the parking, spectator, and facility guidelines. And don't forget our colorful spirit theme: Team Rainbow! We can't wait to see every age group representing their assigned color as we create one giant Armada rainbow across the pool deck.

Inside this issue, you'll find important meet details, volunteer updates, exciting news about our upcoming Meat Raffle & Music Night, and a full recap of the outstanding performances from last week's meet.

Grab your team color, bring your Armada spirit, and let's keep the momentum going. See you at the pool!

By Patrick Ricci, President

Congrats on another great meet, everyone! We know that away meets come with extra challenges, not least being an earlier wake-up time for ourselves and our swimmers. We appreciate our Armada families traveling, volunteering, and helping every meet run smoothly. Special thanks to the parents who pulled double volunteer shifts at Blockhouse on Saturday. You know who you are.

Even though we have several meets left this season, it's never too early to start thinking about next year …

Interested in taking on a larger role with the team? We're always looking for prospective board members, so if you'd like to be considered for a role on the board—or if you're just interested in more info about what serving on the board entails—please fill out our board self-nomination form. Or talk to any board member at the pool. Parents who are committed year-round help keep this special team going. Please consider serving!

By: Coach Maddie

Swimmers, our first away meet of the season is officially in the books, and what a great experience it was! The coaches were so proud to watch all of you swim with confidence, encourage one another, and give your very best effort in every race. Away meets can bring many challenges, but each one of you went out there and made the pool your own! Overall, we had 119 time improvements! Keep up the hard work for our next away meet, where we're swimming against the Cedar Park typhoons and facing the Anderson Mill barracudas once again!

Check out or add your own photos from this week's meet here!: WBA vs BHC

We are down to only three weeks of our short and spectacular swim season! Keep setting those goals and challenging yourself. Every practice and every meet is an opportunity to grow and improve. If you are wanting to hone in on specific skills, check out our swim clinics offered this week:

Monday:

• Session 1: Dives, Flip turns, 10&under backstroke, 10&under breaststroke
• Session 2: Dives, 11&up backstroke, 11&up breaststroke

Wednesday:

• Session 1: Dives, IM turns, 10&under freestyle, 10&under Butterfly
• Session 2: 11&up freestyle, 11&up butterfly

Friday:

• Session 1: Dives, Flip turns, 10&under breaststroke, 10&under butterfly
• Session 2: Dives, IM, 11&up breaststroke, 11&up butterfly

Lastly, I want to shout out our very first pep rally that we hosted on Friday. It was a great turnout, even with the weather, and we got a pretty cool new cheer out of it! (The words are posted below in case you aren’t familiar.) The spirit and excitement that everyone brought is what makes this team so special. Our next one will be before we go against the hurricanes. I can hardly wait! 

We’ll grab our crew and ride the seas

Set our sails to victory

Retrieve our anchor to no avail

We’ll beat the (other team) without fail!

by DJ Loberg, Meet Director

Our 5th official meet and our 2nd Away Meet! 

📍 Key Info:

• Registration deadline: Monday June 8th at 1:00 PM
• Location: Cedar Park Typhoons - Milburn Pool 1901 Sun Chase Boulevard, Cedar Park, TX
• Arrival Time: 5:30 AM – Be on time and check in right away
• Typhoons Warm-ups: 5:40–6:10 AM
• WBA Warm-ups: 6:15–6:40 AM
• Meet Start: 7:00 AM
• Events: Swimmers may compete in up to 3 individual events
• Spirit Theme: Team Rainbow 🌈

📝 If your swimmer cannot attend or needs to scratch, please text/mail DJ and/or the coaches ASAP!

Directions: Leverage Google Maps or other maps/direction apps/tools for best results!

🏊 Important Pool Info:

• Due to fire code, they must limit the number of spectators inside the pool fence at any given time. 
• Spectators should enjoy their swimmer’s race, and then leave the fenced in area to ensure that all families are able to view their swimmer’s races. No chairs or permanent seating (blankets, etc,) are allowed within the pool area.
• Swimmers should be informed to stay off of the playground equipment, sand volleyball pit in the park area, and out of the kiddie pool.

🚘 Parking Reminders:

• Parking is available in the Milburn Park lot. Please park only in paved spots, not in grassy areas or in fire lanes.
• Limited parking is available on both sides of Sun Chase Blvd North of the pool entrance. Red curbs in Sun Chase is a no parking zone. You will be ticketed. 
• Check signage carefully to avoid fire hydrants, mailboxes, and other no parking zones. Please avoid parking in the lots of nearby businesses, as they have been known to tow. Please do not move parking cones from parking spaces.

Fun Festivities Info:

The Cedar Park Typhoons Photo Booth Coordinator creates a themed photo tent each week and sets up in the Typhoons tent area. We would like to invite your swimmers to stop by the photo booth and snap some photos! Bring your families and friends (and even coaches)! 

Meet Volunteer Meeting Info:

• 6:15 - Runner Meeting - at the non start end of the pool
• 6:30 meeting times (so all will be prepared to start meet by 7:00)
  • Judges Meeting - under the slide, on the left side of the pool
  • Timers Meeting - under the awning, at the entrance of the pool
  • Ready Bench Meeting - Ready Bench area
• Ribbons Table - under the awning, next to the computer table

Pool and Pit Layout:

Get ready to brighten up the pool deck because this week's spirit theme is Team Rainbow!

Every Armada age group will represent a different color of the rainbow. Wear your assigned color and help us create one giant Armada rainbow when we all come together on meet day!

🌈 Team Rainbow Colors:

🔴 6 & Under - Red
🟠 7-8 - Orange
🟡 9-10 - Yellow
🟢 11-12 - Green
🔵 13-14 - Blue
🟣 15 & Up - Purple

T-shirts, tutus, sunglasses, hats, hair ribbons, face paint, socks, capes, beads, or anything colorful is welcome! The more color, the better.

Let's fill the pool with Armada spirit, show off our team unity, and create a rainbow that can be seen from across the meet. Be sure to grab plenty of photos with teammates from other age groups to complete the full spectrum!

🌈❤️🧡💛💚💙💜

Go Armada!

by Juli Thatcher, Volunteer Coordinator

A huge THANK YOU to all of our amazing Armada volunteers who helped make our first away meet of the season such a success! From timers and stroke judges to pit parents, setup crews, and everyone who stepped up wherever needed, your dedication helped keep the meet running smoothly and ensured our swimmers had a fantastic experience.

Away meets require just as much teamwork as home meets, and we continue to be grateful for how our Armada families show up and support one another. Your willingness to volunteer is what allows our swimmers to compete each week.

As we head to our second away meet this Saturday, volunteer signups are now open. We encourage families to sign up early for their preferred jobs rather than waiting until the last minute. Early signups help us plan ahead, fill critical positions, and avoid the scramble of finding volunteers during meet week.

If every family signs up promptly, we can spend less time chasing volunteers and more time focusing on creating a great meet experience for our swimmers.

Thank you again for everything you do for the Armada. Let's keep the momentum going and make our next away meet another great success!

📋 Mark Your Calendars

Volunteer signups for our fourth meet go live on Tuesday at 12:00 PM (Noon). Set a reminder and grab your favorite job early!

If something urgent comes up (illness, emergency), please notify Juli Thatcher immediately so we can adjust accordingly.

by Deanna Johnson, [email protected]

Get ready for one of Armada's most unique and entertaining summer traditions! Our annual fundraiser is getting a major upgrade this year with the very first Wells Branch Armada Meat Raffle & Music Night!

📅 Thursday, July 2
🕕 6:00 PM – 9:00 PM
📍 Hanover's Draught House, Pflugerville

The famous Armada Meat Raffle is back, giving you the chance to turn a few dollars into some seriously delicious prizes. Throughout the evening, raffle winners can choose from a variety of meats ranging from ground beef and steaks to premium cuts, including Prime briskets and other mouth-watering favorites.

But that's not all...

This year we're adding LIVE MUSIC performed by Armada swimmers, coaches, and talented family members between raffle rounds! Whether you're a singer, guitarist, drummer, pianist, or part of a band, this is your chance to take the stage and share your talents with the Armada community.

🎤 Interested in performing?
Please complete the Musician Sign-Up Form by June 16 so we can build the performance schedule. Younger performers will be scheduled earlier in the evening whenever possible.

🎶 And don't miss a special closing performance by Coaches Reese & Caden!

Even if you're not performing, bring the whole family and invite your friends and neighbors. This is a fun, family-friendly evening filled with great music, great prizes, and great company, all while supporting Wells Branch Armada.

Bring your cheering voice, and get ready for a night of steaks, songs, and Armada spirit!

P.S. Thanks for the flyer Sloan :D

Congratulations to all of our winners and to every Armada swimmer who competed this weekend. Your dedication at practice, positive attitude, and relentless effort continue to make our team proud. Keep swimming fast and representing the Armada with excellence!

Congratulations to all of our relay winners for representing the Armada with outstanding teamwork, sportsmanship, and determination. Your performances were a great reminder that while swimming may often be an individual sport, some of the biggest moments happen when we race together.

Each week, we recognize the swimmers who made the biggest splash by improving their times the most in each age group and category. These Fast Fishies worked hard and it showed in the pool, great job!

For more information about these and other awards check Weekly Awards FAQ - Wells Branch Armada

* Previous fast fishy award, the swim cap award rolls down but the repeated award winner will get a special prize.

Please join us in celebrating these outstanding swimmers who achieved the rare feat of dropping time in every individual event they entered this weekend. We are incredibly proud of your hard work and can't wait to see what you'll accomplish next!

🚀 New Relay Record Alert!

This season introduced a brand-new event to the NWSC lineup: the 200 Freestyle Relay for Boys 11-12 and Girls 11-12. Because the event is brand new, there were no existing Armada records to chase, which means this year's swimmers have the exciting opportunity to become the very first names in the record book!

Congratulations to our Boys 11-12 and Girls 11-12 relay teams for establishing the inaugural Armada records in this event. Setting a first-ever record is a unique accomplishment that can only happen once, and these swimmers will always be remembered as the pioneers who started the tradition.

Of course, the story is just beginning. As more teams gain experience with this relay throughout the season, we fully expect these times to get faster and faster. The friendly competition to lower the standard has officially begun, and it will be exciting to watch these records evolve from meet to meet.

Who knows? The record set this week could stand for one week, one month, or even years. Either way, these swimmers have earned their place in Armada history.

Congratulations to our record-setting relay teams, and let the chase begin!

🏆 Boys 11-12 200 Freestyle Relay - 2:03.12 Old: 2:03.41

* D'Zion Booker-Thompson, Darrell Christmas, Hayden Wu, Lucas McGuire

🏆 Girls 11-12 200 Freestyle Relay - 2:14.65 Old: 2:15.60

* Audrey Ricci, Vivian Loberg, April Shepard, Emilia Helgesen

Please join us in congratulating our newest qualifiers and those who continued to expand their list of qualifying events. We are incredibly proud of your accomplishments and can't wait to see what you achieve during the rest of the season.

* Cap winner/First invitational