Wells Branch Armada

Dive into this week’s splash of updates, from the latest meet information and important weekly reminders. Thank you for keeping connected with us,

by Deanna Johnson, President

Thank you to everyone participating in Saturday’s Red, White, and Blue meet! It was so great to see our swimmers at their first meet. Most of all, thank you to all our volunteers; we can't do these meets without you. Shout out to all those who volunteered for both shifts; we appreciate the extra effort!

LOST & FOUND—Please check the Armada lost and found bin for any missing items from practices and the swim meet. 

LOST PADLOCK—We are missing one of the padlocks from the front gate at Willow Bend pool. Could you please ask your swimmers if they have seen it? A few years ago, when it went missing, it was on a swimmer's door at home. We wanted to check before purchasing a new one.

CHECK YOUR FAMILY BOXES FOR RIBBONS—If your swimmers won any meet ribbons, they were placed in the family file boxes under your child’s registered last name. Typically, these are done right after the meets and are available for pickup on Mondays in your family boxes. Please remind your swimmers to dry their hands before reaching into the file folders and not to remove the files from the boxes.

BABY POOL—The MUD decides when to reopen the pool. We are asking regularly when we might be able to use it again. Currently, they are dealing with hyperclorination in the baby pool. We will announce once we learn when it can be opened again. 

by: Jake Tolfa and Maddie Wright, Head Coaches

Congratulations to all the swimmers and parents who made it to our Red, White and Blue practice meet! We know it was a crazy learning experience and crash course for our families. It was an amazing meet for all the swimmers to get a feel for the real thing and be prepared for our next one. We're so happy to have seen many excited swimmers with proud smiles! Thank you for bearing with us through the early morning and chilly weather! 

We also want to thank our older swimmers, most of whom are junior coaches, for their presence Saturday on deck and in the water, which provided our younger swimmers with extra comfort and confidence.

As the coaches watched and took notes, we discovered some skills we needed to focus on this week. We will prioritize a few things as we prepare for our next Meet.

1. Diving

2. Breaststroke/Butterfly Technique

3. Backstroke Technique and Stroke Count

4. Flip turns and Open Turns (mainly for 9 and ups)

5. What happens if….your goggles fall off, there is a false start, you begin doing the wrong stroke, etc? As well as "block etiquette."

We encourage you to branch out and step out of your comfort zone as you choose your events for our next swim meet. By the end of the season, we’d love to see everybody try each event at least once. Even if you are not fully legal in a stroke yet, that should not deter you from swimming in an event. We will continue to work on each stroke day to day and part of the practice is swimming in these races. The coaches are willing and happy to serve each swimmer as they work toward the goals they have set for themselves.

Swimmers in the 7/8 age group may see the long freestyle event available. Swimmers in the 9/10 age group and up may also see the 100 IM event available. We also encourage all swimmers to try these 2 events at least once during the season. If you're confused about whether your swimmer should compete in the 100 IM, it consists of 25 of each stroke, in the order of butterfly, backstroke, breaststroke, and freestyle.

Spirit Theme: Western

We will also have a spirit theme for the Meet each week. We encourage you to be as creative as you wish.

by Genevieve Bales, Volunteer Coordinator

Thank you so much to everyone who generously stepped up and took on additional roles last weekend. Your enthusiastic participation was truly invaluable and made a splash in ensuring the success of our first Meet. We hope that each of you recognized just how essential your contributions were in propelling our team forward.

As we gear up for our upcoming Meet on Saturday, we still have a few shifts that need to be filled. If you haven't yet chosen a position, we kindly ask that you dive in and make your selection as soon as possible.

Also, a friendly reminder to be prepared to quickly select your volunteer role once the link goes live on Tuesday morning for our THIRD meet of the season.

It's important for us to acknowledge that unforeseen circumstances can arise, such as family emergencies or unexpected illness. If, for any reason, you find yourself unable to fulfill your commitment for the meet, please notify Catherine AND myself as soon as possible. This allows us to make necessary adjustments to the heat sheets and ensure that your volunteer spot is covered smoothly.

Once again, a heartfelt thank you to all of you for your dedication and support. We couldn't do this without your strokes of kindness!

Our first official meet is this Saturday against the Steiner Ranch Red Stars & the Rattan Creek Hurricanes, which makes it a tri-meet. Each swimmer is allowed to enter up to three (3) individual events. Please arrive on time. Late arrival will result in your swimmer being scratched from their relay. Please talk to coaches before scratching your swimmer from individual events.

Scratch: Once we close the Meet online, email [email protected] or text 956-802-2253 if you have to scratch.

Meet Set-up: Friday, May 26 at 6:30 pm & Saturday, and May 27th 5:30 am (more details on the website)

Parking

Friendly reminder for our new families: During home meets, the parking lot adjacent to our pool is for our guest teams only. Additional parking will be along Sauls and Crissom next to the pool and the elementary school, and on the street on Long Vista. Please do NOT park along Bratton or in any parking lots for businesses  along Bratton and Long Vista, as you will risk being towed. There will be overflow parking at the Rec Center on Shoreline Dr., but it is a small hike from there to the pool.

Please allow extra time to find a place to park and potentially walk a fair distance to the pool. You may also wish to drop swimmers off and then go find parking.

Hey Hey Team Armada, 

It's mid-May and our Calendar Fundraiser is underway.  

Click on this link to create your own copy of the calendar. Print out your calendar and attach to clipboard, notebook, etc. You can go door to door, post on social media, or call up some family and friends to gain sponsors. Insert a personal photo or keep it like it is now. Use your personal venmo/cashapp/zelle to collect payment. Once your calendar is complete, send your money to the Armada Venmo: @wbaswim.  THANK YOU FOR SUPPORTING OUR ARAMDA SWIMMERS!

Congratulations to all our winners from RWB Meet on May 11, 2024.  

These WB Armada swimmers and their teammates excelled by placing first in the Freestyle Relays at the Red, White and Blue meet on Saturday, May 11th. Congratulations.

Freestyle Relay Winners: