First, congratulations to coach Blake Brown for graduating high school this past week! Arf! Arf!

Also, congratulations to all the former Sea Lions swimmers who graduated from high school or college this year. We have finally reached the end of the school year! Who is ready for summer? Yeah me too!

It was a hard fought match last week against the Kingfish. They may have squeaked past us by 20 points to win the meet, but we definitely won the spirit battle! I saw kids sticking around and grabbing their caps and goggles just in case there was a no show in the freestyle relays and their fellow sea lions needed them. Let’s take that spirit to Bear Branch and Summer Champs this weekend!

Division White 1 (Top White Division of NWAL)

Team                                         Win               Loss

ESST – Eagle Springs Flyers     3                     0

BB – Bear Branch Bears            2                    1

SCR – Sand Creek Sea Lions    2                    1

GTR – Greentree Riverchase     1                    2

KNGR – Kings River Kingfish     1                    2

TVG – Trailwood Village             0                    3

By the way… for our new families, when we start talking about our Divisional meet June 16 at Humble High School, know that this is a meet open to ALL swimmers and is not an invitational with qualifying times like Summer Champs. It’s a great opportunity to get together with all of our friendly teams in our Division and “Swim as One” in a facility that just like what your kids may use in high school. The teams with the most spirit, having the most fun, are the ones that bring the most swimmers and end up winning the biggest trophies.

Today/Tonight

Fun Friday Practice at the regular times

No Pep Rally so you can rest up and be your best tomorrow

Next Pep Rally

Next Wednesday 6/6 at Deerwood Elementary. It’s not at the pool, but there will be plenty of fun… and giant beach balls… and water balloons… and Kona Ice will be there for you to buy sno cones!

Bear Branch Meet

Not gonna lie… this may be a longer Saturday meet than usual with a 5 lane pool, but we need every swimmer to show up so we can show those Bears how the Sea Lions do it. In any case, please, please, please tell your coach if you need to leave as early as possible so we can find replacements in the end of meet relays. This is a tough team and we were so very close to beating them last year – bring your best effort and excellent technique. We can still win our Division in the Dual meet season!

Location - The Bear Branch Pool is at 3215 Cedar Knolls Dr.

Parking for both visiting and home teams is along the street, Cedar Knolls. Please watch for No Parking signs, and avoid parking on the spur street Village Falls Ct, or in front of mailboxes. Kingwood Middle School parking lot is a convenient place to park, and is just down the street.

You can reach the pool from Kingwood Middle School using the greenbelt trails. Map attached. We’re guessing that Cedar Knolls is going to be crowded.

Setup

The Bears will set up inside the fence and the Sea Lions will set up outside of the fence. Anywhere outside of the fence is fine except for the concessions area and the parking lot. The kids love to play in this parking lot area, but it is asphalt and there have been injuries. Please bring safe things to entertain the kids between events. Contact games and games like tag are not safe on this surface. We will be bringing fans for the team tents and expect a hot day. Not saying it will happen again but the Bears did run out of food at the concession stand last year, so you probably want to pack some snacks and drinks in a cooler with ice. Cooling towels are a good idea and sunscreen is a must even though the area will be shaded.

Timeline

7:00 AM – Swimmer Check In

7:10 AM – Invited to voluntary “meet me at the flag” prayer

7:30 AM – Visiting Team Warmups, Deadline to check in for relays or may be scratched

7:40 AM – Scratch Meeting

7:50 AM – Officials Meeting

8:00 AM – Computers start running paperwork

8:10 AM – Timers/Scribes Meeting

8:15 AM – Events 1-6 to the ready bench

8:25 AM – National Anthem

8:30 AM Meet Start

Heat Sheets

The Heat Sheet will almost definitely change after the scratch meeting. It is to be used as a guide but some heat and lane assignments may change after the scratches are applied and the meet is reseeded in the morning. The Bears will not be selling heat sheets so please print your own if you would like one.

Summer Champs

If your swimmer has qualified and you have signed up for Summer Champs at Kingwood Park High School on Sunday then all of that information has gone out separately. Just know that all of our Sea Lions are pulling for you and we know you will do great! Arf! Arf!