• Attendance is not required at every practice but is highly encouraged to improve swimming ability.
• Practices are held Tuesday through Friday at the Hearthstone Country Club Pool. If there are any cancellations, a SportsYou message will be sent from the coach.
• For every practice swimmers need the following items: appropriate swimsuit, goggles, swim cap, towel, and water. Swimmers need to go to the bathroom prior to entering the water.
• ONLY Heatwaves swimmers are allowed in the pool during practice times.
• Please refrain from interacting with swimmers during practice (stay away from the pool deck- this is for coaches only.). This distracts the kids from listening to the coach coaching.
• Parents are in charge of supervising their children (swimmers & non-swimmers) outside of their practice time. No pets are allowed in the pool area.
• Swimmers are to attend their designated age/skill group practice times. If you miss or are late, you will be unable to join the next practice for that day.
• If you have questions about your swimmer or practice, please reach out to Coach Luke.

Coach needs to know by WEDNESDAY each week if a swimmer CANNOT participate in that week's meet, needs to leave early, or will be arriving late. The Coach submits the entries for the meet on Wednesday, so that the heat sheets and meet set up can occur on Thursday.

Attendance for meets impacts the whole team, so please be courteous about clearly communicating with the coach whether our not your swimmer(s) will be in attendance.

Warm-Up

Warm-ups before a meet are MANDATORY for all swimmers! If your swimmer chooses not to attend warm-up, where check-in/attendance happens, they will be scratched (removed) from the first relay event, if they are entered as a member. It is very important with dual meets that we know all swimmers are at the meet and ready to swim in their events.

Relays

Swimmers will be placed on relay teams by the coach based on several factors: event time, attitude, and attendance at practice and meets. Placement on a relay is at the coaches' deiscretion. 

Thunder and Lightning

Lightning and thunderstorms happen more frequently in the summer months. Coach will ensure that the safety procedures are followed before an impending storm. Swimmer safety should never be at risk. If a storm or bad weather is predicted, stay alert for weather conditions and a Remind message from coach.

Lightning

The National Lightning Safety Institute recommends waiting at least 30 minutes after the last sound of thunder is heard before resuming activities.

Thunder

If the skies are clear, the pool will reopen 20 minutes after the last occurrence.

ALL updates will be sent via Remind if there is a reason for practice to be canceled or possibly postponed. PLEASE ensure that you have signed up to receive notifications via Remind! This is the fastest way to communicate.

Meets

Swimming competitions shall be suspended immediately when thunder is heard or lightning is visible.

1. The meet shall be suspended until 15 minutes after the last thunder is heard or the last lightning is sighted.
2. When a meet is suspended because of weather, the pool area shall be cleared immediately of all participants, officials, and spectators.
3. When a meet in progress is suspended, the Meet Referee and both Team Reps shall meet prior to leaving the facilities to determine what course of action to pursue.
4. Delayed meet postponed:
   1. Team Reps may agree mutually to postpone any meet that has been suspended due to weather conditions.
   2. A meet suspended for 2 hours in the aggregate shall be considered postponed unless both Team Reps agree otherwise.