Happy Father's Day Lancer Dads! You all do so much for your families and our team. Thank you!

Yesterday - What a great meet we had! I am so proud of how well our Lancer Family demonstrated Lancer hospitality so well. Thank you to all the volunteers, especially those who stepped in to fill some holes we had! While we were not the victors this time, we competed hard against a team that is 3 divisions above us. Even more impressive was the great cheering and spirit that was on display! Sportsmanship and team mindset is what being a part of the Lancer Family is about.

Place ribbons and time drop ribbons will be handed out typically on Mondays or Tuesdays following each meet. If a swimmer is not at practice, the ribbons are placed in a filebox sorted by family, and can be retrieved any other day at practice by checking in with Lancer Lady Molly.

DQs - When a swimmer DQs, it will be noted in the Swimtopia app what the description of the DQ is. After the meet, I review them and share them with the coaching staff. I do my very best to touch base with each swimmer the following week to make sure they know why so we can continue to grow and learn from mistakes. Coaches will also be working with them in practice on the skills as well. Swimmers may also be invited to work on their DQs with a coach during Lil' Lancer practices OR on Fridays after Funday. These are coach invitation only so we can ensure that enough coaches are available to give proper attention to each swimmer.

Lil Lancers-Lil Lancer Practice begins this week on Tuesday. They will practice Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday from 10:45am-11:30am. We will meet with them by the Guard House @ 10:45am. As a reminder, they will have their first Lil Lancer Meet next Friday, June 27th @ 9am (earlier than usual). More information will be coming.

Juneteenth - There WILL be regular practice on Thursday this week.

Friday Funday - Friday will be our first Friday Funday for competitive team members from 9am - 10:30am. 13 & ups can play Water Polo from 8am-9am. Everyone else is invited to join starting at 9am.

Saturday's Meet vs Montclair - Our next meet is HOME versus a close rival Montclair Seahawks. Please commit OR decline your swimmer by Tuesday. More details to come about the meet later this week.

Lancer Buddies - Lancer Buddies are swimmer pairings, with the purpose of creating new friendships and mentorships outside of a swimmer's age group. Lancer coaches carefully consider Lancer Buddy pairings to ensure that everyone has a positive experience. The Lancer Buddy Program is available to all competitive swimmers only.

Being a part of the Lancer Buddy program is optional. This year we are asking for you to fill out this form: https://forms.gle/mfkLGp8opVzmxgbm7 by Wednesday if your swimmer(s) wish to participate in the program. Please complete a separate form for EACH swimmer who wishes to have a buddy.

By submitting this form, you and your swimmer are agreeing to participate each week in the Lancer Buddy Program.

Each Saturday swim meet has a theme (a small gift or activity for the Buddies to share with each other). We ask that Buddies stay within these guidelines, as they support and encourage their Buddy at the meets so that everyone has a similarly wonderful experience. It is expected that if you will not be attending a meet please make arrangements to have someone give the Lancer Buddy "gift" on Saturday or give it to them beforehand.

*PLEASE NOTE: If you will miss 2 or more swim meets the rest of the season, we recommend not participating in the Lancer Buddy Program. It can be very disheartening to swimmers to not have their buddy present at multiple meets.

Swimmers will find out their Lancer Buddies later this week. We will share the responses with you so you all can get to learn more about your buddy. But the first Lancer Buddy Theme is simply to meet our buddies, start to get to know them and take a picture/selfie with them. NO PREP needed as this can even happen on Saturday.

Just Keep Swimming,

Coach Lauren