Welcome to the 2025 season for the Westwood Waves! We’re so excited that summer swim team is almost here. This is a long email, so we appreciate you taking the time to read it, as it has a lot of important information in it.

Practice

Swim practice begins next Monday, May, 12. You can view the full practice schedule here.

Trial Trials is the first swim meet. Enjoy some pizza with your teammates!

Time Trials was a little tricky to schedule this year with Memorial Day weekend and WSFCS ending earlier. This year, it will be held on Wednesday, May 21. Please plan to arrive by 4:15pm.

Since the grill won’t be open yet, we’ll have a sign-up sheet at the pool to order dinner from Hungry Howie’s Pizza. We’ll place one order for everyone who would like to participate. Please bring cash or be prepared to Venmo (details will be provided). For ease of ordering, the only options will be cheese or pepperoni pizzas. Pricing will be $15 for one cheese and $20 for one pepperoni. Proceeds will go towards feeding our coaches during the home meets.

Full meet schedule can be found here.

Swimmer team shirts/caps distribution

If you are receiving this email, it means you registered your swimmers by Friday, May 2! This timely registration ensured that your swimmer will receive both a team shirt and cap. We expect that they will arrive by the end of May, and Pam and Jessica will distribute swag once it arrives.

There’s still time to order additional Waves swag, like team swim suits or awesome trucker hats to keep you shaded from the sun.

Order through the team store. Please use username: westwood, password: wavesswim, if prompted.

We encourage all swimmers to purchase a team suit, but a previous Westwood team (or plain black) suit is also acceptable. If you aren’t sure what size suit to order, Westwood has a sizing kit. Contact Daffaney Young at [email protected] to schedule a fitting.

Stroke & turn judges, referees and starters needed!

It takes a village to run a swim meet! There will be many volunteer positions to fill, but particularly crucial roles are listed below. All of these require pre-requisite training that must be renewed each year.

Stroke and Turn Judges

Returning Judges:

NEW THIS YEAR: If you have officiated in the GFSL in past summers, you are eligible to take an online exam to renew your certification for the 2025 season. No in-person training required! Details should have been emailed to you.

New Judges:

If you have not officiated for the GFSL in the past but would like to this year, you will need to attend an in-person training before taking the online exam. Below are the training dates. Click here to register.

• Thursday, May 8 at 7pm - Brookberry Farms Barn
• Tuesday, May 13 at 7pm - Forsyth Country Club
• Wednesday, May 28 at 7pm - Brookberry Farms Barn

Referees / Starters:

If you would like to be a GFSL referee or starter, you must complete the online stroke & turn exam. You must also have a minimum of 2 years of experience as a stroke & turn judge.

2025 Season Remind Group

We send emails through SwimTopia, but we also send text alerts through Remind. You’ll need to join our 2025 group to receive these. Text the keyword @6bge2a to 81010.

Junior Waves

We are getting a lot of questions about Junior Waves! To be on the swim team, swimmers must be able to swim one length of the pool. The next level is Junior Waves, which is for swimmers who can’t yet make it the full length. Our coaches get in the water with them during practice to help teach and ensure safety, but these swimmers must be able to do some independent swimming. If they are unable to swim independently, Westwood also offers swim lessons, which can be set up through Daffaney Young at [email protected]. The coaches will assess swimmers to make sure your swimmer is placed in the group that’s best for them. Junior Waves do not compete in swim meets.

New parents

We have a lot of new faces this season! If you are new to Westwood (and summer league swimming), we know that it can feel a little overwhelming. Therefore, we created a FAQ for new families to hopefully help you feel a little more prepared. It’s attached to this email. Jessica and/or Pam (the GFSL Westwood parent representatives) will also be on deck a good bit during the first week of practices. Feel free to stop by and ask questions or say hello. We’ll wear Westwood Waves t-shirts so you can spot us more easily.

We are looking forward to seeing everyone around the pool. As always, please reach out to us with any questions ([email protected]).

Go Waves!

Jessica + Pam