Hello Marlins, 

Please read this important information carefully. 

Registration:

We are ready to formally register our Marlins and collect payment. This must be done prior to the first day of practice on Tuesday, May 11th.

There are two forms of payment we need to collect: the GCSL payment (goes to the swim league) and the Marlins team fees (goes to the team). Because they go to two different places, you must do both separately.

To formally register, fill out your COVID waiver, and pay all fees, here are the steps:

1. Fill out the COVID waiver and pay the $20 mandatory GCSL per swimmer fee: 

Go to our SwimTopia website @ www.edinburgh.swimtopia.com. Go to the bottom of the page where it is blue. Registration will be written in black. Click Registration and re-register. Complete the 2 minute registration process, including the waiver. If you need to add a sibling who was not previously registered, you would do so at this time. Finally, pay the online GCSL fee. 

Yes, you are re-registering and have done this before. However, we did not collect the fee/waiver during the initial registration, because we did not know if we'd have enough swimmers to hold a season.

2. Pay your Marlins Team fee via Venmo or check: 

For Venmo, you would Venmo @edinburgh-marlins. Please note name and age of swimmers. 

For a check, you would drop the check off with our Treasurer, Jennifer Groover, at 5194 Brendlynn Dr. Checks should be payable to the Edinburgh Marlins Swim Team. Please note name and age of swimmers. 

If you have any questions about fees or payments, email Jennifer @ [email protected]. 

Below is a link for a registration calculator to help you determine team fee costs for 2021. You do not need to return this form. Please note, committee members receive one free swimmer. 

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/14Fo1HUe_RQ...

3. If your swimmer is NEW to GCSL, we will need a copy of his/her birth certificate. Please drop this off with our Head Council, Michelle & Jake Edwards, at 541 Brendlynn Ct in Edinburgh. 

For questions about birth certificates, email Michelle @ [email protected]. 

Practice:

The first day of practice is Tuesday, May 11th. Your swimmers will need a practice-style swimsuit (no bikinis, etc), goggles, and a towel. We recommend jammers or Speedo-style for boys. We have created a buy/sell/give page on Facebook for lightly used Marlins swimsuits and apparel. If you are interested, search for Edinburgh Marlin Merch on Facebook and request to be added to the group. Team swimsuits are not required this year, and new ones are not for sale.

Our full practice schedule was sent out in a previous email, but is also posted on Facebook and on our website under Announcements/Recent News. In fact, nearly all team emails are posted on our website. This is an easy way to find information.

Update on Meets & Spectators:

Our HOA will now allow up to 2 persons per family on deck during each child's swim. The meets will still be staggered by age group, and parents will be invited to watch their child swim during their child's age group. Once your child has finished swimming, we kindly ask parents vacate the pool deck, allowing space for the next set of parents to watch their children.

We anticipate each age group lasting roughly 45 minutes and meets lasting approximately 2 to 2.5 hours total. However, we will not know exact times until after the first meet. 

Update on Volunteers:

First, thank you to those individuals who stepped up and offered to assist with our trained official positions. 

We now have four people training in computers in addition to our wonderful folks in Stroke & Turn, Starter. Our computers volunteers are Monique T., Gregory G., Rebecca R., and Sarah L. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Due to the allowance of spectators on the pool deck, we now have the need for more volunteers to assist in various positions at each meet. These positions may vary due to the evolving nature of the pandemic, and as we figure out what virtual meets truly look like. 

The positions will be randomly assigned each week and could include set up, take down, runner, staging, coach assistant, sanitation, bullpen/keeping swimmers distanced, check in, heralding parents to and from the pool deck between age groups, getting swimmers to their parents quickly once their age group finishes, etc. We will be conscientious in assigning setup and take down to families in the first and last groups. Please remember this is a volunteer organization, and each family is required to volunteer as needed.

We will NOT have volunteer shifts this year as our meets will be quite short. Each volunteer 'shift' will run the the length of the full meet. 

Meet Our Committee:

Head Council- Jake & Michelle Edwards

Treasurer- Jennifer Groover

Communications- Julie Shingadia

Merchandise- Susan Pope

We have a small committee this year, and next year most of the committee members are retiring from summer swim. Please consider offering now to step up next season to ensure the team continues, and so that new members can receive training in 2021 for 2022. 

Finally, if your child is no longer swimming with us and you haven't yet informed the committee, please respond to this email to let us know. 

Looking forward to a great season, 

Edinburgh Marlins Swim