Hello ERGSD Parents, Guardians and Athletes,

We had a great week #1! It was wonderful getting to know our new athletes, reconnecting with those that are returning, getting in some good practice sets, and learning some important drills for each of the 4 strokes. We ended the week with time trials, which was a lot of fun. As coaches, time trials help us see where our athletes are at and what they can do at this time. Divers were busy as well learning so many new dives and fine tuning the ones they know. We have an amazing group of young ladies, and I am more than excited to see them compete in our upcoming meets.

For week #2, our practice time flip flops and our morning practices for all swimmers will start at 8:00am sharp! Locker rooms will be open at 7:45am. We should not enter the deck prior to 7:45am as Rogers has practice and we honor each other’s time in the pool with just their team until 15 minutes prior to our practice. Morning practices will end at 10 am. If you are picking up your athlete after practice, please be there no later than 10 minutes after practice. We do have one coach stay until all the athletes are picked up, so waiting longer for parents means we are not able to get home to our families or in my case this week, to work. Doubles will continue for our varsity swimmers and divers will continue to practice in the afternoon with them unless otherwise designated on the weekly schedule.

Week #2 practices will start to pick up in intensity this week. Please make sure your athlete is getting adequate rest, eating healthily, stretching out sore muscles and staying hydrated. Prepping for difficult practices is the best way to conquer those tough sets.

Meets are starting! We have our first meet this upcoming week, the NWSC Relay Meet, on Thursday, August 21st. This is a fun meet and is all relays – it is a good way to get in some competition but in a relay fashion. If your athlete cannot be in the meet, they need to let me know ASAP.

Every athlete should plan to attend and participate in all dual meets. Athletes will not be in dual meets if they have unexcused absences or are ill/ or injured. We do have some meets that are also limited entry meets (generally invitationals) that we will not be able to take the entire team, that decision can be hard, but this is the criteria we use in those cases.

• How many entries do we get per team?
• Is this a varsity only meet?
• Have athletes met the attendance requirements, including no unexcused absences?
• Is the athlete ready for competition? Do they know all the skills needed? Have they been injured or ill?

For the NWSC Relay Meet, Thursday, August 21^st, there will be many other teams there, which means a very crowded deck. Diving and swimming are at different locations; coaches will talk with athletes at practice about who is attending each meet. Andover hosts the diving portion and Elk River hosts the swimming portion for our side of the conference. Details for the NWSC Relay meet including bus times and bus pick-up and drop off location (for divers), VMS pool meet arrival time (for swimmers), meet warm-up time, and other general meet information is on the master schedule linked here. I did attach a Week #2 screen shot for those that prefer that. Please remember our Master Schedule Google Doc is live with the most up to date information. I also attached an updated Meet Schedule as we added the Edina (limited entries) Invitational on Spetember 6th. 

Week #3, on August 28th, we will host our first dual meet against Andover. This is also parent’s night. Please see the volunteer sign-up for our meets! It is a great way to get the best seat in the house, be involved and get to know other parents/ guardians and athletes. 

Have an amazing weekend!  Please don't hesitate to reach out if you have any questions.  

Thanks, Coach Odegard