Riptide News Week 3

We had a great week of practices and a great A meet yesterday with so many personal bests! We are looking forward to our first home B meet tomorrow night and lots of fun and fast swims! Stay tuned for a Meet Wrap up on Tuesday from Coach Katie for more about our meets this week.

The Riptide News will come to you through email each week on Sunday, but you can also find it as a news post on our website at SwimTopia.

Lots of news to share this week, as always don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions [email protected].

Riptide Shout Outs:

We’d like to give a Riptide Shout Out to all the new parent volunteers who helped out at our A meet yesterday. Many of you did jobs for the first time. We so appreciate your help and hope you had a great time at the meet.

We’d like to give a shout out to the following parents who are newly certified or recertified NVSL Starter, Stroke and Turn Judges:

Sarah Cullen

Christina Minogue (Starter Certified & recertified S&T)

Sean Kelliher (recertified)

Chuks Anyalebechi

Amy Anyalebechi

We appreciate all of our parent volunteers!

Have a parent volunteer who is going above and beyond that you’d like to give a Riptide Shout Out to? Email Karen Harris ([email protected]) with your shoutout, we’ll include it in the next Riptide News.

Riptide Spirit Shout Out: Our coaches and swimmers did a great job being spirited at our meet on Saturday. They even got a few shout outs from the Parklawn announcer for how spirited they were. Can’t wait for them to bring the same spirit to our meet tomorrow night!

Riptide Swimmer Conduct Reminders: Please take a few moments to review the Riptide Code of Conduct with your swimmer prior to practices this week. As a team we value respect, teamwork, integrity and sportsmanship. Any violations of the Riptide Swimmer Code of Conduct will be handled as stated in the Code of Conduct.

Virginia Run Riptide Code of Conduct (must be signed into your Riptide account to view).

Photography Reminders: To protect our swimmers and according to NVSL/USA Swimming Rule pictures and videos may not be taken from behind the starting area. Please move to another location off to the side to take a picture or video of your swimmer.

Meet Results: Results for Time Trials and our first meets are now up on our new website! You can visit https://variptide.swimtopia.com/results after every meet to see things meet results, personal bests, and the current team top times (The "ladder").

We ask our families to remember that the ladder is one tool that our coaches use to select swimmers for A meets, but many factors go into those selections. Please remind your swimmers that good sportsmanship means swimmers should not be bragging about their place on the ladder, and should not be getting upset with the coaches if decisions for A meets do not exactly reflect the ladder. If families have questions or concerns about A meet selections, they should be directed to our A-meet reps, not directly to the coaches.

You can find more information about A meet seeding and other team policies in the Riptide Handbook which can be found on our website and here.

Declare Your Swimmer for A Meets ASAP: If you have not done so already, please declare your swimmer(s) for all of our A meets. Refer to previous Riptide News editions for directions for doing this.

Declaring Your Swimmer for B Meets: Remember to declare your swimmer(s) by 10am on the Sunday before each B meet in order for them to be able to swim in the meet on Monday evening.

Spirit Wear: If you have not received your swimsuit, our final order is at Cassels (4115 Pleasant Valley Rd) and can be picked up M-F from 10am-6pm. Additionally, if your swimmer has not received their team t-shirt, caps, or Spirit Wear order please reach out. Hawaiian Shirts are scheduled to arrive by 6/15/2025 and will be distributed accordingly. Lastly, order our custom Riptide temporary tattoos, 5 for $2.00 or 12 for $5.00, available for sale at home meets or pre-order by e-mailing Jen Snitselaar ([email protected]). They make great buddy gifts too!

Starts, Turns and Finishes Clinics Begin this Week: Our first Starts, Turns and Finishes Clinic is this Thursday from 7:00-8:00 at the pool. This weekly clinic is great time for swimmers of all skill levels to brush up on their starts, turns and finishes. Completely optional and open to all swimmers.

Contact information for 13 and Older Swimmers: Your 13&U Swimmer can now receive Riptide Notices and Information. Please complete this google form to provide your swimmer’s information. One google form should be completed for each 13&U swimmer by June 22nd. This is optional and not required.

Make Waves and Take on the Riptide Challenge: The Riptide Challenge is open to all swimmers this year-everyone can participate.

Ages 8 & Under: Complete a legal freestyle and backstroke to finish the challenge.

Ages 9 & Older: Complete all four legal strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) plus an Individual Medley (IM) to earn the challenge.

Let's make waves-take on the Riptide Challenge!

Participation Medal: We're excited to celebrate our swimmers' hard work this season! If you would like your swimmer to receive a participation medal at the end of the swim season award banquet, please complete the survey by June 29, 2025. https://forms.gle/zoKTyiEAENUdA2gg6

Questions? Contact Amy Cunningham ([email protected]) or Diane Martin ([email protected]).

Riptide Social Updates: Thankful to be a Riptide was so much fun, we loved a night full of pasta and thankful turkeys! Two fun activities this week! Who loves Halloween in June?!

You can view all events for the 2025 swim year here!

Upcoming Events

Wednesday 6/18: Donuts after practice on Wednesday! After each age group practice, Riptide swimmers can stop by and enjoy a donut after practice at no cost. Please note, this is for swimmers only.

Friday, 6/20: SUMMERWEEN! Come celebrate Halloween in June, Riptide style! Meet at JMRC dressed in your favorite Halloween costume (bonus points for homemade costumes) and help carve watermelons and get a spooky, sweet treat! More details will be shared. If it rains, we will move to the VA Run Clubhouse.

If you have any questions, please reach out to Michelle Bange [email protected].

Thank you to our Riptide Sponsors! Our team is grateful for your generous support.

Pin Oak Tree Services

Virginia Run Community

Ciro New York Pizza

Mindy Conway, Long and Foster Real Estate

The Wrinkle Family Scholarship Fund

Cub Scout Pack 2011

Luck Stone

Living Colour

Wholesome NOVA

The Dog Stop

Collegiate Sealers & Paving

Capital Construction of America, Inc.

Cheron Orthodontics