Riptide News 6-21-26

Happy Father’s Day!

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].

In This Edition:

1. Coach Patrick’s Corner
2. Beast of the Week
3. VIP Parking Winner
4. Lapathon-Tuesday, June 23rd
5. Picture Day, Friday June 26th
6. Starts, Turns and Finishes Clinic this Thursday!
7. Riptide Swimmer Conduct Reminders
8. Practice Reminders for Parents
9. Riptide Food Drive
10. Declare Your Swimmer for A Meets
11. Declare Your Swimmer for B Meets
12. Call for Volunteers
13. Riptide Challenge
14. Participation Awards
15. Eat Out and Support Riptide-Save the Date!
16. Team T-shirt Update
17. Social News-Lots of Fun Coming!

Attachments:

1. Lapathon Pledge Sheet
2. Riptide Food Drive 2026 Flyer

Coach Patrick’s Corner: What a fun meet at Stratford yesterday! TONS of close races!! It was great seeing our swimmers come out of the water with smiles on their faces. Thank you to all of our volunteers! I'm looking forward to our first B meet tomorrow at Little Rocky Run. LRR always has great team spirit, so let's make sure we go all out in green and purple and show them our awesome Riptide Pride!

Please declare your availability for our next A meet on 6/27 by tomorrow night! It's our first home meet of the year so try not to miss it!! (pro tip- declare availability for the whole season now!)

Our swimmers have been working hard and doing great at practice! Coach Liz and I really appreciate everyone's punctuality and positive attitudes at practice. Let's keep it up!

Final reminder- please get your swimmer fins! We will use fins a lot so please make sure you have a pair that fits. Write your name on both fins in case they are left behind.

Reminder: Lifeguards are not on duty for AM practices. No swimmers should be in the pool unless they are participating in their designated practice. If swimmers are accompanied by an adult, guardian, or babysitter that may not know the pool rules, please advise them of this rule.

Beast of the Week!: Congrats to the following swimmers who earned the “Beast of the Week” award this past week:

8&U: Brooke Biada

9-10: Natalia Aponte

11-12: Allison Pugh

13-14: Noah Bange

15-18: Edward Livingston

VIP Parking Winner: Congratulations to the Biada family for winning the VIP parking spot at home A and B meets!

Lapathon-Tuesday, June 23rd: Tuesday, June 23 is the Riptide Lapathon! We will again be swimming for Willing Warriors based in Haymarket, VA. Attached is the pledge sheet. Feel free to bring your pledge sheet to practice on Tuesday! For 6/23 practice, arrive during your regular practice time, swim as many laps as you can (coaches will help count), and bagels will be provided to all lapathon participants courtesy of the Riptide Social Committee.

You can donate a lump sum amount online, sponsor your swimmer by the lap, and/or pay be check to Willing Warriors.

Donate online here and include 'VR Riptide' in the comment box. All checks can be dropped off in the lock box on the Riptide Bulletin Board. Please have your donation completed by Friday, June 26.

Picture Day-Friday, June 26th: Riptide Picture Day will be on Friday June 26th @ 8:30 AM at the pool. Come and have individual (and sibling) pictures taken before we gather for the team picture! Questions? Email Minh Tonthat [email protected]

Starts, Turns & Finishes Clinic on Thursday: Starts, Turns, and Finishes Clinic Thursday, June 25! The clinic will be held every Thursday evening for the remainder of the season 7:00pm-7:45pm and is completely optional. You can pick and choose which dates work best for you or come to all of them! All ages and skill levels are welcome! We will not section off different times for each age group. All age groups will practice at 7:00pm and Coach Patrick will adjust the lanes accordingly.

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. Use of inappropriate language, bullying, inappropriate touching, biting, etc will not be tolerated and will be addressed immediately.

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

Practice Reminders for Parents: We are grateful for all of our Riptide parents! We would like to give a gentle reminder to please stay well back from the swim lanes during practice and refrain from talking to your swimmer during practice. Our coaches are doing a great job and need to have each swimmer’s full attention during practice. If a swimmer needs their parent during practice our coaches will make sure to find you. Thank you for your support!

Riptide Food Drive: We collected 62 lb last week, 438 lb until we meet our 500 lb goal! We need everyone’s help to meet our goal! The theme for this week is: Breakfast, Lunch and Dinner. Please bring items to practice on Friday! See flyer for details!

Declare Your Swimmer For A Meets: Please declare your availability for our A meet by Monday night!! Only select 'no' if you will be out of town (there is an option to leave a note if you select no). As a reminder, declaring 'yes' does not guarantee you will swim, it just notifies us that you are available to swim that day if selected to swim. You will be notified if your child is swimming the Thursday before every Saturday A meet.

Declare Your Swimmer for B Meets: B Meets are our Developmental swim meets on Monday nights. Unlike A Meets, where swimmers are chosen based on the team ladder and their availability, everyone is welcome and encouraged to swim on Monday nights. Swimmers can choose which events they would like to swim on Monday nights. You must sign your swimmer up for B Meets by completing the following steps:

Log in to the Virginia Run Riptide website.

Go to the Meets & Events tab and then click on Sign Up Calendar

Next to each B-Meet, click on Meet Entry. Then click on the Edit button below your swimmer’s name to mark if they are available to attend.

Once you click Available to Attend a list of events will appear.

Each swimmer can choose two individual strokes (freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly) and IM as a third event.

If you're unsure what your swimmer should swim, please reach out to Coach Patrick. He will be happy to help your swimmer decide.

While we request that each swimmer declare their availability now for all A-Meets, swimmers can declare for B Meets weekly no later than the Sunday before the B Meet at 10am. Swimmers who are not signed up by Sunday (before the meet) at 10 am will not be able to swim at the B Meet on Monday night.

Call for Volunteers: We appreciate all of our parent volunteers!

We have multiple opportunities for volunteering this week:

- B Meet @ LRR

- Lapathon & Bagels

- Picture Day

Please sign up on the website for any of our open jobs!

A reminder to please check your sign ups each week as we are counting on you to be there!

Questions? Email [email protected]

Riptide Challenge: Earn your 2026 Riptide Challenge Bag Tag by completing the challenge events for your age group.

Riptide Challenge Requirements:

Ages 8 and under- Complete any 3 legal strokes (Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly).

Ages 9 and Older- Complete all 4 legal strokes (Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly), plus a legal Individual Medley (IM).

Take on the challenge, improve your skills and earn your exclusive Riptide Challenge 2026 Bag Tag. Ages 10 and under bag tag is designed by Quinn Bange and 11 and older is designed by Emma Wall.

If you have any questions please email Amy Cunningham [email protected]

Participation Awards: We're excited to celebrate our swimmers' hard work this season! If you would like your swimmer to receive a participation award at the end of the swim season award banquet, please complete the survey by July 1, 2026.

https://forms.gle/7tsPY73ZaqAxrrVx6

If you have any questions please email Amy Cunningham [email protected]

Go Out To Eat and Support Riptide-Save the Date!: Save the date for our Red Robin fundraiser on 6/30 and Farmside Kitchen on 7/18 all day. Details are on our Facebook page as an event, hope to see everyone there.

Questions? e-mail Jen Snitselaar, [email protected]

Team T-Shirt Update: Our team T-shirt vendor is delayed; team order should arrive next week. If you ordered Spirit Wear from Reston T-Shirt, I am picking orders up on Monday and will have for the meet.

Questions? e-mail Jen Snitselaar, [email protected]

Social News:

Tuesday, 6/23 - Bagels after Lap-a-thon

After each age group session, swimmers can stop by and get a free bagel and cream cheese as a reward for swimming hard! Please don't forget to remind your swimmer.

Friday, 6/26 Pep Rally : Kickball & Pops @JMRC 6pm

Our next pep rally will be at JMRC at 6pm. Please have your swimmer wear tennis shoes and bring a water bottle. We will have a good ole fashion game of kick-ball and celebratory ice pops. If it rains, we will move to the Clubhouse and have a indoor activity. We want to see who are our homerun kickers!!

Save Date- Toy Story 5 & Riptide Fundraiser @Chipotle - 7/14

Please save Tuesday, July 14th around 5pm for Riptide at the Movies! More details will be shared soon on where swimmers can purchase tickets. We will also have our team fundraiser at Chipotle that night - movie & burritos? We think so! Details to come.

Stay Connected: Follow our team on Instagram and X @vrriptide! We also have a facebook group where last minute reminders are sent and people can ask questions.

Thank you to our Riptide Sponsors! Pin Oak Tree Services, Virginia Run Community, Virginia Run Children’s Sale, Capital Construction of America, Cheron Orthodontics, Collegiate Sealers & Paving, Ciro New York Pizza, The Dog Stop, Wholesome NOVA, Luck Stone, Living Colour Pack 2011 Cub Scouts