Well, well, well, Tucka families! The long wait is over! The de facto season starter is this Saturday with Black & Gold Team Time Trials!

With such an important milestone, please read on carefully, as there's a lot of information to go through!

Swim Practice Weekly Schedule Remains in the Afternoon

Normal swim practices every weekday at the same time, until June 19th.

Please note: with Saturday meets come Friday Potlucks! Hence, no more Saturday practices, and no Little Tiger Practices for the next couple of Fridays (12th and 19th), so the LT families can join in the potluck.

Potluck - Friday, June 12th @ 6:00 PM

We are making a subtle change to the Potluck dynamic this year: the food we bring is for swimmers. Team Reps invite parents to help with the meet setup, then join them on the hill for some adult conversation. BYO food, snacks, and beverages (remember, no glass containers.) Then help with the cleanup, as many hands make light work!

Please bring enough food to serve 8 people. Use plastic/metal containers and avoid using breakable dishware like glass or ceramic. Remember to bring home your containers and utensils. By 8:00 pm all swimmers go home to get a good night's rest!

Potluck Food Assignments [Per Last Name]:

A – F: Main Dish (Pasta, BBQ, meatballs, hot dogs, hamburgers, pizza)

G - L: Side Dish (mac-n-cheese, corn on the cob, beans, rice)

M - R: Salad (green, caesar, pasta)

S – Z: Fruit (watermelon, cantaloupe, pineapple, grapes, berries)

Tuckahoe Black & Gold

So, what is this Black & Gold, you may ask. Great question!

Black&Gold is our team's internal, meet-style time trial held right before the dual meets begin. It functions as an official mock meet—complete with referees, starters, and stroke-and-turn judges—but is only attended by our own swimmers. The primary goal is to time every swimmer in each stroke they can legally complete. This allows coaches to rank swimmers and accurately determine who should race in the competitive Saturday "A" meets.

The annual Tuckahoe Black & Gold Time Trials Meet will be held on Saturday, June 13th. All swimmers on the Swim Team (except for Little Tigers) are eligible to swim in this meet, as long as they were entered in the Meet Availability Form (now closed).

Black & Gold Meet Schedule

7:00 AM -Setup Volunteers Arrive

7:30 AM -Deck Marshalls Arrive

7:45 AM -11 & Up Swimmer Warm Up

8:00 AM -10 & Under Swimmer Warm Up

8:15 AM -All volunteers to check-in prior to 8:15 AM.

8:30 AM -Meet Start: Standard stroke order: Free, Back, Breast, Fly

11:30 AM -Estimated Meet End Time

If your swimmer cannot attend Black&Gold, they can have their times recorded during the first Monday meet on June 22nd.
If you didn't fill out the Meet Availability Form, email [email protected] by Tuesday.

Monday Meets

In the Northern Virginia Swimming League (NVSL), Monday Meets (aka "B" meets) are unofficial, non-scored swim meets held on Monday evenings. Designed to complement the official Saturday meets, they provide all swimmers with valuable practice under real-time conditions, and coaches with observations to continuously build a strong roster for the Saturday Dual Meets.

They are open to all team members. However, to ensure fair competition and opportunities, swimmers who participated in a specific stroke during the previous Saturday Meet may be restricted from swimming that same stroke on Monday.

Monday Meets are the cornerstone of team and spirit-building for the Tuckahoe Swim Team.

The first Monday Meet will be on June 22nd, and it will recur every Monday through July 21st.

Weekly Information Cadence

Now that you know what Black&Gold is and what the difference is between "Saturday" meets and "Monday" meets, here's what you can expect from your team reps:

• Sundays: Weekly update and Monday Meet information
• Tuesdays: Coaches select roster for Saturday
• Wednesdays: Communication with Meet timeline, Swimmer roster, and post-meet meal info
• Thursdays: Meet Sheet & Potluck food allocations
• Saturdays: meet recap

Swim Team Fun Day: June 23rd

We are very excited to announce a dedicated day for the team to celebrate the summer season, have fun, and bond with one another. There will be:

• Picture Day
  • 7:30 am - Swim Individual/Sibbling pictures
  • 8:00 am - Swim Team Photo
  • 8:30 am - remaining individual pictures
  • See attached flier for some preliminary information.
    
• Pancake Breakfast!
  • The most cherished breakfast of all summer!
• Swim Team Movie Outing!
  • We are finalizing the last details and will bring you more information shortly.
  • This will not be a drop-off event for 10&unders. A guardian is required for all 10&u attending.

Save the date: Swim Team Late Nite is on June 27th

GO TUCKAHOE!!