Waynewood Dolphins Weekly Newsletter

July 9, 2023

It’s a big week for the Waynewood Dolphins with our final B Meet tomorrow and our Senior Day A Meet on Saturday. The volunteering effort has been overall really strong this season—let’s finish it that way down the stretch.

This Week’s Calendar at a Glance:

• Monday—Home B Meet vs. Mansion House, 6 p.m. (warm-ups at 5 p.m.)
• Wednesday—All-Star Relays at Hamlet
• Thursday—Dolphin Prom Teen Night, 6:30 p.m.
• Friday—Pie in the Face Pep Rally, 6 p.m.
• Saturday—Senior Day/Home A Meet vs. Great Falls, 9 a.m. (warm-ups at 8 a.m.)

In This Week’s Message:

1. Dolphins Beat Piranhas, Move to 4-0
2. Home B Meet vs. Mansion House—Monday at 6 p.m.
3. Senior Day and Home A Meet vs. Great Falls—Saturday at 9 a.m.
4. Collect Your Ribbons
5. All-Star Relays—Wednesday at 4 p.m.
6. Dolphin Prom Teen Night—Thursday at 6:30 p.m.
7. Pie in the Face Pep Rally—Friday at 6 p.m.
8. Team Photo—Monday, July 17
9. Fort Hunt IM Invitational—Monday, July 17
10. Little Dolphins News: New Meet Opportunity and Extended Practice
11. Final Spirit Wear Order Has Arrived and Volunteer Thank You Update
12. Banquet, Awards Ceremony, and Team Pool Party—July 22

1. Dolphins Beat Piranhas, Move to 4-0

The strong performances just kept coming as the Waynewood Dolphins, facing the previously undefeated Mansion House Piranhas, continued their winning streak and moved to a 4-0 record in Division X. The final score was 269-151.

• You can find the full results here and the updated individual top times here.
• Photos are on Instagram and will be posted on SmugMug in the coming days.
• Team results and league standings can be viewed at NVSL’s website. You can look up friends from other teams and see how you stack up against other swimmers in our division and in all of the Northern Virginia Swim League.

Highlights from Saturday’s meet:

• All 10 Dolphin swimmer age groups contributed at least 14 points and Dolphin teams won a season high 10 relays to underscore the team’s balanced strengths.
• Outstanding Meet Contribution: Amid strong contributions from across the team, the Dolphins’ 7-8 boys of Luke Morris, Isaac Exner, Charlie Agnini, Jack Morris, Matthew Charipar, Emmett Popowich, and Everett Martin took 27 of 36 possible points in individual events including first place in all four strokes. The boys also won their relay race.

2. Home B Meet vs. Mansion House—Monday at 6 p.m.

That’s right! We’re facing the Piranhas again Monday night at Waynewood. It’s hard to believe, but this is our last B Meet for the 2023 season.

• Please arrive at 4:45 p.m. to be ready for warm-ups at 5 p.m. The meet starts promptly at 6 p.m.
• Stroke order is IM, butterfly, freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke. Swimmers are allowed two strokes, plus IM.

REMINDER: Please leave the WRA parking lot open for our visiting team. There is plenty of street parking or we encourage you to walk or bike to the pool.

Won’t have time to eat? Join us at the pool. Our concessions volunteers will be grilling again, plus have a full assortment of snacks and drinks.

3. Senior Day and Home A Meet vs. Great Falls—Saturday at 9 a.m.

It’s the final A Meet of the season! The Great Falls Rapids visit Waynewood for our annual Senior Day tradition Saturday at 9 a.m.

• Join us at the pool to recognize our Dolphin seniors.

Make sure you have indicated your swimmer’s availability or non-availability by 11 p.m. Monday for this meet. Swimmers will be notified no later than Thursday if they are participating in this meet.

4. Collect Your Ribbons

Every swimmer who completes a legal swim in an A Meet or B Meet wins a ribbon for the heat—first place through sixth place.

• You can find these ribbons in the family file folder located in boxes on shelves by the WRA check-in counter. Please take a look in your file folder.

Congrats to all of our swimmers on their accomplishments this summer!

5. All-Star Relays—Wednesday at 4 p.m.

This year’s All-Star Relays take place at Hamlet Swim and Tennis Club, located at 8209 Dunsinane Ct, McLean, VA 22102.

Waynewood’s 13-14 Boys’ squad will be competing in both the Medley and Freestyle events. Come cheer our boys on or wish Moses Wolf, Connor Minear, Marshall LoCascio, and Luke Morris good luck before Wednesday!

6. Dolphin Prom Teen Night—Thursday at 6:30 p.m.

It’s the Dolphin Prom for our teens! Dress is “As Classy As You Wanna Be.” You might want to wear your “sensible shoes” though. It’s a walking progressive dinner.

• Teens should sign up at practice starting Tuesday morning and bring $15 to cover dinner.
• The path of the progressive dinner is still being finalized.
• Participants are asked to wear swimsuits under their outfits rather than changing this year.

IMPORTANT: Participants must be registered Waynewood Dolphin swimmers and be 13 or above on the date of the teen night to attend. Please respect that no exceptions will be made.

7. Pie in the Face Pep Rally—Friday at 6 p.m.

Our favorite pep rally is just days away—Pie in the Coaches’ Face! A timeless classic involving trivia questions and lots of whipped cream. 

• Of course, we will announce practice monsters and decorate our sidewalks with Dolphin spirit!

8. Team Photo—Monday, July 17

A heads up that ALL Dolphins and Little Dolphins will gather for the team photograph on Monday, July 17.

• Photographers will start taking individual and sibling swimmer photos at 7:30 a.m.
• By 8 a.m., swimmers will be lining up for placement in the Dolphins team photo.
• Individual photo shoots may continue after the team photo and we’ll keep a list of swimmers who are in line before the team photo and return to that order once it is done.

We’ll send a reminder in next week's newsletter.

9. Fort Hunt IM Invitational—Monday, July 17

The 2023 Fort Hunt IM Invitational will take place at Hayfield Farm on Monday, July 17. Warm-ups begin at 3:45 p.m. and the first heat will be at 5 p.m.

• Hayfield Farm is located at 7820 Hayfield Road, Alexandria, VA 22315.

Like an A Meet, the Waynewood Dolphins will send our fastest IM swimmers to this meet. For this meet (per our volunteer policy), we will also prioritize swimmers from families who have been registering shifts as volunteers (or serving as leads) over those who have not.

• To be considered for selection, swimmers need to indicate availability here no later than 6 p.m. on Tuesday, July 11.
• Waynewood gets to send three swimmers from each age/gender group (for example, 13-14 girls and could get an additional bid-in entry in the days before the meet).
• Please note that while 8 & under swimmers may compete in the 10 & under age group, there is no 8 & under IM age group at this meet.

10. Little Dolphins News: New Meet Opportunity and Extended Practice

Looking ahead to next week, we’re already preparing for our Little Dolphins Mini Meet on July 19 at 9 a.m.

• New for this year: In addition to the Mini Meet where Little Dolphins have the opportunity to swim freestyle and backstroke in a space that’s just for them, this year we’re also inviting Little Dolphins to swim just freestyle at the Dolphin Duel on July 20 at 6 p.m.

We’re trying this out as it was brought to our attention that the 9 a.m. start time isn’t ideal for all families. Plus, who doesn’t love the idea of watching adorable Little Dolphins swim amid one of our biggest team events of the year? We’ll share more details in next week’s newsletter.

• The Little Dolphins Mini Meet starts at 9 a.m. on Wednesday, July 19, and is an opportunity for our youngest swimmers to show how much they’ve learned.
• The Dolphin Duel starts at 6 p.m. (warm-ups at 5 p.m.) on Thursday, July 20.

PLEASE NOTE: One of the things that’s great about Mini Meet is that it’s just for Little Dolphins and there’s both time and focus to help ensure jittery swimmers are comfortable enough to make the big swim.

• The atmosphere and timeline at Dolphin Duel is different, so if your Little Dolphin swimmer is jittery, doesn’t love Little Dolphin practice, or is hesitant about Mini Meet, then Dolphin Duel may not be the best option for him or her.

REMINDER: We’ve extended the Little Dolphins practice season until Thursday, July 27, to accommodate the delayed start due to FCPS going a week later. This extended session will start after the Little Dolphins mini meet on Wednesday, July 19.

• Little Dolphins practice on Thursday, July 20, and Friday, July 21, will go from 12 p.m. until 12:30 pm (no 5:30 pm practice either day).
• From Monday, July 24, through Thursday, July 27, Little Dolphins will practice from 10 a.m. until 10:30 a.m.
• These practices are optional and all Little Dolphins are invited to attend this session. There will be no afternoon practice for these days.

11. FINAL Spirit Wear Order Has Arrived and Volunteer Thank You Update

We’ll have a table setup from 5:30 to 7 p.m. at Monday’s B Meet for swimmers to pick up ordered caps, T-shirts, and spirit wear. Every swimmer who registered by June 24 should now have a team shirt with them or still to be picked up.

Volunteer Thank You

This has really been a strong year for volunteering. We’ve consistently had families move quickly to take shifts when we need them or ask for help—that’s what we need.

• As something of a dividend from this Dolphin community effort, we’ve decided to lower the threshold for volunteering families to receive our car magnet gift.
• Regardless of the minimum shift policy requirement, we’re now making the magnet available to all families who have completed four volunteer shifts no matter how many swimmers are in the family and three shifts for families with just one swimmer (and two shifts for just a Little Dolphin).

The Dolphins thank the following families who will have a newly designed car/refrigerator magnet at the spirit wear table on Monday for pickup:

• Agnini
• Batcheller
• Bertolino
• Burek
• Butler
• Carraway
• Castle
• Cooper
• Corcoran
• Coyne
• Denis
• Dunstan
• Evans
• Goggins
• Gorney
• Gross
• Hartridge
• Heaton
• Heinzen
• Hensarling
• Hickling
• Hiler
• Hoeflinger
• Hope
• Knapp
• Leth
• Lewis
• Lozar
• Luher
• Lytle
• McElwain
• Miller
• Minear
• Mustin
• Pinto
• Pond
• Poyac-Clarkin
• Promen
• Pullen
• Reilly
• Roughgarden
• Rufe
• Scott
• Shanks
• Simonelli
• Smith
• Sperber
• St peter
• Vermillion
• Whitford
• Whitlow
• Woodward
• Young

PLEASE NOTE: We’re not lowering the minimum volunteer requirement with this action—we’re only lowering the requirement for receiving our appreciation gift to ensure many families have this team pride marker before the season is over.

Please continue to help us with volunteer shifts for events like Dolphin Duel and the Team Banquet. If you’re short, even after the season, you can earn credits (and qualify for the magnet) by helping out WRA.

Volunteer leads and officials should have already received magnets. If you’re a volunteer lead, official, or believe your family has already completed your shift commitment, please reach out to the Team Reps if you haven’t received your magnet.

• The Dolphins Team Reps would also like to thank all our contributing families for moving quickly to fill volunteer needs this season. We’ve noticed a change since last season and we’ve sent far fewer late night emails this season seeking volunteers. Thank you for helping—it makes a difference!

12. Banquet, Awards Ceremony, and Pool Party—July 22

Tickets are now on sale for our season-ending celebration at the pool on July 22 from 6-11 p.m.

• This year's banquet will again be catered by Dolphins team sponsors Northside 10 and Southside 815.
• We’re grateful to banquet coordinator Karin Dushaw for organizing this terrific celebration.
• You can now buy tickets for the banquet on our website here—look for the banquet icon.

All swimmers will receive a medal at the banquet to commemorate their status as a 2023 Dolphins team member. Swimmers who do attend the banquet can collect their medal later.

Questions?

Don’t hesitate to contact our Team Reps, Frederick & Tom, at [email protected]

Go Dolphins!

Waynewood Dolphins Communications