Good morning Pirates!

Here is the information that was covered in our Parent’s Meetings this week.

Welcome/Intros – Welcome to Pirates! We are so excited to have Coach Tyler Thames back as our head coach. He will be joined by Camille Cramer and Walker Wilson as assistant coaches. All 3 are former Pirates swimmers!! Coach Walker even holds some of our team records! Coach Camille and Coach Walker will each oversee a pool and Coach Tyler will be going back and forth weekly or so.

Our Board this year is:
• Amy Schrenk – President
• Camille Kraft – VP
• Nandita Mahendra– VP
• Sara Orsi – Secretary
• Ron Hatter – Treasurer
• Troy Orsi – Head Official
• Narelle Thrift – At-Large member

Still have 1 At -Large position available if anyone wants to volunteer!

​Practices – Practices are held Tuesday through Friday. Please only attend the practice you are registered for. Practices are not mandatory. If you have to miss, there is no need to let anyone know. Obviously the more practices your swimmer can attend, the more they will get out of the season. Swimmers must wear masks when they are not in the water. Practice times are staggered to keep people from congregating at the gate. Junior coaches in the water will be wearing face shields.

Only parents of 10 and under swimmers will be allowed in the pool deck area and must bring their own chairs and wear masks and socially distance from the coaches and other parents.

Pool Rules – We are guests of the HOAs. Please be respectful of the pool and pool areas and clean up after yourself. The only people allowed in the water are the coaches and the swimmers registered to the specific practice. No one is allowed in the splash areas at either pool.

Volunteering – We are a volunteer run organization and cannot run without our volunteers! At the meets, we do require that if your swimmer is swimming, someone from your family is volunteering. There are plenty of great volunteer opportunities. The best seat in the house is Timing. With Timing, you are right on the pool deck timing the swimmers as they race. Don’t worry; you will be trained before each meet! We will also be running our own concessions this year, so there will be plenty of volunteer options. We will also have floaters this year to make sure that everyone is able to watch their swimmer compete.

Meets – Speaking of meets, at our 2 home meets at the Natatorium, we are only allowed 1 spectator per swimmer inside the building. We must keep capacity at 200 or less and that includes swimmers, volunteers, etc. So timing is going to be a great way to be able to watch your swimmer!

Our meets will be on Saturdays starting May 22 with Memorial Day weekend off and a bye week June 26. For all meets, swimmers must circle in by 7 am or they will be scratched. Please plan to arrive in plenty of time so your swimmer is not scratched.

Relays – Relays are the last events of the meets. Please be sure to stick around till the end of the meet! If your child is selected to swim on a relay, there are 3 other swimmers depending on them. If your child is asked to swim up on a relay, please let them do so! It’s fun for them and enables 3 other swimmers to swim. If your child does not show up for their relay without checking with Coach first, they will be ineligible to swim in relays until Coach says it’s okay.

Committee Chairs/Officials – We do still have a few committee chairs open. If you are interested in taking on a bigger volunteer role, please let a Board Member know. We are in need of volunteers for Ready Area, Sponsorship, Ribbons/Records, and Computer chair.

We are also still in need of officials. Officials attend training and then work during the meets. Again, please let a board member know if you are interested.

Inclement Weather – In case of inclement weather, practices will be cancelled. We will try not to do a mass cancellation, but cancel just affected practices. Please keep an eye on our Facebook page, Twitter, your email, and your texts. Notifications of cancellations will go out through as many platforms as available.

Suits – New suits this year! Team suits are required if your swimmer is going to swim in meets (not required for preracers but you can still purchase a suit if you’d like!) These are available for purchase at Swim Shops of the Southwest (9430 Broadway St #144, Pearland, TX 77584, 281-485-3100). Please call before visiting as their hours are varying right now.

Sponsorship/Scholarship – We are a non-profit organization. And the heart of our program is our junior coaches. We provide scholarships for our junior coaches for devoting their high school summertime to coaching for us. Part of the money we raise from Sponsorships goes towards these scholarships. We also need to purchase equipment for the team. We are in need of multiple new lane ropes for both pools.

Important upcoming dates –

• May 8th (10-2) and May 11th (11-6) – Swim Shops of the Southwest (9430 Broadway St #144, Pearland, TX 77584, 281-485-3100) will be staying open late (until 8 pm) for Pirates to purchase their team suits! You also receive 10% off any additional purchases made when you purchase your suit.
• May 11– Tryouts. All tryouts will be at the SILVERLAKE pool. Please come during your swimmer’s practice time. Swimmers 8 and under must be able to swim 25 yards of freestyle and backstroke. Swimmers 9 and up must be able to swim 50 yards of freestyle and backstroke.
• May 12 – Practices begin!
• May 18 – Pictures! Individual pictures will be taken at the Silvercreek pool. More details to follow.
• May 22 – Home Meet at the Nat versus League City
• June 5 – Meet @ SouthBelt
• June 12 – Meet @ PineBrookWood
• June 19 – Home Meet at the Nat versus Deer Park
• Weekend of July 9-10 – Champ Series in Angleton (for qualified swimmers only)

Upcoming -
• Spirit Night – Come join us for dinner and pickup your Pirates shirt and cap! A portion of the proceeds will go to the Pirates team.

As always, if you have any questions, please email Pearland.Swim.Board@gmail.com.

Practices – Practice registration will open on Monday, April 26. You will need to sign up for ONE practice time for May and ONE for June. EVERYONE must be registered to attend practice (this includes USA swimmers who want to practice with Pirates). We are limiting the practice sessions to 24 swimmers per session at Silverlake and 32 per session at Silvercreek. We will have 5 minutes between sessions so swimmers from one session aren’t mingling with swimmers from the other session. Practices are held Tuesday through Friday. Practices are not mandatory. If you are going to miss a practice, there is no need to let anyone know. Obviously the more practices your swimmer attends, the more they will get out of the season. Practices will begin May 12. Swimmers must wear masks to enter the pool area and when they leave. Junior coaches will be wearing face shields in the water.

Practices will be as follows (SC is SilverCreek, SL is SilverLake).

May practices (all pm times):
4-430 – 8U (SL), 8U (SC)
435-515 – 14U (SL), 14U (SC)
520-6 – 14U (SL), 14U (SC)
605-645 NONE at SL, HS/ limited 8U at SC

June (all AM times):
630-710 18U both pools
715 – 755 18U both pools
8-840 18U both pools
845-925 only at SC HS/limited 8U

Parent meetings will be held May 4 at Silverlake and May 5 at Silvercreek, during your child’s practice time.

Tryouts – Tryouts will be held May 11. ALL new swimmers, regardless of your registration group, must try out.

Meets – Participation in meets is not mandatory. If your swimmer does participate in a meet, you will be required to volunteer at some point during that meet. For our home meets, we are limited in the number of people who will be allowed inside the Natatorium, so volunteering (especially timing!) is an easy way to be able to see your swimmer.

5/22 – Home meet against League City
6/5 – @ Southbelt
6/12 – @ PineBrookWood
6/19 – Home meet against Deer Park
6/26 – Bye Week
7/10 – Champ Series in Angleton

As always, please email pearland.swim.board@gmail.com if you have any questions!!

Ahoy Pirates!

Registration for the 2021 season (our 20th year!) will open tomorrow morning (April 1st).

Please register at – https://cui.active.com/sports-reg/login?a=950ede9a-315b-4340-b006-5170a85a56f6

If you have not swam with Pirates previously, you will need to register as a new swimmer (unless you are a USA swimmer or high school swimmer) and you will need to try out. Tryouts will be during the first week of practice. If you pay for registration but do not pass tryouts, your fee will be refunded. If your total is above $375 (our family maximum), we will be processing refunds for the overage. (The system does not allow us to set a maximum).

Please be sure to enter a cell number so we can send out text alerts (these are usually weather updates, meet reminders, etc). And don’t forget to select a size for your team shirt! There are adult and youth sizes so select your size accordingly.

As always, please email pearland.swim.board@gmail.com if you have any questions!

Welcome to the kickoff of the 20th year of Pirates swimming! There is a lot of important information in this so please read carefully!

Here are the current nominees for Board Positions. Please let the board know if you would like to nominate someone for one of the open positions.

Board members continuing service:
• President – Amy Schrenk
• VP Ways and Means – Camille Kraft
• Treasurer – Ron Hatter

Nominations for Board positions up for election:
• VP Operations – Nandita Mahendra
• Secretary – Sara Orsi
• At Large #1 – OPEN
• At Large #2 – OPEN

Non-elected positions:
• Head official – Troy Orsi
• Clerk – Lisa Linerode

2021 Registration
• Registration Opens for all swimmers: April 1, 2021
• Registration will be via the online registration process @ www.pearlandpirates.com
• Please note that the software CCSL changed prior to last year. If you did not swim with Pirates last year, you will need to create a new account.
• Signup for pool & practice times will be later in April (ie – not a part of the registration process)
• Please note that we are a swim TEAM and not lessons. Swimmers must be able to swim freestyle and backstroke independently (25 yards of each for 8 and under swimmers and 50 yards of each for ages 9 and up).

2021 Fee Summary
• New and returning swimmers – $180
• USA swimmer – $155
• Junior coach – $60 (All junior coaches MUST register)
• High School swimmer (completed 9th grade) – $75
• Pre-racer – $150 (limited to 8 and under swimmers)
• FAMILY MAX OF $375 – If your total is more than $375, please pay the total and the difference will be refunded to you.

IF YOU ROLLED OVER YOUR LAST SEASON FEES, you will be emailed a unique coupon code to use for registration.

2021 Pools – For the 2021 season, we do anticipate having practices at both Silverlake and Silvercreek pools. May practices will be after school and June practices will be early mornings.

2021 Sponsorship Opportunities
• We are actively looking for additional sponsors for the upcoming swim season. We can use all of the community support that we can get and it would be great to get your help.
• If you have a local company and are looking for advertising or community support opportunities, please contact us.
• Do you want to save money on your summer swim team registration? Of course you do! We have a new program this year to help benefit Pirates and to save you money. We are looking for local businesses to sponsor our team and you can help us. For each sponsor you bring in, you will receive a credit back on your registration. Once you turn in their check and their logo, you will earn a credit on your account based on the schedule below:

• Olympic Sponsor ($1000): $100 Account Credit
• Gold Sponsor ($750): $75 Account Credit
• Silver Sponsor ($500): $50 Account Credit
• Bronze Sponsor ($250): $25 Account Credit

• Attached is the letter explaining the levels and benefits for you to give to the potential sponsors.
• Please be sure to put your family’s last name on the form so you receive credit for any sponsors you bring in!

Volunteer information
• Please be aware that we will NOT be offering a volunteer buy out this season. All families will be required to volunteer in some capacity at every meet that your swimmer participates in. We will have plenty of opportunities for volunteering including shorter shifts, floating positions and more! Watch for more information coming soon!
• If you are unable to volunteer during meets, there are preseason and support positions available to you.
• We are still in need of volunteers to step up and become a committee head. Please remember this fulfills your volunteer responsibilities for the year! As with all volunteer positions you will never be asked to miss your child’s events. The board and fellow volunteers will always step in so you can step away and cheer on your swimmer. The following committees are in need of volunteers:

• Roster Coordinator: This position will be responsible for submitting the completed roster to the CCSL with any changes prior to the start of the season and on Mondays during the meet portion of the season.

• Sponsorship Coordinator: Responsibilities include coordinating a committee of volunteers to obtain sponsors, gather sponsor information and logos, and coordination of credits for members that participate in the sponsorship/tuition program.

• Marketing/PR: We are looking for a person to head up this new committee! We want to spread the word about Pirates, our mission, the fun things we do and accomplishments our swimmers make. This will include helping with the Facebook, Instagram and Twitter account. Possible coordination of yard signs, car decals etc. May also create flyers to be distributed at nearby elementary schools prior to registration start.

• Ready area coordinator: You will be in charge of coordination of volunteers to staff the ready area during home meets. This will not mean that you work the ready area the whole time. Just make sure your volunteer slots are full and everyone arrives on time.

• RASH chair: Really awesome swim helpers (RASH) is our junior junior coaching program. It was designed to get 6th to 8th grader ready and excited about making the transition to junior coaching. Responsibilities include coordination and signups, getting tank tops made for the kids, and coordination of signing volunteer forms for their hours for NJHS.

• Computer chair: Are you great with computers and networking? We need a point person to help out before meets will updating and maintaining equipment and during meets if the clerk needs assistance.

• Please email piratesswimboard@gmail.com with any questions or to let us know you are ready to sign up!

Miscellaneous
• Tryouts are required if you are a new swimmer. 8U swimmer will need to swim 25 yards freestyle and 25 yards backstroke safely. Ages 9 and up will be required to swim 50 yards of each.
• Packet pickup and meet your new coaching staff in May.
• The meet dates will all be held on Saturdays in late May and June. We will update this and send them out as soon as we have them.
• The champ series dates will be in mid July.
• Practice will begin around May 3rd and pool signups will be announced as we confirm pools and set practice schedules for the year.

Finally, stay tuned to your email, our website, and our social media sites for all of the latest information leading up to the season.

Aargh!!
Pearland Pirates Board
pearland.swim.board@gmail.com

Pirate Families,

Thank you SO much for your patience during this crazy time! We truly appreciate all of your support.
​
We are working hard to move forward with a modified season.

The following changes will be in effect for this season:

-Registration will reopen on June 1 at 9 am.

-The Silvercreek pool will NOT be a practice location this season. Meets will NOT be held at the Natatorium this season.

-We are waiting on the Silverlake pool to open and practices and “meets” will be at this location.

-Coach Tyler will take over as head coach. Coach Prybil will stay on in an advisory capacity.

-Junior Coaches will not be in the water with swimmers.

-Registration will be limited. We will only accept 8 and under swimmers who have swam on a competitive team before. The Preracer program will not run this season.

-Practices will be limited so we can follow CDC social distancing guidelines. Parents will not be allowed in the pool area. There will be more information to follow regarding the requirements for attending practices and meets.

-Practices will begin in June with 3 “meets” occurring in July (likely the 11th, 18th, and 25th). We will coordinate meets with the opposing team but right now we are planning for Virtual Meets. We will swim and time our swimmers at our pool and the other team will do the same. The clerks will run the numbers and we will know meet results.

-Refunds will be offered for families that choose not to participate this season and have already registered. You will have 2 options. If you choose to roll your registration over to next year, you’ll receive 100% credit of your payment. If you would like a refund now, we will be able to refund 75% of your payment. The team operates as a nonprofit and still has operating costs that need to be paid for (insurance, storage, coach salary, as well as other costs).

-All of this is pending on the Silverlake pool opening. Right now, with the Governor’s guidelines at 25% capacity, the pool is not available to us. If the Governor changes that capacity, we expect the pool will be opened. If you would prefer to wait to register once the pool is opened, please let us know so that we can plan. We know that some people will prefer to wait to not have the 25% administrative fee applied to your refund.

As always, we thank you for your patience during this crazy time. Hope to see you in the water soon!!!

Thank you,

Pearland Pirates Board
Pearland.Swim.Board@gmail.com