We hope you have enjoyed your first week of morning practices!

Remember: there are no practices tomorrow, July 1, Canada Day, so without further ado we want to wish you all a HAPPY CANADA DAY!  Wear your red and white tomorrow and head down to the pool for Splash Bash and a Canadian Flag Cake with your neighbours, or watch the skies tomorrow evening for fireworks in one of the Montreal arrondissements. 

We want to wish our divers good luck as they meet their first rivals of the season at Dixie Pool in Lachine on Sunday July 3rd. Good luck to all who participate and have a great time!  There is still a bit of time to sign up to the dive meet so please visit the Diving Sign Up Page to get your diver registered to the meet.

For those of you on the swim team, your sign up to the first Home Swimming Competition of the season is ongoing.  We will be welcoming our friends from Beaurepaire Pool in Beaconsfield.  We need your swimmers to be registered and we need volunteers so please don't hesitate to sign up today on the Swim Meet Sign Up Page.  Again we want to thank all those who offered to time at yesterday's swim team Time Trial.  The kids had fun and got to put some times down in the pool which will help the coaches in placing them into races. We still need a few timers for the meet next Wednesday, as well as runners who are integral to ensuring the results get posted quickly.

Last night many of you braved the rain for our Family Picnic in Westmount Park.  Although we were small in number, a few tug o' war matches and a few rounds of "Capture the Football" (we didn't have any Flags to capture but we had two footballs) entertained the kids while parents in attendance socialized.  Watch for information about future events like this:  a fun way to spend a summer evening even if it started off a little damp and got a little muddy. Check out some photos on our facebook page.

Finally, one unfortunate swimmer misplaced her Dolphins Hoodie and baseball cap:  Camille Sampson-Mayes.  Her name is written inside each of these items but they disappeared from the deck after the Time Trial in the morning.  If anyone  picked them up, please return them as soon as you can.  You may leave them with the Lifeguards or with one of the Dolphins volunteers at morning practice and just email the club to say where you left these items so that we may return them to their rightful owner.

Have a great holiday weekend!

Go Dolphins Go!

In order to compete, each athlete must be registered to the meet before a specific deadline:

SWIM TEAM:  MIDNIGHT ON THE MONDAY PRIOR TO THE COMPETITION. 
DIVING TEAM:  MIDNIGHT ON THE THURSDAY PRIOR TO THE COMPETITION.

If your registration is not received by that time, your swimmer may not compete.


To be able to sign up you must be able to use Google. You should have already created your family's Google Account.  If you have not please do so by following these simple instructions. If you are using a smartphone or iPhone or iPad, you must also download the following Google Apps from the App Store or from Google Play:  Google, Google Drive, Google Sheets and Google Docs.  Without these apps you will not be able to sign up.

To register to a swim meet:
1) Visit the Sign up to a Swim Meet page on our website

2) Click on the link SIGN UP YOUR SWIMMERS for each meet date listed and fill out the easy Google Form that appears before midnight of the Monday prior to that meet.  You may sign up at any time as long as it is before the deadline.

To register to a diving meet:
1) Visit the Sign up to a Diving Meet page on our website

2) Click on the link SIGN UP YOUR DIVERS for each meet date listed and fill out the easy Google Form that appears before midnight of the Thursday prior to that meet.  You may sign up at any time as long as it is before the deadline.

General Information regarding Carpooling, Volunteers and Concessions:

If you require carpooling arrangements to an away meet and don't know who to arrange these with or have space in your car and would like to offer someone a lift, click on the link Carpooling to sign up to participate in a carpool.

If you are considering volunteering as an official at an Away meet click on the link Sign up as an Official, or to help out at a Home meet, click on the link Sign up as an Official or Volunteer.  The competitions cannot function without the support of parents like you!  There is a handy link to view the signups so that you may see where we are still in need of help.

For Home Meets Only: We must provide a concession stand offering dinner or breakfast options, a bake sale consisting of any number of delicious treats, coffee,soft drinks and hot chocolate during the meet. This is an important fundraiser which covers the cost of ribbons that are given to the athletes at competitions.  To sign up to commit to a food contribution click on Food contributions to BAKESALE. We appreciate your generosity!


If you have any questions, concerns or are having difficulty signing up, please contact us at info@westmountdolphins.org.

Go Dolphins go!

It is finally about to start:  the REGULAR SEASON BEGINS NEXT WEEK!

We can hardly wait to get into our morning Dolphins routine.

Check out the Dolphins Training Schedule to refresh your memory.

Please read through this message carefully as there is a lot of important information!

A few important reminders for swimmers:

What to bring to practice:
swimsuit, bathing cap, goggles, flip flops, towel (s), warm clothes to put on after, a lock to keep your things safe in the lockers, your smile and cheering voice (we sometimes practice our cheers--you need to be ready!). 
We are not responsible for lost or stolen items so lock up your valuables or leave them at home, please.

A few important reminders for parents:

1) Please bring appropriate footwear to wear on the deck (flip flops, crocs or other such footwear)

2) Please wait until the end of practice to speak to the coaches: when the children are arriving they are trying to get them into the water as quickly as possible and their attention, for safety reasons, needs to be on that task

3) Please ensure that you have set up a free Google Account for your family using the email address that is connected to your family's account.  YOU DO NOT NEED TO SET UP A GMAIL ACCOUNT; YOU MAY SET IT UP USING YOUR OWN EMAIL ADDRESS.  Follow these simple instructions. All of our sign-up sheets for competitions and activities are done using Google applications.  If you are accessing information from a smartphone, tablet, iPhone or iPad, you will need to download the following free applications to that device that will facilitate these sign-ups:  Google Drive, Google Sheets, Google Docs.  Without a Google account and these apps on your devices you won’t be able to access and edit important information from the club!

4) FOR SWIM TEAM PARENTS:
Officials "Mini-Clinics" and Referees' Training:  Monday, June 27
Referee Clinic:  registration 5:30pm;  clinic start 6:00pm (approx. 50 minutes)
Mini-Clinics: registration 6:30pm; Clinic #1 7:00pm (approx. 50 minutes); Clinic#2 8:00pm (approx. 50 minutes)
Where: Pointe-Claire Aquatics Centre 
Parents are invited to attend this special training event where they may learn two tasks that are needed to run swim meets. Choices available are: Timer/Chief Timer; Place Judge/Chief Place Judge; Stroke and Turn judge; Starter.  For those who want to learn Meet Manager or Recorder/Scorer the clinic is from 7pm to 8:50pm. 
To participate contact Ross Tzankov our ALPS representative.

5) TIME TRIAL FOR SWIM TEAM!  Wednesday, June 29 during morning practice
This is a chance for swimmers to experience a taste of what a swim meet is like and to try racing before our first competition.  Parents who are available on Wednesday morning are asked to help as timers; a brief training will be given.

6) Dolphins Family Picnic:  Wednesday, June 29 6pm to 7:30pm  Westmount Park (in the field behind the playground; where the "Camping in the Park" takes place)  A chance for Dolphins parents to socialize while the children play games with their coaches and CITs.  Bring your picnic dinner and join in the fun!

7) We will begin distributing team tshirts during the practices next week.  We are also looking for someone who would be willing to take team photos of our four aquatics teams in the next few weeks.  Please contact us at info@westmountdolphins.org if you would be able to help us with this task.

We think Summer 2016 is going to be the best season yet!

Go Dolphins Go!

Pre-season Training Begins Week of June 13:  The pre-season is a Westmount Dolphins tradition which offers our new members and many of our returning members the opportunity to get their feet wet in their sport a bit earlier before the full team starts regular season practice.  These practices are in the evenings. 

SWIM TEAM:
Monday, Wednesday and   Friday 6:30pm-7:30pm   12 and unders
Monday, Wednesday and   Friday   7:30pm-8:30pm   13 and overs
 
SYNCHRO, DIVING, AND WATERPOLO:
Tuesday and Thursday   6:30pm-7:30pm   all groups
*if you are doing more than one of these sports perhaps alternate sports each practice
 
If your athlete is already practicing their aquatics discipline at a winter club, they may continue their winter training and wait for the start of the Regular Season.
 
Regular Season Training Begins Week of June 27:  The regular season is when all the practices move to the morning and our regular schedule will be in effect until August 19. 

SWIM TEAM:
Monday to Friday 8am-9am 12 and unders
Monday to Friday 9am-10am 13 and overs
 
DIVING:
Tuesday to Friday 11am-12noon   all ages
 
SYNCHRO:
Recreational:  Tuesday 10am-11am
Competitive:  Wednesday to Friday   10am-11am
 
WATER POLO:
Competitive 12 and under:  Tuesday and Thursday   10am-11am
Recreational 13 and over:  Wednesday and Friday   10am-11am
*Please note the change for the 13 and over group
 
We also have some exciting news to share with all of the Dolphins community:  three of our swimmers have qualified to represent the region of Lac St-Louis at this summer's Quebec Games in the sport of competitive swimming:  one of our coaches, Ethan Kreuzer, as well as two other seasoned Dolphins swimmers:  Lowik Furlotte-Turp and Oscar Cruz.  All three of these swimmers train during the winter at Cote Saint Luc Aquatics.  We are so proud of these boys and what they have accomplished this season!

Go Dolphins Go!

Last night was our Annual General Meeting (AGM) and unfortunately we had a very low turnout although we did have sufficient numbers to run the meeting.  Our big concern is that people are receiving our messages.   Please ensure that you have added info@westmountdolphins.org to your contacts.

We had hoped to make last night's meeting our main information session for parents but since so few turned out it looks like we will have to set another date for an information session.  Please watch your emails for a date and ensure that you make yourself available:  there are lots of important dates and information that we need to transmit to you and although some of it can go through email, there is nothing like a question and answer session in person, to get a lot of information across especially early in the season.

We still have room on the Board of Directors for the club for one or two interested volunteers who would like to get involved in the planning and to spearhead some of our committees that help keep things running smoothly. As a volunteer-run organization, this is crucial to our success.  If you are interested, please let us know! We welcome anyone who likes to get involved and help out!

Please be reminded that the week of June 13 is start of pre-season training for all sports:  Swim Team starting June 13 and the other disciplines on June 14.

Looking forward to another great season of the Westmount Dolphins!

Go Dolphins Go!