Hello SPAR families! I just wanted to send some updates regarding swim team this summer to keep everyone in the loop! First off, we DO plan on having swim team this summer and we would love to have everyone back! :) With COVID numbers dropping some and vaccines becoming more available, we are hoping that this will be a more normal season than what we were looking at last year. From what we know right now, meets should be in-person unless individual neighborhood HOAs don't allow it. And we plan on our practice schedule remaining the same as 2019, with afternoon practices only while school is in and both morning and afternoon practices once school is out. Head over to our website at www.sparswimteam.com to find our practice times and dates, meet schedule etc.

• Mark your calendars for April 1st! That will be the day that registration will open for all returning families. Registration will close on April 15th for those outside of Sparrows Point. As you know, we are limited to 35 outside memberships. So after that day, we will offer any unsold outside memberships first to those who were on the waiting list for the 2020 season. We will not be holding a walk-in registration this year. If you have friends or neighbors who are interested in being placed on the waiting list, please have them contact me directly, and I will add them to the list. Swim team registration costs will be $110 for the first swimmer and $95 for each additional swimmer in a family. An outside pool membership will be $225 per family. I will send a more detailed email as we draw closer to April 1st when registration opens.
• As always, we are looking for sponsorships to help offset some of our costs and keep our prices low. If you own a business or have a relationship with a business who might like to support us, let us know! The sponsorship form can be found and printed from the home page of our website. We will again offer incentives to families who bring in these sponsorships. If you bring in a Gold Sponsor at the $500 level, you will receive $75 off registration per swimmer (with a max of 2 swimmers or max discount of $150 per family) PLUS a parking spot at all home meets. If you secure a Silver Sponsorship ($250 level), your family will receive $50 off your registration fee per swimmer (again up to two swimmers or max $100 discount per family) PLUS a parking spot at all home meets. Our Bronze sponsorship ($100 level) would earn you one of those coveted close parking spots at all home meets. Any discounts off registration will be refunded once the sponsorship is received. The Board will be contacting all our previous sponsors such as Smile Doctors, Hungry Howie’s, Five Forks Chiropractic, and Tropical Smoothie etc regarding sponsorships. All sponsorship forms, payments and logos will be due by April 25th so we can start printing our t-shirts and banner.
• We are also offering a second opportunity again this year to earn money off your registration! Any family that brings in a NEW Sparrows Point family to our swim team will earn a $20 discount on their registration! We love all our outside members, but we would also love to bring in more families from Sparrows Point so that our team can continue to thrive for many years. Please send new families our way and let us know who you're sending and we will refund you $20 once the season has started.
• We will keep our same team suit this year so start looking around for those swimsuits and see if they still fit! I will send out more information soon on ordering through Augusta Swim. As always, swimmers can wear a solid black racing-style suit in place of the team suit if needed.

We will know more about any COVID restrictions as we get closer to the summer--for example, if DHEC again sets limits on the number of people on a pool deck, we will have to get creative with our meets and spectators on deck etc. Also, as much as possible, our coaches will try to find ways to keep the swimmers a little more socially distanced than normal, though with practices and meets, complete social distancing won't be possible. We are also not yet sure of what social events we will be able to hold down at the pool. If this year has taught us anything, hopefully it's taught us that we have to be flexible! :) With all that being said, though, we are SO excited about getting back to the pool and seeing all the kids in the water in just over two months from now!

As always, please let me know if you have any questions! And if you know for sure that your family won't be returning this season, let me know that as well, as that will help with our planning.

Hope this finds you all well!

Amy