Greetings from the Pool deck,

Welcome to a new season of great swimming! Fall starts off the short course season, and it’s time to get back to work. Our high school swimmers are already back training hard. Most have their first meet in a few weeks. Our younger swimmers will have our Intra-Squad meet on Sept 15th.

The other event that always starts off our fall, is our Awards Day on Sept 16th. Here’s where we get to honor our swimmers achievements for the year, as well as those of our Super and Elite Parents. It’s fun and games for the family. Please put it in your calendar.

We’ve got three meets coming this fall, all at Grapevine. Please take a look at the calendar and mark the dates. We’re going to need your help on these dates.

There’s a slight change of schedule at our TCC Pool this fall. TCC Administration has decreased our pool time and increased our rent, so a few changes had to be made. AISD and the YMCA also has had similar changes. Coach Eric will be keeping everyone up to speed on things at TCC.

I’ve just come back from Atlanta, where my daughter Anja participated in the Lead Sports Summit. 126 girls from around the world came together for a young women’s leadership conference. The stories from the presenters were amazing and inspiring. The five Olympians, including our own Katie Meili, told the girls about their successes and failures in life, bringing much inspiration to all. It really brought home to me the amazing common thread that all of athletes, academics and professionals, who are all incredibly successful in their fields, have in common - swimming. This wonderful sport that we all devote so much time to continues to produce some amazing people, in and out of the water. These women are truly inspirational.

Fall is also the time when families start to question their abilities to continue to commit to swimming, as school gets up and running. It is also the time when all teams both lose and gain experienced swimmers. I have a few thoughts on this to share - first, the grass is almost never greener on another team. It’s just different grass. Rarely, do swimmers who leave us, or those who join us from other teams, see the dramatic changes their move was thought to make for them. My advice, stay put and believe in the program. There’s no magic pill, anywhere, and just being in the same pool where a great swimmer once swam, or swims, is not the secret to success. High school swimmers need to realize that success is driven by hard work and fortitude. Swimming is really hard. That’s what makes it so great, and why it produces some of our greatest people. In terms of success in high school swimming, all of the most successful swimmers at the district, region and state levels swim both for their schools and for clubs. This has always been true. The ability to juggle a demanding training and academic schedule puts you way ahead of your contemporaries, at school, in the pool, and most importantly in life. Don’t give up on what’s bound to make you great.

Look forward to the occasional parent meetings at the pools by our staff. This is a great time to ask questions and get to know the coaches, as well as hear what’s happening in your child’s group.

Have a great September!

Coach Brian

All current MARS families MUST Re-Register online with MARS for 2019 – As well as, must choose renewing family - NOT swimmers GROUP.

This is in addition to your USA 2019 registration.

***All renewing families this year have to also complete a paper copy of polices and procedures since it has changed. copy of this can either be found on the parents page or from there coach.

Thank you!

Reminder to all MARSian families.....If you haven't already done so, please renew your USAS membership this month.All renewals are due by Nov 1st. Please note: If you joined the team after August 1st, 2018 you are already registered for 2019 and do not need to renew. If you joined the team prior to August 1, 2018 you need to renew. Registration is on a calendar year, not 12 months from the day you joined the team.

REALLY IMPORTANT NOTE!! To renew your membership, log into your account online and click Start Registration. SELECT RENEWING MEMBER, NOT THE GROUP YOUR CHILD ACTUALLY SWIMS IN. If you click the group your child swims in you will be charged the new member registration rate and tuition for the month (you don't want that). By clicking RENEWING MEMBER you are only charged the reduced renewal rate and no extra tuition payment. Each swimmer also needs to fill out a 2019 USAS membership application. USAS still uses the paper form for 2019. These are available at each pool and on our website under the Parents Page tab. Please turn these in to your pools' supervisor or MARS Super-Parent helping with registration at the pools. If you have any questions please contact Lauren (officemanager@marswim.org or 817-271-1537).

Please remember that we must have everyone's renewal by November 1st. The NT Registrar has told us those renewal applications received after that date will not be processed until after January 1st. This means swimmers not registered for 2018 will not be allowed to swim after January 1st, until their renewal gets processed by USAS. This could take a few weeks into January.

Why do you have to register by Nov 1st? Because USAS has more than 400,000 members, North Texas has more than 6600, and MARS more than 500. All need to get processed before Jan 1st. With the holidays in there, the number of working days are reduced.

Q: Do I have to have 18 service hours if we joined MARS during the Summer?

A:

New family service hours from Summer through December

· Hours for June & July – 12 hours

· Hours for August & September – 8 hours

· Hours for October & November – 6 hours

· November & December – 2 hours

Q: My son is a novice swimmer and I am a novice swim parent. We are going to our first swim meet. How do we get ready for our first swim meet?

A: We have a wonderful document created by the original Super Parent Rebecca Dark.

Your First Swim Meet Guide.

Q: If I don't plan to swim with MARS in 2018/2019 what should I do?

A: You should email Coach Lauren at coachlauren@marswim.org or Office Manager at officemanager@marswim.org with your swimmers 30 day notice.

Q: How can I see how many service hours I owe?

A: Login to the Mars Team Web Site.

Select My Account on the right.

Select $My Invoice/Payments.

Select the Service Hours tab.

If your number shows a positive value, then that is what you owe.

Q: Why do we have to volunteer at our meets?

A: In order for us to host a successful and safe meet, we need our MARSian families to be part of every meet we host. We all lead very busy lives. However, I can promise you that your swimmer will feel even more supported seeing you as a timer, head timer, meet runner and/or working concessions or hospitality room. Everyone is good at something which means everyone has something to offer. Please be on the lookout for upcoming dates for training classes for each of our volunteer positions. ***Each person will receive volunteer points for attending the training class. ***Please Note: You will receive the points once you put that training into action at our hosted meets. In addition to the points you will receive for your volunteer work at the meet.

Q: Do the service hours start over in January?

A: Yes, service hours are per calendar year (January 1st through December 31st).

Q: How many service hours will we owe for 2019?

A: We will each owe 18 service hours for 2019 per family that have swimmers in Bronze and above groups.

Q: What is OnDeck Parent application and why do I need it?

A: OnDeck Parent is an IPhone or Android application which allows you as a swim parent to manage your MAR's account and follow your swimmer's accomplishments. See these web sites for more information about the application and download instructions. iPhone or Android

Once you download and install the application on your device you can login by filling in the following entries:

Username - Is your email address that you used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Password - Is your password used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Team alias - ntsmars

Q: How do I set up the SMS messaging?

A: How to set up and receive SMS from your coach's about pool updates or quick important info.

1- log-in to your account

2- Click on My Account then under the drop down click on My account again

3- Add up to two SMS number and the Carrier and click save

4- Then go to click on Not Verified and you will receive a code via text message that then you type in and hit verify.

5- Set to start getting text from the team when a pool is closed or we need to get you fast information.

Do you have a question for the MARSian parent? Email at askmarsparent@gmail.com

Ella Robbins, Dane Schutrop, Andrew Nguyen, Angela Smith, Oswaldo Ortiz-Esparza, Miles Weeks, Joshua Millner, Johanna Tomancik, Logan Clendinning, Sarah Hall, Taylor Stubblefield, Aidan Orzechowski, Stephanie Ho, Audrey Axton, Ethan Sparks, Logan Bennett, Jordan Ortiz, Eli Richey Alexander Slackney, Ashleigh Pham, Alexander Sha, Keith Omweno, Gianna Dangelmaier, Lola Hamlett, David Simpson, Noah Acosta, Mike Blakely, Abigail Pham, Victoria Fiegel, Pierson Moore, Paul Sewell, Ariel Simpson, Sarah Vu, Steven Pham, Maxwell Douglas , Brian Long, Gavin Swaney, Grant Slackney, Luke Thomas, Logan Leger, Thomas Ingram-May, Mason Le, Kenneth Jo, Abhinav Piya, Amy Johnson