June 2018

Greetings from the pool deck,

Summer is here! Mother Nature has warmed things up very quickly. The outdoor pool at UTA is warmer than the indoor pool already. We’re really rocking our training sessions these last few weeks. The kids are looking really fast. I can’t wait until the Bill Nixon and the FAST BB & Under meets get here to see how this hard work has paid off.

Our summer schedule is coming up quick. Only our more advanced groups, AG2 and above, have any change in the summer schedule. AG2 swimmers will swim mornings at either UTA or the WAC from 6:30-8am, M-F. In the evenings, AG2 will swim their normal time at their home pools, but not on their evenings off on Wednesdays and Fridays. Pre-Senior and above swim M-F from 6-8am at either UTA or the WAC, then M-Th at their home pool. Friday afternoons are off. We will offer again a 2-4pm time slot at UTA for long course, for any of our senior swimmers.

Our coaches are constantly trying to get our swimmers to drink enough. This gets particularly tough in the summer. I can’t stress good hydration enough. Please be sure your swimmer has a large water bottle every day, and also make sure they are drinking it. Sunscreen is really important at UTA. Please have it handy.

If you haven’t done so already, please register your car to park at UTA. Emails have been sent out with the link to UTA Parking. It’s free for us to park, but it will cost you $75 if you forget to register. There’s no more “fixing tickets” for those who are not registered. I have also put the link on the parents page on our website.

Our Bill Nixon Memorial meet is nearly here. Please consider signing up for a session or two time or help in some other way. We’re going to need everyone’s help to pull this meet off in typical MARSian style.

I’d like to welcome two new members of our coaching staff at Grapevine and one at UTA/HSRC. At Grapevine, we have Coaches McAfee and Colton; and at UTA/HSRC we have Coach Kiersten. We very happy to have these new folks join our MARSian family.

Have a great beginning to your summer!

Coach Brian

My name is Harrison “Ty” Miller. I am in the pre-senior group at TCC/UTA and I am coached by Coach Eric. I did my first open water swim last weekend in Houston. I am scared of Alligators. When I was 8 years old I spent Spring Break in Houston. Many of the lakes had warning signs “Beware of Alligators” Now I am doing an open water race in Houston. When I told my fears to my friends, they told me to swim faster than the guy next to me. Out of our group of 12 swimmers only one has experience in Open Water Racing “Ryan Powell” He told me to stay up with him as long as I possible could. The day of the race the weather was perfect and the water temp. was 71 degrees. I did two races, 800 meters and 2 miles. Coach Brain and Coach Shannon told us to warm up in the 800-meter race. It was only one loop and many of the MARS swimmers finished in the top 10, including me. We got a break between the 800 and 2-mile races, waiting for the 1-mile race to complete. The 2 mile had both boys and girls and I stayed with Ryan up until the third lap, when I lost sight of Ryan. I had no more worries as most of the race was done and I was not going to be eaten by an Alligator. Once again, MARS kicked butt, four of us finished in the top 10, including Ryan and me.

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 2018?

A: We will each owe 18 service hours for 2018 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

Kathryn DeYoung, Tatum Holsopple, Han-Haul Ro, Natalie Cervantes, Kelly Golightly, Alexandra Igartua, Nayesha Gyawali, Cole Thomas, Caroline Constantine, Addison Yang, Cynthia Sanders, Sofia Omana, Alaa Albaalbaki, Liv Aspaas, Fiona An, Winston Gomez, Eshan Singhal, Stephen Butcher, Juliana Morales, Carla Morales, Isabella Douglas, Marin Beasley, Ella Smith, Max Huynh, Abraham Orr, Nicholas Ringdahl, Isabella Tedesco, Hannah Ferrell, Adam Price, Isabella Patricio, Trevor Rodieck, Allison Pham, Allison Pham, Jack Bidwell, Kiersten Aguinaga, Angelica Vergil, Ananth Jaykesh, Grace Garza, Heather van Waasbergen