April 2018

Greetings from the pool deck,

Happy Easter and welcome to the beginning of long course season! This is time of year when I get asked almost daily, “can we swim outside today?”, or “what is the water temperature of the outdoor pool?”. Our kids can’t wait to get in the 50m pool. Last year at this time, we were already in the outdoor pool. The weather got warmer, earlier last year. It won’t be long now!

Summer swimming is a time when our more advanced swimmers get an opportunity to train harder and longer. Morning swimming at either UTA or at the WAC is awesome. The opportunity to get two training session in on most days is wonderful for getting ahead of the competition. Summer is fun!

We have an Intra-Squad meet coming up in early April, Followed by another divisional BB & Under meet on May 18-20. These are both great opportunities for our swimmers and parents to get some training and experience in working at a meet. We need more Super Parents!!

At the end of April, our senior simmers will be on a team training trip to the Houston area. In addition to working out with some of our friends in Houston, we will be competing again at an Open Water Race near Pearland. We’ve done this event several times over the years. It’s always a lot of fun.

We’ll be ordering personalized silicon caps and towels again soon. Stay tuned.

Safe Sport is an important topic to discuss with your children. USAS does a great job providing materials to review and use. Our staff presents much of this material to their groups each month. We need to be ever-vigilant, and continue in educating our kids on how to be safe and to recognize when things aren’t right.

As always, please keep in touch with your child’s coaches. They are your first and best source of information.

Have a great April,

Coach Brian

What a great training class we had on March 24th! Thank you MARS parents for coming and ALL of your great questions. Thank you Steve and Tommy for speaking about officiating! Can’t wait to see these parents put their knowledge into action.

We will have one more training prior to Bill Nixon meet that we are hosting. Keep a look out for more information coming soon.

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

Haley Jackson, Sara Gorman, Rowan Becker, Ji-ho Kim, Timothy Smith, Tony LaBranch, Sana Akkad, Emma Wilkerson, Maverick John Ganzo, Baraa albaalbaki, Dylan Fletcher, Clayton Fawthrop, Brice Saunders, Owen Hulme, Elijah Pryor, Brooklynn Dusuau, Harrison Miller, Belen Campos Canelas, Jude Orr, Christina van Waasbergen, Kevin Huynh, Kade Wilson, Elian Bardales, Samantha Nickler, Christian Woolsey, Simran Singhal