As you may know, for regular TCAL league meets, ribbons for 1st-12th place are awarded to swimmers. These are usually available to swimmers a day or two after a meet, although sometimes there are delays. (For example, after last week’s meet the free relay ribbons still needed to be completed. Those are done now and in swimmers’ folders for pickup.)
This summer, in the spirit of inclusion and fun, we are awarding participation ribbons to JV swimmers who completed events but did not receive a place award. If a swimmer completed a legal swim, their place and time will be recorded on the back of the participation ribbon. This can help swimmers keep track of their progress. Swimmers who were disqualified (DQ-ed) in an event will still receive a ribbon, but the label will not indicate a place or time because those are not recorded in the event of a DQ.
We are also awarding “Goalbreakers” tags to recognize when all swimmers beat their personal best times for the summer season. These are small plastic tags that attach to a key ring and can be hooked to a swimmer’s bag, keys, lanyard, etc. Each swimmer will receive one tag when they swim an event faster than their seed/best time. A key ring will be included with the first Goalbreaker of the season. The tags are placed in small envelopes that also display labels showing the events and time drops achieved by the swimmer.Â
All of these awards are sorted by swimmer into the folders in the large boxes that can typically be found on the upper deck during and after swim practice. Please encourage your children to pick up their awards so that our folders do not get overcrowded.
Participation ribbons and Goalbreakers take some extra time to produce, so your swimmers can generally expect to receive them within one week of a meet.
If you have any questions about awards throughout the season, please send an email to bexleymarlinsswimteam@gmail.com and I will attend to them as soon as I can.
Go Marlins!
–Sarah, Marlins spirit committee