Tonight’s the night! The Dolphins’ first meet of 2026!

And it’s a meeting of the historic Hanarry teams – the Hanarry Hurricanes are the oldest team in the Gwinnett County Swim League & Hanarry West Dolphins are the League’s second oldest team!

1. FROM YOUR COACHES

Check In: For swimmers, please check in BEFORE you enter the gate to the pool deck. There will be a coach at the “Swimmer Check-in Table” and it’s important that coaches and know who has arrived.

Pack: Swim Cap (not required, but solid or HW team cap please), Goggles (and extra pair), Towels (and extra or two), Warm Layers, Water bottle, Snacks, Small activities for younger kids that are waterproof. The Bullpen will be on the pool deck only (not in the grassy area).

Label: Use a Sharpie to mark a swimmer's name & age on their back (see example in link). And write their meet schedule on their arm or leg (see link). New families – ask a veteran or coach for help if you need it! Also, label all your belongings!

Arrive: The pool gates will open at 4:30 p.m. Please arrive by 4:45 p.m. because home team warmups start at 5 p.m.

Cheer: The Hanarry West team cheer usually happens at 5:30 in the Dolphins bullpen. We encourage all swimmers and spectators to cheer for all swimmers. While individual ribbons are awarded, this is a team sport. And part of being a Dolphin is great sportsmanship – cheering on our teammates and encouraging the other team as well.

Start: The meet will start promptly at 6 p.m. We are excited to have one of our own swimmers – Lilly Dollar – singing the national anthem.

Remain: Please encourage swimmers to remain in the Hanarry West bullpen during the meet so they know when their events are being called to the staging area. There are signs to designated the different age group areas. If your swimmer likes to check in with you a lot during the meet, considering sitting in the parent area around the diving board that’s adjacent to the bullpen.

Parent volunteers will help 12 & Under swimmers to staging and their events but ONLY if swimmers are in the bullpen. Ultimately, it is a swimmer's responsibility to get to their event on time.

Leave: Don’t leave until all a swimmer’s events are completed – including double-checking with coaches if a swimmer is needed for a relay. Please tell swimmers to pick up not only their personal belongings but also their trash – and any trash in the area they were in before leaving the meet. We’d love to start this season off without sending numerous reminders about picking up. We need EVERYONE’S help to clean up and move furniture back when the meet ends.

2. FROM YOUR VOLUNTEER LEADERSHIP TEAM

Parking: Please follow the signs and park on only one side of the street. You can drop swimmers and family members off at the end of the driveway – but not in the lot unless you have a handicap tag. We will have hundreds of people walking down the driveway to the meet, so the lot is reserved and closed off. There will be Hanarry West neighbors in golf carts helping shuttle people to the entrance – please give them a big ‘thank you’!

Check in: For our May 28 volunteers, please arrive on time and CHECK IN at the Volunteer table (look for our big sign) located in the Clubhouse area. You should have received an email from Volunteer Coordinator Laura Holder with details about your specific job. Please take time to read it through (she volunteered a lot of her time to write them).

Seating: For Hanarry West, our spectator seating is on the diving board and concessions stand side of the pool. Parents can sit on either side of the diving board, but please leave a walkway for the Dolphin bullpen. Please make sure you also leave a walkway around the pool for coaches and volunteers and around the concessions area. You may notice some reserved seating for key volunteer leadership positions, putting these parent volunteers near the meet area they are responsible for.

Schedule: You might notice for tonight’s meet, there are times listed next to events in SwimTopia. These are ESTIMATES for when events will start (automatically created by the app). Please do not plan your arrival or departure schedule around those times, as you might miss your event. We are lucky to have experienced starters who know how to keep the meet moving along. One way they’ll do this is with “dive-over starts”. With older kids, one race will start while the swimmers from the previous race wait in the water.

Clean up: When your swimmers are done for the night, please remember to collect all your trash and personal belongings. And, if you are around for the Butterfly events and final relays, please help us begin to clean up and return the pool deck to its normal state. All working together, it goes quickly.

3. WEATHER

We know the weather has been wet this week, so here are some weather reminders.

We do swim in the rain! So, come prepared to possibly get wet (ponchos, plastic bags, extra towels, etc.). For volunteers working this meet, we encourage you to pack an umbrella to help protect heat sheets, etc. If you use tents or umbrellas in the spectator area, please be mindful and courteous – it’s a tight space!

Make sure you have downloaded AND logged in to the SwimTopia app on your mobile device. In the event of bad weather, this is the way coaches and team managers will communicate delays or when a meet will resume. Swim meets happen in the rain. A designated team of officials and leaders at the meet will monitor for lightning or unsafe conditions. If the meet is delayed because of weather, everyone will be asked to clear the pool deck and wait in their cars. Please do not leave.

Coaches and leadership will communicate through SwimTopia alerts/emails if there’s a delay and when everyone can return to the pool deck. Every effort will be made to finish the meet. In case of extended delays, coaches may decide together not to swim relays in order to finish the meet in a timely manner. For the meet to be officially complete, at least 42 events must be completed by all age groups. If weather completely cancels the meet, it will be rescheduled for Saturday morning. But again, we will make every effort to complete the meet!

See you tonight at the pool!
Go Dolphins!