Greetings Neely Farm Families,

We are excited to kick off our summer swim team season – practices begin tomorrow! We'll spend a little time on introductions and then start right in with dryland exercises. After that, we’ll hop in the pool and do lots of kicking and swimming drills. Please make sure your swimmers have t-shirts, shorts, tennis shoes, suits, caps, goggles and towels.

I feel blessed to have been chosen to be the steward of the Neely Farm Mallards. For the past five years I have worked, trained, and played just down the road at the Fowler Y, so I already feel like a part of the Peachtree Corners community. Some of you may have even seen me giving lessons in the Neely Farm pool last summer!

The success of any team begins with knowledgeable and effective leadership, engaged and supportive families, and an understanding of everyone’s roles and responsibilities. We have all that – from the swim team board, the coaching staff, and the Neely Farm families I already know!

I am passionate about the sport of swimming and look forward to working with you and your children. Everything begins with a foundation of core values that we all will strive to meet: caring, honesty, respect, and responsibility. We expect our coaches, parents, and volunteers to model these values for our children. We expect our swimmers to demonstrate them, too. We will offer praise when we see it and provide encouragement when we need to!

Competitive swimming is a sport that offers so many life lessons for our children. It teaches that dedication, attitude, teamwork, and effort are the cornerstone for achievement. We look forward to reinforcing these character traits that you most likely are working on with your children at home.

We will have a team full of families with a variety of experience in the sport – from first-year newbies to those with a decade or more swimming on the team. We want to make sure we communicate effectively so that everyone’s expectations are set appropriately. So, please watch for important information we send out via email and on the team’s website so you can stay informed.

Our goals are to make this a great swimming experience for everyone – swimmers and parents! We want every swimmer to improve. We want to win as many meets as we can. We want to have as much fun as we can along the way!

See you at the pool!

Coach Mark