Good Morning Orca Parents,

We have a lot of updates and information for you so please read over everything and if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to reach out! 

Swim-a-Thon: Thank you to all of the families who participated last night! Families will have until Wednesday July 7th to turn in their pledge money. Currently we accept only cash or check but we are working on adding to that so stay tuned. A reminder that as part of registration, each family agreed to fundraise at least $100 for the swim-a-thon. There are additional rewards and prizes for swimmers who raise more than that, please review the forms sent out earlier in the season. 

Meets and Invitationals

Regarding Meets & Invitationals, I wanted to add that not knowing about these meets in advance is NOT normal, usually we know about all of these events in September the year prior. The last minute information and notice is 100% due to covid and all teams are scrambling to get these going with little notice, so we appreciate all of the flexibility.

Note: Some parents asked about the Chico Aquajets meet on Sunday the 11th, we will NOT be attending that meet and are instead planning to be in Orland.

Orland Otters Invitational: July 9/10/11 We heard that this meet should be posted soon, but as of yet we are still waiting. Once it is posted I will send out the meet sheet and another update. We heard it was capped at 350 swimmers, but we don't know when registration will open or close. Plan to register as soon as it is posted on https://ome.swimconnection.com/meets. There will likely be fees similar to that of the Gridley Invitational (Splash Fee + Per Event Fee). 

Corning Duel Meet: Wednesday July 14th: This meet will start at 6:00 PM, please plan to arrive by 5:15 or 5:30 for warmups. The pool is located at: 1414 Colusa Street Corning 96021. Swimmers may sign up for up to 3 events plus relays (which take place after all the other events). You should be able to sign up on our team website: https://orovilleorcas.swimtopia.com/ select "Meets and Events" then "Signup Calendar". If you previously signed up but were unable to select your events, simply go to the same page and select "Edit" under your swimmer names. 

Durham Dolphins Invitational: July 23/24/25. No new information on this, we are reaching out to Durham about a dual meet and will ask about this event to be sure it is happening.

NVALs Redding-July 31st & August 1st.

The NVALs are OPEN for Registration! Please see the attached Meet Sheet regarding what events are offered, registration fees, protocols etc. 

Here is the information that we have relating to the NVALs, the final invitational event of the season. To be eligible to participate, swimmers must have participated in TWO events before the NVALs. This can be Dual meets or the invitationals (For example if you participated in the Paradise Dual Meet as well as the Gridley Invitational, you are eligible for the NVALs.

Hotels: We are currently working on a group rate and hope to hear back about that today. I will send out a separate message with details, but we are trying to get them to match the other cheapest rates in Redding for that weekend. Most families drive up Friday evening, then stay Friday/Saturday night. 

This is the last event of the season and is one of the biggest and best events of the year, so if you are able to attend and can attend 2 meets before, that would be fantastic. 

Some swim meets have indicated there will be No Deck Entries (entering to events the morning of) so as soon as the meet is posted please plan to register, the meet can fill up or close at any time. Please check all meet sheets when they are posted to see if they are allowing deck entries. 

Regards,

James & the Orca Board