New Families Start Here 👋🏻
Welcome to the Olive Chapel Otters! We’re excited to have your family on the team.
This page is designed to help new families quickly find the most important information needed to feel prepared, connected, and confident for the season.
✅ First Steps
- Log into SwimTopia
- Confirm your swimmer’s practice group
- Add important dates to your family calendar
- Review the Parent Handbook
- Enable SwimTopia app notifications
📅 Season Flow at a Glance
- May → Practices begin
- Late May / Early June → Red & Black Meet
- June & July → Weekly Tuesday swim meets
- End of Season → Cary City Meet & Awards Banquet
🕒 Practices
Practices are where swimmers build skills, confidence, endurance, and friendships throughout the season.
Swimmers are encouraged to attend consistently, but we understand summer schedules — come when it works best for your family.
- Grouped by age and skill level
- Coaches focus on development, encouragement, and confidence
- Consistency helps swimmers improve throughout the season
🏁 Meets
Meets are optional, but strongly encouraged. They are one of the most exciting and memorable parts of the swim season.
- Tuesday evenings during the season
- Swimmers are entered into events by coaches
- Focus is on growth, confidence, team spirit, and fun
First meet tip: It may feel busy at first — that’s completely normal. Coaches, parent volunteers, and experienced families are always happy to help guide new swimmers.
🙌 Volunteering
Each family is required to volunteer for 4 shifts during the season.
Roles are simple, training is provided, and volunteers are still able to watch and support their swimmers throughout the meet.
Our team runs entirely because of parent volunteers, and we truly appreciate every family who helps make the season possible.
📣 Communication
- SwimTopia Website — schedules, events, and official team information
- Email — important updates and reminders
- Facebook Group — quick updates, weather alerts, photos, and reminders
We recommend enabling notifications and checking communication channels regularly throughout the season.
📱 Team Apps & Meet Day Tools
For the best swim season experience, we recommend families download both the SwimTopia and Time Drops mobile apps before the season begins.
- SwimTopia — team communication, schedules, volunteer signups, meet declarations, event entries, and team updates
- Time Drops — live meet progress, swimmer race times, heat and lane information, results, and personal best tracking during meets
Beginning this season, swimmer race times and meet results will be available through either the Time Drops Live! app as well as the SwimTopia app during meets.
Time Drops may be accessed through the mobile app or web app. Additional setup information, app guidance, and meet-day instructions will be shared with families before the start of the meet season.
📲 Download SwimTopia Mobile App
⏱️ Download Time Drops on the App Store
⏱️ Get Time Drops on Google Play
Prefer not to download an app? Use the Time Drops web app.
