All Blast families please take note of the following payment changes:
Please write the invoice # or itemize in the memo portion of your check, exactly what you are paying for, i.e. Crawfish meet fees, LA swim registration.
Mail your check to:
BLAST SWIM TEAM LLC
70380 Highway 21
Suite 2, PMB 272
Covington, LA 70433
We are NO LONGER going to take checks on the deck of the pool - Northshore and Southshore.
In addition, please pay meet fees only when you are billed for it. The reason is that meet fees can change from before the meet to after the meet (by adding events on deck, or by coaches changing relay assignments).
We know that some of you have been encouraged to pay before the meet so we would not run a deficit, but the only way for us to accurately record all payments and make sure your monthly invoice is correct is to make the above changes.
Billing e-mail address is
Blast Team Policy Regarding Payment by Automatic Bank Account Debit or Credit Card:
Monthly swim team fees will be paid by either bank MasterCard/Visa debit card or MasterCard/Visa credit card. Our preference is a debit card. (i.e. lower transaction fee)
Monthly swim team fees will be automatically debited from your bank account with a debit card or charged to the credit card on file on the 5TH day of each month. All charges will appear on your bank or credit card statement as being from Blast Swim Team.
Meet fees, Registration fees, and any other incidental fees must be paid by check or cash, with an explanation attached.
All automatic payments returned due to insufficient funds will be charged a $20 NSF fee.
There will be a one time setup fee per credit card/debit card in the amount of $10.00. Please include payment with signed Automatic Payment Consent form.
Meet Entry Policy
Entering USAS swim meets costs money. Individual entries are $2.50, there is a $4.00 surcharge per swimmer and relays cost $8.00 or $2.00 per swimmer. Team meet entries can run between $600.00 and $1600.00 for the team.
Because meets cost this much, we will not enter a swimmer into a meet unless a swimmer has signed up for a particular meet. Meet information is posted on the website and in regular Blast email newsletters. To enter a meet, swimmers need to indicate their intent either through email [best way] or to their coach in writing. Coaches have the final say on meet events although we encourage swimmers to indicate preferred events, especially when it comes down to district and last chance opportunities.
Once a swimmer has entered a meet and the meet is sent to the host team’s meet director, the swimmers are responsible for all fees regarding the meet. Illness is no excuse. In rare occasions, we’ve been able to scratch previously entered swimmers who have not been able to attend and not be charged, but generally that is not the case.
Relays: We aim to do our relays entries with our meet entries. Relays are made up from what the best times are going into the meet for the relays stroke and distance. However, the final relay determination is decided by the coaches on the day of the meet, this is based on individual meet performances plus the intangible, but often very accurate coach’s intuition regarding which relay combination will work best.
Assuming the designated relay makes a splash, swimmers will only be charged for relays that they swim.
Relay scratches: If a swimmer misses a relay and causes the relay to scratch in a meet that swimmer or swimmers must pay for the relay charges.
Meet Entry Fee Policy
Starting November 1, 2007 the Blast will have a new entry fee policy. In order to defray the cost of coach’s travel and meet expenses, we are instituting a percentage increase over core meet fee charges for meets. The percentage will be set according to the meet location and distance that is necessary to travel.
Generally for meets within the New Orleans metro area, we will access a 20% fee to all swimmers, for meets that involve over night stays for coaches; we will access a 25% fee to all swimmers. Meets further from home may involve higher assessments, but we will notify the membership when the meet information goes out.
What we expect to occur is even with a 25% fee for overnight meets, we don’t cover costs, but with a 20% charge for local meets we cover costs and cover some of the expenses that were not met from an overnight meet. We anticipate that this system will average out so that our coaches meet expenses are covered over the course of a swimming year.
Blast Team Policy Regarding Inactive Status and Leaving the Team
Blast team Inactive Status:
If a team member is going to take a "break" from swimming, then we will place you on Inactive Status at a charge of $15.00 per month for each child. A request to be inactive must be received either in writing or via email to both Coach Emmett and Coach Bill by 14 days in advance of the 1st of the month you go on inactive status. At that point, we will make that change to your Blast account.
Leaving the Team:
Blast will require a written notification to both Coach Emmett and Coach Bill by 14 days in advance of the 1st of the month you plan to leave. Your account will continue to be invoiced unless we receive this written notification.
We can no longer allow accounts to go unpaid because a swimmer or family 'chose' not to swim for a period of time. If a swimmer takes a month off and we have not received a prior written communication, then the account will be charged the full rate. Credits simply cannot be given anymore for these reasons.
Past due accounts:
Additionally, bills are due upon receipt. If a bill is not paid by the end of the month a $10.00 late fee will be assessed. If the bill falls two months behind we will assess a $25.00 late charge, after three months, a $50.00 late charge. If an account becomes three months overdue, then the swimmer will not be allowed to participate in any swim meets or practices.
We understand that families go through cycles of limited resources. If team fees appear to becoming temporarily unmanageable, contact Coach Emmett and Coach Bill and we can set up a bill paying strategy to help you through this period and still keep your child on the team.
Northshore Parking Policy
Northshore Blast Parents:
Please be aware and sensitive to our relationship with Kehoe France when driving/parking on the school grounds. When dropping off or arriving at school, please park in legal spaces and be aware of the many activities that may be occurring at the school. Likewise, when picking up, it seems we have gotten in the habit of double parking. It seems harmless because many times we are the only ones left on the campus at that time of night. But many times, as seen lately, there will be sporting events occurring in the gym at night. When that happens, the parking circle can
become very crowded and confusing. Double parking only exacerbates that. During the week and in the summers during summer camp, try to park in the paved lot by the athletic field.
Do NOT park in the handicap spots and the yellow stripped no parking spot closest to the pool. Let’s remember that we are guests of the school and do our best to create little to no impact on the campus when we are there. Parking in assigned spots will help that.
Thanks for your help in this request,
Coach Emmett & Coach Bill
