What A Season!

Good afternoon, Torpedo family!

This time last week, we were preparing to swim in our championship meet, the meet that counts, the one that we work all summer for. We were working on turns and starts, cleaning up strokes, and finishing strong. The swimmers took the last message to heart: Finish Strong. 

In the heat at Forest City, we set new team records (nine new records in one meet!), recorded personal bests, and won the championship meet. While it wasn't the perfect day, we finished strong. We made our swims count, and it paid off. It was great to see the kids swim their best, exhausted but happy at the end of races, and at the end of the meet we had come out on top.

This past year and a half has seen a lot of twists and turns and ups and downs. The uncertainty of last summer led to a canceled season, and I wasn't sure what this summer would bring. I knew we would have some strong swimmers returning, and that we'd have others not return. I knew we'd see swimmers succeed and other swimmers struggle. Ultimately, the team came together and performed as needed in order to succeed as a team. 

I cannot express how grateful I am to each swimmer and family member. Without you, your work, your time, your effort, your determination and resilience, we would not have been successful as a team. It has been a different kind of summer, and I am so glad to have spent it with you all.

Thank you!  

On Saturday, we will gather at 5:30pm at Rotary Park to celebrate our season and our team. Please bring something to share. I will be bringing my Jambalaya. See you all there!

Weekend Update for July 18: Sprint/Distance, Forest City, Spaghetti, and Champs

 Good afternoon, Torpedo family!

Yesterday we had a great time at the Sprint/Distance meet, which was held in Black Mountain this year. Our older swimmers challenged themselves in longer distance events and had fun sprinting 25s and 50s, too. It was a fun event, and I thank all of you who made the trip and helped out with the meet, too.

Originally we were to go to a meet this coming Thursday, July 22nd, in Forest City. That has changed due to scheduling issues on their end, and there really isn't a great time to reschedule in the next two weeks. Should this meet have been your second meet for the season and therefore qualified you for participation in the Champs meet, we can discuss options.

As we have done in the past, we will have our spaghetti dinner on Friday, July 30, at Rotary Park at 5pm. In the event of bad weather, we will head to the Splash Pad building. I will send out a sign up list at the end of the week so we can make sure we will have different dishes, plates, drinks, etc. for the meal. This is a fun time for us all to be together and go over last minute details before the meet on the 31st in Forest City.

With regards to the Champs meet, I will have more information on specifics this week. Forest City is hoping to send out info on Monday, but it may be as late as Wednesday. Regardless, if you are going to swim, please go ahead and sign up. Competition is tight this year, and we need everyone to be there. I will send out a volunteer sign up as soon as I know what our expectations are, too.

These next two weeks are going to be very busy with training and focusing on details as we prep for the Champs meet. Please make every effort to attend practice if you are in town. We're winding down, but that doesn't mean we're slacking off. I've spoken a lot to the swimmers about finishing strong, and I hope we will all do just that in these coming weeks.

Enjoy the rest of your weekend!

Great way to start the second half of the season!

Good afternoon, Torpedo!

Yesterday you all did a great job at the meet! In the end we came away with wins over both visiting teams. Swimmers did well with the warmer water, and there were some fantastic races across the age groups. The final score was 541 Valdese, 274 McDowell, and 227 Forest City. Overall, we had very few DQs, which is another big win in its own right.

Team shirts should be arriving this coming Wednesday, and you will be able to pick them up starting at Thursday mornings practice or Monday evening's practice for the 8 and Unders. I appreciate your patience with the shirts this season, as there were some issues with supply causing the delay.

We have four more meets in the season, with two this week. This Thursday we travel to Marion for our away meet the McDowell Mariners. Warm ups begin at 5:30pm. Spectators will be allowed to sit up on the terraced area, but not on the deck. You may come down on the deck to watch races, though. The pool is a short course meters pool, which is 25 meters in length. As such, times will generally be slower than what you have seen in the yards pool. Volunteer sign ups will be sent out tomorrow. We will not have practice on Friday morning.

Saturday morning we will be participating in the Sprint/Distance Meet at Black Mountain. This meet is for swimmers 11 and up. They will have the opportunity to swim events of shorter (sprint) or longer distances, including the mile free. There is also a theme to this year's meet: Halloween in July! Come with a costume to wear behind the blocks.  Check in for mile swimmers is 7:15am. Open Warmups for mile swimmers is 7:30 am, and we will start at 8:00am for mile swimmers. They will need their own counters and 2 timers. Open warmups for all other swimmers begins at 9:30am (depending on how many enter the mile swim) and meet starts at 10:15am. We will do dive overs. Additional parking will be located just past the pool & tennis courts in the grassy area in Black Mountain. All swimmers and families must set up surrounding the pool. Spectators are welcome to come on pool deck to watch their swimmers events. 

I'm looking forward to seeing how well our swimmers will do!