Sunday, July 26, 2015

[Que the Queen Music] WE ARE THE CHAMPIONS, MY FRIENDS!

THANK YOU ALL! We won Saturday's championship meet over second-place Granite Falls by over 320 POINTS!

Without all of your hard work, volunteering, running (in some cases literally) all over western NC, we would not be the team we are today. I can't say thank you enough for the hard work and commitment to this family you have all shown.

Thank you for the early mornings, the late nights, dealing with the wet towels in laundry, the inundation of text messages, the broken goggles, organizing transportation, summer thunderstorms, and all the other things that can be disruptive things to your summer.

After it is all said and done, we, as a team, a community, and as a family, came out victorious. The hard work of not just this summer, but of many summers, paid the dividend we were hoping for as a byproduct of all of our collective experiences. In the end, the trophy sitting in the Rec now is a reminder not of one hot day in late July, 2015, but of all the mornings, nights, races, DQs, ribbons, and relays that brought us here. I am incredibly proud to be the coach of this team, and a member of the Torpedo family, brought together by our shared joy, discouragement, frustration, and ultimately, elation, of the young people of our community.

We will gather together one last time this summer on August 1 at 6:30pm in Rotary Park to share a meal, to recognize all of our swimmers, and to talk about everything we remember from a memorable summer.

It is my hope that pictures will be available by that time, and if not, we will certainly let everyone know when they are.

Before the season gets cold, please take a moment to fill out our annual end-of-season survey to help us at the Rec make this an even better experience: https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/27SNNQ3. We do take the response into consideration as we plan for future seasons, and I feel it is one of the more important things we do as a team.

In the event you can't get enough of the water, there are certainly options for continuing to stay in. One such option is an open event on Saturday, August 29. Anyone can sign up to swim events. I will hopefully have entry forms available by Saturday's potluck.

We hope you all had as great a time as Coach Alec and I did, and we hope to see you all Saturday, and if not, in the water next May!

Thursday, July 9, 2015

Granite Falls tonight and Directions

Sign up sheets for the final meets of the season are now in the book at the fitness counter. Please make sure to sign up soon for Tuesday's home meet against Forest City as soon as possible. We will have the sign up sheet with us at the meet tonight, as well as baseball tickets for the game on July 17th. Please bring cash or check to pay for your tickets.

Directions to the Granite Falls Recreation Department (56 Pinewood Rd., Granite Falls): Take Malcolm Blvd./ Connelly Springs Rd. across the river. Turn Right on Dry Ponds Rd., then Left on Main St. Take the first Right on Pinewood Rd. Take the first Right to stay on Pinewood Rd. and the Rec should be on the Left.

There are a lot of swimmers for Granite Falls, so please try to get there with ample time to find a place and to warm up. Swimmers need to be there and ready to get in the water by 5:30pm. Let's have a great meet tonight!


Sunday, July 5, 2015

Busy Week Ahead and More End of Season Stuff

Good evening, everyone! I hope everyone had a great 4th of July!

Monday night is Forest City at Forest City. This is where our championship meet will be held on July 25, so it's great to see that 65 swimmers will be traveling with us. From the Rec., it takes about 45 minutes to an hour to get there.

Here's hoping for a great meet tonight in Forest City! Bring water and snacks, although there will be concessions available. Parents need to sign up to assist with volunteer assignments like timing. The meet should run fairly quickly.

Directions to Callison Recreation Center, Forest City
: Away meet at Forest City: Warm-ups are at 5:30pm. Take I-40 West to Exit 103. At the end of the exit ramp, turn left. Take HWY 64 to Rutherford County. After passing through Westminster Community, turn left on Hudlow Rd at the traffic light. Follow Hudlow Rd to West Main Street in Forest City. Turn left on West Main Street. Take the first right right (Westview St), and then the first left onto Clay St. The pool is on the right.

Thursday night is our meet away at Granite Falls. A large number of you have already signed up, but in case you haven't, you have until Tuesday evening to do so. If you are out of town, shoot Coach an email to let him know you will be attending.

The season is rapidly coming to a close. We need to make sure everyone gets their two meets in before the championship meet. We have the two meets this week, a home meet with Forest City and the 11&Up Sprint/Distance Meet to go in order to fulfill the requirement.

Also coming up are two weekend events: July 11 will be our second stroke and turn clinic at the Rec. from 10-12am. MORE IMPORTANTLY, we need you all to get your tickets for the Crawdads' Game on July 17. There will be fireworks! $9 a ticket with the majority of the money coming back to us is a great deal and great fun. This money will go to help finish up our fundraising goals from last year. If each SWIMMER were to buy a ticket, we'd have over $600 to that goal. PLEASE HELP US OUT and HAVE A GREAT TIME DOING IT!

Team pictures will be held on Friday, July 24, prior to our Pre-Championship Spaghetti Dinner. Coach has forms to chose picture packages from, so check with him before or after practices. Sportpix out of Shelby will handle our pictures again. They should be returned in time to get to you at the end-of-season Pot Luck and awards night.

See everyone tomorrow! Don't hesitate to email if you have any questions!

Wednesday, June 17, 2015

Directions to McDowell, Sign up for Granite Falls, and Picture Day!

Tomorrow night is our first meet of the season. Please plan to be at the McDowell pool by 5:15 so you can be ready to  warm-up at 5:30.

Directions to McDowell: Take I-40 West to Exit 86 (Marion/Shelby exit). Turn right at the end of the ramp. Stay on this road until you come to the second stoplight. Turn right on Rutherfordton Rd. Rutherfordton Rd. takes you to Main Street. Go around the curve. The road will widen. Go straight. At the fourth stoplight, turn left on Court St. Go down a hill. Take the second right on Academy St. The pool is on the hill on the left.

Also, our meet for Tuesday, June 23rd is against Granite Falls at home. Please take a moment Friday or Monday at the latest to sign up for the meet. If you don't sign up, we can't guarantee splashes at the meet.

Finally, on Friday, July 24, we will have our team picture. We will do this prior to our spaghetti potluck, so please don't be any later than 5pm.

See everyone tomorrow!

Wednesday, June 3, 2015

Take us out to the Ballgame!

Good evening, Torpedo Family!

Last summer, we were able to raise funds for most of the new lane lines for the pool. We are still working to get our last several lane lines and a new line reel, which is roughly $2,400 total. We are going to work this year to finish the campaign we started last year.

The Hickory Crawdads have partnered with us to help raise money for VTST this summer through ticket pre-sales for a home game on July 17th against the Augusta GreenJackets. The game starts at 7pm at Hickory's L.P. Frans stadium.

Swimmers should be able to begin selling tickets on their own beginning June 8th. Find Coach Andersen to figure out how many tickets you might want to sell ahead of time to family, friends, and acquaintances. Also, we will sell tickets during the home meets on June 23 (vs. Granite Falls), June 30 (vs. Black Mountain and Transylvania), and July 14 (vs. Forest City).

We encourage all of our swimmers, their families, and friends to plan to attend the game, even those participating in the Sprint/Distance Meet the next morning, July 18. Let's make it a great outing!


Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Great First Day!

It was so great to see such a good group out this afternoon for our first practice, especially knowing that we still have a good number more who weren't able to make it today. It is definitely going to be a great summer season! Keep on telling your friends to come out and join us! It isn't too late!

A few items of housekeeping:

The practice times for swimmers 11 and Over is 3:30-4:30 and for swimmers 10 and Under is 4:30-5:15. This will run until school is out. Our first day of our summer schedule will be June 11. Unless you have spoken to Coach Andersen about being at a different practice, please DO YOUR BEST to have your swimmers at the correct practice.

If you haven't found us on twitter, we are @valdesetorpedo. Right now we're posting to it somewhat infrequently (daily), but we will be utilizing it much more as the season progresses. To make sure you stay informed, please follow us there, as well as please be sure to join the text message service.

T-Shirts will hopefully be in hand by June 18 for the opening meet against McDowell. We are working with a vendor this year who we hope will be able to get quality things to us quickly.  If you haven't ordered a t-shirt and think you may want one, please go ahead and order. It will be cheaper in the long run to order more shirts earlier than have to do fewer shirts in a second run.
With this in mind, please feel free to submit any design ideas for the front logo of the shirt to Coach Andersen, preferably before June 11. Depending on the quality of ideas, we may pick yours to use on this year's shirts!

June 2 is our Stroke and Turn Official clinic at 10am at Valdese. Colleen Gillan, an experienced USA Swimming Official who works closely with the high schools, Special Olympics, and has ties to the McDowell Mariners, will be helping us to make sure we all know what it legal. Even if you don't want to officiate this year and are a beginner to the sport, it can help you as a parent to understand why certain things may be called or not. We REALLY need to have volunteers attend this meeting. Without officials and volunteers, we can't have a truly great meet. Come down to learn a little bit about officiating and meet some good folks while doing so. It will help you and the team out tremendously. If you can't make it, but have an interest in officiating, please speak to Coach Andersen on deck before or after practices.

Last year we began using the Meet Mobile app for our meets. Heat sheets and results, as well as line-ups, were free to users unless we as meet directors decided a small fee was warranted. In January, Meet Mobile became a subscription-based app. That is to say, the app remains free, as does posting results, etc. to it. However, any users wishing to access the information will need to pay a small fee. There is a monthly and annual option for this service. Monthly will cost roughly $2 for a monthly subscription, and $6 for an annual one. As we are a two-month season, and many of the teams will be using Meet Mobile, it is up to you as to whether you believe it to be worth the investment. The only meet this year that we (Valdese) will charge additionally for a heat sheet will be the Sprint/Distance meet. IMPORTANT: As it is a subscription, you need to be sure to cancel after the season is done to prevent future charges against your account.
 

See you all tomorrow!

Friday, May 22, 2015

Happy Memorial Day!

Good afternoon, everyone!

This weekend is Memorial Day. Please take a moment to remember those who have served in defense of our nation, and those who continue to do so. To those in our Torpedo family who have or continue to serve, thank you all very much.

Tuesday practices will start at 3:30pm. Please be on time to get in. 3:30pm-4:30pm will be our 11 and Over group, and 4:30pm-5:15pm will be our 10 and Unders. We look forward to seeing every single one of you as we start another great summer season of swimming. There is still time to get more people in the water, so keep on spreading the word and bring your friends!

In the meantime, take a moment to read the recent article from SwimSwam,com about summer leagues: http://swimswam.com/what-summer-rec-leagues-are-all-about/.

See you all Tuesday!

Wednesday, April 15, 2015

SCHEDULE CORRECTION AND SIGN UP FORMS

Good afternoon!

Please note that we have a change from our originally published schedule: The meet on July 21 at Forest City will now be on MONDAY, JULY 6 at Forest City. Warm up time is still the 5:30pm. Please be ready to get in the water by then.

Sign up forms are now available at the fitness counter at the Rec.  This year we will be asking for separate payments for registration for the team and for any team apparel. This will help us get things ordered in a more convenient manner. We apologize for any inconvenience, but this ultimately should help us get your things to you more quickly than in the past.

See you all soon!

Saturday, March 14, 2015

2015 Valdese Torpedo Schedule is Here! Set Your Schedule Now!

Good afternoon Torpedo! It's time to mark up those summer months with all of the fantastic meets that the Valdese Torpedo Family will be enjoying together. Please put the dates down and figure out what you want to do to volunteer at the meets. The more people that assist with the jobs, the easier it is on everyone, and that makes meets more enjoyable! We are especially in need of Stroke and Turn officials, so if you have done this or are interested in doing it, please plan to come to one of the meetings on either June 6 or July 11!

The Championship Meet is on July 25 at Forest City! Please check for conflicts now! Our girls won, and we were SO close to winning overall last year, and we can do it this season with EVERYONE'S HELP!

So, first and foremost, some housekeeping dates!
MONDAY, APRIL 13: SIGN-UP FOR TEAM STARTS! Tell your friends, family, neighbors, ANYONE who may be interested in coming out for the team! Sign ups continue even after the season starts, and June 30 is the last day to sign up.
TUESDAY, MAY 26: AFTER SCHOOL PRACTICES START!
11 and Over: 3:30-4:30
10 and Under: 4:30-5:15
SATURDAY, JUNE 6 AND JULY 11: Stroke and Turn Clinics for volunteer officials. WE REALLY NEED YOU ALL TO ATTEND!
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 10: LAST DAY OF SCHOOL AND AFTER SCHOOL PRACTICES! Practices will shift to summer times after this day.
THURSDAY, JUNE 11: GRADUATION FOR EBHS AND PATTON! CONGRATS GRADS! Summer Practices by Age Group (DAILY, NO PM PRACTICES IF MEET DAY):
7:30-8:30am: 11-12, Novice 13-14
8:30-9:30am: Advanced 13-14, 15-18
5:00-5:45pm: 8 AND UNDER
5:45-6:30pm: 9-10
IMPORTANT: PLEASE plan to attend the correct practice times. This is for team cohesion and the practices are designed for your swimmer's age and ability. If you absolutely can't regularly make your proper time, please check with Coach Andersen to see about alternate arrangements.
FRIDAY, JUNE 12: GRADUATION FOR DHS AND FHS! CONGRATS GRADS!
WEDNESDAY, JULY 1 - FRIDAY, JULY 3: NO PRACTICE FOR JULY 4th HOLIDAY!
FRIDAY, JULY 24: VTST Pre-Conference Spaghetti Dinner at Rotary Park, 6:30pm. Sign up to bring something to share with everyone else.
SATURDAY, AUGUST 1: Post-Season Awards and Potluck Dinner, Rotary Park, 6:30pm. All ribbons and pictures will be handed out at this time.

Now, for the meet dates! Please plan to assist in some way at EACH MEET.

THURSDAY, JUNE 18: VTST at McDowell Mariners, 5:30pm Warm-up
TUESDAY, JUNE 23: Granite Falls Sharks at VTST, 5pm Warm-up
TUESDAY, JUNE 30: Black Mountain and Transylvania at VTST, 5pm Warm-up
THURSDAY, JULY 9: VTST at Granite Falls Sharks, 5:30pm Warm-up
TUESDAY, JULY 14: Forest City Stingrays at VTST, 5pm Warm-up
SATURDAY, JULY 18: Sprint/Distance Meet at VTST (11&Up unless swimming up), 7:15am Warm-up
TUESDAY, JULY 21: VTST at Forest City Stingrays, 5:30pm Warm-up
SATURDAY, JULY 25: TSL CHAMPIONSHIP MEET, Forest City, 7am Warm-up

If you have any questions, please contact Coach Andersen! Have a great weekend, and we'll see everyone real soon! SPREAD THE WORD AND GET READY TO SWIM!