Good Sunday afternoon, Torpedo Family!
I want to thank EVERYONE for a fantastic week. I'll be the first to admit it was a bit chaotic, but between Thursday and Saturday's events, everything went very smoothly. Parents and swimmers all stepped in and up to do a great job, even when we ran into hiccups.
We started off yesterday's meet dominating the relays and never looked back! We started with wins by our 8U girls free relay, and never did we relinquish the lead after that first event. We had 87 personal best times yesterday, meaning two-thirds of the swimmers dropped time in at least one event! Men's and women's teams both won to combine for the overall victory! Way to go! I'm so proud of each and every one of you. There are so many fantastic memories from yesterday, and you all are so much fun to coach. Also, congratulations to all of our high point earners!
Parents, you all did a great job with all things volunteer related. The starting, timing, console running, ribbon labeling, stroke and turn judging, concession manning, supporting, and cheering was fantastic! We can't ever run something like that meet without you all, and I heard lots of praise and kudos from vendors, parents and family, coaches, and swimmers throughout the day on how everything was going well and the meet was being enjoyed by all. Thank you all for making my job that much easier as a coach and for being so supportive of OUR program, because you all make this team and program what it is.
Final scores for yesterday were VTST 632, GFST 515, BMST 433, MMST 424, and FCST 107.
This coming Saturday, August 4, at 6pm, we will have our awards potluck dinner in Rotary Park (weather permitting). We will honor our swimmers and give them their ribbons from throughout the season, as well as recognize our Coaches Award and Age Group and Overall High Point Award earners. We would love to have everyone there, and please bring a dish or side to share with the team. Desserts are not only permitted, but highly encouraged. We will have all shirts, caps, pictures, etc. that haven't been picked up there, too. Please do your best to attend!
Finally, I sent out the link to our annual end of the season survey via Remind. Please spend a few moments to tell us about your experience this summer and help us continue to improve! I take this feedback seriously when trying to plan out things for the coming season and when we meet as a league in the Fall and Spring. I love reading your stories about the fun you all had or the growth you saw in your swimmer or how much you all appreciated coaches, but I also know not everything went perfectly, and I welcome your suggestions. The survey is anonymous, so feel free to be candid, although please try to be constructive with your feedback.
I look forward to seeing everyone Saturday evening!
David
Sunday, July 29, 2018
Saturday, July 21, 2018
Weekly Update for 7/22- FINAL WEEK OF THE SEASON!
Happy Saturday, Torpedo!
It was a long week last week. We had some great swims at some well-run meets in Marion and Granite Falls, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to come away with team wins. I'm proud of how everyone performed, and this week in practice, when dodging storms, we're going to really focus on details to be sure we are ready to go on Saturday.
Before we have our championship meet Saturday, we will host Forest City on Thursday evening. Please have your swimmers signed up by Wednesday evening. Given how close the meet is to Saturday, we won't be maxing out everyone in their events. Some may have a full slate, but in our larger age groups, we may not have everyone swim five events. If you want to volunteer for Thursday, click the link to visit the SignUpGenius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-forest2
Friday night at 5:15pm we will have our annual pre-conference spaghetti dinner in Rotary Park (overlooking the pool). Should it rain, I'll be sure to update everyone on the rain location. Please sign up to bring a prepared dish: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-2018. Please do not bring any desserts or soda.
Saturday morning is the big one. We host the conference championships at our pool as all of the other teams converge for the final meet, the one for all the marbles. Swimmers must have swam in two meets in order to participate in this meet. ENTRIES ARE DUE WEDNESDAY NIGHT. If your second meet is Thursday's meet, please be sure you will be in attendance. We have a lot of volunteer slots to fill, but they are smaller segments and if we work together, we will easily be able to staff this meet without issue. Click the link here for Saturday's Sign Up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-valdese
Seating will be somewhat different this year. We will be on the tennis courts on the parking lot half. McDowell will have the other half of the tennis courts. Forest City will have Rotary Park, and Granite and Black Mountain will be up on the road. Tents will not be permitted on deck except for coaches, vendors, and handicapped seating. The earliest you will be allowed to set up tents is going to be Saturday at 6am. Please do not try to come in early or set up the night before.
Warm ups will be at 7am until 7:30am with McDowell. Forest City and Granite will warm up together from 7:30-8am, and Black Mountain will wrap it up from 8-8:30am. Timers and officials will meet at 8:40am, and we'll hope to start the meet at 9am. If volunteering first shift or half, please be there by 8:30am AT THE LATEST.
The season has flown by, and I appreciate all the help and support you all have given. Let's all come together to make this a fantastic last week and championship meet. See you all on Monday!
It was a long week last week. We had some great swims at some well-run meets in Marion and Granite Falls, but, unfortunately, we weren't able to come away with team wins. I'm proud of how everyone performed, and this week in practice, when dodging storms, we're going to really focus on details to be sure we are ready to go on Saturday.
Before we have our championship meet Saturday, we will host Forest City on Thursday evening. Please have your swimmers signed up by Wednesday evening. Given how close the meet is to Saturday, we won't be maxing out everyone in their events. Some may have a full slate, but in our larger age groups, we may not have everyone swim five events. If you want to volunteer for Thursday, click the link to visit the SignUpGenius link: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-forest2
Friday night at 5:15pm we will have our annual pre-conference spaghetti dinner in Rotary Park (overlooking the pool). Should it rain, I'll be sure to update everyone on the rain location. Please sign up to bring a prepared dish: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-2018. Please do not bring any desserts or soda.
Saturday morning is the big one. We host the conference championships at our pool as all of the other teams converge for the final meet, the one for all the marbles. Swimmers must have swam in two meets in order to participate in this meet. ENTRIES ARE DUE WEDNESDAY NIGHT. If your second meet is Thursday's meet, please be sure you will be in attendance. We have a lot of volunteer slots to fill, but they are smaller segments and if we work together, we will easily be able to staff this meet without issue. Click the link here for Saturday's Sign Up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-valdese
Seating will be somewhat different this year. We will be on the tennis courts on the parking lot half. McDowell will have the other half of the tennis courts. Forest City will have Rotary Park, and Granite and Black Mountain will be up on the road. Tents will not be permitted on deck except for coaches, vendors, and handicapped seating. The earliest you will be allowed to set up tents is going to be Saturday at 6am. Please do not try to come in early or set up the night before.
Warm ups will be at 7am until 7:30am with McDowell. Forest City and Granite will warm up together from 7:30-8am, and Black Mountain will wrap it up from 8-8:30am. Timers and officials will meet at 8:40am, and we'll hope to start the meet at 9am. If volunteering first shift or half, please be there by 8:30am AT THE LATEST.
The season has flown by, and I appreciate all the help and support you all have given. Let's all come together to make this a fantastic last week and championship meet. See you all on Monday!
Tuesday, July 17, 2018
Seating at McDowell
Hello everyone!
After conferring with the folks in Marion, we are actually going to be able to set up on the terraces or the parking lot. We may also set up in the church lawn (please account for any of your trash should you sit up here).
They have asked for us to park on the street in front of or alongside the Rec or in the church lot. Please do not park on the church lawn.
See everyone there to warm-up at 5:30pm!
After conferring with the folks in Marion, we are actually going to be able to set up on the terraces or the parking lot. We may also set up in the church lawn (please account for any of your trash should you sit up here).
They have asked for us to park on the street in front of or alongside the Rec or in the church lot. Please do not park on the church lawn.
See everyone there to warm-up at 5:30pm!
Sunday, July 15, 2018
Weekly Update for 7/15
Good evening, Torpedo!
This was a really good week we just had. We won at home against Black Mountain and did a great job at the Sprint Distance Meet yesterday in Forest City. Congrats to all swimmers, and thank you to all swimmer and families for a job well done in helping keep these meets running smoothly.
This will be a busy week! We are away on Tuesday and Thursday this week.There will be no practices on Friday, July 20th (morning or evening). Warm ups for both meets will be at 5:30pm, meaning please be ready to enter the water at 5:30pm.
First, on Tuesday, we will be in Marion at the McDowell Recreation Department. If you haven't signed up for the meet, you need to let me know by noon Monday. I will be doing entries at that point and not be doing any late entries. Please park in the church parking lot at
This was a really good week we just had. We won at home against Black Mountain and did a great job at the Sprint Distance Meet yesterday in Forest City. Congrats to all swimmers, and thank you to all swimmer and families for a job well done in helping keep these meets running smoothly.
This will be a busy week! We are away on Tuesday and Thursday this week.There will be no practices on Friday, July 20th (morning or evening). Warm ups for both meets will be at 5:30pm, meaning please be ready to enter the water at 5:30pm.
First, on Tuesday, we will be in Marion at the McDowell Recreation Department. If you haven't signed up for the meet, you need to let me know by noon Monday. I will be doing entries at that point and not be doing any late entries. Please park in the church parking lot at
Saturday, July 7, 2018
Weekly Update for 7/8
Hello, Torpedo!
I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July and is ready for the end of the season! With only three weeks left, we have a busy time ahead!
This week we have two meets: the first is on Thursday, when we take on Black Mountain at home. This year Black Mountain has 140 swimmers on their roster, so expect a long meet with lots of competition. Entries for this meet are due on Wednesday afternoon. We need to have as many of you help out with this meet as possible to ensure it runs smoothly. Without your help, this meet could run very long, and we want to give everyone a chance to swim all of their events. You can sign up to volunteer here.
The second meet this week is our annual Sprint/Distance meet in Forest City on Saturday, July 14th (7:45am warmup). Swimmers 11 and up will have a chance to swim a few shorter events, as well as some longer ones. Entries for this are due Wednesday morning. As a former distance swimmer, I love this meet because swimmers get both Splash-and-Dash and distance events. As I did last year, I will have a shirt for each swimmer who completes the 200 fly, 400 IM, and the mile. Mile swimmers need to have someone to count laps, as well as time for them in that event, which is the last event of the day. We do have some assigned volunteer roles for the meet, and you can sign up for that here.
We are still in need of a few more folks to stroke and turn. PLEASE help out. It's pretty simple to do, and the more we have available to do this, the easier it is on everyone. View the videos here, and then take a moment to complete a 25 question open-notes assessment found here. If you have questions, please ask me, and I will be happy to help.
This is the final stretch, folks. Let's all work together to do great things and help bring another championship trophy back to Valdese! Have a great week!
I hope that everyone had a great 4th of July and is ready for the end of the season! With only three weeks left, we have a busy time ahead!
This week we have two meets: the first is on Thursday, when we take on Black Mountain at home. This year Black Mountain has 140 swimmers on their roster, so expect a long meet with lots of competition. Entries for this meet are due on Wednesday afternoon. We need to have as many of you help out with this meet as possible to ensure it runs smoothly. Without your help, this meet could run very long, and we want to give everyone a chance to swim all of their events. You can sign up to volunteer here.
The second meet this week is our annual Sprint/Distance meet in Forest City on Saturday, July 14th (7:45am warmup). Swimmers 11 and up will have a chance to swim a few shorter events, as well as some longer ones. Entries for this are due Wednesday morning. As a former distance swimmer, I love this meet because swimmers get both Splash-and-Dash and distance events. As I did last year, I will have a shirt for each swimmer who completes the 200 fly, 400 IM, and the mile. Mile swimmers need to have someone to count laps, as well as time for them in that event, which is the last event of the day. We do have some assigned volunteer roles for the meet, and you can sign up for that here.
We are still in need of a few more folks to stroke and turn. PLEASE help out. It's pretty simple to do, and the more we have available to do this, the easier it is on everyone. View the videos here, and then take a moment to complete a 25 question open-notes assessment found here. If you have questions, please ask me, and I will be happy to help.
This is the final stretch, folks. Let's all work together to do great things and help bring another championship trophy back to Valdese! Have a great week!
Sunday, July 1, 2018
Weekly Update for 7/1!
Good evening, everyone!
Here we are on the eve of our mid-season break, but make no mistake, there is a whole lot going on in July! First and most important is our July 28 championship meet. We are the hosts this year, and we're going to need all hands on deck to make this a great meet. Remember, to compete at the championship meet a swimmer must have competed in two meets this season, and there are several more to go. Please remember to sign up to swim in the notebook by the due date listed on each page. We have been fortunate to get swimmers in later on away meets, but this isn't always going to be the case.
Tomorrow (Monday) night we will be in Forest City to face the Stingrays. It should be a pretty quick meet, as we have a smaller contingent attending, and they have a smaller team than in years past. Please take a moment to sign up to time or judge (WE NEED MORE OF YOU TO DO THIS!) using the SignUpGenius link.
The Forest City pool is located at the Callison Recreation Center, located at 217 Clay St, Forest City, NC 28043. Warm ups begin at 5:30pm, which means your child is ready on deck to get in the water at that time. From the Rec, it takes slightly less than an hour to reach, so please plan accordingly. There is no space to warm up or cool down after this time, so please be there.
We received your pictures in the mail and they will be available for you to pick up after practices tomorrow morning or after the break. We have experienced a delay on our shirts, but I have been promised they will be available here in time for our home meet on July 12th. I apologize for the delays.
Following our meet tomorrow, we will not be having practices the remainder of the week. We hope you will take that time to celebrate our Independence Day!
Here we are on the eve of our mid-season break, but make no mistake, there is a whole lot going on in July! First and most important is our July 28 championship meet. We are the hosts this year, and we're going to need all hands on deck to make this a great meet. Remember, to compete at the championship meet a swimmer must have competed in two meets this season, and there are several more to go. Please remember to sign up to swim in the notebook by the due date listed on each page. We have been fortunate to get swimmers in later on away meets, but this isn't always going to be the case.
Tomorrow (Monday) night we will be in Forest City to face the Stingrays. It should be a pretty quick meet, as we have a smaller contingent attending, and they have a smaller team than in years past. Please take a moment to sign up to time or judge (WE NEED MORE OF YOU TO DO THIS!) using the SignUpGenius link.
The Forest City pool is located at the Callison Recreation Center, located at 217 Clay St, Forest City, NC 28043. Warm ups begin at 5:30pm, which means your child is ready on deck to get in the water at that time. From the Rec, it takes slightly less than an hour to reach, so please plan accordingly. There is no space to warm up or cool down after this time, so please be there.
We received your pictures in the mail and they will be available for you to pick up after practices tomorrow morning or after the break. We have experienced a delay on our shirts, but I have been promised they will be available here in time for our home meet on July 12th. I apologize for the delays.
Following our meet tomorrow, we will not be having practices the remainder of the week. We hope you will take that time to celebrate our Independence Day!
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