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!

Way to Go, Team! Reviewing the Past Week and Looking Ahead

Way to go, Torpedo Family!

We have had some great swims and great races, and we finished the week with one team win and one team loss. I'm incredibly proud of how everyone has done so far this season, and we have had tons of best times since the season began. 

I have been especially thrilled to see swimmers and parents exhibiting great sportsmanship, cheering for one another and congratulating everyone on great swims, regardless of team affiliation.

Parents and family members have done a great job volunteering, too. If you haven't volunteered yet, please take a moment at one of upcoming meets and give it a try. Timing is an easy way to help out, and you get the best seat in the house.

This coming Thursday night, we host Black Mountain at home. This will likely be our biggest challenge at home this summer, and I hope we can have a great showing. Please sign up at the desk by the end of practice Wednesday night.

On Thursday, you can begin setting up at 4pm on the tennis courts or in Rotary Park. Clerk of Course will be along lane 10.

Following the meet on Thursday night, we will start our July 4th break. The pool will still be open, so feel free to come and swim, but we will not have an organized practice until Wednesday morning, July 7th. At that point we will start our preparation for our home meet on Saturday, July 10 against Forest City and McDowell.

On another note, the Valdese Recreation Department will be hosting our Junior Lifeguard Program on Wednesday, July 14 from 9am-11am. It is for ages 9-14, and participants must be able to swim at least 25 yards. We will cover some basics of rescuing, CPR, and pool operations, and participants will receive a t-shirt and certificate. The cost is $20, and participants must sign up by July 1 to guarantee a shirt.

Let's keep up the great work as we head into a busy July!

The week in review and the week ahead!

Good morning, Torpedo Family!

It has been quite a season already! We saw our first ever intrasquad meet, and, despite the deluge, everyone hung in there and stuck it out to get the meet done. I want to thank everyone for your help in making the meet go smoothly. There were certainly some changes from meets in the past, and I appreciate you all for working with us through the changes. I do want to offer a big shout out to our Stroke and Turn Crew, who are also Torpedo Family Members, on the Masters side. Melinda W. is the mother of our former coach Lauren, and Rich E. is new to the area, but has spent a lot of time on the pool deck at his son's meets as his son was swimming from summer league to a division I NCAA athlete. Please take a moment to thank them for giving their time to help us out.

Your swimmers worked hard last week, and this week has two meets in store. On Tuesday, we head to Black Mountain to face off against the Stingrays at the Black Mountain Pool (401 Laurel Circle Drive, Black Mountain, NC 28711). Warm ups begin at 5:30pm, so please be there with time to get ready before we hit the pool. We will be sitting off the pool deck, and parents are being asked to come on deck only to watch their children swim. Please make sure to leave room at the turn end for our 8Under swimmers and officials.

Saturday, June 26, we will be hosting the Granite Falls Sharks. Warm ups begin at 8am, and you can start setting chairs and tents up on the tennis courts and Rotary Park at 7am.  There will be people in the water practicing, but the pool will not be open to us until we warm up at 8am. We are hoping to be done by 12:30pm. 

 We will need volunteers for both meets, so please use the SignUp Genius pages as they become available.

 Finally, in anticipation of a longer night Tuesday, we will not be doing morning practice on Wednesday, June 23 (8Unders will still practice at 5pm Wednesday).We will be back at it Thursday and Friday in anticipation of Saturday's meet.  

 Thanks again for being a fantastic team to coach and work with! 

Here We Go!

 Good morning, Torpedo Family! 

This Saturday morning, June 12, will be our first meet of the season! Please have your swimmers ready to warm up at 8am. 

There are going to be a few changes for this meet that we are trying out for future home meets.

1. Tents will not be allowed on the pool deck. You can set these up in Rotary Park and on the tennis courts.This will be the case at other pools, as well. We hope this will make it a little less dense on deck and easier for you to watch your swimmers. The gate to Rotary Park will be opened for everyone to move on and off the deck. Please do not enter the pool deck from the tennis courts; that gate is for swimmers only.

2. Clerk of Course will be at the entry from the tennis courts to the pool deck. Swimmers will need to go there to check in for their events and then will go as a heat to the blocks.

3. Please have your swimmers pay attention to their events and the announcements from clerk of course. We don't want anyone to miss their swims!

4. We are still in great need of volunteers. I would love to see a member of each family volunteer for at least one shift. We won't be able to run the meet without you all as volunteers. Please sign up via SignUpGenius: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084cabae2aaaf58-vtst4. There is something everyone can do to help. If you're curious about what everything is, please check out this previous post on the subject: http://vtst.blogspot.com/2017/05/the-most-important-person-at-our-meets.html

5. We will be using stopwatches this week as the timing system needs a tune up before we can put it in to use. 

Your swimmers have been working hard over the last two weeks, and this should be a fun event! See you all at the pool!

2021 Bubble Down, Practice Schedule, and Meet Schedule

Good morning, Torpedo! 

There are several pieces of news I want to pass along to everyone. 

First, as you may have already seen, we will be taking the Bubble down. The pool will close on May 14 at 11am and re-open Thursday, May 20 at 7am. For now the pool schedule will be the same until around June 1 when we begin our swim lesson programming and VTST practices. A more detailed pool schedule will be available in the coming weeks. Don't forget sign ups start next Monday, May 10!

The next big piece of information is Torpedo practice times. Please remember to have your child at the appropriate practice time. If for some reason they need to attend a different practice every once in a while, it needs to be cleared by me. Practices start Tuesday, June 1.

9-10, 11-12, Novice 13-14: Mon.-Fri. 8am-9am

Advanced 13-14, 15-18: Mon.-Fri. 9am-10:15am 

8 & Unders: Mon.-Thurs. 5:00-5:45pm 

Finally, the next piece of the scheduling puzzle is our meet schedule. Please remember to sign your swimmer up by the deadline for each meet in our notebook at the pool/ fitness desk. If a swimmer isn't signed up, they won't be entered. We will be trying a few Saturday morning home meets this year. Warm-up for those meets is 8am, and we should be able to wrap up by noon or 1pm at the latest. Away meets will be on Tuesday or Thursday evenings, and they will have a 5:30pm warm-up. 

The Sprint/Distance (for ages 11 & Up only) and Champs meets are Saturday meets. You should expect the Champs meet to last all day. We will have more detailed information on those two meets in June, but please remember, swimmers will have to have participated in two meets in order to be eligible for the Champs meet on July 31.

Sat., June 12: Intrasquad/Virtual Meet @ Valdese, 8:00am Warm-Up

Tues., June 22: @ Black Mountain Stingrays, 5:30pm Warm-Up

Sat., June 26: Granite Falls Sharks @ Valdese, 8:00am Warm-Up

Thurs., July 1: Black Mountain Stingrays @ Valdese, 5:00pm Warm-Up

Sat., July 10: Forest City Stingrays/ McDowell Mariners @ Valdese, 8:00am Warm-Up

Thurs., July 15: @ McDowell Mariners, 5:30pm Warm-Up

Sat., July 17: Themed Sprint/Distance Meet (11&Up Only) @ Black Mountain, Warm-Up TBA

Thurs., July 22: @ Forest City Stingrays, 5:30pm Warm-Up

Sat., July 31: TSL Champs Meet @ Forest City Stingrays, Warm-Up TBA (ALL DAY MEET)

There will be more information coming in the next few weeks, and don't forget, we will need officials and volunteers. I'm looking forward to working with you all this summer and having a great time!

Starter/Stroke and Turn Official's Info (UPDATED FROM 2017)

Good evening, everyone! This is a repost of a post from 2017, with some updated links.

The main point of this blog post is to get you all information regarding the stroke and turn/ starter training.  In the past I have served as the lone starter at home meets, and I would love to be able to pass the whistle off to some others to free me up to spend more time on deck away from meet management.

Stroke and turn officials need to do three things for us to be "certified."

Number 1: Watch the USA Swimming videos available online here: https://www.usaswimming.org/officials/how-to-become-an-official. Scroll down to find the videos. Stroke and turn officials have several shorter (6 minutes or less) videos to watch. Starters have one thirty minute video to watch. These videos are accessible through YouTube, as well.

Number 2: Take the 25 question assessment based on commonly seen things at our meets and the videos. You only need to get 18 correct to pass, and you can take it multiple times (Starters don't need to take this). https://goo.gl/forms/VF4F0RDw9J9n6WEu1

Number 3: Shadow an already established official at a meet on deck to get the hang of what it is like  officiate. Potential starters need to spend about 5-10 minutes on deck with me prior to working a meet.

Neither of  these jobs are difficult! Go ahead and give it a try. Not only will filling these roles help the team, it will help you understand what is expected of you swimmer when they step to the block. It's a great way to learn about the sport while helping out, and we can't be at our best without YOUR help (Yes, I'm talking to you!).

Thank you all for making this a fun and exciting job!

Gearing Up for Summer Fun with the Valdese Torpedo Swim Team

Good evening, Torpedo family! I hope everyone is doing well and is ready for a summer with the Valdese Torpedo!

As of this posting, there are still some unknowns, and I will be addressing them as best I can, but we will have a season, and we will have a great time. As always, if you have any questions, please don't hesitate to get in touch either by phone or email, and I will get back to you as quickly as possible.

First a few dates/ some information for everyone:

Monday, May 10: Sign-ups start! Come to the fitness counter when we are open to get registered, order your t-shirts and caps (latex and silicone available this season), and start getting pumped up for a great season! We will accept new swimmers until June 14. We do ask that all swimmers be able to swim a complete 25-yard length without stopping in order to join the team this summer. If you aren't sure, feel free to consult with me for a swim test before paying any registration fee for the swimmer in question.

Tuesday, June 1: Practices Start! Practices will be divided by age group as we have done in the past. This is traditionally our first day of practice, and with school ending earlier this year, we'll go right to the divided practices. There will be morning/evening practice divisions as we have done in the past, and I will put out the exact times for ages once we have a good idea of how many swimmers we have in each age group.

Saturday morning, June 12: Our first meet at home. This will be an intrasquad/virtual meet where we will get a chance to see what our meets will look like at home and practice new traffic patterns on the deck, etc. We will combine results with other teams to see where everyone is.

Saturday morning, June 26: Granite Falls at Valdese. This will be our first meet at home with another team.

Saturday, July 10: Home meet, opponent TBD.

Saturday, July 17: Sprint/Distance for our 11 and over swimmers. Black Mountain Pool.

Saturday, July 26: Home meet, opponent TBD

Saturday, July 31: Championship Meet at Forest City, Callison Recreation Center Pool

As you can see, we don't yet have our full meet schedule together yet. We hope to have that at the end of April. We will be adding a couple of away meets, and we may drop one of our home meets, but the meet dates above are dates you may want to pencil in on your calendars. We will still do meet sign ups on a meet-by-meet basis, where you can sign up at the fitness counter for each meet you plan to attend.

As usual, we will need to have parents volunteer to assist with meets, particularly with regards to stroke and turn officials. Volunteering is the best way to get a view of the action during meets. If you are interested in volunteering as a stroke and turn official, please contact me ASAP so I can begin working with you.

The meets will look a little different in terms of structure and logistics due to the guidelines facilities are being asked to operate under with regards to COVID-19. These include the changing of the flow of traffic to and from the blocks, the use of sessions for different age groups, limiting numbers on deck with regards to seating, and following the most current masking and distancing guidelines as outlined by the state.

Now, everyone is wondering, what about the Bubble? Will it stay up or is it coming down? Right now we are cautiously optimistic that it will come down this summer. We rely on assistance from workers who are not being sent off-site anywhere at this time. Should they be released to work off-site, we have a mid-May date scheduled to remove the Bubble. We are exploring other options if they are not available to assist us, but as of now, we are hopeful they will be available. Should the Bubble not come down, we will be adding additional fans to assist with comfort inside the Bubble during the warmer times of day. 

I want to wrap up with this: even though our program may look a little different this summer than in years past, we are still pursuing the same program goals as we do every summer. Team and individual victories are important and shouldn't be discounted, but they are only a part of what has made us a successful program. Among other things, commitment, supporting teammates, and developing a strong work ethic while still having fun are all a part of the process for us, and those things combined have led to our success. That will still be the case this summer.

I am really looking forward to seeing everyone and having a great season. Again, please don't hesitate to get in touch if you have questions or concerns. Have a great rest of the school year, at I can't wait to see you at the pool!