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!