July 4th Holiday Break and July 8 Meet

Good afternoon, Torpedo!

As we reach the mid-point of the season, I wanted to check in and provide a few reminders about July.

As we start our holiday break, there will be no practice from Monday, July 3- Wednesday, July 5. We will start back on Thursday, July 6. The pool will still be open, so please come and swim during our extended open swim time next week.

I will have meet sign ups for the remainder of the season beginning Friday morning, June 30. Please go ahead and sign up for the meets you are going to attend. I do want to reiterate that it is VERY important to attend the championship meet we are hosting on July 29! 

We do have the t-shirts that were ordered, and they look sharp. We'll get them out to everyone in the coming week.

Our next meet is July 8 at home against Forest City. Everyone should be signed up by the end of the day today. It'll be a good meet, and you can sign up here to volunteer: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CABAE2AAAF58-forest

Parents, if you are interested in participating in the Fools in the Pool relays at the Champs meet, go ahead and start putting some relay teams together. It's a lot of fun and a great way to cool off.

If you have any questions about anything, please don't hesitate to reach out. You are doing great this season, and I'm excited to see what the second half holds for our team!

 

 

Happy Day Before A Meet!

Good morning! Tomorrow is our first meet, and I'm excited to see the kids in action. We have been working hard on racing and cleaning up technique in anticipation of the first swims.

**PLEASE SIGN UP FOR TUEDAY'S FOREST CITY MEET TODAY OR TOMORROW MORNING AT THE MEET! I MUST SUBMIT ENTRIES MONDAY EVENING***

Tomorrow morning at 7:15am you will be able to set up on the tennis courts and Rotary Park. We will not seat anyone on the deck other than the bleachers. We will be operating a small concession stand from the deck, but the concession stand inside will not be open.

Swimmers need to BE READY to get in the pool at at the deep end 8am. We will warm up for 30 minutes. After swims during the morning, it would be good for especially older swimmers to get back in to cool down in lanes 9 or 10. Those lanes aren't for playing during the meet, and your child will be asked to leave the lane if they are playing.

When observing the meet, please do not block the shallow end of the pool, as the 8U swimmers will start their 25s there. There will be a rope in place to prevent spectators getting too close. 

Swimmers will be called to the Clerk of Course area to check in to their event. They will not be called behind the block. If they aren't at clerk of course and miss an event, they will not be added back in. TO find out what events your child is swimming, you will receive a Remind message with entries, and there will be events posted in the hallway at the pool tomorrow morning. The meet will also be available with free heat sheet on the Meet Mobile app if you have the subscription.

These meets do not happen without your help. We still need to have more volunteers for our timing and other jobs. Please sign up here to help: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CABAE2AAAF58-shelbymcdowell

The last events of the morning will be relays, and I ask that you all stay through the end of the meet, as your child may be needed for a relay or relay change. Please check with a check to see if it is ok to leave before doing so.

Make sure to get the kids to bed, eat well, and hydrate today. It's going to be a fun morning tomorrow!

School is Out! Time for Practices to Change! Meet sign ups and more!

Congratulations, Torpedo swimmers, for wrapping up another school year! 

Before I go further, I do want to recognize all of our high school graduates, including those from years past. Congratulations to all of our assistant coaches this year, as well as several former Torpedo members who graduated/are graduating this week. Well done, we are proud of you, and we wish you all the best going forward into whatever endeavors may lie ahead!

Monday marks the change in our practice schedule.  

To Recap:

8 & U: Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday 5:30pm-6:15pm

9-10/11-12: Tuesday-Friday 8am-9am

13-14/15-18: Tuesday-Friday 9am-10am

First Home Meet:

Saturday, June 17 we host Shelby and McDowell. We will plan on running 6 lanes for competition. We will need people to help out in various capacities, and we'd love to have one person from each family volunteer during the meet. You can sign up to volunteer here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CABAE2AAAF58-shelbymcdowell

For home meets, we will allow seating on the tennis courts and in Rotary Park, but not on the pool deck. You're welcome to come on deck to watch the swimming or get concessions; however, the best action is behind the blocks, so PLEASE VOLUNTEER.

So, how do you go about making sure that your swimmer or swimmers are going to swim on the 17th and for each meet going forward? You can use the sign up sheets located at the pool/fitness counter for each meet. Please write the swimmer's name under the correct side and age group. The sheets for all of June and the July 8 meet will be downstairs. 

IF YOU SIGN UP AND CAN'T MAKE IT: Please scratch your name off. It is helpful for us to know who is really going to be here, as we want to make sure that we place all the swimmers in the best position for the entire team. The coaches decide what events everyone swims, and much thought goes in to that, usually several days in advance. It helps us to know EXACTLY who will and won't be at the meets. That said, if you didn't sign up ON THE PAPER (not via text, email, facebook, remind, smoke signal), there is no guarantee your child will be entered. This is very much an opt in process.

Please look at the away meets and figure out carpools as necessary. We want to represent well, and we should have more than enough car seats amongst the team to get swimmers to away meets if you are unable to provide the transportation. 

I am very excited for this season to get started! The swimmers have been working hard since we got in the water, and we will continue that progress over the next two months until everything culminates here.

Shirts and other swag!

 Happy Friday!

Thanks for a great first week of practices. It has been a lot of fun working with the swimmers, young and old, new or veteran. We will have one more week of after-school practices at 3:30pm and 4:30pm, then we will switch on June 12. When we do switch times, there are no Monday morning practices, just Tuesday-Friday morning. Evening practices run Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday for 8 & Unders.

 We will start taking orders for T-Shirts on Monday, June 5, and finish this order Friday, June 9. There is about a two week turnaround on the shirts. Shirts will be $15.

We do have some caps on hand. They are a black latex ($5) or a silver silicone ($15). The silicone is a more durable cap, but is prone to sliding off if a swimmer has finer hair. Latex caps tend to stay in place.

You can order shirts and pick up caps at the fitness counter. Payment for these items may be made with cash or check made out to Valdese Swim Team. If a shirt is not paid for, it will not be ordered.

If you aren't on remind, please be sure you join us! That is my primary form of communication with everyone. 

Have a great weekend!