Great Meet and the Week Ahead!

Good afternoon and Happy Father's Day, Torpedo Family!

After an abbreviated practice week due to the pool closures, the team did a great job at the meet Saturday! Results were sent out via remind, but the Torpedo swimmers combined to beat the Makos and the Stingrays 403-318-263. The swimmers all stepped up and swam well! Both boys and girls sides won their respective meets.

This Friday we will swim against Shelby and Black Mountain in Shelby for a Friday night meet starting at 6pm. Swimmers are to report on deck by 5pm with warm-ups starting at 5:15pm. I need to have entries by Tuesday night, so if you are planning to swim, please sign up at Monday and Tuesday practices. I will send the list out via facebook and remind after Tuesday practice for a last call, but I would love everyone signed up in the book by then.

Additionally, with trying to make it easier on our families for this Friday, we will NOT be having Friday morning practices. We'd rather you be rested for the Friday night meet. No other practices this week will be impacted.

Our timers did a great job Saturday, and a big thank you to those volunteers who helped throughout the entire meet. We'd love each Torpedo family to volunteer some at each meet, and we're happy to help teach you what different jobs are available. 

For this week, we need to have at least two stroke and turn officials and eight timers for the meet. This means we need some parents to help with stroke and turn officiating. I will be sending out that information Monday, and any parents with questions can reach out. Also, timers can be non-swimming siblings, so put those brothers and sisters to work! If they can press a button and write a number, they're good to go!

Sign up here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CABAE2AAAF58-57298036-vtst

The last two meets we've had roughly 50% participation from those who registered for the program this year. We know not everyone is in town every week, but this is a lower number than we'd like to see. If you're in town, please try to find a way to the meets. We need you at home meets, as well as away meets. Our next away meet is Thursday, June 26 at Black Mountain. Our next home meet is Saturday, June 28 against Granite Falls, Shelby, Watauga, and Forest City, and we'd love to have the bulk of the team there for those meets! After those meets, we have a competition break around Independence Day, and get back to it on July 10 at a close to home meet at Granite Falls.

At long last, T-shirts will be delivered this week. You all chose sizes when registering your swimmers. Those are the sizes available for your swimmer. I'll post when those are ready to be picked up.

Finally, the calendar for the week! Let's make this a great week!

 

The Week Ahead: June 2-June 7

Happy Sunday, Torpedo Family!

This is the first week of our split practices! I will be uploading this weekly calendar on a weekly basis so you can easily see what is happening or when sign ups are due. 

Here are a few quick items:

1. The meet Saturday will start later than originally planned. Swimmers need to be at the pool by 8:45am for 9am Warm-Ups. We will start at 9:30am with the races. Swimmers will be assigned to either the Red or Green teams, as this is a friendly intrasquad meet meant to give everyone a taste of what to expect at meets. We won't swim every event we normally do at meets this week, and we hope to wrap up by noon. 

2. Please sign your swimmer up by Thursday for Saturday's meet if they are participating. 

3. We will need volunteers at the meet, so please plan on each family providing one person per "session" to help! You can sign up for different jobs here: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/508084CABAE2AAAF58-57146298-first 

4. Shirts will be ordered Wednesday afternoon. If you would like one in addition to the one covered for your swimmer as a part of registration, please pay $10 at the pool counter by NOON WEDNESDAY. We should have them before the first home meet. Caps are currently available at the counter for pick up. If you wish to purchase more than the one already covered in registration, they are $5. The silver silicone caps are $15.

 

Practices Begin Tuesday!

 Hello, Torpedo!

We start our practices this week, and what a week to begin! Practices will be from 3:30pm-4:30pm for 11 and Up, and 4:30pm-5pm for 10 and Under. Please try to have your swimmer there ready to go when practice starts.

Tuesday will be in the gymnasium at the Community Center. Please have your child in tennis shoes and play/athletic clothing for Tuesday. With highs in the 50s and rain in the forecast, we want a fun first day and not a traumatic one. 

Wednesday- Friday we plan to be in the water. Remember, we changed to the divided schedule on June 2.

So, what does your child need for practices?

• Goggles
• Suit
• Cap
• Water bottle
  

When you signed up, you paid for a cap and t-shirt. T-Shirts will be ordered at the end of the week, but we do have everyone's latex caps available. Silver silicone caps are also available, but they are $15 a piece and need to be purchased separately from the coach. 

We are looking forward to a fun season!

 

2025 Practice information

 

Good afternoon, Torpedo Family!

Practices will be starting soon, and everyone is itching to find out practice times! So far we have about 25 swimmers registered, so we need your help recruiting more to participate!

Per usual, we will have a week of afternoon practices starting at 3:30pm and ending at 5pm during the last week of May. On Monday June 2, we will be shifting to practices divided by age groups with our younger swimmers starting Monday night and our older swimmers beginning Tuesday. 

May 27-May 30:

Ages 11 and Up: 3:30pm-4:30pm

Ages 10 and Under: 4:30pm-5:00pm

Please have swimmers changed and on deck with a kick board at the start time of practice. These are somewhat abbreviated practices and every bit of time is important.

June 3- July 24:

Ages 9-10; 11-12: 8am-9am Tues.-Fri.

Ages 13-14; 15-18: 9am-10am Tues.-Fri.

Ages 8 and Under: 5:00pm-5:45pm Mon., Tues., Thurs.

We will again be doing an optional practice for our older swimmers the same evenings and times we have our 8 and under practices. If older swimmers can't make that particular morning practice, then there will be a somewhat shortened practice available in the evenings. Ideally though, we want to see everyone at the practices at the properly scheduled times with their teammates.

Make Up Age 9-18: 5:00-5:45pm Mon., Tues., Thurs. 

These make up practices may run a little longer, but we will most likely wrap up by 5:45pm.

Coaches:

This year we are excited to have several new coaches who have been with us as swimmers (and a parent, too) to assist with the season. A few of our veteran coaches will be back, as well!  Coach Andersen will be helping out primarily with the swimmers in the evening, but will be spending time with all of our swimmers throughout all of the age groups.

Please don't hesitate to reach out with any questions. If you haven't joined our Remind class, please do! The class code is @valdese, and you'll want to be certain you are using the app instead of just text messaging.

This is going to be a great summer! 

Sign Up Dates and Meet Schedule for 2025! (UPDATED Sunday, June 1)

 

Good afternoon, Torpedo! This one is a long one, and I'll post more later, but I wanted to get this information out!

Sign Ups: Start April 28 at valdese.recdesk.com. This year there is a slightly different fee structure based on residency. This was implemented for all youth athletic programs. Each swimmer will receive a shirt and latex cap as a part of the registration. Bring your friends! Practice schedules are still being hammered out, but look for those!

Champs Meet: Black Mountain with NEW FORMAT! Starting times TBD.

13 - 18 year old swimmers and those swimming 200 Free will swim FRIDAY NIGHT JULY 25.

12 and Unders will swim Saturday morning JULY 26.

Scoring for champs will change from top 6 to top 12 places. Ribbons and medals will still be given to 6 places, but teams will earn points to 12 places. The top three swimmers per team in an event will score if finishing in top 12. This mirrors high school championship meet points structures. Swimmers must still swim two meets for conference, and all swimmers must have a time in the events they are entered in (times may be achieved in practice). CHAMPS SIGN UP DUE TO ME BY JULY 17!

Meet 1: June 7, HOME, 9am Warm-Up 9:30am Start. Red/Green Intrasquad

Meet 2: June 14, HOME, 8am Warm-Up 9am Start. Lenoir and Black Mountain.

Meet 3: June 20, SHELBY, 5pm Warm-Up 6pm Start. Shelby and Black Mountain

Meet 4: June 26, BLACK MTN., 5pm Warm Up, 6pm Start.

Meet 5: June 28, HOME, 8am Warm-Up 9am Start. GF, Watauga, Shelby, and FC

Meet 6: July 10, GRANITE FALLS, 5pm Warm-Up, 6pm Start.

Meet 7: July 12, Sprint/Distance at Forest City. 11 and Up Only. More details to come, but will start in the morning.

Meet 8: July 15, FOREST CITY, 5pm Warm Up, 6pm Start.

Meet 9: July 19, HOME, Last Chance Meet, 8am Warm Up, 9am Start. ONLY FOR SWIMMERS NEEDING SECOND MEET FOR CHAMPS.

Meet 10: JULY 25/26 CHAMPS at Black Mtn.