Dear Swim Team Families
I hope, like me, you are looking forward for the new season. Sam Williams will be returning as our head coach. Marvin Russell continues as our data manager. I return as the team manager and league rep and Pat Houston is our meet manager. We are currently finalizing our assistant coach for the season as unfortunately Maya is not able to come back this year.
At present our final seeding needs to be confirmed by the League but it is likely that we will be swimming in division E. I do not yet have a full schedule of against whom and where we will be swimming but I do have an outline of the schedule:
31st May First Practice and try outs
June 11th Time trials
June 18th First dual meet
June 25th Second dual meet
July 2nd Third Dual Meet
July 9th Forth Dual Meet
July 16th Fifth Dual Meet
July 23rd Divisional meet
July 30th ALL STARS
Team fees
Team fees this year will be $75 for an individual and $120 for families. This is an increase in fees from last year but it comes after 20 years of our fees being fixed at the same level. We decided on this increase as it will allow us to purchase some much-needed training gear like pull buoys and new lap clocks. It will also enable us to pay a little more to our coaches. We also plan on having a swimathon to raise some additional funds for the team.
Eligibility
Any child up to age 18 (or 19 depending on the birthday) able to swim 25 meters can be on the swim team, and we would love to have your child join us. What you most often hear from swim team members is how much fun they have. Our swim team is low-key, with the emphasis on teamwork, good sportsmanship, improved swimming, and fun. We swim in the Prince-Mont Summer Swim League.
Pre-season and Seasonal Jobs
There are a number of things that we need to begin working on. There are also some seasonal jobs for the team that it would be nice to get sorted before the season starts. I am listing these jobs here. Please let me know if you would like to volunteer for one of these tasks.
1. Training for deck jobs
As you are all aware there are many jobs that parents need to do at the swim meets in order for the meet to run properly. Many of these tasks need some training and our league runs clinics where parents can learn how to do these jobs. Certain jobs on deck such as starter, referee and stroke and turn judges can only be carried out by individuals who have been trained by our League or are certified by USA Swimming.
The PrinceMont Swim League (PMSL) is running two clinics this year where parents can be trained. One is this Friday, April 1st and the other will be on the evening of June 4th or June 11th at the University of Maryland. I would urge as many parents as possible to come to one of these clinics for training. Our team has some excellent stroke-and-turn judges already but it would be good if we could rotate others into these positions so that it is not always the same individuals doing all the work. Also there are other deck jobs such as Team Rep, Head Judge, Assistant Judge, etc., where it is important to have a full knowledge of the rules of swimming so please do attend one of these clinics if you can. Please let me know if you plan to attend.
2. Newsletter / Reach for the Wall writer
If there are any budding (or existing) journalists out there it would be great to restore the weekly newsletter this season. This is an excellent way to highlight all the swimmers who improve times and swimmers who win points for the team. A weekly newsletter is also helpful in alerting the team to up-and-coming events and sharing photos. So we are looking for a newsletter writer. Sam and/or our Data Manager Marvin will provide the statistics for the newsletter. The writer just has to provide a report on the meet and pull together any forthcoming announcements for the team. The report on the meet can also be sent to the Washington Post Reach for the Wall website as they are looking for local reporting of league activities. We will also post this material to this site.
3. Team meet hospitality organizer
We will have two or three home meets this year plus time trials. On all of these occasions we like to provide food. This made us a lot of money last year and is a great part of our team’s tradition. Kate Kelly retired from this post last year so we are looking for another parent to volunteer. You will have plenty of helpers and the job can be split between two people. Our team has some good systems sorted out for working out the shopping, making breakfast and grilling so the organizer will not have to reinvent the wheel but if you want to bring in some new recipes or innovations that is also very welcome.
4. Team suit fitter and order taker
At the start of the season we need a parent to take orders for team suits. We like all of our team members to have their suits by the first meet so we need swimmers to order suits within the first ten days of the season in order to get the suits back in time for our first meet. We will be sent a sizing kit from the retailer and kids can use that to order the correct suit size. The person doing this job manages the sizing kit and takes in the orders and payments. It would be really helpful if one or two parents could take on this task. The job is completed by June 18th.
5. Action Accents suit seller fundraiser
Last year we made quite a bit of money selling Action Accent suits and swim accessories to the team and pool members. We would like to do this again and it would be good if a couple of volunteers could take on this task. We will have the goods to sell for about ten days. We will aim to have the suits on sale during time trials so that team members have ample opportunity to buy practice suits, goggles and other bits and pieces at the beginning of the season.
6. Swimathon organizers
Finally it would be helpful for a few parents to organize the swimathon fundraiser. Kids make money for the team by getting sponsorship for laps and parents make money for the team by selling dinners to the pool membership. This is a one off fun event that creates a lot of team camaraderie. If you would like to take this on please let me know.
Please do let me know if you are able to undertake any of these tasks.
I look forward to seeing you all soon.
Helen Searls
helensearls(at)gmail(dot)com
