A Successful Season Opening Party!! A big THANKS to Katherine Davis and Laurie Brooks for organizing a fantastic season opening party. I saw at least 150 swimmers and their families around the pool having a great time. I tried to get around and say hello to everyone. We had a great time and hope those who couldn t make it will be sure to join us at the next event coming up Thursday! One area where we would like some volunteers, is the Social and Activities Committee. Laurie Drayton heads that up committee, and there are lots of spirit parties, pizza parties and Divisional Week parties that are happening, and I know she could use your help. Please email her at obdraytoniii@aol.com, or find her on the pool deck during the 10 and under practice. She will have you working on something soon! MOCK MEET THURSDAY, MAY 24 Practice/warm-ups on Thursday, May 24 will be: 10 and Unders: 4-4:40 11 and Ups: 4:40-5:15 Mock Meet Starts at 5:30 NO GUPPY PRACTICE ON THURSDAY THIS WEEK Here s how Mock Meet will work. Please review this with your kids so they know what to do, especially the younger kids and new families. 11 and Up swimmers will line up in Lanes 1-3. 10 and Under swimmers will line up in Lanes 4-6. The lanes will be marked and it doesn t matter which of the lanes you swim in for your age group. Just pick one and stick with it so your times are all recorded on the same chart. The starter system will be used so new kids get used to the sound and so timers can adjust to seeing the light. First heat will take the blocks (or dive from the side), everyone does free style until everyone has had the chance to record a time. Then everyone will do Butterfly (if your child can t swim butterfly, they can just sit out this round). Then Back stroke, and finally Breast. 1
When the child exits the pool, they tell the recording timer their name and the recording timer will find that child on their chart and write down the 3 times from the stopwatches. If kids want to get a Long Free or 100IM seed time, they can swim those events after all the short events. We will need 18 timers and 6 recording timers. 9 timers and 3 recording timers will be at the far end of the pool in lanes 4-6 for the 10 and Unders who are swimming 25 meters. The other 9 timers and 3 recording timers will be at the blocks end of the pool for the older kids who are swimming 50 s. Jeff Wood, our team referee, and I decided to have all times for kids age 9 and older recorded for seed times and DQ s will be written. 8 and Unders will be swimming this meet for practice and DQ s will be discussed with the coaches. It s gonna go fast because there are no blue cards to check, no cards to run around. Just the charts to record the times. But this should give the timers, and stroke & turn officials some good practice before our first meet on May 31 st. Please bring an extra towel for your child to keep warm and a bottle of water to keep them hydrated. Also bring them a snack to eat before the mock meet starts. After the meet we will have pizza brought in from Domino s and drinks for everyone. We will have a life guard from 4:45 7:45pm so the kids can swim and play in the pool while the adults reorganize the pool again. They will have to stay out of the pool from 5:15 5:30 so we can get them lined up and ready to swim by 5:30. Any questions just email me, or find me on the pool deck. 5/31 Meet Stroke Sign Ups Kids need to sign up for strokes! The May 31 meet is right around the corner! The kids will be able to swim up to 3 events at a meet, plus they may be chosen to swim up to two relays. We will do stroke sign up at the Mock meet this Thursday and at Friday afternoon practice. If you can t make to either of these two events, just email your child s strokes to Eileen Wells at eileen.home@charter.net by Friday evening. The coaches will select your child s events if you don t sign up for them. 5/31 Meet Volunteer Sign Ups Parents also need to get on the website and get signed up to work the May 31 meet! Please go to www.htccswim.com and click on Meet Sign Up and volunteer to help out. We need the parent of every 2
swimmer to work at least one half of each meet. If you are new to the team, please come see me or email me and we can discuss some ways you can assist the team. If you have just certified as a stroke & turn judge for the first time this year, please do not sign up to work at the first 2 meets. You must shadow one of the experienced S&T parents before you can work on your own. Meet volunteer pages have been created for all the Hurricane meets, so please sign up for all the meets! http://www.htccswim.com/schedule/volunteer.asp HTCC Video Greg Hancox, an entrepreneur from JL Mann High School, has started a small company, Patriot Productions to create video s of local sporting events. He then creates a 30 minute video of the season, which will be shown at the end of the season party on July 15. Copies of this video will be available for purchase for $15. I think this will be a fun activity for all the kids especially the practice! I have made arrangements for him to come to the following meets and practices: May 31 swim meet June 9 guppy meet June 7 morning practice all age groups Sample photo from Patriot Productions. Here are some tips from Greg for the kids to make some great video and pictures! Wear your favorite swim suit to practice (different than your team suit, if permitted). It will add variety to the video and will, hopefully, help you to be more comfortable for the camera. 3
Play to the camera! Wave underwater, pose with your buds, and just have fun, 'cause this is your chance to be a movie star! I also want to film you doing your "regular routine", so don't always pose. Always ignore me when your coach is talking. If the camera becomes a distraction, that will shorten my visit because I never want to interfere with your practices or meets. If you don't like being filmed, or are just not in the mood, don't ruin a group shot by hiding or covering up your face (I have to edit that out). Just quietly turn and walk away naturally. Parents, when you submit photos, closeups look the best, especially groups, and they need to look like swimmers (swimsuits)! I also need a pic of the whole team. (Carrie Garrett can you take care of this for him) Shutterfly is one of the best ways to share pics. Also parents, I could use a "guide" for the meet to help me get as many of your swimmers as possible, and to help avoid too much duplication (they all look alike to me in their suits & caps!) If anybody wants to volunteer to be Greg s guide during the meet, please let me know. If you don t want your child in the photo s or video that Greg is taking that day, please let me know and I will tell him which children to avoid. Guppies If you only have children on the guppy team, you do not need to worry about volunteering at the Hurricane meets. However, we would love to have our guppy families come to the home meets to cheer on their older team mates and see how the Hurricane meets are run. It can be a great learning experience for the kids and parents and helpful when it s time to determine if your child is ready to move up to the Hurricane team. Guppies will not have practice on Thursday this week due to the mock meet. You are invited to come watch, and stay for pizza and swimming after the meet has ended. You can contact the guppy directors with any questions, comments or suggestions. Damaris Collier 275-0282 (call or text) bardad1022@bellsouth.net Mary Ellen Bradley901-4638 (call or text) maryellenbradley@bellsouth.net Practice The coaches have told me that they will continue to incorporate wetland exercises into the kids swim practices. This will be the basic sit-ups, push-ups, jumping jacks kind of stuff. Any exercise they can do at home or with another sport will be beneficial in helping them to swim better. 4
The kids will continue to practice with the pace clock, and working on improving strokes. It helps the coaches a lot when the kids use the pace clock to determine when it s time to begin their lap. The coach can spend their time watching swimmers and correcting strokes instead of saying ready, go. Practice times will continue the same until school is out: 4-5pm - kids 10 and under 4:30 5pm Guppy s 5:30 6:30pm kids age 11 & up Once school is out, morning practice times will be the same as last year. The afternoon practice times have moved back by ½ hour as it s much easier to clear 5 lanes of the pool when the kids are out at 4:50 for adult swim, then at 4:30pm. If the evening practice for the 11 & up swimmers is too crowded, we can split the age group and have the 13 & ups swim from 7-8pm. That will be determined when we see how many kids are at practice the first week in June. 8:30 9:30am 10 and under 5-6pm 10 and under 9:30 10:30am 11 & up 6-7pm 11 & up 10:30 11am guppy s Volunteers for Hurricane Meets Here s who I have training in each of the various positions. Guppy parents don t need to worry about this at the guppy meets. You will get pool deck training in how to use a stop watch ;-) Stroke & Turn Al Adams Art Young * David Frengel * Mike Roche* Corey Holden Karen Holden Glen Carson Christine Brodsky Bo Finley Greg Snoad Brooks Drayton * William Cuervo * Amanda Cuervo * * Not passed the online test yet Starter Al Adams Glen Carson Corey Holden 5
Referee Al Adams Jeff Wood * Glen Carson Computer Eileen Wells Lisa Wade * Penny Rice Clerk of Course Lindsay Wilkins You may train for these positions online at http://swimsail.org/about/home.php click on officials then Official certification. Below is the list of people who have completed training and passed the online test in each of the positions. Chief Timer Lori Farmer Raye Carson Records Jenny Justus Joan Close Runner Tim Keaton Jean Kleis Timers Claudia Fischer Tim Keaton Jean Kleis Sharon Serwinowski Suzann Adams Angie Frengel We need at least one parent from each family to be trained as a runner or timer. We need 18 timers at each meet home or away, and 8 runners at each home meet. Having each family get one person trained helps all the parents to only work ½ of the meet and not the entire meet. Our team, like all the other SAIL Teams, depends on the parents to volunteer, participate and help run the meets for our kids. If you have problems getting online to certify for a position, let me know and I will try to help you. The SAIL website is http://swimsail.org/official/. This page lists all the positions you can certify for online. Please click on the position, read the information, then provide your name and team (Holly Tree) and take the test. It only takes a few minutes. This must be done before you can work at a meet. June 14 Meet I will be missing the June 14 meet due to the celebration of my Dad s 80 th birthday. The family is gathering in Daytona Beach so Dad and the boys can have fun at the Daytona Speedway driving race cars (I will be on 6
the beach). If you have ever wondered what it would be like to be in charge of a meet, or thought about someday taking over as meet director, now would be a good time to step forward and learn! Actually, somebody has got to take over the reins of this team while I am gone for 4 days. The meet on June 14 th will be an away meet at Forrester Woods; the strokes will already be selected and sent to FW to produce the heat sheet. You need to bring all the stop watches and stuff, and make sure the parent volunteers are there and ready to work on time; help the tent parent get the kids organized. Then start getting everything organized for the next meet. Even if you don t want to become meet director, somebody needs to step up and be meet director for these few days I have to be out of town. Please email me or come see me on the pool deck if you are willing to help out. If someone doesn t come forward before June 1 st, I will have to select someone can you say names in a hat!. Spirit Activities Wed. May 23 Spirit Buddy Reveal Parties. You do not need to bring any gifts or treats for them at this time. Your child will get their buddies name and a form for the parent to complete. Please fill out this form and give it to the other parent. This will let them know about any food allergies, etc. We will have snacks at the party, so everyone is welcome, even if they aren t participating in spirit buddies. 4:30pm guppy party 5pm Hurricane party Sun, June 3, 6pm Make Up Pool & Pizza Party for all swimmers and families Hurricanes & guppies! If your child swam at the 5/31 meet, they will receive their ribbons from this meet. Come relax, let the kids play, have some pizza and beverage of your choice. We will keep the lifeguards past 8pm if we want to stay. Please go to the schedule page of the website, scroll down to find the party on June 3 rd and join Laurie Drayton and myself on the list of who is attending. We will be using this list as our headcount for ordering pizza. http://www.htccswim.com/schedule/index.asp If you don t sign up, we don t know to order pizza for you!!! Reimbursement Forms/Treasurer 7
New this year is reimbursement forms that must be completed, with receipts attached before you can be reimbursed for something you have purchased for the team. We operate on a very tight budget, and small purchases can add up quickly when I don t know the money is being spent. Lisa Wade is our Treasurer for this year. Please get your reimbursement form signed by Laurie Drayton if your purchase is for one of our social activities. If you buy for some other reason for the team, I will sign the form. Please turn all expenses into Lisa Wade do not give them to me they have a good chance of getting lost until the season is over when I will clean out my black file case. We are trying to do a better job of tracking how our money is spent, and we hope this will help. If you need a form, email me and I will send one back to you. I will have blank forms with me at practice too. Yard Signs If you don t have a Home of a HTCC Swimmer sign in your yard yet, make sure you pick one up from the pool deck and put it in your yard with pride! At the end of the season party, I will remind you to return them for storage until next year. Team Apparel & Suits Team shirts and apparel have been ordered. They should be at the pool for distribution during a practice one afternoon next week. We will have Sharpies so you can write your child s name on their shirt immediately. The team shirts are designed by our very own Suzann Adams! She has done an awesome job with them I know you will love them! Team suits you can still buy one at Alpine Ski on Augusta Road. They have several sizes in stock of both the girls suits and boys jammers. Mock Meet Market On Thursday, May 24, during the mock meet and pizza party, we will be selling swim caps, snack bags and tattoo s. Additionally, several people have requested an opportunity to sell swim suits and HTCC apparel that their children have outgrown. You set the price, and tape it along with your name, on your items. We 8
will have a table set up somewhere on the pool deck for these items. Celeste Webb and Trish Finley will be in charge of the Mock Meet Market. Website www.htccswim.com I have updated the website with all the May activities and practices. I hope to get all of June on later this week. Please check it often so you know what time your kids will practice each day. Go to the schedule section to see the practice and activity schedule by day. While school is in session, it will vary from day to day especially for the Guppies who will miss a day or practice due to mock meet training and an early practice due to coaches training on May 17. Teen Activity Lori and Mike Roche are planning a teen activity for our 13 and older swimmers. Along with the coaches, they will be going to the National White Water Center in Charlotte on Friday, June 29 for an afternoon of rafting, ropes & rappelling and all kinds of challenging activities. U.S. National Whitewater Center HTCC Swim Team Field Trip The USNWC is the best place for family and friends to play outdoors and have fun. Home to the world s largest man-made whitewater river and with many different water and land activities, the USNWC is Charlotte s ultimate playground. The following is a list of available activities, durations and qualifiers. The cost of the day will be between $50 - $52 per person (All Sport/Adult Pass). There are separate charges for parking ($5 per vehicle) and lunch. They will provide lunch, hotdog, burgers or chicken for between $6 - $9 this may be easier than packing lunches but it is optional. Whitewater Activities (Rafting, Kayaking) Flatwater Activities (Flatwater Kayaking,Stand-Up Paddle Boarding, War Canoes) Land Activities (Canyon Crossing, Zip Lines, Rock Climbing, Mountain Biking, Trekking, Adventure & Ridge Course, and more..) We need a commitment of 15-people to do the rafting (takes about 1 ½ hours). A deposit of approximately $500 - $600 will be required upon signing the commitment contract, so we will need to get folks signed up and committed ASAP no later than May 31 st. Sign up on the website http://www.htccswim.com/schedule/index.asp so we know who is coming. 9
If you are interested in doing this, and finances are a problem email me. I will come up with some way for your teen to earn the money for this trip. Party on the Piazza June 1st The club has changed their schedule and they are hosting a BBQ on the Piazza on Friday, June 1 st. It s from 5:30-9:30pm, and reservations are required. They will be grilling food to order and live music will be playing. It s always a fun evening. Art and I will be there please come join us for dinner or drinks! If you are not yet receiving weekly emails from the club about all the activities going on in areas other than the pool, just call them at 967-9510 and they will get you signed up on the email list. Private Lessons The coaches will be offering private lessons starting this week. They are $15 for a 30 minute session. If your child is having problems with a stroke or flip turn, having them do a private lesson or two is a good idea. Sign up early, available times will go fast. My son will probably do a few of them to become proficient in all the flip turns this year. My kids do them every year just to improve in little ways that make them faster in the water. Annie Gillig will also be available for private lessons. She will post a sign up chart on the bulletin board. For new families, Annie swam at HTCC until last year. She wanted to come back and swim this year, and I told her no way! Annie is a year-around swimmer at YSSC and has qualified for the Olympic Trials in the 400IM and the 200 backstroke. She leaves on June 22 for the Olympic Trials in Omaha. She won t have many time slots available for lessons, but she loves working with our kids and we are so fortunate to have an Olympic caliber swimmer that is also a former Hurricane. We will be cheering her on and I will post her results and accomplishments in future newsletters. 10