Weekly Update

Today, Sept. 28^th, is the first day of practice for all of our 12 & unders. All practice times are on our website under PROGRAMS/COMPETITIVE SWIMMING. If you are unsure as to what group your child is in, please contact the swim team office at 474-1400.

Our annual team picnic was a huge success! We had roughly 400 people who came out to enjoy good food and conversation as well as buy items from Kastaway swimwear. Thanks to Paul McDonald for taking some pictures of the kids. If you would like to view them, please go to www.avantrisphotography.com. Thanks to Shawna Lingo for helping coordinate this event.

Thanks to everyone who participated in the Used Equipment and Apparel sale. We had buyers waiting in line at 9:00 a.m. on Saturday. However, we did not have many items to sell. Almost all items we had did sell, and what great deals:  ABLY parka $50.00 (monogram can be professionally removed and re-applied), multiple pairs of fins for $5.00, adult and kids spiritwear shirts/shorts $3.00-5.00. People were looking for more fins, paddles, pull-buoys, and team t-shirts and sweatshirts. Our plan is to have the sale again next fall, so during the year save those items that no longer fit or are needed. We need SELLERS! There is definitely an interest in buying these items.

Thanks to Sue Edelberger for organizing a t-shirt contest for our swim-a-thon t-shirt. The deadline to submit your drawing is Oct. 2^nd. There is a file folder outside of the swim team office to drop off your drawing. The flier is available to view on the home page of our website.

For those of you who missed our picnic (where we held our first suit-up), we have our second suit-up scheduled for Friday, Oct. 9^th from 4:30-7:30pm at the Y in the exercise room next to the racquetball courts. If you need to order your team suit or equipment, you can do so then. Please note that Kastaways will not guarantee that you will have your items by the first meet (Oct. 24^th). You can always call the store (777-7967) to order items and have them shipped to you or simply visit their store. Please call them for directions.

Our annual team pictures are scheduled for either Monday, Oct. 12^th or Tuesday, Oct. 13^th. Please see the website for details as to when your particular group’s picture is scheduled. Look under the EVENTS section.

We have 29 new families this season! These families either started with us this summer or are new this fall. We will be holding a new parent meeting on Wednesday, Oct. 21^st at 6:00pm in the big room downstairs at the Y. This is a good meeting to attend to find out more about the team, our philosophy, goals, structure,etc.

Our first meet will be on Saturday, Oct. 24^th at our YMCA. General meet information has been posted to our website under this event. More detailed information will be posted when it becomes available to us.

Our annual swim-a-thon is scheduled for Monday, Oct. 26^th. Please see our website (home page) for the time slots for each practice group. Your group’s age group coordinator will be contacting you as to food/drink items they need supplied for this event. All forms associated with this event are also available on our website. It is each family’s responsibility to print these and turn them in on time along with any checks/cash. New this year: we are not billing any businesses!! Therefore, you will need to collect money upfront from businesses that give you ads for the Larry Lyons Heat Sheet. If you do not get the money at the beginning, it will be your responsibility to collect and turn in this money by Oct. 26^th. All heat sheet covers have been sold!!

If you have any interest in becoming an official, please contact Jon Saxton for more details. His e-mail is: jsaxton@rendigs.com.

I would love to receive pictures of our swimmers (in groups of 4 or more) for the website. I have been trying to rotate different photos of the various practice groups on our home page. You can either put them on a flash drive and put it in my file folder outside the swim team office or e-mail me (csander@zoomtown.com) pictures as attachments in jpeg format.

Our YMCA is hosting their annual Special Olympics Swim Meet on Saturday, Nov. 14^th in the afternoon. If you are interested in helping out, please contact the swim team office at 474-1400. They are asking for volunteers who are 8^th grade and above. Last year several of our swimmers helped walk athletes to the block, time, and hand out awards. This is a good opportunity for attaining service hours for National Jr. Honor Society and National Honor Society.

I received an e-mail from Alexis Kapostasy whose family just moved to Australia for 2 years. She said they are getting used to Australia. Her team’s name is the Aquadots and she and Allison and Nick all get up at 5:30am to swim several times a week. She said the pool they train at is very big but she is trying to get used to swimming down the LEFT-hand side of the lane! School is going well and she is now learning Italian. Homework is less than she had in the U.S. She said they all go to bed really early since the sun goes down by 5:00pm. I will keep everyone updated as I receive more e-mails.