January 2nd Weekly Newsletter
This is your River Falls Swim News for January 2nd!
Action items are highlighted in yellow.
ANNOUNCEMENTS
Welcome to 2023! Competitive practices resume today. Our first Winter Developmental lessons begin tonight!
The Winter Competitive Session is in full swing! If your competitive swimmer is not registered with USA Swimming for the 2023 swim year, that swimmer will be unable to participate in swim practice until registration is accomplished. This is due to liability issues.
With the changes to USA Swimming registration, there appears to be some growing pains. USA Swimming is only charging $68 for membership. They are not collecting the $8 fee for Minnesota Swimming. In order to get the appropriate funding to Minnesota Swimming, an invoice will be added for all Competitive swimmers in the amount of $10 for Flex memberships or $8 for Premium, Seasonal, or Single Meet membership types. The link for USA Swimming Online Member Registration was sent out on Wednesday, September 14th. If you are in Novice Transition, Novice, Age Group, Pre-Senior, or Senior, please use the emailed link to pay for USA Swimming membership. Many families have been running into issues while registering on the USA Swimming website. If you are one of those families, and you are unable to get registered, please email [email protected], and we will work together to get you registered.
We will be holding our Annual Swim Club meeting on January 16, 2023, at 6:30pm in the River Falls High School Media Center(Library). It will be live streamed on Zoom as well. A link will be emailed out as we get closer to the meeting date. Part of the meeting is to vote on new board members. The club board consists of three members serving two-year terms. We have one seat on the board with an expiring term. The current member in that seat is not seeking another term. We are seeking nominations from club members interested in serving on the board of directors. If you are interested in running for the open seat, or if you would like to get more information, please reach out to Robert at [email protected] or Mathew Lesneski at [email protected].
River Falls High School Swim and Dive – We are in need of timers for the high school home meets. The last home meet for the Boys’ season is January 26th. Please sign up on the spreadsheet posted on Google Drive. Please note this volunteer opportunity does not apply to the Fall session volunteer requirement
ON DECK
WINTER COMPETITIVE SESSION: The Winter Competitive session is in full swing and runs through March 19th. If you have questions, contact Robert at [email protected] or Coach Marissa at [email protected]. Winter practice times are shown below:
- Seniors 7:00PM-9:00PM (Monday-Friday)
- Pre-Seniors 7:00PM-8:30PM (Monday-Friday)
- Age Group 6:00PM-7:00PM (Monday-Friday)
- Novice 6:00PM-7:00PM (Monday-Friday)
- Novice Transition 6:00PM-6:45PM (Monday, Wednesday, and Thursday)
WINTER DEVELOPMENTAL SESSION: Our first Winter Developmental session begins tonight and runs through February 10, 2023. Our next swim evaluations will be February 7-8, from 6:00pm to 7:30pm. Share with your family and friends if you would like them to get started with RFSC in the coming sessions!
UPCOMING SWIM MEETS & EVENTS
The meets for the Fall/Winter Session are posted below. Team meets are posted on the Team Events page of the website and in this newsletter. As a reminder, once the deadline passes, we will not be able to add/remove swimmers or swimmers’ events from the meet registration.
January 7-8: AQJT Winter Invite (Eden Prairie, MN). This is a 2 day Timed Finals meet with two sessions each day: Open and 12 & Under. $35 per athlete flat fee, $2.20 individual splash fee. Session 1 and 3 (Mixed Open) will not start before 9:15AM. Session 2 and 4 (Mixed 12 & Under) will not start before 11:15AM. Registration deadline for this meet has passed.
January 22: RFSC Winter Blast (River Falls, WI). This is a 1 day meet, with two sessions (12 & Under in the morning, 13 & Over will begin 70 minutes after the conclusion of the morning session). Registration deadline for this meet is Friday, January 6, 2022.
This will be a Winter Session volunteer opportunity for all Competitive groups (Developmental groups can also volunteer, but are not required). Please volunteer here.
February 19: RFSC Snowflake Splash (River Falls, WI). This is a 1 day meet, with two sessions (12 & Under in the morning, 13 & Over will begin 70 minutes after the conclusion of the morning session). Registration deadline for this meet is Friday, February 3, 2023. This will be a Winter Session volunteer opportunity for all Competitive groups (Developmental groups can also volunteer, but are not required). Please volunteer here.
February 25-26: RIPT Last Chance (St Paul, MN). This is a Bronze only meet intended to provide swimmers the opportunity to earn motivational times eligible for the Minnesota Regional Championships meet. Meet information and event file pending. Registration deadline for this meet is TENTATIVELY Wednesday, February 8, 2023.
March 3-5: Minnesota Regional Championships (New Prague, MN). Meet information and event file pending. Registration deadline for this meet is TENTATIVELY Monday, February 6, 2023.
March 9-12: Minnesota 14&Under Short Course State Championship (Rochester, MN). Meet information and event file pending. Registration deadline for this meet is TENTATIVELY Friday, February 10, 2023.
March 16-19: Minnesota Senior Short Course State Championship (Hulbert Aquatic Center, West Fargo, ND). Meet information and event file pending. There is a list of hotels available here along with a discount code for reservations. Registration deadline for this meet is TENATIVELY Friday, February 17, 2023.
MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION
Have you ever considered a volunteer position on deck during a swim meet? Would you like to have the best seat in the house at your child’s swim meet events? Meet new friends? Get free entry into the meet? Free food and drinks while you officiate? Consider giving back to the swim community by becoming a swim meet official! We are looking for Stroke And Turn judges, Administrative officials, Starters, and Referees. Serving as an official completes all volunteer requirements with the club for the year. If you have any questions about becoming an official, you can contact Robert at [email protected].
If you have taken pictures of your swimmer at practice or at swim meets, and would like them shared on the RFSC website, Facebook, and/or Instagram, please email them to [email protected]. Any emailed photos will only be shared publicly with the parental consent of all identifiable photographed swimmers due to league athlete protection policies.
If you are shopping on Amazon.com, Amazon.com will donate 0.5% of your eligible purchases to the River Falls Swim Club. You can donate to River Falls Swim Club by using this link or by visiting smile.amazon.com, and clicking on the orange word “supporting”. Search for River Falls Swim Club and click on “select” next to the River Falls Swim Club located in River Falls, Wisconsin. Only purchases at smile.amazon.com or through AmazonSmile activated in the Amazon Shopping app will support your selected charity. Your purchases between July 1 and September 30, 2022, led to over $37 in donations! Thank you for using Amazon Smile!
If you are shopping on SwimOutlet.com, SwimOutlet.com will donate 3%-5% of your eligible purchases to the River Falls Swim Club. You can donate to River Falls Swim Club by using this link.
If you have been a part of the River Falls Swim Club for any length of time, and you have a Google account, would you mind leaving a review on Google? Word of mouth is pretty powerful, and there have been many positive things said about the club on social media and amongst friends. If you would like to share your experiences with the community and let others know about the developmental and competitive sides of the club, you can add your review here.
Over the summer break, we became an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) affiliated swim team. Athlete membership is only $16. This keeps expenses low for Developmental swimmers ($16 AAU membership vs $30-$76 USA Swimming membership). All Developmental swimmers have been invoiced for the $16 membership. Batch registration was sent to AAU and will be processed as soon as it is received. All Developmental swimmers will be registered with AAU. Competitive swimmers (Novice Transition through Senior) are still required to register with USA Swimming, in order to participate in local swim meets, but will now have the option of adding the AAU membership, which provides swimmers the ability to participate in the AAU Junior Olympics ($76 USA Swimming membership + $16 AAU membership). If there are any questions about this information, email me, at [email protected], and I will do my best to answer them.
HAPPY SWIMMING!
Robert
