Good Job at Champs & Potluck Banquet

You guys did great at Champs!  We came in 8th overall, solidly in Division II (woo-hoo!!) and are the Division II runners up for the season!  Awesome!

At the end of each session, swimmers are awarded a "Highpoint Award" for winning the most points in the session. Bracken Eddy and Ashley Huang each won for their session.  Good work! 

Our End-of-Season Potluck Banquet Dinner is at the Key Center on 800 E. Market Street at 6 PM (map). We ask that each family bring a side dish AND a dessert to serve 8 people.  Please don't arrive early - the space will be in use until just before 6.

See everyone tomorrow ready to celebrate our success and thank our AMAZING coaches.

Banquet Dinner & Family Fun Swim

On Tuesday, July 31st, the City swim team will hold its  End-of-Season Potluck Banquet Dinner at the Key Center on 800 E. Market Street in Charlottesville (map). We ask that each family bring a side dish AND a dessert to serve 8 people. To help Linda Austin with planning, please sign up your family here. This is where swimmers get their trophies, any stray ribbons, and awards.  Families get to thank the coaches for their hard work this season.  Parents get to be grateful we made it through another season! We hope to see everyone there.

On Wednesday, August 1st, the City holds a Swordfish Team Family Fun Swim at the Onesty Family Aquatic Center (map).This is a free, fun, purely social event. Please sign-up at the front desk of Washington Park pool to secure your choice of either a 4:00–6:00PM or 6:30–8:30PM fun swim. This fun event is for City Swordfish swimmers and their immediate families only, and space is limited, so you do need to sign up at the pool.

Go Swordfish!

CHAMPS info and more

CHAMPS FAMILIES: It is very important that at least one parent of all Champs swimmers attend the Pancake Supper starting at 6:15 on Wednesday at Washington Park pool. Champs packets and other information will be given out and the swimmers will make spirit banners.

Just a note - a few families have been sad that swimmers who aren't going to Champs aren't invited to the pancake supper. This is a non-swimming event intended primarily to provide information and distribute required materials to Champs families. The social aspect is secondary to the business aspect at this event. 

We do not yet have the warmup times for the Champs sessions. That information will be distributed when we have it.

ALL FAMILIES: We will have a parent's committee meeting later in the summer/early fall to assess the season and make plans for next year. Over the past few years, we've improved the organization of the team, but still have plenty of issues to work on.  If you have ideas and would like to participate, look for that email. Meanwhile, make notes of what you wish we'd change (or the things we really need to keep doing!) 

Thanks for everyone's hard work. We'll see many of you at Champs practice this week, and everyone at the Banquet and Fun Swim! 

WEEK 6 RESULTS

What a great end to our season! We won the meet 434.5 to 350.5. (See the meet results, and all the other teams results) It was a great competition against Glenmore. They hosted a well-run meet, and our swimmers and coaches worked hard. Thanks to all!

Reminder:  If your kids are not swimming at Champs, swim practice is now over. The next all-team events will be the Banquet and Family Fun Swims. 

Important:  the coaches will begin working at 1 pm TODAY to enter swimmers into the Champs meet next Friday and Saturday.  You MUST CONFIRM THAT YOU ARE SWIMMING AT CHAMPS.  If you haven't, quick, sign up here: We ARE swimming at CHAMPS!

There are two of the coveted Champs volunteer positions left (they get you inside to the a/c and action!)   We still need a table awards assistant for the 8 & unders (Friday afternoon) and a table awards assistant for the 11 & 12 year olds (Saturday morning).  These jobs will give you a comfy seat inside and you'll be able to take a break to watch your swimmer.  Go here to sign up: Champs Jobs

Finally, (any coaches reading, please look away) we are collecting money for the coaches' gifts - please give donations to Leah, Amy, Kathryn, Claude or anyone you think won't pocket and buy a coffee... We'll be around at most practices, at the Pancake Supper next Wednesday (mandatory for all Champs families) and at the Champs meets. Also, look for the coaches' cards to have your kids sign them.

GO SWORDFISH!

WEEK 6 MEET: Wed. July 18; Away vs. Glenmore

This Wednesday, we have our final dual meet of the season against Glenmore AT Glenmore Country Club.  (directions)(map) Note: the Shadwell Bridge IS OPEN so you can ignore the detour instructions.

Swimmers should be at Glenmore at 4:45, caps and goggles on, hands marked with events, ready to SWIM!  By now, we all know the drill... Note that the Glenmore team is very small this year. We may need more City parents to step up to volunteer once we're at the meet. We have a few open spots, so check out the regular sign up if you haven't worked yet.  

About half our team has confirmed that they are swimming at Champs.  We need ALL our swimmers!! Please confirm your swimmers' attendance at Champs here. 

We still have a few volunteer spots open at Champs. Providing these parent volunteers is a JSL requirement.  If the jobs are not filled, our team will be penalized points. That means if you've signed up, you REALLY need to show up to work, as someone is keeping track. Names of volunteers have to be submitted ahead of time so that you can have an official name tag that allows admittance to the pool areas. You can check out the Champs sign up here.

GO SWORDFISH!! 

Week 5 Results & CHAMPS info

NOTE: Important information about Champs -- read through to the end please!

Wow!  What a close meet.  We finished ONE POINT behind Hollymead - 548 to 549!  Think of this - out of almost 1100 points, the scores differed by one point.  Amazing swimming by both teams. Thanks to Andrea and the coaches, the swimmers, and all the hard work of the parent volunteers. Meet result (PDF) and all JSL results.

A few notes: We've had some issues with the timing. We know it's hard -- the events move fast, it can be hard to hear, and there is often a fair amount of chaos around the timers.  We ask for our last meet of the year that parents and swimmers be aware of how they may be crowding the workers and that those doing the timing do their best to ignore distractions.  (That includes our own kids and spouses trying to talk to us while we're timing.)  It's important to keep your eye on the strobe light (faster than the horn) for the start of the race, and watch the swimmer's hand (not body) as they touch the wall at the finish. Finally, and we know it's TOUGH with everything else, make your best efforts to write clear, legible numbers on the cards.  We know we ask a lot of our volunteers, but in close meets, handwriting (is that a 6 or 0? 7 or 1?) and careless timing can literally change the outcome of the meet. 

Also, please tell your swimmers NOT to be in the clerk area when they are not getting ready to swim! Our poor clerks are working hard, and extra kids make the job a lot more stressful. 

CHAMPS is coming!  We've proven that we are competitive in Divison II but we will be dropped back to Division III if we can't hold on to our place in the Champs meet.  Seriously - it's not how we finish during the season, but how we place at Champs that determines our division rank.  We need all our swimmers to be there!  The schedule is as follows:

Friday MORNING 7/27 :  All 9 – 10s (8a.m. - 1p.m.)

Friday AFTERNOON 7/27:  All 6 – 8 year olds (1 - 7:30 p.m.)

Saturday MORNING 7/28:  All 11 – 12 year olds (8 a.m. - 12:30p.m. )

Saturday AFTERNOON 7/28:  All 13 & Ups (12:30 - 6:30p.m.)

We need you to please confirm that your swimmer will be at  Champs.  Please use this link: WE ARE GOING TO CHAMPS  Anyone not  confirmed will NOT be entered into the meet. Lots more information will be coming about Champs so you know exactly what to expect. 

Also, the parents committee is considering renting a school bus for one or both days to provide transportation. Any child 12 or younger would need to be with an adult. Older kids will not have supervision. In order for us to gauge interest, please use this link. We want to ride the bus! We'll decide whether or not to move forward with the bus based on your responses.

Please take time to look at the information about volunteering at the Champs meet on July 27th and 28th at Fork Union Military Acadamy. We need all positions filled by next week to give the names to the JSL. More information can be found at the jsl.org website. Thanks to those who have already offered to volunteer (you will see you are already signed up on the form). This is a new venue this year, but as in past years, only those volunteering with name badges will be allowed on the pool deck. What an incentive to volunteer!

Thanks everyone! GO SWORDFISH!!

WEEK 5 MEET: Wed. July 11; Home vs. Hollymead

The meet this week is on Wednesday at home, against the Hollymead Hammerheads. THIS IS OUR BIG MEET! We need everyone to come ready to SWIM!

As with previous home meets, please try to park at Burley Middle School (map), leaving the Washington Park upper and lower parking for our guests. In the interest of community relations, refrain from parking on the residential streets, even in legal spots. Please have your swimmers at the pool by 4:30 for warm ups, with goggles and caps on, and events sharpied on hands (it's helpful to add the heat as well as the event number if you can).

 Please note that we'll be swimming a little out of order - the long free events will happen right after the relays this week. The coaches want to be sure the kids get another chance to swim long free and this will help ensure that we get that event in (in case of inclement weather or a meet that runs long). We still have some jobs open for this weeks meet (unusually, some first half jobs are still open) - please sign up here.

Thanks for everyone's help with getting these meets to run smoothly. We have more team t-shirts, and plenty of youth smalls. See Leah at practices (thank you Leah!) or look for them at the meet.

Fingers crossed for fair weather Wednesday!  GO SWORDFISH!!

WEEK 4 MEET RESULTS: Wed. July 3, vs. Greene Hills

Thanks again to Andrea and all the great coaches, who lead us to another win in truncated, but very successful, swim meet!  The final score was City 293, Greene Hills Gators 233.  Thanks to all the parents who jumped in and worked. Everything ran smoothly thanks to your hard work, and give your swimmers a big high-five for their hard work and good swimming. See our results here and the other JSL results here.

Remember to opt-out of the meet if your swimmers will not be here next week and please sign up for jobs for next week's meet.

Our weather issues on Tuesday brought up several questions:

When are swimmers called out of the water and for how long?
The JSL bylaws say: The Host Team Meet Director shall be responsible for making and implementing all decisions regarding weather issues. In the event of thunder or lightning or rain hard enough to obscure the bottom of the pool, the Meet Director shall stop the meet and clear the pool of all swimmers. In the case of thunder or lightning, the meet shall not resume until at least 15 minutes have passed since thunder or lightning were last observed. Each team shall have a plan for clearing its pool area which fits its structure and safe shelter availability. The host's team's policy will prevail if more strict than League policy.

When is the meet called for weather?
That is up to the meet director. if it looks like the weather may pass quickly enough to allow the meet to resume, we'll wait.  If it looks like the weather will last a while or we're fairly close to the end, the meet may be called, especially if we're through the half-way point. 

When is a meet 'complete?'
According the JSL bylaws:  The Home Meet Director in conference with the visiting Team Meet Director(s) will decide when a meet shall be suspended due to inclement weather or other circumstances. After the completion of one-half of the scheduled events a meet will be considered complete. Tuesday or Wednesday suspended meets will be swum on Thursday of the same week except any meet at the Louisa Pool will be swum on Friday night and any meet involving Greene Hills will be swum on Monday of the following week. By mutual agreement of the Home and Visiting Meet Directors, a meet not completing the half-way event may be considered complete or another completion date may be agreed upon.

What is the mysterious "half-way event"?
It depends  on the meet format, but is about the conclusion of the breaststroke events (just before the backstroke begins). 

See everyone Monday at 6 for the Team Photo - have your swimmers in their team swimsuit. 

GO SWORDFISH!!

MEET: Tue. July 3; Home vs. Greene Hills

We hope everyone weathered the storm ok!  Remember, the meet this week is on TUESDAY at home, against Greene Hills.  As last time, please try to park at Burley Middle School (map), leaving the Washington Park upper and lower parking for our guests. In the interest of community relations, refrain from parking on the residential streets, even in legal spots. 

Please have your swimmers at the pool by 4:30 for warm ups, with goggles and caps on, and events sharpied on hands (it's helpful to add the heat as well as the event number if you can). 

Thanks for the additional job sign ups. Amy is sleeping better. We still have a few spots open so take a look if you're not signed up already. Remember that we will be doing an orientation for TIMERS, RUNNERS, and CLERKS before the meet. Remember, too, that if you are a second half worker, you need to listen for the change over. It's usually around the beginning of backstroke events. We'll send someone around with the megaphone warning you, but you'll have to pay attention as well, as it's easy to miss announcements in the chaos of meets. First half workers, man/woman your stations until your second half relief arrives!  Send word if you are not relieved, and we'll figure it out for you as quickly as we can.  

Team Picture Day is next Monday, July 9 at Washington Park Pool, 6 PM.  Please try to arrive as early as possible wearing your team suit (or a plain black suit). 

Speaking of suits, several parents have contacted the Parents Committee seeking to buy or sell used suits.  Rather than handle this through emails, we are going to ask parents to post a small notice on the team bulletin board at the pool. 

GO SWORDFISH!

MEET RESULTS: Wed. June 27, vs. Fry's Spring

Well done Swordfish - we won Wednesday's meet, 544 to 506! It was close and Swordfish swimmers swam well.  We're all proud of you!  Thanks as usual to our fabulous coaches and to all the parent volunteers.  See the results here (PDF link) and all the JSL results here.

Don't forget to OPT OUT of next week's meet if you need to. Remember, our next meet is on TUESDAY, July 3, at home vs. Greene Hills.  You'll need to 1) show up on the right day! and 2) make extra sure to get your opt-out recorded by 11 am tomorrow/Friday because the coaches need to get the roster in a day earlier than usual. 


Thanks also to a Swordfish Dad, Stanislas, for all these great images!

MEET: Wed. June 27; Home vs. Fry's Spring

This week we will be swimming AT HOME against Fry’s Spring.  Home team warms up first!  Please be here at by 4:30 with goggles on, ready to warm up.  Bring your sharpie to write your events on your hand.

Parking for home meets is always an issue. The City Recreation director makes the following request:

In the past, we have received complaints from the Washington Park Pool neighborhood concerning swim meet patrons parking in front of homes on Charlton and Henry Avenue. We are asking for voluntary compliance with not parking along Henry or Charlton Avenue. You may park in the upper or lower Washington Park lots (upper located next to pool on 10th St, lower accessed from Preston Ave across from Madison Ave).  You may also park at Burley Middle School at Henry Street  and Rose Hill Drive (map).  The police will be enforcing parking laws will necessary and will offer assistance. Out of respect for the neighborhood residents, we ask both teams to consider that you may be inconveniencing a homeowner when parking. Thank you and best of luck!

As a team, we ask that City families park at Burley Middle School (map) and leave the Washington Park lots to the visiting teams if at all possible.

Remember, if you erect a tent, please be mindful of the space you are taking.  Do not erect a tent near the edge of the poo blocking the view. Share your space, realizing that there isn't enough space if every family were to bring a tent.

In addition to t-shirts, we will also BEACH TOWELS available for order! These towels are thick, large towels in a Caribbean blue, with our swordfish logo and your swimmer’s name embroidered on them.  They will cost $25, to be paid at the time of ordering. Leah Foradori will be taking orders and will have a  towel so that you can see the quality. All orders must be received by THIS FRIDAY. We think you will be very happy with these beautiful towels. Much thanks to Lisa Grove for all her hard work in tracking down a vendor and setting up the order and Leah for managing the ordering.

As usual, please use sign up genius to sign up for a meet job.

It’s not too early to begin thinking about the Champs meet.  Remember that ALL SWIMMERS are needed for this meet - as long as your swimmer has competed in two regular season meets, your swimmer should be going to Champs. We need to do well there to retain our Division II ranking, and need our whole team.  More information will be coming out, but mark your calendar for the 27th and 28th of July (note - each swimmer will only swim on one day. More specific scheduling information will be available soon.)

GO SWORDFISH!

MEET RESULTS: Wed. June 20, vs. ACAC

Hats off to ACAC who won Wednesday's meet, 535 to 501. It was close and Swordfish swimmers swam well.  We're all proud of you!  Thanks as usual to our fabulous coaches and to all the parent volunteers.  See the results here (PDF link) and all the JSL results here.

Speaking of volunteers, the tireless Amy Buddington could use help with volunteer coordination. This job involves making sure we have enough volunteers signed up for each meet and then checking in parents as they arrive at the meet. Contact us by email if you would like to help. We would like to make sure we have several parents with experience doing all of our key jobs to ensure that the team runs smoothly.  And it's not too soon to sign up for next week.  Amy sleeps better when the jobs are filled early!

If your swimmer still needs a suit, there are a few in a few sizes available here.  

If your swimmer will NOT be at the next meet, by 11 am Friday opt out here. Remember, if you are going to participate in the meet, do nothing. It is important to let the coaches know because they have to submit the roster in advance of the meet. They strategize carefully about which event each child should swim to maximize points for the team. If your swimmer is entered but doesn't participate, no one can swim in his or her place for points and the teams might lose out. Also, if your swimmer is not present for a relay, not only might the team lost points, but three other swimmers might not be able to compete. Communicate with the coaches!

T- shirts are still available for order. They will be bright yellow and will cost $15. Pre order yours here.

We are still selling Heat Sheet ads for the Champs meet.  Ads are available in sizes ranging from business card to full page – prices are here. Buy an ad to celebrate your swimmer or advertise your business.  The City swim team receives a cut of the proceeds based our our percentage of ads sold. Llezelle Dugger will be at practices and the meet with order forms.  If you have questions or miss her, you can contact her by email or phone:  434-806-9238.

Thanks Swordfish families!  Go Swordfish!

MEET: Wed. June 20; ACAC Outdoor Pool

We are swimming against ACAC this week.  Please plan to arrive at ACAC by 4:30.  Bring  swim cap, googles and towel and a SHARPIE so that you can write your events on your swimmer’s hand. 

Directions and map. 

Parking is allowed in the Four Seasons lot across the street, but ONLY in the spaces that face Four Seasons Drive. Parking is NOT allowed in the grass on this side of the street and cars will be subject to towing. Parking is allowed on the pool side of the street from the dam to the pool entrance.

The ACAC pool is 50 meters long.  Please make sure your swimmers understand that event P1 (5-6y.o. 100 FR), events 3-10 (all ages IM) and events 11-12 (8 & Under MR) are NOT swum in the long course pools. Additionally, all 25m events are swum to a rope in the middle of the pool. The ACAC meet director tells us that older swimmers will be stationed in the pool at the rope to help the swimmers stop and assist them to the side of the pool.  Additionally, timers will have to stand at the side at the level of the rope to time. 

Please be respectful of the spectator space when erecting tents.  If you wish to erect a tent for shade cover, please do so at the BACK of the spectator area.  The tents obstructed views and made it difficult for parents to find lane-side space to see their swimmers last week. 

We still need some second half workers, so please go to the signup genius site to choose a job.

In non-meet news, it’s already time to be thinking about Heat Sheet ads for Champs.  At the Champs meet, the heat sheets are sold as a book.  Ads are available in sizes ranging from business card to full page – prices are here.   Buy an ad to celebrate your swimmer or advertise your business. The City Swimteam receives a cut of the proceeds based our our percentage of ads sold. Llezelle Dugger will be at practices and the meet with order forms.  If you have questions or miss her, you can contact her by phone (434-806-9238) or email.

Also, the t-shirt order form was mistakenly marked ‘private’  (by me!) but has been opened – sorry for the frustration that caused.

A final reminder:  by 11 am each Friday, please let coaches know if your swimmer will NOT be able to make the following week's meet.  If  you are attending, do nothing!  Just let the coaches know if you are NOT attending here.

GO SWORDFISH!!!!

Friday update

What a great first meet!  Thanks so much to the parents who worked hard to help the meet run smoothly.  Thanks, too, to our terrific coaches. 

We have sold almost all our team shirts and would like to place a new order.  If you would like a shirt, please let us know what size and how many: T Shirt order form 2012.

As usual, let the coaches know by tonight if your child will NOT be swimming in next week's meet (link)

Our next meet is against ACAC (outside pool) (map) (JSL page).  More specific information will go out on Monday.  Meanwhile, we have a few jobs open, mostly pre-clerk assistants and table workers.  Remember, you'll never miss your child swimming!  Whatever job you're doing, you can excuse yourself to go cheer for your swimmers.  Sign up for jobs here.

MEET RESULTS: Wed. June 13, vs. Forest Lakes

Well done Swordfish!

You can see our teams results here (PDF link) and see all the results from all the JSL meets here.

MEET: Wed. June 13; Forest Lakes South Pool

We are swimming at the Forest Lakes SOUTH pool (map) . Please arrive by 4:30. Warmups begin at 5:00. The FLST sent this information about meet logistics:

The HURRICANES home is our south pool is located in Forest Lakes South community at 1650 Ashwood Boulevard. The pool and club house is about 1 mile off of 29N after you turn onto Ashwood Blvd.

Our parking situation will be crowded. We welcome you to park in the paved parking areas around our pool. We will be reserving the front parking spaces along the front of the club house for drop off. There are a number of handicapped parking spots in front also, if you have any families in need of them. If you are parking on the street please park all vehicles on the grass, perpendicular to Ashwood Blvd., off of the main road. Our community association asks that you do not park on nearby Powell Creek Drive, or in the nearby Empress Place or Thornridge neighborhoods, or block any driveways or fire hydrants.

While you are at our meet we invite you to partake of our team concessions. We offer a variety of hot foods from local business including Baja Bean, Oriental Express, 2 businesses owned and operated by 2 of our swim team families. We will also have pizza from END ZONE. At our outside booth we offer snow cones, water, sodas, G2 and a selection of candy and other snacks.

It will be cool Wednesday evening. Be sure to bring warm things (sweatshirts, sweatpants) for your swimmers and several towels so they can stay warm. Of course, everyone needs to remember their GOGGLES and swimcaps.

The JSL is piloting a change in the event order: the breaststroke and butterfly events have been switched. HOWEVER THE NUMBER HAS NOT. This means that the events will be out of numerical order. Parents, help your swimmers pay attention to the events being called Swimmers, LISTEN carefully!!

The silicone swim caps are now available for purchase. Look for them at the practices. Thank Leah Fodori for her hard work in obtaining and selling them for us.

If you are a team parent with desktop publishing experience, we could use your help getting our Champs Heatsheet ads up to snuff. If you have these skills and some time in July, please email swordfishswimteam@gmail.com

Thanks everyone. GO SWORDFISH!!!