Good Afternoon Gator Families, 

Now that we are halfway through the season, it's a great time for some updates on what's happening for the remainder of the year. We know you have questions and (hopefully) we have some answers! This email is long, but packed with info. 

July 11th, Final Home Meet / Senior Recognition 

Our FINAL home meet is next week against Queens Lake. We will regognize our Senior Class swimmers at this meet. 

PLEASE go check the open volunteer slots and sign up for a job. 

July 12th, Final Team Breakfast and Team Photos

You know those wonderful photos taken each week? The amazing Josef Rosler is going to take some team/individual photos for us. Each family will have access to a digital team photo and the opportunity to purchase their child's individual photo for download. We will send a sign up genius THIS FRIDAY, July 8th for individual photo time slots, but the team photo will be at 9:30AM. We will also be pulling out the grill for a delicious final team breakfast...think  bacon, eggs, etc. There will be plenty of adults present, so if you have to work but still want to send your kids to practice for a photo, just indicate that in the sign up genius and we will make sure they get their photo taken. Please have your swimmer wear their team suite or a black suit if possible. 

Pool Party Tie Dye Event, July 20th 6PM-9PM

Tomorrow, July 7th,  we will send an email blast that you can pre order your t-shirts for this event. Orders will be due by July 12th. We will provide the dye and supplies, you just need to pre order the shirts and bring a plastic bag to bring them home in. We set up shop at tables on the grass outside the GSW clubhouse. These are the shirts our kids (and adults if you want one) will wear to the Summer Awards Meet and Champs Meet at the end of the season. More on that in a bit. At the Pool Party Tie Dye Event we will also have pool games going on (coin dive, capture the greased watermelon, etc.). The team will provide a treat for the kids, but we will not be providing dinner at this event. It's a great night to order pizza at the pool :) 

Summer Awards Meets, Saturday July 24th, 7:30 (ish) AM to 5:00 (ish) PM

Each week Coach Jenna sends out an email indicating what swimmers have made champs times in each event. Any child who has NOT made a champs time in a particular event should plan to attend the Summer Awards Meet. For example, if your child has made champs times for everything but butterfly, they will be able to swim butterfly at the Summer Awards Meet. This also gives them one more chance to make a champs time for that event. Summer Awards Meet is FUN! Tons of fun ribbons and team cheer. All of the VPSU teams attend and sessions are typically divided out by age groupings. Younger kids will swim in the morning and then it will progress throughout the day. This year the Summer Awards Meet is at the Kingswood pool. Our team will stake out a spot and put up tents for our team for the entire day. We will have more details about this event as we get closer, but hopefully this gets you started for planning purposes. 

Summer Champs Meet, Saturday, July 30th - 7:30 (ish) AM to 5:00 (ish) PM

Ok, now onto Champs Meet. This meet is the weekend AFTER the Awards Meet and is the FINAL summer swim event. If your child has made champs times in any event, they will swim at Champs Meet. This means some kids will be swimming at both the Summer Awards Meet AND Champs Meet. We won't know definitively WHO is swimming at Champs until after the Summer Awards Meet because some swimmers can still qualify for Champt Meet AT the Summer Awards Meet. Just keep watching those emails from Coach Jenna each week to see if your swimmer has champs times in any event. Simliar to the Summer Awards Meet, Champs is grouped by session/age.  More details will come regarding food, tent set up, etc. 

Our team is required to provide volunteers for BOTH of these events. Details on volunteer slots/times for these events will be udpated once we know what our team is expected to provide. We will need EAGER PARTICIPATION from families - so please plan to help out at these events. 

Greensprings Gators Awards Banquet, Sunday, July 31st 5PM-7PM

In the past this event has been held on the same day as the Champs Meet. This year we are moving it to Sunday, July 31st for a few reasons. First, the clubhouse was booked for another event. Second, it gives the board and coaches time to prepare for the event instead of rushing from Champs Meet to the banquet. As we approach the banquet we will post tickets for food purchase on the Gators website. Nothing fancy, we usually do a pizza or pasta dish from a local restaurant along with dessert. Families will bring their own chairs, tents and beverages (we will have some sodas, waters, etc.). We will celebrate our swimmers with the paper plate awards and their end of year trophies (or medallions). This will also be a time to honor our coaches, who have put in so many hours with our swimmers this year. Again, more details will come!

Finally, what's up with all those volunteer request emails?

Simply put, I can't do math. We did not change the required volunteer committments for each family this year despite a good number of added volunteer requirements for home and away meets. I also shouldn't have given points for time trials - apparently we do that out of the goodness of our beautiful, big hearts. Oops. We also had some families withdraw and some families with little ones not swimming at actual meets. Given this is the first year for almost all of the current GSG Board Members, we humbly ask your forgiveness, but boldly ask you to go a bit above and beyond. Next year we will adjust accordingly, but we THANK YOU for your patience and for being so awesome and stepping up to help. The GSG Board will also be sending out an email to families who have not yet met their required volunteer committments, so please make sure you've signed up for your required slots! 

Ok, that covers a lot - clear as mud? PLEASE don't hesitate to email or post them on the Facebook page. If you have the question in your mind, there is a good chance someone else does as well. 

Cheers to a fantastic second half of our summer swim season! GO GATORS!