Annual BBQ Summary

Our Annual Barbecue is a Very Important Event for Guardians & Swimmers

This is the event where the younger kids get an opportunity to play with the older kids. It's an opportunity to say goodbye to those who worked so hard for the team and are moving on. Last night, we said goodbye to Saffron who will be moving on to Macalester College. We said goodbye to Rob, who shared a heartfelt message about how the team helped him through a very, very difficult time. 

Amazing and creative awards were presented. Some that stood out were the Aquaman big hair award, the loudest cheering award, the biggest cheerleader award, and many others. Saffron was given a signed kickboard by the team, and a trophy among other wonderful acknowledgments. Jamie got a trophy and a medal for his many records broken.

The event was finalized with a "ducky dive" and all the kids playing tag together in the pool. As the parent of the kid in that photo, this event was such a matter of pride that he slept in that metal!!

The barbecue is also an opportunity for the hard working board of volunteer parents to share news, needs, and recognize the teams' successes. Each board member spoke a bit about their experience as a Seals board member. Below is a summary of each member's message:

Danielle Hinz has been on the board for 5 years, and is departing the board as our active president to pass on this role to Kelli McSheehy.

• This team is run by a hard working head coach and a team of volunteer parents who all have full-time jobs
• COVID has taken its toll and volunteerism is down.
• Now is the time to get involved.

Kelli McSheehy has been on the board for 3 years and is stepping into the president role.

• Being a member of this team is contagious and she deeply hopes others catch this bug!
• We are enacting a volunteer requirement for all families, with a suggestion of 20 hours/year (August - September)
• We need to ensure that we do not burn out the families who are regularly volunteering.
• Celebrate opportunities to get to know one another and continue building our Seals family.

Erik is our Finance Director and operated for much of the year as our Volunteer Director. He has been on the board for one year and shared some interesting financial information.

• Our administrative overhead is 5% of our budget.
• The pool rental is 35% of our budget, and keep in mind that this is a fixed cost - it does not change if we have fewer swimmers.
• Swimmer dues/fees cover just 80% of our operational costs.
• The other 20% must be covered by fundraising, and this year we had an added $30k to raise for a new bubble.
• Swim meets generally cover 20% of the fundraising that must be done to cover costs.
• Volunteering at this meets is a must to keep our club thriving.
• Spread the word!! If we had 12-13 more swimmers, we would also have that much more opportunity for scholarships and equipment for our team!

Sean is our Fundraising Director and has been on the board for one year.

• Sean joined the board with a daunting task - cover the remaining 20% of our operational costs through fundraising, as well as an additional $30k for a new bubble! He did it!
• Our fundraising efforts raised $10k this year
• A grant from the county will provide us with the remaining funds needed for the bubble.
• This does not mean that the need for volunteers has decreased. 

Rachel is our Communications Director and interim Volunteer Director and has been on the board for one year.

• The volunteer opportunities are really fun, they are not chores!
• Opportunities throughout the year:
  • Bubble up and down 
  • Bake sales 
  • Car washes 
  • Swim meets 
  • Strawberry Festival 
• Beyond being fun bonding moments with the team, these opportunities show our kids that we really care about what they are doing.
• We are hearing feedback that there are too many emails. Simultaneously, we are hearing that people do not know what is happening on the team.
• We have an email newsletter that goes out monthly and quarterly. That email newsletter tracks successful deliveries and has been successfully delivered to every family. Please check your spam if you are not receiving emails!
• In addition to these monthly and quarterly emails, we post on Facebook and Instagram.
• Because of the increase of folks not seeing important messages, we will also use this "news" tool as a bulletin board to allow important information to remain available.

Gina is our Safety Director and has been on the board for 2 years.

• Gina accomplished an AMAZING (newsworthy) feat of gettting our team SafeSport Recognized.

• SafeSport is a comprehensive abuse prevention program

• One requirement of SafeSport is that adults are not permitted in the locker room while after swim team while kids are in there without specific background check and board approval. 

• This is a 2-year certification.

• In July, only 13 teams NATIONWIDE received this honor

• Of 53 teams in Washington State, we are #7 to receive this honor, the other 6 are significantly larger teams.

We recognize that this is a lot of information, which is why we urge parents and guardians to read their regularly provided emails, check spam, volunteer, and attend these crucial events. Please feel free to reach out with any questions.