February  27,  2013

  To:     All New Green Bay YMCA Swimmers & Parents

  From: Coach Dave - voice mail-436-9624

Email- [email protected]   team unify website - www.teamunify.com/wigbymca

 Re:      1)  Strong Kids Swim-A-Long/Strong Kids Community Calling Team  2) 13&over USA State Championships  3)  FCY Everyone Counts Meet 4)   Oshkosh Y Last Chance Meet   5) Upcoming Dates  5)  Assorted Notes

1)      Swimmers may turn in envelopes or pledges for the Swim-A-Long.  You may hand these directly to myself or drop off at the DT Y front desk.  Our people upstairs are still entering and recording all donations.  I hope to be able to announce our top 5 Fundraisers by early next week.

All of our Strong Kids Community Calling Team should be wrapping up their phone calls.  Please continue to make phone calls.  If your are completed with everything please turn in all your pledge cards back into myself or drop off at the DT Y front desk. 

Thank you to everybody for you commitment to the Green Bay YMCA Strong Kids campaign.  If a GBY swimmer has not received their Strong Kids swim cap please see Coach Dave and I will give you one.

2)      Twenty one GBY swimmers are participating in the 13&over USA State Championships at the Schroeder Aquatic Center. I have attached the time line, psych sheet & warm-up assignments to our website. All swimmers should be at the pool on Thursday night at 5:15pm for a workout or warm-ups for the 800 Free relays. For Friday, Saturday & Sunday prelims we warm-up in lane 6&7 in the South Pool.  Friday – 8:05-8:30am, Saturday – 7:40-8:05am, and Sunday – 7:15-7:40am. Finals warm-ups are at 4:30 pm on Friday and Saturday, and 4:00pm on Sunday.  Please make sure that you arrive early to all warm-up times. For prelims we have only a 25 minute warm-up time.  I will be at the meet all weekend.

3)      Sixty three GBY swimmers are participating in the FCY Everyone Wins Meet, at the Downtown Y in Appleton.  (218 E Lawrence).  Warm-ups each day are at 9:00am. Meet starts at 10:05am.  Coach Kari & Kris will be there on Saturday and only Coach Kari on Sunday.  We have 46 swimmers swimming Saturday, and 34 on Sunday.  Please make sure that you arrive early for the warm-up.

4)      Oshkosh Y has told me that they will not be charging entry fees but ask each swimmer entered in the meet to bring along some non-perishable food donations which they will donate to the local food pantry in Oshkosh. This entry closes on Sunday night.  This is the last meet to make Y State Qualifying times.

5)      Upcoming Dates

Thursday-Sunday, Feb 23-March 3           13&over USA State, Schroeder Aquatic Center

Saturday & Sunday, March 3f       FCY Everybody Wins Meet, Saturday only, Appleton Y

Sunday, March 10                         OSHY Last Chance Meet, Oshkosh Y

Friday-Sunday, March 15-17        Y State Meet, Schroeder Aquatic Center

Wednesday-Saturday, April 3-6    Y Nationals, Greensboro Aquatic Center

Friday, May 10                              Swim Team Awards Banquet, Riverside Ballroom

6)      Assorted Notes

·         There will no Friday afternoon or Saturday AM practice this week due to the swim meets

·         There will be no more Thursday Gold drylands for the remainder of the season and next Monday, March 4 is the last dryland for the Gold team.  There will be a required team meeting for all Gold swimmers attending Y State on Monday, March 11, from 6:15-6:45pm.

·         Speakers – We are in need of one – two speakers to use for swim meets in the gym. If anyone has any old “working” speaker(s) they would like to donate please contact me.  Thank you!

·         Hotel Blocks – Due to very little interest in the Hotel Blocks being arranged by the parent committee we are going to discontinue making room blocks for away meets.  Please plan for the upcoming summer meets to make your own reservations. 

·         Team Pictures and Picture discs– I have pictures for the following in my office that still need to be picked up. Hanold, Capozella, Kent, Spiegelberg, Azzolina & Ethan Johnson.  Contact Coach Dave to make arrangements to get these.

·         Y State T-shirts are available for order on the website.  These must be ordered by Sunday night, March 10.

·         Summer WGLO Meet– Please remember to reserve swims for this meet.  You must be a USA registered swimmers and have the qualifying times.  Closing date for reservations is Wednesday, March 6.

·         Cellcom Marathon Water Station Volunteers – Again the GBY swim team will be running the first water station on the Marathon/Half-marathon course.  I need about 75 volunteers to make this happen.  The Marathon is on Sunday, May 19.  Our water station will be in the same location at Marquette Park on Hickory Hill St.  We will need people to arrive by 6am for set-up and should be completed torn down and cleaned up by about 8:15am.  You may sign-up on the website now.  I will need names of those who are volunteering and their T-shirt size.  Young swimmers are welcome to help out but must have a parent with them to help also.  All Gold Level swimmers should volunteer.  Thank you!

·         I have posted the Summer meet schedule & Stroke Clinics on the calendar and website.  I will try to get the Spring/Summer practices on the calendar ASAP.  We will have the same practice times as last year.  Spring/Summer practices will be on Wednesday, May 8.

·         Just a reminder about weather cancellations.  Unless the Y closes we will still plan to run practices for the team.  If we do close the Y or have to cancel practices I will send a note out through the web site ASAP.  Do remember that you may add additional e-mail addresses and phone numbers on your account page to receive the notes I send out through the web site.

·         Parent Group committee meetingshave been moved to the first Mondays of the Month. Next meeting is Monday March 4, 2013.

·         GBY swim families have the opportunity to participate in a scrip program to help raise monies for your escrow accounts.  A power point presentation is posted on the website (under documents tab) to explain the whole program and to allow you to get involved with the Scrip program.  Thank you to the GBY Gymnastics Team for allowing us to join in with their program.

·         We have scheduled our annual awards banquet for Friday, May 10, at the Riverside Ballroom.  Please get this on your calendars right away.  We will do a sign-up for this on the website.

·         Our graduating High School Seniors are also in need of pictures for their presentations at the Award Banquet.  Please put all pictures on a disc or flash drive and drop off to Coach Dave. I am storing pictures for them on our computer.  Any pictures are welcome and we encourage parents to take pictures at meets for the graduating Seniors.  Thank you!

·         Please make sure that you are keeping up with entry deadlines, etc.  Y Nationals, Y STATE  AND the OSHY Last Chance meets are the only meets still open for entry.  Please check the team events regularly for all team activities. 

·         Please ensure that you have monies in your escrow account to cover all upcoming swim meets.  Thank you for taking care of this ahead of the charges. Remember that a negative number is really a positive balance for your account. While an amount without a negative is what you are behind in payment to the YMCA.  Escrow payments can be made at the DT Y front desk. By either stopping in and making a payment or by calling in and making a credit card payment over the phone.

·         A reminder that all GBY swimmers ages 8&over must scan their membership upon entry to all Green Bay YMCA’s.  If you need a new card stop at the front desk and have them make you a new one.  It is very time consuming especially during the rush around team practices to have to stop and type in your information manually to make sure you are a member. Thank you for taking care of this matter.

·         It is winter time.  Please make sure that all swimmers dress properly for the weather.  I expect all swimmers to have on and zipped up a winter coat as well as wearing hat on your wet heads when you leave practices.  A sick swimmer does no one any good. 

·         REMINDER - All swimmers should be showering before using any pool for practices.  This can be a big help with the air quality.  Thank you for doing this.

·         Remember to always check the awards box when at the DT Y.This is located on the bench in the corner underneath our bulletin board.

·         Also please remember that we now have a “For Sale” section on the swim team bulletin board in the DT Y hallway above the pool.  You may list almost new items to make available for sale to other team members.