December 5th Weekly Newsletter

This is your River Falls Swim News for December 5^th!

Action items are highlighted in yellow.  

ANNOUNCEMENTS

This past weekend, we attended the 14 and Under Single Age Group State Meet in New Prague, MN.  We had five swimmers participate in four races.  There was one new individual PR and one relay team PR achieved.  This week’s Swimmer of the Week is the 400 Freestyle Relay team consisting of Mallory Zifko, Summer Moller, Payten Pearson, and Elise Gulick.  Together, they dropped 5.91 seconds from their seed time, which was a 2.29 percent improvement!  Great job!

There will be no Competitive practices or Developmental lessons on December 8^th due to the boy’s high school swim meet.

River Falls High School Swim and Dive – We are in need of timers for the high school home meets.  The first home meet for the Boys’ season is December 8^th.  Please sign up on the spreadsheet posted on Google Drive.  Please note this volunteer opportunity does not apply to the Fall session volunteer requirement

There are boy’s basketball games on December 6^th, a wrestling meet on Decmeber 8^th, and boy’s and girls’ basketball games on December 9^th.  Bring the new bag tag to access the pool’s observation deck for free.  During these events, the south door (normal entrance) will be locked.  Please use a northern entrance to enter the high school.  Also, due to the basketball games on December 9^th, there will be no access to the male locker rooms as basketball officials will be using the male swim locker room.

We’ve recently had a number of swimmers that have been out sick.  We follow the medical protocol of River Falls School District.  If your swimmer was sent home from school and/or is unable to attend school due to illness, please do not send your swimmer to practice.  We would like to keep our swimmers as healthy as possible, and we would love to see everyone back in the pool once they are feeling better.

As a reminder, parents/legal guardians are discouraged from entering the locker rooms and changing areas.  If your swimmer requires assistance changing, please notify a coach.

Please remind your swimmers to be respectful of other swimmers, the property of other swimmers, and the property of the school.  Failure to act in a responsible and respectful manner may result in a loss of locker room privileges.

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 14^th.  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.

If you raised money for the Swim-A-Thon this year, you may be eligible for some swag.  The swag has arrived!  Please pick up your items before or after practice.  If you raised over $400, you should be eligible for a single item from USA Swim (the highest tier item you qualify for based on amount raised).  If you raised over $50, there are RFSC items that will also be handed out.  The RFSC items are cumulative, so you get your highest tier item along with every item below your highest tier.  The tiers are list below:

ON DECK

FALL COMPETITIVE SESSION: The Fall Competitive session is coming to a close and will run through December 9^th.  Winter Competitive registration opened on November 15^th.  Winter Competitive session begins December 12^th and runs through March 19^th.  If you have questions, contact Robert at [email protected] or Coach Marissa at [email protected].  Fall 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)

FALL DEVELOPMENTAL SESSION: Our second Fall Developmental session is in progress.  The second Fall Developmental session will run from October 31^st through December 9^th.  Our first Winter Developmental session will begin January 2, 2023 and run through February 10, 2023.  Our next swim evaluations will be December 20-21, 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.

December 10: BAC Holiday Classic Invitational (Shakopee, MN).  This is a one day, two session meet.  Fees for this meet are $30.00 per swimmer, with a $2.20 fee per individual splash and $8.80 per relay splash.  Morning warmups begin at 7:30am with meet starting at 8:30am.  Afternoon session will not start prior to 11:00am, preceded by a 60 minute warmup.  Registration deadline for this meet has passed.

December 16: RWSC Holiday Mini-Meet (Red Wing, MN).  This is a one day, one session meet.  Fees for this meet are $20.00 per swimmer.  This meet also has 25 yard races, so it may be a good meet for Novice or Novice Transition swimmers to “get their feet wet” with the swim meet experience.  Registration deadline for this meet is Monday, December 5, 2022.

December 17-18: MYWO Otters Invitational (St. Catherine University, St. Paul, MN).  This is a 2 day meet consisting of two sessions per day.  There is a $30 facility fee per swimmer, $4 per individual splash, and $8.80 per relay splash.  Morning warmups will start at 7:45am with the meet starting at 9:00am.  The afternoon sessions will not start prior to 10:30am following a 60 minute warmup. Note: Be sure to park in the O'Shaughnessy lot.  Registration deadline for this meet has passed.

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 is Tuesday, December 20, 2022.

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).  Meet information and event file pending.  Registration deadline for this meet in TENTATIVELY Friday, January 6, 2022.  This will be a Winter Session volunteer opportunity for all Competitve groups (Developmental groups can also volunteer, but are not required).  Please mark your calendars.

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 Competitve groups (Developmental groups can also volunteer, but are not required).  Please mark your calendars.

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 April 1 and June 30, 2022, led to nearly $35 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