October 30th Weekly Newsletter
This is your River Falls Swim News for October 30th!
Action items are highlighted in yellow.
| ANNOUNCEMENTS This past weekend, we attended the HAST Great Pumpkin Invite in Hastings, Minnesota. A total of 11 swimmers attended and competed in 32 races. There were 19 new PRs achieved and six swimmers met new Achievement Time standards. This week’s Swimmer of the Week is Arielle Sirucek. Arielle competed in two events and recorded new PRs in both events! She slashed a total of 21.86 seconds off her events. Her largest improvement came during the 50 freestyle, where she hacked away at 12.21 seconds, which was a 24.45 percent reduction off her previous PR, and picked up a “Bronze” Minnesota Swimming Achievement Time standard. Later on, in the 50 backstroke, she shed 9.65 seconds, which was a 17.66 percent reduction off her PR. Great work this weekend! Our swim club will be hosting the RFSC Skeleton Splash on November 4th and 5th. We have approximately 70 swim meet jobs to fill in order to make the meet a success. More information can be found on the Skeleton Splash Volunteer page of the website. If you have questions about what each job entails, you can find a link to job descriptions here. All families in the competitive groups: Novice Transition, Novice, Age Group, Pre-Senior, and Senior must complete at least two blocks of volunteering each session. Developmental families are not required to volunteer, but we would greatly appreciate the help, and it is a great opportunity to learn and see what competitive swimming looks like! Our goal is to have all positions filled by Monday, October 30th. The pool will be closed Tuesday, October 31st. There will be no Developmental swim lessons or Competitive swim practices. Developmental makeup will be held at normal times on Friday, November 3rd. Please have a safe and happy Halloween! We will be holding our Annual meeting in mid-January. During this meeting, there is a vote on new board members. The Board of Directors consists of three members serving 2-year terms. We are seeking nominations from club members interested in serving on the Board of Directors. If you are interested in the operation and future of the club, we encourage you to run for a seat on the board. If you would like to get more information, please reach out to Robert at [email protected], or Coach Michael at [email protected]. USA Swimming registration (for Competitive groups): Our team will be returning to bulk registration for 2024 returning swimmers. If you were not a USA Swimming member in 2023, please contact Robert at [email protected] to help with new registrations. USA Swimming membership is good from January 1-December 31 (CY24). Registration for 2024 opens September 1, 2023. A premium membership will be $78 ($70 to USA Swimming and $8 to MN Swimming) while a Flex membership, available to swimmers 12 and under, will be $40 ($30 to USA Swimming and $10 to MN Swimming). AAU registration (for Developmental groups): Our team will continue processing bulk registration for the 2023-2024 season (FY24). AAU membership is good from September 1-August 31. AAU membership fees for FY24 are $20. |
| ON DECK FALL COMPETITIVE SESSION: The Fall session runs through December 8th. There will be no practices tomorrow, October 31st. If you have questions, contact Robert at [email protected] or Coach Marissa at [email protected]. Fall practice times are shown below:
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| 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. November 4-5: RFSC Skeleton Splash (River Falls, WI). This is the home meet for the fall competitive session. This is a 2 day meet, with two sessions held each day. There is a $2 Facility/Program fee per athlete. Individual splash fee is $6. Relay splash fee is $24. Morning session warmups begin at 7:30AM, meet begins at 8:30AM. Afternoon session warmups begin 10 minutes after the conclusion of the morning session and run for 60 minutes. Afternoon meet will begin at the conclusion of afternoon warmups. Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet has passed. This will be our home swim meet for the Fall Session, and we will need everyone’s help to volunteer at the meet and make the weekend a success. The volunteer event is open and available for signups. November 19: BDOG November TRI (Burnsville, MN). This is a one day, one session meet. This would be a great meet for first-time swimmers to attend. There is a $15 fee per swimmer as well as $4 per individual splash and $10 per relay splash. Warmups are from 9:00am-9:50am. Meet starts at 10:00am. Registration deadline for this meet is October 30, 2023. December 1-3: Minnesota 14 and Under Single Age Group State (Minnetonka, MN). This meet is for swimmers, ages 14 and Under, with qualifying times (basically Gold or Champ times). $7.35 per individual splash, $29.40 per relay splash. Warmup times will be published once all entries are received. Registration deadline for this meet is November 15, 2023. December 2-3: OMNI Fall Meet (Oakdale, MN). $15 flat fee per swimmer, $5 per individual splash, $20 per relay splash. Saturday warmups begin at 9:30am with meet starting at 10:30am. Sunday AM session warmups begin at 7:30am with meet starting at 8:30am. Sunday PM session warmups begin at conclusion of Sunday AM session with session starting 1 hour after warmups begin. Event file pending. Registration deadline for this meet is November 17, 2023. December 15: RWSC Holiday Mini-Meet (Red Wing, MN). This is a Friday night, one session meet. Warmups begin at 6:15pm. Meet starts at 7pm. Meet fee is $20/swimmer. Event file pending. Registration deadline for this meet is December 1, 2023. February 24-25: RFSC Last Chance Invite (River Falls, WI). This is the home meet for the Winter competitive session. This is a 2 day meet, with two sessions held each day. There is a $2 Facility/Program fee per athlete. Individual splash fee is $6. Relay splash fee is $24. Morning session warmups begin at 7:30AM, meet begins at 8:30AM. Afternoon session warmups begin 10 minutes after the conclusion of the morning session and run for 60 minutes. Afternoon meet will begin at the conclusion of afternoon warmups. Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 7th, 2024. This will be our home swim meet for the Winter Session, and we will need everyone’s help to volunteer at the meet and make the weekend a success. The volunteer event will be available for signups at the beginning of the Winter session. March 1-3: Minnesota Regional Championships (TBD). Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 13, 2024. March 7-10: Minnesota Senior Short Course State Championship (TBD). Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 20, 2024. March 9-10: Minnesota 10 and Under Short Course State Championship (Eden Prairie, MN). Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 20, 2024. March 14-17: Minnesota 11-14 Short Course State Championship (Minneapolis, MN). Meet information and event file are pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 27, 2024. |
| 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 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 among 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 2022 summer break, we became an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) affiliated swim team. Athlete membership is only $20. This keeps expenses low for Developmental swimmers ($20 AAU membership vs $40-$78 USA Swimming membership). All Developmental swimmers will be invoiced for the $20 membership. Batch registration is sent to AAU and is 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 ($78 USA Swimming membership + $20 AAU membership). If there are any questions about this information, email Robert, at [email protected], and I will do my best to answer them. |
HAPPY SWIMMING!
Robert
