February 12th Weekly Newsletter
This is your River Falls Swim News for February 12th!
Action items are highlighted in yellow.
| ANNOUNCEMENTS There will be boy’s basketball on Tuesday, February 13th, and Thursday, February 15th, as well as girl’s basketball on Friday, February 16th. Bring your bag tag to access the pool’s observation deck for free. During these events, the south door (normal entrance) may be locked. Please use a northern entrance to enter the high school. During the first weekend in February, we attended the OMNI Winter Waves Invite in Oakdale, MN. We had 21 swimmers compete in 100 races. There were 56 new PRs and eight swimmers met new time achievement standards. This week’s swimmer of the week is Ben Beaulieu. During Ben’s first competitive meet, he competed in three events and recorded new PRs in two of them! Ben had a positive attitude throughout the meet, which helped him secure a “Bronze” Minnesota Swimming Achievement Time standard in both the 50 Free and the 50 Back! Terrific swimming On February 2nd, we became a registered U.S. Masters Swimming organization! We are planning our first session to begin this Spring. Stay tuned for more information about adult swimming opportunities with River Falls Swim Club! Our swim club will be hosting the RFSC Last Chance Invite on February 24th and 25th. We have approximately 50 swim meet jobs to fill in order to make the meet a success. More information can be found on the Last Chance Invite 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, February 19th. |
| ON DECK WINTER COMPETITIVE SESSION: Our Winter session will run through March 15th. If you have questions, contact Coach Michael at [email protected] or Coach Marissa at [email protected]. Winter practice times are shown below:
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| UPCOMING SWIM MEETS & EVENTS The meets for the 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. 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. Registration deadline for this meet has passed. 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 is available for signups here. March 1-3: Minnesota Regional Championships (Lakeville, MN). 50s and 100s need a verified time (No NTs permitted). 200s need a Bronze/Silver/Gold time. 400s-1650s need Silver/Gold times. No Champ/Zone times permitted at this meet. Registration deadline for this meet is February 13, 2024. March 7-10: Minnesota Senior Short Course State Championship (UofM). This is a 3.5 day meet for swimmers with verifiable Senior (15&Over) Championship (CH) qualifying times (or faster). Registration deadline for this meet is February 20, 2024. March 9-10: Minnesota 10 and Under Short Course State Championship (Eden Prairie, MN). Eligible athletes must have a verifiable Champ time, or must be a “Win it and swim it” qualifier from the 2024 Winter Minnesota Regional Championships. Registration deadline for this meet is February 20, 2024. March 13-14: RWSC Mini-meet Championships (Red Wing, MN). This is a great final meet option for the end of the Winter session! There is a $20 flat fee per swimmer. Warmups are from 5:40pm-6:20pm. The meet begins at 6:30pm. Event file is pending. Registration deadline for this meet is February 26, 2024. March 14-17: Minnesota 11-14 Short Course State Championship (Minneapolis, MN). This is a 3.5 day meet. Eligible athletes must have a verifiable Champ time, or must be a “Win it and swim it” qualifier from the 2024 Winter Minnesota Regional Championships. Registration deadline for this meet is February 27, 2024. |
| MISCELLANEOUS INFORMATION USA Swimming registration (for Competitive groups): Our team has returned 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). 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). AAU memberships are valid from September 1 – August 31. If there are any questions about this information, email Robert, at [email protected], and I will do my best to answer them. 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. |
HAPPY SWIMMING!
Robert
