Storm Forecast for October 30th, 2024
Winter Practice Schedule is Tentatively Posted
It’s hard to believe but we’ve got just over two weeks of practice left in the fall session--it has FLOWN by. We’ve seen great progress from all our groups in that short amount of time, and we’re looking to carry that momentum forward through the winter session. Details on fees and the season timeline can be found on the winter session tab, and a winter practice schedule can be found on each of the training group pages. The one detail still pending is dryland, which we hope to have resolved by early next week. Typically we don’t see a lot of move-ups between fall and winter--the majority happen after the winter session. However, for those that are moved they’ll be emailed by Sunday.
Social Events
Friday, November 1st – UW Meet -- We’re going to the beautiful UW Nick pool to cheer on the Badgers as they take on those pesky Gophers. UW is attempting to set a dual meet attendance record and there are lots of fun activities scheduled to capture the heart of swimmers. There’s no ticket sales for this, just show up and attend this fun evening of swimming--wear your red Storm gear!
Saturday, November 9th – Bowling – We've got a Pizza, Pins, & Pop deal set up with Prairie Lanes that'll give each bowler 2 hours of bowling, shoes, soda, and pizza! We'll put friend groups and age groups together so kids can make new friends, and we'll even have some lanes for the parents! We anticipate a cost for the whole ordeal to be around $20/person.
Bowling will take place from 12:30-2:30, so arrive a bit after 12:15 to get yourself squared away.
This is open to swimmers, siblings, coaches, and parents. Sign up the same way you would for a swim meet and mark in the notes additional family members or friends attending. You’ll be billed for this event.
Practice Changes
Upcoming Events & Meets
Reviews & Thanks You’s
A bit of a personal note: Wednesday mornings start with an early practice. We’re scrambling to get McFarland entries in while squaring away new swimmer evals and ….it goes on and on. My health tracker indicated I should prepare for bed before I even got out of my car 90 minutes ago. But I skimmed a few of the reviews that parents wrote about the team today, and I found an instant second wind. Between those parents that went above and beyond in a thoughtful review of the team, some perfectly-timed emails of appreciation, and Reese’s Cups from a kind-hearted Thunderstorm, this group really knows how to keep us going. THANK YOU!
From This Week’s Business Items
Search Optimization
In meeting with some folks helping us with our web presence, it seems the #1 thing that pushes a business up the Google Listings or gets their business on the little map when you search is: REVIEWS. Every time a business is reviewed, it adds to their credibility and moves it up the rankings when someone is searching for it the next time. Especially the nice ones. So, this is where you come in. We could use Google Reviews (especially nice ones). If you don’t mind, take a few minutes to give a review here so that we can make Storm Aquatics a little more visible when the next family is looking for a swim team for their child.
Sponsorships
Like just about every youth sports organization, we’ve gone around with our hand out working to solicit donations from local businesses. It’s been successful, and dozens of businesses both in Sun Prairie and in the surrounding communities have donated. It has been huge for our club in terms of keeping swimmer fees lower than average for the sport.
This year, we’ve put an extra focus on ensuring that those sponsors are more than just donors opening up their checkbook. We’re working to connect sponsors to our business and our community in a greater way, giving them a bigger return on investment. And as we work on our “Team Wish List,” we want to open the door to more of those sponsors.
Examples like: naming rights for the Winter Classic, or sponsoring the swimmers of the meet on our recap, or getting your logo on relay judging platforms, or becoming the official hospitality sponsor feeding our volunteers…there are many multi-year options available at every price level a business would want.
If you have a business and want to get uniquely connected to something we already do, shoot us an email and let’s figure out a way to work together.
Book-Keeper
Way back in 2014 when I began, we had under 100 swimmers, 1 pool to use most days, and 4-5 total coaches. Much of the admin and bookkeeping work was done by one volunteer, poor Michelle Perko, who would be running a small business for free. Fast forward a decade, and we’ve tripled in swimmers, tripled in coaches, tripled in FT staff, and a budget around $400,000 annually. It’s far too big for volunteers to handle the finances. Plus, the nature of having board members that step on and step off, having to learn all the ins and outs of the business every two years, is bad business. So, we’re taking the next step to professionalize and stabilize the position by seeking out a part-time book-keeper. If you have an interest in the position, please email Board President Dave Zenobi.
Fundraising Opportunities
We have a pair of easy ways to support the team coming up.
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We’ve created a FlipGive page. FlipGive is an app that allows organizations to earn cashback on purchases made through a wide variety of online vendors—practically all the ones you can think of! As you start your holiday shopping, consider using FlipGive to place your orders and help support our team while you shop. See this link to join our team and start shopping - https://shop.flipgive.com/onboarding/join?joincode=3V2ZNF.
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Culver's Share Night On November 20th from 5-8P we will be having a share night at the Culver's near SP West (50 Oxford Pl, Sun Prairie, WI 53590). This share night is a little different in that we need at least 4 adult volunteers at Culver's for the duration of the event. If you are able to, please consider volunteering and sign up here.
