Storm Forecast for April 4th, 2025

Spring Session Numbers

Boy, this spring turned into a *very* pleasant surprise.  It looks like our final number will be 187 for this session, SMASHING our previous spring record.  Thank you so much for joining us for a spring that’s packed with opportunities and adventures.

Parent Practice

Tomorrow morning is our second Parent Practice.  The event will run from 9:00-9:45A at Sun Prairie EAST.  No signup for this one, just come join--bring goggles, a suit, and towel.  You don’t need to be a great swimmer or even a very good swimmer.  Non-sinker with an open mind is the minimum standard.  If you’re coming, bring your swimmer(s).  They’ll be doing the coaching, we’re just supervising.  You’ll have a great time and have a fun lunch conversation.

Awards Banquet

We’re doing the finishing touches on Sunday’s awards banquet.  We’re pretty excited with the fun additions we’ve got this year in the form of Ironman Awards, IMS (for 8&U), and some recognition for team record holders in addition to the typical age group and end-of-season awards.  The event will run about 90 minutes and will have a few graduating senior speeches—it’s a very wholesome time.  Everyone is encouraged to attend.  5pm at SP West this Sunday!

Swim School Challenge

A week from Saturday, we’re hosting our 2^nd Swim School Challenge.  This event brings in swimmers from several local swim schools to experience a swim meet in a low-stress, free event.  This year, we’ve opened the event up to our newer Thunderstorm & Hurricane swimmers to help them get more comfortable with the idea of competition.  So, if you’ve got a Thunderstorm or Hurricane swimmer that’s nervous about the idea of racing, this is for them!  If you’ve got one that’s done a bunch of meets already, have them sit this out.

We’ll also be staffing this meet with our 11&O Cyclone, Tsunami, Typhoon, and Senior swimmers.   If you have a swimmer that’s willing to help out with timing, ribbons, organizing lanes, that sort of work—we can use them!  Sign up your swimmer volunteer here.  Our goal is to create an event where parents can just be parents and don’t have to do jobs for this one.  No concessions, no hospitality, no officials—just a basic meet to get kids on their way to racing. 

Capital Campaign

We’re at nearly two dozen donors for our Capital Campaign, totaling over $4,200.  To get us to the finish line, we don’t need a bunch of $1000 donors.  Just a lot of folks willing to give $25 or $50.  This will help us get items that will help our kids, our swim meets, and the meets in the community—the impact is very far-ranging. 

Backstroke ledges for each lane, the final piece of a fully automated timing system, and heart rate monitoring technology.

If you’re interested and want to give, there is a shortcut right on the homepage.  Click the banner and look for the green “Please Donate” button.  It’s not necessary to go through the “Find Participants,” button, that’s more for Swim-A-Thons and situations where someone donates in the name of someone else.

Thanks to everyone who has pitched in so far.  If you’re willing and able to help, we’d greatly appreciate it.

Athlete Reps

Our club is in need of an athlete representative.  This athlete, preferably wrapping up their freshman or sophomore year in high school, would attend meetings for Wisconsin Swimming and have voting powers at the spring annual meeting.  If your swimmer is interested in this role, have them reach out to me.

Practice Changes

If you’ve not subscribed to your group’s calendar to keep current on changes, find details on the group’s page on the website.

Dryland

I’ve had a few folks ask about spring dryland.  JJ’s Boxing is working on getting their ducks in a row and we should have some updates in the next week or so.

Blood Drive

If you’re like me, you’re not planning super far ahead in terms of when you can give blood.  But, if you know your availability is coming up soon, we’re hosting a Blood Drive at the Prairie Athletic Club on the 19th.  Details can be found here.  I know, it’s not the most fun of events but I’ll be honest--I read this story a couple weeks ago, and redoubled my efforts to stay committed to making a difference.

Kalahari Day

On April 26th, we’ve got a two-part day.  Part 1 is open water training.  We’ll get exclusive access to the lazy river to have swimmers train a little bit of aerobic training, spotting, sighting, and pack swimming to prepare for the summer open water meets.  That portion of the day is reserved for swimmers under 9:00 in their 500 freestyle.  Part 2 is open to EVERYONE, with a day of swimmers, siblings, family, and friends at the waterpark.  Signup is open for the open water portion, and tickets are now on sale for the Play Day package, which includes admission, pizza, and a drink.

May 3-4 Weekend - Swimming AND GOLF

The May 3^rd/4^th weekend has a pair of events….

On Saturday, we’ll host the first meet of the season.  It’s pretty standard, except it’s got a really fun 50 freestyle shootout.

On Sunday, we’ll have our annual golf scramble.  I’ve had a few people tell me they’d play if they were better.  Let me assure you, being not-so-good should NOT dissuade you from taking part.  It’s 100% about the finding a few friends and having fun.  The quality of golf is wide-ranging and only your foursome will know the truth about how your round went.  This year, we’re trying out the newly renovated Prairie Pines Golf Course right in SP.  If you’re interested in playing or sponsoring, click here.

Ashwaubenon Day Trip

This meet will be open to Tropical Storm, Cyclone, Hurricane, Tsunami, and Typhoon swimmers age 9-12.  We'll hop on a bus the morning of May 17th and swim the morning session of the Ashwaubenon meet.  Then, we'll grab a bite to eat and head over to Lambeau Field where we'll get a tour of the football field and all the things that come with it.  After that, we'll make the journey back to SP.  

As we'll need to plan transportation well in advance, signup is open for that meet already.  We'll end the registration early too, like around April 10th.  So if your swimmer wants to participate, sign them up sooner rather than later.  We'll utilize a few chaperones, so if you’re interested in that and USA registered put that in the notes.