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Closing out 2022 & Looking Ahead to 2023

August 15th

Happy Monday Mudtoad Families!

It's hard to believe that in just a couple of weeks our kids will be back in school and summer will be a distant memory. But what a wonderful summer our swimmers had! Even though we might have liked a couple more of those close losses in our win column, our swimmers made massive improvements in times and stroke development and, most importantly, they had FUN! Thank you so much to our coaches and parents for your support this season--without you it would not have been a success!

This email will also serve as my final email of the season minus some housekeeping and/or fundraising opportunity emails I might send in the off-season. Even though I had a chance to speak at banquet, I wanted to take another moment to thank our committee chairs who devoted so much time off-deck to ensure our season was a success:

  • Sarah Browning--Head Timer
  • Ebru Sorenson--Incentives
  • Suzanne Vogel--Fundraising
  • Madelyn Barley--Banquet & Pancake Breakfast
  • Sonja Zadel & Melissa Johnston--Volunteer Coordinator
  • Jason Banwart--Sponsorship
  • Beth Stone--Apparel
  • Laura Hall--Concessions
  • Cindy Theriault--Ribbons Coordinator
  • Shannon Butler & Lisa Lynch--GPSA Reps

I also wanted to echo Sonja in giving a huge shout-out to Heather Jones, Shelly South, and Karter Baker for stepping in as Deck Ref, Admin Ref, and Starter, respectfully. Tent positions are difficult to fill and we had several seasoned officials "graduate" and/or become unavailable this summer and Heather, Shelly, and Karter really took the lead and made our season happen. This is also a shameless plug that we have many officials' positions available next season (Stroke and Turn, Starter, Scorekeeper, etc) and we need people training in those positions as our seasoned officials only have a couple more years left with the team. We have plenty of parents willing to help and to train so please consider these positions next year. It's nice to have a front-row seat to the action!

Also, if your swimmer enjoyed summer swim and wishes to continue the sport year-round there are many opportunities locally including:

My final thank you is to our coaches. The amount of time and care they put into our children is remarkable. We really assembled an amazing team of coaches, led by Cole. The culture of our team is shaped by our coaches and we simply have the best. The part you don't see is how much time Cole gives up in the evenings and weekends meet planning, how much time all of them give up planning practices, Fun Fridays, and thinking about how to best coach our kids. And our kids responded in incredible ways--by showing up to practice, dropping time meet after meet, cheering each other on, and loving and supporting each other along the way. We never know what will happen to our coaching staff season after season as they are young and have other plans for their future, but I hope our swimmers and parents recognize that we had something really special this season. 

All of you deserve a "thank you" if you've made it through this email so I will close with a few other housekeeping items. Trophies and paper plate awards for those who were not able to attend banquet are in the lifeguard shack at the pool. Please plan to pick them up before the pool closes. Also, Cole and Noah sent out a link if any families wish to donate to the 44th Annual Wally Riley Memorial Cancer Swim they are participating in as swimmers at William & Mary. Both Cole and Noah will swim over two miles in the James River in order to fundraise for cancer research. That link again is: https://secure.acceptiva.com/?cst=wjXauq.

Thank you again for everything this season...I cannot wait to see everyone next summer back on our pool deck. Have a great rest of the summer and a fantastic school year!

-Jennifer

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