Week of 6/21

Wednesday 6/23:  Intrasquad #2
warm up @ 5pm
start @ 5:30
please sign up to volunteer

Saturday 6/26: Home Meet vs. Golden
warm up @ 6am
start @ 7am
please sign up to volunteer ASAP. This is a home meet! We need LOTS of help. We have many families who have not volunteered yet. We need your help. Your child is only able to swim in the meets due to the number of people stepping up to make it happen.

Next week: Team Pictures and Pancake Breakfast
Wednesday 6/30
7:30 am - 9:30 am
please sign up to volunteer
We will not have practice this day. Bring your swimmer in their Gator Suit (or whatever they normally wear to a meet) and smile big. Our awesome photographer Alex Hearn will be taking the VERY BIG team photo, along with individual or group swimmer shots if you would like them. I will have a price list soon.

Away Meet - What to Know

 For our new Gator families....

On the blog under "Up Next" you will always find the location, warm up times and start times of our next event. 

We will set up a Team tent area at every away meet and you are welcome to bring a family tent (at most meets) as well. We will have the Individual Race Events posted for the swimmers at our Team tent and your swimmer should start here to check in with the coaches. We will also have the Parent Volunteer list at the tent. If you see open spots the day of the meet, please take one. (We prefer to fill the sign ups before the day of the meet so we are not spending our time finding volunteers). For away meets we only need timers and officials, but just like our home meets, the meets can't run without volunteers. 

Sign up here to volunteer or find the sign up on the blog.

Week of 6/14

 New this week:
- Wednesday, June 16: Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party from 5-6:30pm
- Upper Division Night Practice has been moved a half hour to 7:30-8:30pm (Tue/Thur)
- Saturday, June 19th: Dual Meet against Wheatridge

Details:

Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party:
Join us on Wednesday 6/16 @ 5:00pm for some creative team spirited fun.  We will be selling our white Gator t-shirts and tank tops for $5 and the whole family is welcome to join in to tie-dye their gear. We re low on certain sizes, so be aware that we might sell out of your size. We will have expert creative consultants onsite to help out. Ice cream will be served around 6:00pm.  You are also welcome to bring your own shirt, shorts or tank to dye. You'll want to make sure that your item is cotton or it won't dy. You do not have to buy our gear in order to participate. 
Note: this is NOT a pool party. We will only be using the grounds of the swim club for our creative fun, but please do not plan to swim. (The pool will not be staffed up to handle that).

Saturday's Meet: We are scheduled to swim against Wheatridge at the Anderson Pool. Warm up will be at 6:30 am with a start time of 7:00 am. Swimmers can sign up for races at the pool and parents can sign up to volunteer by using the link under "Parent Volunteers". We only need timers and officials for away meets. We hope to see you at the Anderson Pool.

Swimmer Folders:  Each family has a swimmer folder that will have ribbons from the meets or any other small items that we want to pass on to the families. Many Gator families still have items from 2019 to pick up. Please check your folders this week. The coaches will put the swimmer folder box out at practice.

Photos: If you are interested, you can like us on Facebook and see photos from our meets, as well as see some team updates. 

Team Awards:  We wanted to remind our families and swimmers about two special awards that can be earned with the Gators.  The Iron Gator and the Golden Gator award.  In order to be an Iron Gator, you must swim in every event in your age division and receive a time (not DQ).  If you want to be a Golden Gator, you'll need to earn a State time in every event in your age division. For some swimmers, this is a great way to challenge yourself throughout the swim season. 

Upcoming Events of Note...

- Wednesday 6/30: Team Pictures & Pancake Breakfast from 7:30-9:30 am
- Saturday 7/3:  BYE weekend - No Meet
- Sunday 7/11: Last Chance Meet (for those swimmers with "B" times that are trying to make League, they get one last shot to swim fast.
- Friday 7/16-Sunday 7/18:  League Championships  -- we are still trying to find a pool to host League. Currently the Gators are scheduled to host the Upper Division 400s on Friday 7/16. Golden is trying to get the city to agree to 1 day of League and Wheatridge is trying to get the other day. Nothing has been confirmed. Please know that our entire FSA League is working hard behind the scenes to make this happen.  The current plan is to have the 400s on Friday / Lower Division only (12 and under) on Saturday / Upper Division only (13 and older) on Sunday.
- State Meet: This is still TBD. The current rumor is the Ken Caryl is trying to get approval to host State, but nothing has been confirmed.

Night Practice - Update

 For the remainder of June night practice will move from 7pm to 7:30-8:30 pm.
For the month of July, night practice will be at 8:00-9:00pm.
Tuesdays / Thursdays only

NOTE: this practice is for upper division only.  If your upper division child would like to attend night practice they MUST communicate with Coach Emma. If she does not have enough people, then we will skip night practice that evening. 

Join our Lifeguarding Team today @ GMSC

 Green Mountain Swim Club is looking for Lifeguards! If you are 15 years or older and have a current lifeguard certification, you can start immediately! If you are 15 years or older and able to get a certification ASAP, you can start as soon as you are certified. Please contact staffing.gmsc@gmail.com.  Head down to the pool and start the best summer job you'll ever have.

Week of June 7th

Practice: the usual laps. Swim fast gators.

Dual Meet:  Saturday 6-12 @ GMSC vs. 5 Parks. - warm up for GMST @ 6:00 am. Yep 6am!
5Parks is a big team. Please prepare to be in a crowd. If you are unvaccinated, the CDC recommends wearing a mask outside in this type of situation.  You can certainly plant yourself on the hill and watch from a distance or grab a free mask from the concession area. 

A few swim meet reminders:
- Relays: If your swimmer signs up for the meet and checks the boxes to do a relay, they are expected to stay for their relays. If they can't make the relay, it is the swimmers responsibility to let their Coach know ASAP so that the Coach can try to find a replacement. This puts everyone in a tricky spot, so please tell your swimmers to only sign up for a relay if they know they will be there. Also, not all swimmers will get a relay. You need four kids and sometimes the number of swimmers in an age group just don't work out for everyone to get a relay. The coaches will do their best.
- The parent volunteer link is posted for our Saturday meet.
- Virtual Meet Results: We have posted the GMST only virtual results. As soon as we receive the combined results from Golden and AAC we will post those as well. 

Tie-Dye & Ice Cream Party:
We had to delay our tie-dye party and we now have a date!  Join us on Wednesday 6/16 @ 5:00pm for some creative team spirited fun.  We will be selling our white Gator t-shirts and tank tops for $5 and the whole family is welcome to join in to tie-dye their gear. We will have expert creative consultants onsite to help out. Ice cream will be served around 6:00pm.  You are also welcome to bring your own shirt or tank to dye. You do not have to buy our gear in order to participate. 
Note: this is NOT a pool party. We will only be using the grounds of the swim club for our creative fun, but please do not plan to swim. (The pool will not be staffed up to handle that).

MEET CHANGE FOR SATURDAY 6-5-21!! PLEASE READ

 Details for Saturday:  The meet will be held at our pool and will be a "virtual" meet. This means that we will swim with our team only and will then combine our times with Golden and possibly AAC since they too are doing virtual meets as well. We will have relays and all the standard dual meet events.  We will need to create a new volunteer sign up sheet for our home meet. This will be done by Friday. Please check in Friday to sign up.  THANK YOU. 

Need Volunteers for Wednesday Intrasquad

 Calling all Gator Families! We are in need of A LOT MORE help to run the meet on Wednesday night.  Please go to the blog and click on the "Parent Volunteer" section. There are currently sign-ups for the first two meets. More will be posted soon. It takes a lot of help to run a meet and we actually can't do it without the help. For all new families, just pick a random volunteer spot and we'll teach you how to do it. For all our returning families, you know the drill... get signed up.  Thanks. 

Week of May 31st

Morning practices start Tuesday 6/1:
6:30 am - 8:00 am:  13 and older
8:00 am - 9:00 am:  10-12 year olds
9:00 am - 9:50 am:  9 and younger

Optional practices: 
8:00 am - 9:00 am: 13 and older dryland practice M/W only
7:00 pm - 8:00 pm: 13 and older only- Night Practice

INTRASQUAD Meet #1 + PARENT MEETING
This is our first meet and we will have a brief parent meeting to level set and answer any questions.  The coaches will work with your swimmers to get signed up for their races. There is a physical sign up sheet at the pool. All swimmers can swim in a maximum of 3 events.  Please allow your swimmers to choose their races and do the sign-up themselves. 
Note: all race sign-ups for Intrasquad meets are due by Tuesday (end of practice)

Wednesday, June 2nd @ GMSC
warmup:  5:00pm
parent meeting:  5:15pm
meet start:  5:30pm

We will have pizza by the slice for purchase, as well as Gator Gear (swim caps, shirts, tank tops, hoodies, etc) for sale. 

AWAY MEET #1:
We have our first in-person dual meet on Saturday, June 5th. We are still waiting for the schedule to be finalized to know who we are swimming, but we do know that it is an AWAY meet. Please check the "Next Event" for details regarding location, warm up times, etc. 
Note: all race sign-ups for Dual meets (home or away) are due by Thursday (end of practice)

HIGH SCHOOL BOYS ONLY:
We are working on an electronic sign-up for the HS boys only to use while they are still in season. You will not need to sign up at the pool (although you can.)  Same cut off dates above apply.  Do not expect to deck enter each meet. We need you to sign up if you want to swim.

PARENT VOLUNTEER - SIGN UPS:
Please go to the section of the blog titled "Parent Volunteers". You will find sign up genius links for each meet and you can choose how you want to volunteer. Don't worry if you don't know how to do any of the jobs. We'll teach you and they are all very straight forward. 

Practice Week of 5/24

 Afterschool practices start Monday. 

Monday:  We are waiting for the pool to warm up and it will be close on Monday. We will either have the kids in the pool OR have dryland practice. Please send your kids with both swim gear AND sneakers so they are prepared for either option. 
Tuesday - Friday:  We are feeling confident that the pool temp will be where we need it by Tuesday. Swim suits and goggles needed.

Practice times this week:
4:00-5:00 pm:  10 and under
5:00-6:00 pm: 11 and older

Note: If your child is coming to practice this week to see if they are ready for swim team, please wait until Tuesday. They may not have a chance to get in the water on Monday. 

Announcing GMST Coaching Staff

 Head Coach:  Emma Berg
Assistant Coach 9 - 12 year olds:  Ali Ouelette
Assistant Coach 8 & Unders:  Kati Livingood
Junior Coach/Team Manager:  Kayli Langan
Junior Coach/Dryland Training:  Beck Nicholson

All of our coaches have been swimming with the Gators since they were 8 & Unders and we are proud to see them all step into these coaching roles. We are excited to have Emma's passion and coaching skillset as she steps up to the Head Coach position. Kati is an experienced swimmer with a love for the sport and is looking forward to engaging our youngest division.  Ali comes to us via Alabama where she coached summer club and then moved to a CARA coaching position in Lakewood.  Beck has been an in-water coach for the past few years and will step out of the pool to work with our upper division with dryland training.  Finally, Kayli will serve as both our Team Manager (a position I didn't know we needed until she said she could help!) and as our in-water coach with the 8 & Unders. 

We are excited to welcome all of our coaches for the 2021 season. 

Swim Team Start Date: Monday 5/24

 Our first week of after school practice will be Monday - Friday 5/24-5/28. Practice times are below...

 4:00 - 5:00pm  12 and under
 5:00 - 6:00 pm  13 and older

Morning practices will start on Tuesday 6/1.

 6:30 - 8:00 am  13 and older
 8:00 - 9:00 am  10-12 years
 9:00 - 9:55 am  9 and under

Night Practices 

7:00-8:00 pm  upper division only (no exceptions due to COVID)

Dryland Training

Mondays and Wednesdays 8:00-9:00 am  upper division

Swim Meet Officials Needed

 Parents- We need 2 more Officials.  It doesn't matter if you've never done this or have no idea how to officiate. We will train you!  You get a front row seat to all the action and the more Officials we have, the less you have to do. Please consider this EXTRA fun volunteer opportunity to help the swim team.  Thanks.

Guidelines for Summer vs. Year-Round Swimming

 I have been getting a lot of questions regarding this topic. Here are the rules for clarification:

From Article VI: Section H (2.) of the CSSCSA Bylaws: On or after May 16, a swimmer may practice only with their summer club swim team and compete only in their summer club swim team’s meets in order to be eligible. To clarify, a swimmer may NOT practice or compete for another summer club team, a year-round team, etc. on or after May 16. Notwithstanding the above, a swimmer may practice or compete on or after May 16 interscholastically or inter-collegiately without losing eligibility.

Pool Clean Up Day - MAY 1ST - 8:30 AM to 12:30 PM

Attention Swim Team!  We need help getting the grounds ready for swim season.  Any and all help from kids 11 years of age and older is appreciated.  

Please come to the pool on Saturday, 5/1, to help the all-volunteer GMSC Board members prepare the grounds for our 2021 season. There is a lot of work to do! Come prepared to work hard, get dirty and to meet other members of the pool. Typical tasks include pulling weeds, washing chairs, cleaning the bathrooms, putting together playground equipment, and so on. 

Items you can bring with you:  gardening gloves, garden weeding tools, rubber cleaning gloves, tree branch clippers, rakes, brooms, cleaning sponges, trash bags, and anything else you think might be useful for grounds maintenance and locker room cleaning. 

Note: GMSC Members who volunteer two full hours will receive 3 guest passes on their account, which is a $30 value. (Limit: One per family.)

We will provide coffee and light snacks.

Thank you, in advance, for your time!

Summer Season Registration is Open

Hello Gators!

Summer swim team registration is now open.  We have a lot of funky issues this season because of COVID, so please keep reading to get the full picture of what this season will look like (and know that it could change at any minute).

Start Date:

We will start after school practices the week of 5/17 or 5/24 depending on when the pool is ready to go.  Morning practices will start Tuesday, June 1.

Practices:

Practice times will remain the same, but we may need to shift age groups based on numbers.

6:30 am - 8:00 am ages 13+

8:00 am - 9:00 am ages 10 - 12

9:00 am - 10:00 am 9 and unders

Meets:

Due to COVID restrictions, we may be limited by the number of people allowed on the grounds during a meet.

If Jeffco is at Level Blue:  All meets will be at our pool with our team only. A majority of the FSA teams in our league are following this model. We will have a dual meet against a different team each week, but we will all be at our respective pools. We will then combine the times for scoring.

If Jeffco is at Level Clear:  We will return to in-person dual meets. We will still have safety guidelines to protect our team and parents and those will be disseminating as we get closer to the meets. 

Parent Volunteers:

We absolutely still need parent volunteers for all swim meets. We expect each family to volunteer for approximately 5 volunteer shifts throughout the season. It may be more. It may be less. It takes a lot of hands to run a swim meet and we can't function without the help. Plus, you get a front row seat to all the swimming action!

State and League Championship Meets:  

League is a go and is planned for the weekend of July 16th.

State is up in the air. It is tentatively planned for the weekend of July 23rd, but no pool has been found to host State because of COVID restrictions. 

General COVID Restrictions:

Until restrictions are lifted we will continue to work with the team to keep everyone safe. All swimmers will need to arrive at the pool with a mask on. Masks can be taken off once the swimmer is at their assigned lane. Parents will be allowed on deck with a mask to watch the swim meets, but we will spread everyone out and ask that you quickly vacate the deck if your child is not swimming. 

High School Boys:

The boys CHSSA season is in direct conflict with summer swim club this season. We plan to offer an evening boys practice time each week. The practice will be non-conditioning and will focus on relays, starts, turns, dryland and socialization to keep our boys steeped in Gator spirit. 

Team Swim Suits:

You are not required to have a team suit, but it does give the swimmers a sense of belonging to the team. DEADLINE TO ORDER A TEAM SUIT IS 5/14. We will not have suit fittings this year due to covid. Please go to our team store online and order directly.

www.coloradoswimshop.com

Click on Teams Store

At the top, click on Teams store again to pull down the list

Choose Green Mountain

Password is: GREENmtn21 (case sensitive).

We are so excited to get all our swimmers back in the pool! This summer will be weird AND fun and we look forward to experiencing it with our wonderful swim family.

click here to register

Reminder: Swim Club Membership Sale Ends 4/18

 Swim Club Memberships are on SALE until 4/18.

The price for a family membership will be $495 for families who join by April 18th, and then it will increase to the standard price of $550. 

Go to the GMSC website to join. 

Swim Club Membership is Open

 Swim Club Memberships are open NOW and are on SALE until 4/18.

Family Membership Price: The price for a family membership will be $495 for families who join by April 18th, and then it will increase to the standard price of $550. 

For returning members from 2019 and 2020: For prior members from recent years, the primary account holder will receive an email invoice for renewing your membership this weekend. Simply follow the instructions in the email in order to renew your membership. Please note that you will be able to add a "Plus One" to your account for your babysitter or nanny, if needed. If a previous member and not renewing this year, you can ignore the email invoice(s) and your account will expire before the start of the 2021 season. 

For new members: Our new, updated website will be live by this Sunday, April 11th. You will be able to complete your membership application and pay dues via the website. If you do need to add a nanny or babysitter, please add the Plus One to your Family Membership. We do anticipate increased demand this year so please join early.

Click here for more details from the Swim Club.

Pool Manager/Lead Lifeguard Wanted!

 Green Mountain Swim Club is looking for a Pool Manager/Lead Lifeguard to handle the following responsibilities:

1. Staff scheduling

2. Supervising pool and grounds maintenance

3. Working guard shifts

4. Holding bi-monthly in-service training with all guards

5. Closing bank drawer and counting closing cash

6. Communicating with pool board members about any pool or staff issues

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

· Have a current Lifeguard Certification including CPR from the American Red Cross, YMCA, City of Lakewood or similar organization.

· Willing and able to conduct swimming lessons for a variety of ages and skill levels

· LOVE working with and spending time with kids!

· Available 40 hours per week, including weekends and holidays

· Mature, punctual, responsible, self-motivated, and a good work ethic

Lifeguards Wanted!

The Green Mountain Swim Club is hiring Lifeguards for the summer. If you are interested, please read below for details and contact Shannon Baker at staffing.gmsc@gmail.com

Candidates must meet the following requirements:

· Be at least 15 years old

· Have a current Lifeguard Certification including CPR from the American Red Cross, YMCA, City of Lakewood or similar organization.

· Willing and able to conduct swimming lessons for a variety of ages and skill levels

· LOVE working with and spending time with kids!

· Available at least 20-25 hours per week, including weekends and holidays

· Mature, punctual, responsible, self-motivated, and a good work ethic

Lifeguard Responsibilities:

Overseeing activities at an aquatic facility.

Assisting with swimming lessons if necessary

Explaining and enforcing rules, regulations, and policies to ensure the safety of patrons.

Monitoring designated areas to recognize signs of danger.

Maintaining order in swimming areas.

Responding to emergencies and rescuing swimmers in danger of drowning.

Performing first aid procedures.

Maintaining cleanliness and orderliness of all areas.