Swim Team Updates 2/2021

Hello Gator Family!

I wanted to take a minute to give some quick updates regarding the 2021 Summer Swim Season.

Green Mountain Swim Club: The pool is planning to open this summer and will be doing everything in their power to make that happen. We will need help! I will keep you posted with volunteer opportunities. Please also keep in mind that becoming a member of the pool (although not required for swim team) is also a solid way to help the pool.

Foothills Swim Association:  I have a meeting in late-February with our league members to determine the feasibility of a 2021 season due to COVID, potential scheduling of meets, determining how CHSAA schedules will impact our summer schedule, and more!

To be clear... I am hopeful that we will swim as a team this summer. However, I do not have any concrete answers yet.  I will keep everyone posted.  Please reach out if you have questions.

Danielle. 

Keeping You Updated

Even though our Gator Swim Team is taking a break, it doesn't mean the Gator Board hasn't been busy.  There is still a lot happening and we want to keep you updated so that you know what the options are for your family.

State of Colorado:
Governor Polis has extended the Safer at Home order through July 31, 2020. Although there is an amendment to the order that allows outdoor pools to open, it still states that a social distance of 6 feet must be maintained and no more than 1 swimmer per lane at any given time. This doesn't lend itself to swim team functionality.

Colorado Summer Swim Club Association:
- The State Meet has been cancelled
- The League Meet has been cancelled

Foothills Swim Association:
FSA is the swim league that our Gator team falls under. Here's what's going on with the other teams:
- Green Mountain:  no team, pool closed
- Stingrays: no team, pool closed
- Mount Vernon: no team, unknown on pool
- Golden Marlins:  no team, unknown on pool
- Wheatridge:  no decisions have been made
- Columbine Knolls: no decisions have been made
- Applewood Knolls: no team, possibly small swim camps only, pool open
- Applewood Athletic: no team, possibly small swim camps, pool not open yet
- 5 Parks: trying to have a team, pool open

Gator Camps??
If at some point the State orders allow more than one person per lane .....and the Green Mountain Rec Center opens it's indoor pool .....and they allow us to rent lanes, we will try to have a couple swim camps or just start clinic early. There are A LOT of "ifs" in this statement. Just know that we are working hard behind the scenes and trying to figure out a way to get your kids in the pool and keep swimming in their hearts (and very strong bodies!)

We Miss our Swim Family!
We may attempt a team picnic or some kind of gathering this summer if more restrictions are lifted. As always, we will do our best to keep you informed.

This hurts to type.  Genuinely hurts.

After multiple discussions with Summer Club teams across the league and state, and the Green Mountain Swim Club, the health and financial implications of COVID-19 give us no option but to cancel the 2020 Gator season.  The Swim Club itself will also be closed for the season.  Both the team and the club plan to resume as normal for the Summer of 2021.

We put this decision off as long as possible as we searched for any feasible solution.  But nothing that met health and safety criteria made any financial sense, and vice versa.

We will continue to monitor the situation, and will host the Fall Clinic if at all possible.

Please feel free to contact us with any questions, and have an enjoyable rest of your summer.  Go Gators!

Update on Summer Swim Season

Hello Gator families,

Here is a brief update on the summer swim season.

We are in discussions with other summer club teams League- and State-wide, as well as the Green Mountain Swim Club board, regarding the summer season.  We are also monitoring communications and guidelines from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment (CDPHE) and Jefferson County Public Health.  Currently the guidance is ambiguous, but we expect to receive clarification in the next week or two.

Everyone hopes that we can find a way to have a season, but the health and safety of our swimmers and families must be our first priority.

We will update everyone as we learn more.  Thank you for your patience as we navigate these very unusual circumstances.  Stay well!

Swim Team Updates

Spring Swim Clinic:  swim clinic is cancelled through the remainder of the dates. We owe many of you refunds and will be working on that as soon as possible.

Summer Swim Team:  We are crossing our fingers and hoping for the best. See below for the official statement from the Colorado State Summer Swim Club Association:

The CSSCSA board is aware that the coronavirus may impact swimming during the summer of 2020. The state meet dates of July 24 – 26 CANNOT be changed. As of now, the board is monitoring the situation and realizes that some schedule changes, particularly in the early part of the season (June) may need to happen.  As the situation changes almost daily, NO decisions have yet to be made.  Likely no decisions will be made until we are much closer to the summer season. We will try to let everyone know what our plans are when more information is available.

We will keep everyone updated. We are as eager as you. Stay safe and stay active. 

Swim Clinic Postponed Due to Rec Center Closure

The City of Lakewood announced today that the Rec Center would be closed March 14 - March 29.  We hope to resume swim clinic on Sunday 4/5.  If the Rec Center is open, we will be there!
Stay tuned....

Swim Clinic Update 3-12-19

1- We plan to have clinic as long as the Green Mountain Rec Center stays open and our coaches stay healthy.

2- That's it. Pretty simple.

If anything changes, we will alert you immediately. Short of that, we hope to see everyone on Sunday.

 

The City of Lakewood has released the following statement in regards to the rec centers:

 

Our facilities are currently open, with minimal activity cancellations.

All recreation centers, arts and cultural facilities, family services facilities and parks are open and most programming is continuing as scheduled. We are taking extra precautions to protect residents and visitors from COVID-19 by disinfecting hard surfaces more frequently throughout our facilities.

REMINDER: CLINIC STARTS 2/23

Gator Spring Swim Clinic will start on Sunday 2/23.
Ages 11 and under; 5:00 - 6:00 pm
Ages 12 and up: 6:00 -7:00 pm
** note: we are moving the 12 year olds to the 2nd hour of clinic to spread out the number of swimmers more evenly. If your 12 year old needs to stay at the 5:00 pm time frame, that is OK.

Revised Clinic Dates

There has been a slight date change.  Jeffco Schools have a 4-day weekend on our first Sunday of spring clinic. Many families have indicated that they will be out of town and I wanted to be make sure that we started out strong.  The revised dates are as follows:

start week 1:  2/16 

start week 1:  2/23

week 2:  3/1

week 3:  3/8

week 4:  3/15

skip 3/22 due to spring break

week 5: 3/29

week 6:  4/5

skip 4/12 due to Easter

week 7: 4/19

week 8:  4/26

week 9:  5/3

last week 10: 5/10

Gators 2020 Spring Clinic

It's here.... Spring Swim Clinic!  The registration link is active and ready to go.

Registration link:  CLICK HERE
Cost:  $100 per swimmer for 10 weeks

Dates:

start week 1:  2/16

week 2:  2/23

week 3:  3/1

week 4:  3/8

week 5:  3/15

skip 3/22 due to spring break

week 6: 3/29

week 7:  4/5

skip 4/12 due to Easter

week 8: 4/19

week 9:  4/26

last week 10:  5/3

Location: Green Mountain Rec Center
Details:  Join us for our 10-week session this spring. You do not have to be a current Gator to join the Spring Clinic.  Invite a friend and get those swim legs ready for summer fun in the pool 

Green Mountain Swim Club Black Friday Sale

The Green Mountain Swim Club's first sale for the 2020 pool season is near!  They will run a Black Friday Blowout Sale which will be limited in time and quantity.  Any purchased Black Friday Sale memberships will need to be paid via PayPal when signing up.  Please remember the price will never go down for a pool membership, so don’t miss the bargain price of the year, $395.00.   The membership prices will NOT be lower, and will only move up to full price as opening day approaches.

Only 4 days until the Fall Swim Clinic starts!

Sunday evening swims start this weekend, going through November 17th.  5:00-6:00pm at the
Green Mountain Rec Center.  Cost is $100.  Click here to register!

GMST FALL SWIM CLINIC

The Fall swim clinic dates have been set! Please join us on Sundays for some indoor pool time. Keep your stroke in line and your swimmer legs kicking.

Sunday 9/15 - Sunday 11/17
Sundays only from 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Green Mountain Rec Center
Cost: $100
Registration:  click here
** Note all ages will swim from 5-6pm. If we have more than 35 swimmers register, we will add an upper division specific session from 6-7pm.

Swimmer Files are Full and Waiting to be Picked Up!

Gator Families -- I have moved the swimmer file box into the Guards Office at the pool. Please stop by any time the pool is open to get your items from the box.  The box includes: awards from State, awards and ribbons from the Banquet, awards from Ken Caryl Invite (we just got these for some reason), Swimmer Profile of all races this season and any/all ribbons that weren't picked up this season. 

Thank you for a successful (and fast!) 2019 summer swim session. We look forward to seeing you at Clinic in the off-season or for the 2020 summer season.

We need 2 more timers for the 400;s tonight

Please volunteer if you can. thank you.

Friday practice news

For practice on Friday, tomorrow, swimmers can wear socks in the pool. Also, if you are a 400 swimmer, your practice will start at 9:00. The 400 swimmer breakfast will be at Denny's and we will be getting there sometime between 10:00 and 10:30. Anyone is welcome, though only 400 swimmers will get their breakfast paid for.

Warm up Times + Parent Volunteers for State

They kept us waiting but warm up times and parent volunteer slots were finally released.  Please see the side of the blog.  Note:  they are splitting up the 8&unders to their very own warm up time.  If you are a Saturday swimmer, please make sure you pick the correct warm up time. We have two different slots based on age.  See you at State. SWIM FAST GATORS!

TEAM BANQUET- GATOR STYLE - WEDNESDAY NIGHT

We will get together to recognize our swimmers and coaches for an outstanding season, share our thank yous and hand out some awards. We would like to invite all swimmers and their families to our end of the season banquet.  This will be at the Green Mountain Swim Club (which will be closed for our event). The team will provide pizza and water/lemonade.  We are asking families to bring a side dish and/or dessert based on your Last Name to share in our potluck style dinner. 

Time:  5:30 pm - 8:30 pm (or early or later. Hard to say exactly)

Date:  Wednesday, July 24

Place:  GMSC

Bring:  last name begins with A-L: side dish //  last name begins with M-Z: dessert

Also, you may want to bring a camp chair to sit in, a camera to take pics, and cocktails for the board members :)

We look forward to seeing all of our Gator families on Wednesday!

BANQUET, PHOTOS, AND STATE OH MY!

Congratulations to all our League swimmers and all our non-League swimmers that helped the whole team swim faster! We took 3rd in League and had some amazing record breaking swims.  Good night do we have some fast kids!!

Monday 7/22: practice for State swimmers only (see time details below)
Tuesday 7/23: practice for State swimmers only
Wednesday 7/24:  TEAM BANQUET @ 5:30 pm!!!
Thursday 7/25: practice for State swimmers only / State T-Shirt-Making Party @ 5:30-6:30pm
Friday 7/26: practice for State swimmers only / State 400's
Saturday 7/27:  STATE - Lower Division
Sunday 7/28:  STATE - Upper Division

- Photos:  I will have all the team photos that were ordered on picture day at the Banquet. If you miss the Banquet, your photos will be in your swimmer file in the Guards Office at the pool.
- Practices:  Upper Division(age 13+) practice will be from 7:00 am - 8:00 am ALL WEEK / Lower Division(all age 12 and under)  practice will be from 8:00 am - 9:00 am ALL WEEK
- Team Banquet: We will get together to recognize our swimmers and coaches for an outstanding season, share our thank yous and hand out some awards. We would like to invite all swimmers and their families to our end of the season banquet.  This will be at the Green Mountain Swim Club (which will be closed for our event). The team will provide pizza and water/lemonade.  We are asking families to bring a side dish and/or dessert based on your Last Name to share in our potluck style dinner. 
Time:  5:30 pm - 8:30 pm (or early or later. Hard to say exactly)
Date:  Wednesday, July 24
Place:  GMSC
Bring:  last name begins with A-L: side dish //  last name begins with M-Z: dessert
Also, you may want to bring a camp chair to sit in, a camera to take pics, and cocktails for the board members :)
- State T-shirt Party:  Every year we like to spray paint t-shirts to pump up for State! Please bring a white t-shirt/tank top and $5. We will supply the spray paint and stencils.  We will be at the pool from 5:30 - 6:30 pm on Thursday night.
- State Meet:  The State Meet is at Stapleton this year. I will have volunteer opportunities posted as soon as they assign our team the responsibilities. We will have a few pop-up tents, so feel free to add to the tent village when you show up. We love having all our swimmers and parents in the same area :)

WE NEED MORE VOLUNTEERS AT LEAGUE!

We have open spots for Deck Marshall at every single shift for League!  We don't exactly know what this position does, but they'll tell us when we get there. You'll probably just get to boss people around and tell them to get back to the parent side of the pool. Could be fun :) If your child is swimming, you are expected to help in some way.  The Board has been working overtime filling in missing volunteer spots and we can't do it alone.  Thank you in advance for stepping up.