Summer swim team starts tomorrow

Hello swimmer families,
    I don't think Mother Nature got the memo that it is the end of May and we are starting summer swim team.  It is hard to think about summer when it isn't sunny and raining outside. 
 
We are scheduled to start after school swim practice tomorrow, Wednesday the 18th.  We are still waiting for confirmation from the Swim Club that the pool is ready and we need to decide what the weather will be like.  Please check the blog and/or our Facebook page to see if practice will be held.  A decision will be made for 4:00pm on if we will have practice or not.
 
This weeks schedule (5/18-5/20):
Afternoon swim practice is scheduled for Wednesday, Thursday and Friday
All practices will be held at Green Mountain Swim Club

    4:30-5:30pm        9 & unders

    5:30-6:30pm        10-12 year olds

    6:30-8:00pm        13&up
 
Next weeks schedule (5/23-5/27):
Afternoon swim practice is scheduled for Monday, Tuesday and Thursday

    4:30-5:30pm        9 & unders

    5:30-6:30pm        10-12 year olds

    6:30-8:00pm        13&up
First Intrasquad meet is scheduled for Wednesday, May 25th
    Warm-ups begin at 5:00pm and the meet will start at 5:30pm
    Swimmers must sign-up for their events by the end of practice on Tuesday.  Swimmers may sign-up for 2 events. 
No practice on Friday, May 27th as the pool will open this evening
 
Regular scheduled summer practices (morning and evening) begin Tuesday, May 31st
 
If you have not signed up please go to the Blog and sign your swimmer up.  Please print and complete all the required forms. 
 
Please plan on bringing your swimmers forms and payment to the first practice.  If you have already mailed these please disregard this.

How to sign-up for meets

We wanted to let all swimmer and parents know how to sign-up for meets this season.  This process will be for all intrasquad meets, home meets and away meets.  The "special" meets such as C/D meet, pentathlon, last chance, etc. will have specific instructions on how to sign-up as these meets get closer.
For all intrasquad, home and away meets each swimmer will need to sign-up at the pool.  Every Monday there will be sheets posted at the pool (on the bulletin board) for swim meet sign-ups.  These sign-ups will be separated by age division and then alphabetized by swimmers last name.  Each swimmer will select a maximum of 3 individual events and mark if they are available for relays.  Parents of younger swimmers please assist your swimmer in signing up for these meets.  All events must be selected by the end of practice on Thursday for dual meets and by Wednesday for intrasquad meets.   
We are going to give this a try for our first Intrasquad meet on Wedneday, May 25th.  The sign-ups will be at the pool by this Friday. 

GMST Gator merchandise on SwimOutlet.com

We are excited to announce that the Gators now have merchandise available for you to purchase on SwimOutlet.com.  The Green Mountain Swim Team has created a Gator store in partnership with SwimOutlet.  When you visit the Gator store you will see swimmer apparel and merchandise available with our logo.  You can purchase your items right from this link.  We hope you have fun shopping.

Also coming this summer are new Gator shirts and sweatshirts which will be available to purchase during practices and Intrasquad meets.

Code of Conduct

Attention all swimmers and parents:
Green Mountain Swim Team and Foothills Swim Association have a Code of Conduct for the 2016 summer swim season.  We will need ALL swimmers and parents to review this document, sign after agreeing and return to Jennifer Friedrichs.  If you have already registered your swimmer and mailed in your forms you can turn the signed code of conduct in at the first practice.  If you have not yet mailed in your forms please print, sign and submit this paperwork together.
As always, please let any of the board members know if you have additional questions or concerns.

Officials Clinics

Only a few officials clinics remain!

Sunday May 15th- 4:30pm Green Mountain Recreation Center

**Wednesday May 25th- Applewood Knolls Pool- 6pm for the rules meeting and 7pm for in water demonstration. All new officials must attend this in water demonstration!

**Sunday June 5th-4:30pm Green Mountain Recreation Center Only returning officials may attend this date.

If you have questions about the officials clinics, please contact Jim Fernald, jimfswim@comcast.net

Happy Mother's Day

We would like to wish all the Gator Moms (Grandma and Aunts too) a Happy Mother's Day. Thank you for supporting your swimmers. Have a wonderful day!

Preparing for the season

We are busy preparing for the summer swim season.  We just wanted to let you know that we have updated the Parent Handbook (from many years ago) as well as created a FAQ's to help parents and swimmers know what's happening with the Gators.
You can find these documents on the right hand side of the blog under the Important information and links section.  If you have questions about these documents or additional information please send an email to gmstgators@aol.com
We are excited to see all of the new and old Gators in a few weeks!

Missing the swimming suit fitting?

If you missed the Green Mountain Gator swimming suit fitting you still have time to order.  You will need to call the swimming suit vendor directly.  You will find their contact information below.  Please make sure you know what size suit you might need.  Please contact them as soon as possible so your swimmer has their suit in time and to avoid additional shipping costs.
Colorado Swim Shop
Christine or Derek
303.545.2090
2525 Arapahoe Ave., Unit C4
Boulder, CO 80302

Swimming Suit fitting

Please remember we will be having our swimming suit fitting next Sunday, May 1st

• Colorado Swim Shop will be coming to help fit swimmer for our team suite
• This will be at Green Mountain Rec Center
• They will be here from 4:30-6:30pm
• It is best to arrive early and try on the suits before you swimmer is wet
• This is the 2nd year of our suits so if yours still fits from last year there is no need to purchase another one

Please send any questions to gmstgators@aol.com

New & Returning Officials

Officials Clinics are coming up fast!

Sunday April 24th- 4:30pm Green Mountain Recreation Center

Sunday May 15th- 4:30pm Green Mountain Recreation Center

**Wednesday May 25th- Applewood Knolls Pool- 6pm for the rules meeting and 7pm for in water demonstration. All new officials must attend this in water demonstration!

**Sunday June 5th-4:30pm Green Mountain Recreation Center Only returning officials may attend this date.

If you have questions about the officials clinics, please contact Jim Fernald, jimfswim@comcast.net

Summer is around the corner

I can't believe we will be starting summer swim team in 5 weeks.  The swim team is busy getting ready for summer and so is the swim club.  The registration for summer swim team is posted.  You will notice that we have a morning registration and an evening registration.  The morning swim practice is offered just as it has been in the past.  When you sign-up for morning swim practice your child will attend their age division practice daily.  The evening swim practice is being offered to swimmers 12 and under who have not been able to participate in the past due to parents work schedule.  For the first time we will offer an evening swim practice (if the demand is there with a minimum of 8 swimmers) for a maximum of 16 swimmers.  This practice will only be Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 7:00-8:00pm.  The evening practices will be offered to the families that register first due to the limited space and they will be contacted to let them know the status of this.  Please note your swimmer may only participate in the swim practice in which they registered for.
I hope you have noticed the many changes on the blog.  All information posted on the blog will also be posted on our Facebook page.  Please like the Green Mountain Swim Team on Facebook so you can receive updates here. You can also subscribe to the Gator blog by entering your email and this will send you an email daily if the blog has been updated.  I have also created a google calendar with important swim team dates and am working on allowing you to copy this calendar into your own (so this is coming soon).  Hope these tools are helpful and will help you stay current on things that are happening.
The pool is busy getting ready for us to start swimming.  If you drive by you will notice they have repaired the parking lot.  They will also begin the process of filling up the pool to get the water ready for us.
Summer will be here before we know it!  Please register your swimmers and we will plan to see you on May 18th for after school swim practice.  Please continue to check the blog frequently as we prepare for summer swim team.

Year-round swimmers May 15th deadline

Here is a reminder regarding year-round swimmers deadline as we will begin our summer swim team registration soon. Swimmer may NOT practice or compete with another summer club swim team, year-round team, etc. on or after May 16. This means if a swimmer is currently swimming with a year-round team they will have to quit swimming with this organization by May 15th if they will be swimming as a Gator during the summer.

Taken from FSA Bylaws:
On or after May 16 of the swimming season, 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 with another summer club swim team, year-round team, etc. on or after May 16. To further clarify, a swimmer may not for example swim unattached in a USA swim meet on or after May 16. A swimmer may swim in a charity type event with permission of the state board. Notwithstanding the above, a swimmer may practice or compete on or after May 16 interscholastically or intercollegiately without losing their eligibility to swim in the FSA.

Happy Easter Gators

Just a reminder that there is no swim clinic this Sunday due to the Easter holiday.  Hope you enjoy a great family day.

See you again for clinics on Sunday, April 3rd

No swim clinic on Sunday

Just a reminder that there will be no swim clinic this Sunday due to Spring Break.  We hope the weather will be nice enough for you to enjoy this week.
See you back at the pool on Sunday, April 3rd.

FSA League Webmaster

If anybody is willing and able to volunteer to take over the role of webmaster for the FSA League website, please contact me. You would be responsible for posting meet results every week during the season, posting qualification times, etc. Offseason responsibilities would be little to none. You can find the link to the FSA website under Important Links on the right-hand side of the blog. Thank you!

It was successful!

So I have tried it and it works!!  I have successfully added the feature in which will allow you to subscribe to the Gator Blog with your email address.  This feature allows you to receive an email once a day notifying you if the blog was updated.  We still encourage you to check the blog as you will only be notified if a new message has been posted.  These notifications aren't enabled when information is posted on the right hand side of the blog (information for meets, dates, etc.)
Please subscribe and enter your email address on the right hand-side of the blog.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Add your email to receive alerts when the blog is updated

We are in the process of trying to add a feature to the blog that allows you to receive an email when the blog has been updated.  This is a work in progress and is in the testing phase only.  We are trying to allow more notification when information is posted on the blog as we all get busy sometimes and forget to check this.  Please be patient as we try to get this up and running.  There will be more information about this once we know this works.

Information regarding summer swim team and Spring Swim clinics

 We are starting to prepare for our 2016 summer swim team season and would love for you to join us. In the next few weeks registration for the summer swim team will be available on the blog.
Please sign up and let us know if you have any questions.  We are excited to announce our coaches for the summer will be Porter Bennett, Ethan Schick, Inez Moore and Dylan Jacobs. 

    To help prepare swimmers for a great swim season we will continue to offer our Sunday night swim clinics. These are held at Green Mountain Rec Center from 5-6pm for 12 and under swimmers and 6-7pm for 13+.  Please help us welcome our coaches for the Spring session Olivia Moore, Dylan Jacobs and Quinn Trussell. They would love the opportunity to help your swimmer with their stoke technique and endurance. Please register for Spring session.

Please continue to check the Gator Blog as summer is quickly approaching and we will post important information and announcements.

Thank you,
GMST board members
Dave, Jennifer, Danielle (correction from email), April and Jen

Calling all officials old and new

Officials Clinics-mark your calendars! Please remember that all new officials must attend the in water demo on Wednesday May 25th

Sunday April 24- 4:30pm at Green Mountain Rec. Center

Sunday May 15- 4:30pm at Green Mountain Rec. Center

Wednesday May 25**at Applewood Knolls. Lecture 6pm, in water demo 7pm.

Sunday June 5- 4:30pm at Green Mountain Rec. Center (for returning officials only!)

Please direct any and all officiating questions to Jim Fernald, jimfswim@comcast.net

Warm weather=swim team

What beautiful warm weather we are having! 

 What does this make you think about? Swim Team? 

That's right we will be back in the pool before you know it. Please help your swimmers get ready for the summer by participating in the Spring swim clinics.  These will start February 28th.  If you haven't already signed up please do so with the form on the right hand side.