Stroke & Turn Officials Needed - Clinics Offered

Stroke and Turn

As always, we are looking to train new Stroke & Turn officials to help out at meets. 

Experience as a former (or current) swimmer is NOT necessary; anyone can be trained and contribute significantly to our team!  

As a team, we have the obligation of training at least 2 (hopefully more!) new S&T officials each year, so please let us know if you are interested or have any questions/concerns regarding the training. There are 3 stroke and turn clinics offered this summer (see schedule below). We are also offering a starter clinic at the Woodstock Rec, so if you're interested in learning how to be the driving force behind running the races this is your chance! We cannot run meets without S&T officials, so please consider taking the leap and getting trained! We need to submit lists of names prior to each clinic, so let us know ASAP.

Clinic #1 - Wednesday, May 18, 2016

STROKE AND TURN - Brattleboro, VT -  5 pm to 7 pm @ Marlboro Graduate Center, 28 Vernon Str., Brattleboro, VT.

Clinic #2 - Wednesday, May 25, 2016

STARTER CLINIC - Woodstock, VT - 5:30 pm to 7:30 pm @ Woodstock Recreational Dept or Little Theater.  

Clinic #3 - Wednesday, June 1, 2016

STROKE AND TURN - Manchester, VT - 5:30 pm - 7:30 pm @ the Park House (at the pool), 340 Recreation Park Road, Manchester Center, VT  05255.

Clinic #4 - Monday, June 27, 2016

STROKE AND TURN - Quechee, VT - 5 pm to 7 pm @ The Quechee Club, 3268 Quechee Main Str., Quechee, VT, in the conference room of the Clubhouse.

2016 Meet Schedule

2016 Southern Vermont Swim League - WST Meets

Weekday meets generally start at 5pm. Home meet WST warm ups are at 4pm, WST away warm ups often start at 4:30pm. 

6/28 Tuesday @ Manchester

7/5 Tuesday @ Woodstock

7/9 Saturday @ Rutland

7/12 Tuesday @ Rockingham

7/19 Tuesday @ Woodstock

7/16 Saturday Optional Invitational Meet* @ Rutland

7/26 Tuesday Optional Last Chance Meet* @ Rockingham

7/30 Saturday (Sunday Rain Date) Southern Vermont Swim League (SVSL) Championships* **

8/6 - 8/7 Vermont Swim Asssociation (VSA) State Championships* ***

* Asterix indicates there are fees associated with the meet. Meet fees are not included in your registration fees and can range anywhere from $5-10 per swimmer for Invitational meets up to $5 per event for the VSA Championship meet. Swimmers are limited to 4 individual events and 2 relays for all meets. 

We wish to make sure all who have interest in participating may do so. Please feel free to contact Gail about scholarship assistance available to eligible WRC swimmers.

**SVSL Championship is a fee-based meet open to all registered swimmers who have competed in at least TWO SVSL regular season meets. Fees are usually $15-20 per swimmer.

***VSA is a fee-based meet and is open to all registered swimmers who have competed in at least THREE SVSL meets and who have met or exceeded the posted qualifying times. The Rec Center covers the cost of relays ($20 per relay entered). The maximum per swimmer fee would be $20 for the Championship meet, but may be less depending on how many events a swimmer enters.

Head Coach Announcement

HEAD COACH ANNOUNCEMENTS

Congratulations, Coach Alex! Coach Alex is graduating summa cum laude from Simmons College with a BA in Psychology in just a few short weeks. Wow! Coach Alex has also secured an exciting research position at UVM, and therefore, sadly for us, plans to move to Burlington this summer. Please join me in thanking Alex for everything she has given to the team and wishing her much success. Thank you so much, Alex. We will miss you very much and we hope to see you on the pool deck sometime this summer!

Alex's departure of course meant we needed to find a coach to lead the team for summer 2016.

We are therefore pleased to announce that Maddie Gilbert, a longtime WST swimmer and former Head Coach, has just accepted the WST Head Coach position for the 2016 summer season. Maddie recently returned from Brazil where she was teaching English as a Fulbright scholar. Coach Maddie will be once again joining WST for the summer before she heads to NYU for graduate school this fall.

WST 2016 Season - Save the Dates

Tuesday July 28th-Potluck Picnic and Picture

Our team picture day was a total wash out, so we will be taking our team picture on Tuesday at our picnic and awards ceremony. Please wear your team suits.

Details about the picnic are posted in this blog.

Leagues: 11 and Overs Warm Ups and Other Details

Hi Families,

Woodstock 11 and Over Swimmers will warm up at 11:30-11:50.
The 11 and older session starts at 1pm.

Expect the morning session to finish around 11:30 or 12, and the afternoon session to finish around 7:30ish, assuming there are no meet delays for weather or equipment malfunctions.

Officials and Timers Meetings will be at 8:30am and 12:30pm under the main tent.

Woodstock has set up some pop-up tents at the Northwood pool. Look for Alex.

The facility address is 563 Post Road Ext, Rutland, VT 05701. Once you turn onto Park Lane from Route 4 just before the Bridges Country Store, the right hand turn into the pool is 0.9 miles from Route 4.

Also, as coaches, we have decided that many WST 10 and Under swimmers will dive from the side or start from in the water rather than dive from the blocks. This is perhaps a cautious approach, but we don't want to put a swim meet result ahead of our desire to keep our swimmers safe. If any swimmer does not feel confident diving from the blocks, regardless of his or her age, we will encourage alternative start positions. If you have any questions, please email Nicola.

Go, Woodstock!

Leagues Updated Information

More details about the Southern Vermont Swim League Championship Meet on Saturday, July 25th

Head's Up: When I put Northwood Pool into Google Maps, it actually sent me to White's Pool. Do not go to White's Pool. It is completely shut down.

DIRECTIONS to Northwood Pool:

• Head on Route 4 West toward Rutland.
• Take a right on Park Lane, just before the Bridges Country Store (formerly the Mendon Country Store). It is a little hard to see. The road veers left, and the name changes to Post Road.
• The pool is at the Northwood Recreation Center on the right. If you pass the Rutland Town elementary school, you've passed the pool.

$20 is the confirmed swimmer surcharge. Payments can be dropped off at the Rec. Checks can be made out to the Woodstock Recreation Center, as the Rec writes one check for entire team. If your swimmer is entered into the meet, but he or she does not attend, you are still responsible for the meet fee, as the team is still charged for that swimmer.

Please confirm with Alex ASAP if your swimmer wishes to attend Leagues. (Also known as Districts for some confusing reason). Any swimmer who has competed in at least two regular season meets can participate in Leagues. There are no qualifying times for this meet.

Woodstock 10 and Unders will warm up at the Northwood Pool in lanes 1-3 at 7:55-8:15.  We do know that Woodstock will have the first afternoon warm-up time, but that time has not yet been confirmed.

Woodstock is required to provide two timers for the duration of the meet and one DQ slip collector for the morning session. Please help Kim by signing up. Many hands make light work! Every swimmer needs a volunteer to sign up to help.

More information to follow.

Happy Swimming,
The WST Coaches

Thursday July 23rd Practice Schedule

Hi WST Families,

Due to the week's schedule, here is the practice schedule for Thursday:

8am practice for all 11 and overs

12pm for 10 and Unders

1pm practice is canceled.

No 1pm 11 and Over Practice tomorrow, Thursday July 23rd.

Thanks,

The WST Coaches

Team Picnic and Awards Ceremony-Tuesday, July 28th

Our Annual WST Potluck Picnic and Awards Ceremony

Please come and celebrate our 2015 season and honor the hard work of our swimmers! Drinks, plates, and utensils will be provided, but otherwise our picnic is a good old family potluck! Families with last names starting with A-L please bring a main dish. Families with last names Q-Z please bring an appetizer or dessert!

More details to follow.

SVSL Leagues-Update

Dear WST Families,

We don't have a great deal of information about this meet at this time, but we expect to hear from the Meet Director soon.

There is a meet fee associated with the Championship Event which is usually a flat entry fee, which was $20 per swimmer in 2014. Please make a check out to the Woodstock Rec or you can certainly pay cash at the Front Desk. We will confirm the fee as soon as possible.

Once the host team has posted the warm up and official start times, we will let you know.

Please note the Leagues Championships are going to be held at Northwood Pool, not White's Pool.

We can tell you that 10 and Unders are in the morning session, and 11 and overs have a lunch session and an afternoon session. Longer events such as 500s and 200s are hosted during the lunch session. Generally, the morning session warm-up are between 7:30 and 8:50, and the session starts at 9am. Afternoon Warm-Ups are around noon until 1:20pm, meet starts at 1:30pm. We are assigned a 30-minute block of time for warm-ups, so once the host team has posted the official warm up and start times, we will let you know.

This can be a long afternoon for our 11 and overs, so please come prepared with changes of clothes, plenty of towels and, if you own one, a pop up tent. There are usually concessions for sale, as well as Championship T-Shirts and a swim gear vendor.

Again, this is all what we know based on past meets and is not confirmed. We will let you know official information as soon as we have it.

Thanks,
The WST Coaches