Last Chance to Order a Team Suit for Summer 2016

Coach Maddie will be sending more information related to the start of the season and practices starting next week but for now: the final SUIT ORDER will go in on Friday morning, and the sample suits for trying on will be sent back to the vendor.  If you still want to order but haven't yet, stop by the Rec before Friday to place your order. Thanks.

Meet & Volunteer Sign Up Sheets Are Due

A quick reminder to please turn in your Meet Sign Up and Volunteer Sign Up Sheets at the front desk at the Rec Center. We need these by the end of this week, before our first practices next week, in order to get our meet rosters started as well as volunteer sign ups arranged.

Thanks!

Registration TONIGHT, Thursday, June 2

Registration for Woodstock Swim Team 2016 is tonight at the Rec Center from 5-7 p.m.
-- Register at the front desk then head downstairs to pick up paperwork, meet the coaches, try and suits and say hi!
-- Suits are NOT required
-- If you can't make it tonight, register online or at the front desk; suits will be at the rec for about a week to try on

Volunteering
-- Please remember to volunteer. Fill out your Meet Sign Up Sheet AND Volunteer Sign Up Sheet and return to the front desk (or drop it off with the coaches tonight). If you have a swimmer participating in a meet, we ask that you please volunteer at the meet. These meets can't run without volunteers.
-- Kim Jackson will be using Volunteer Spot again to manage the volunteers. If you fill out a sign up sheet, she'll include your request manually in Volunteer Spot. You will also get an email prior to each meet reminding you to sign up.
-- Feeling ambitious? Sign up to volunteer at our first meet here: http://vols.pt/fSgUCV 

Stroke & Turn Officials Needed
-  We still need to train officials this year. Please let the coaches know if you can make one of the trainings. They are posted at www.svslvt.org. Note that the Quechee training on June 27 is from 6-8 p.m. in the conference room of the Clubhouse.

See you all tonight!

Swim Team Registration Night - June 2, 2016

Woodstock Swim Team Registration Night will be held next Thursday, June 2 from 5-7 p.m. at Woodstock Rec. Come in and get registered, try on and order your team suit and cap, and learn more about the team - new and returning swimmers welcome!

If you try on and order your suit at registration night, you should receive your suit in time for the start of the season.

Questions? Email the coaches at wstcoaches@gmail.com. 

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!