August is a great time to thank people!
There is a lot to type, and I am simply more often a "more words" person. Trying to save the "more words" version for the website and the "less words" options for our emails. (Just like all things - some of our swimmers like the more, others the less. Some like to breaststroke, others don't, right?) So here goes!
As we head into the fall I wanted all of our swimmers to thank a few people--
From FCKW-- Coach Dan Taylor, Scott Resek and the FCKW board who support us and appreciate our quirks, and more importantly-- accommodating our flexible financial payment options. Thanks!
FFH Danielle Miceli's volunteer bookkeeping and volunteer FCKW treasurer Shannon Smith have collaborated well. Thanks for their time!
We always like to have various practice options, but there are times when we don't have coaching options (meet, travel, too many masters to handle....) and for a while, I was the only certified lifeguard! We now have three more-- so thanks to Ron, Cory and Lindsay-- and Cory who stepped in (with Katie Kenyon's workout and logistics help) when Thor was honeymooning in May and Lindsay who has filled in for some of Matt's workouts these past few weeks. Thank you!
Know that there are paying swimmers who love it so much-- that they will volunteer to coach you to keep things going. It is impossible to do all of this without having these people because we simply cannot run a practice without a lifeguard. A good swimming coach is not enough. Thanks!! And If anyone else is ever interested in getting certified to guard, let me know--- now and then we will have the option to host trainings!
Other thoughts as they occur to me:
On July 25th 25 swimmers participated in the US Masters Swimming Smarty Pants Fitness Water series 2K swim-- we hosted it at the FCRC and had a social after-- it was such a hit that we will offer another practice and social on Thursday, August 29, with a practice from 8:00 - 9:15, followed by cocktails on the tennis deck side at the Fox Chapel Racquet Club.
We loved having swimmers from Sewickley, Moon and Team Pitt in July and hope that they join us again real soon!
We hope to be able to offer more night practices next summer!! This week we head to the Fox Chapel Golf Club while the FCHS cleans out its pool dust bunnies.
To the FCRC, CSC, FCGC and FCHS-- thank you for your support and your beautiful facilities. We appreciate how you help us honor our mission by helping to provide water for our swimmers and practices. Your support, flexibility, and kindness is wonderful. And our swimmers love all of the options.
We will have another social this Wednesday at the Dancing Gnome brewery in Sharpsburg, Blue Sparrow will be running their food truck for the night-- consider joining us (6:30). And please bring a friend, extend to other teams. Which brings me to my last thanks.
How far we've come, and a Final Thanks
6-years ago yesterday (thanks, FB memories!) I posited the question -- Would anyone be interested in keeping our summer swims going into the fall? Jim would continue to coach us if anyone would anyone be interested in renting water, being a team... Would anyone want to pay additionally for coach + pool? I had loved getting back into the water but didn't know how to make it more. The Fox Chapel Racquet Club hosted us that first summer, once each week, and all of the swimmers were club members.
At the time I didn't really understand what Masters Swimming was. I understood it to be for older swimmers who wanted to race. I knew I would never have a faster 50 or 100 free time than my Sr year at UNH and I was NOT interested in racing. With 3 boys and a job, I had no interest in travel. Rather than reach out to USMS initially, I sat down with Shady Side Academy and asked about water rental (the High School was in the middle of its 3-year pool rebuild). I learned that I could rent the pool with a coach. Great! But also that I needed $ 1 million in liability insurance to rent it....
By this point, I had reached out to USMS but no one answered my call initially and I left a message. I then talked to a couple of insurance people about how one purchased liability insurance for a swim team. I was running the numbers for coaching, rentals and ??? liability related costs... It was seeming insurmountable, but in early September a "Marianne Groenigs" called me back from USMS. It took one conversation for me to understand why everyone used USMS to start a team! Liability coverage, support, all my questions answered.... 10 minutes after we spoke, we were a USMS team!
Since then, Marianne has fielded a lot of questions from me; we have yet to ever meet. But her invaluable counsel is the reason that we exist! And now, we are heading into our third year merged with FC Killer Whales (for which I am every-thankful that I no longer have the burden of running all of the numbers...) and are completing our 6th summer in existence. We've hosted a meet and Flying Fishheads have been regulars at open water swims, triathlons, bike races, baby showers, brunches, socials and wedding showers. There are so many great things we've all doing together, and USMS helped us clear those big hurdles to create such a vibrant community!
US Masters Swimming supports non-Division 1,2,3 college club teams and swimmers ages 18-100 years of age. We are really proud of their work and love the number of swimmers that we have met and bonded with because of the swimmers USMS has introduced us to directly, as well as through the interrelationships between teams from all over that USMS encourages.
Big thanks to them, and to Marianne. We are having a blast!
Coming EXTRA events:
Wed August 7th @ Dancing Gnome 6:30 pm
Thursday, August 29th practice 8-9:15 pm practice followed by Social at FCRC (cash bar)
Sunday, September 1 Bring Your Own Brunch to the FCRC porch after am practice
We will head inside at this time and announce schedule which will be very similar to this past school year.
Friday, December 27, 2019 FFH Swimathon at FC High School in the afternoon (1-5ish) followed by FFH holiday party @ the Fox Chapel Racquet Club 5:00 -8:00 pm. (SAVE THIS DATE!)
