Team Rep Report

Neptunes 2018 summer swim season is officially over! What a GREAT season!!! One of the best aspects about swim team is meeting all of the wonderful families, who are also our neighbors. Look forward to seeing you at the pool, schools, and neighborhood.

VOLUNTEERS: Thank you to ALL of the swim team families this season!! As you saw firsthand, it takes a village to run swim team. Thank you for volunteering, even when we pestered you over text at the last minute. 😉 We can't run swim meets and events without wonderful parents like all of you. We can't thank you enough!

TROPHIES & AWARDS: For those of you who missed the end of season party, you should have received an email from Tyler. Your awards are labeled and on her front porch. If you have questions, please contact her at [email protected].

END OF SEASON SURVEY: In an effort to continue to improve our swim program, an electronic survey was sent out today. You can also fill it out here. We ask that you take time to respond thoughtfully to the questions, and add your comments and suggestions. We take your feedback seriously, and review everything with our coaching staff.

WINTER SWIM: We are thrilled to announce that we will be offering WINTER SWIM again this year (more details to follow next month). Winter swim will be on Sundays, January 13th through May 19th @ Lee Rec. Center from 6-7pm. It's a great way to keep up swimming skills and be ready to go for the summer swim.

QUESTIONS/COMMENTS: Any questions or concerns? Please feel free to reach out to the swim board at [email protected], or to us personally.

Tyler Wyllie: [email protected]

Mike Cabot: [email protected]

Have a WONDERFUL August and start to the school year! Look forward to seeing you around the forest.

Tyler Wyllie & Mike Cabot (Team Reps)

A Message from the President and VP

The board wanted to show our appreciation and acknowledge the dedication of our senior swimmers. We received incomplete information on previous gifts. Consequently, we decided to go in a new direction and made an effort to incorporate some of the elements of the past. The primary goal of this was to highlight our senior swimmers.

We understand that some parents and swimmers may be disappointed because they did not receive a memento that can be easily displayed. In light of that result, the board is actively seeking any volunteers to serve next summer working on ways we can appropriately acknowledge our Seniors.

End of Season Survey: Please take the time to complete. We would really appreciate your feedback as it helps us know the areas that the swim team is doing well or needs improvement. The board uses this information to make changes for the next swim season. Once you complete the survey you will be prompted to enter your information separately into a drawing for an Orange Theory gift card. This allows us to keep the survey answers anonymous while still thanking you for taking the time to help us improve.

Interested in Serving on the Board or a Committee? Have you ever wondered what happens behind the scenes for the Swim Team? Want to get more involved than just during swim meets? Have a desire to help take our swim team to new heights? YOUR talents may be just what your team needs! There are board and committee positions that are a PERFECT fit for someone like YOU! Not sure what it involves? No problem! Email us at [email protected] for answers to all your questions.

Let’s Get Social!

We thank everyone for making this Neptune Swim season so enjoyable. The swim team breakfasts, outings, pep rallies, special dinners and buddies would not have been possible without the generosity of our swim team families.

A special thanks to the following individuals for their help leading our social events and opening up your homes: Becky Cousins, Robin Cordovez, Amy Gilmore, Chris Goodrich, Tracy Rossi, Lisa Pratt, JB Barringer, Carrie Kuberski, Renee Flynn, Joan Evans and Valerie Malley. The swim team board was a tremendous helping making sure each of our social events ran smoothly. Thank you all so much!

FUN-draising!

Several parents have asked what costs are covered by our fundraising and what is covered by registration fees. The registration fees cover our coaches’ salaries, our annual registration as a non-profit corporation with the Commonwealth of Virginia, and our registration as a team with the Northern Virginia Swim League (NVSL). Everything else that is provided by the team is paid for through fundraising, including administrative items, like paper and printer cartridges, and insurance. This year the team provided 3 breakfasts, a kick-off barbecue, the ice cream social, the end of year party, including the team trophies and coaches’ gifts, and a free t-shirt with registration which are completely paid for by our fundraising efforts. We acknowledge that some families may be disappointed by our decision to discontinue the end of year raffle, however, the board made the decision to spend the money previously spent purchasing raffle items on the kick-off barbecue and team t-shirts - things that would benefit everyone on the team, instead of a few.

Fundraising also covers the cost of repairing and replacing the equipment we use at practice and swim meets. Some of this equipment is very expensive and needs to be replaced periodically, like the starter and lane lines. We have to maintain enough money in our account to cover those costs when they arise. Last year, we purchased new kick boards. This year, we need to purchase new practice lines and a new sound system for our announcer to use at our meets and social events. The Goodrich family has been providing the use of their personal equipment for almost a decade, but next year will be their last year with our team, therefore, we have to purchase a new system because we do not have one that the team owns. In the last few years, we only raised enough funds to cover the cost of running the team events – we broke even or in some years, fell a few hundred dollars short of the anticipated budget. When we break even on our budget, we are not able to set aside any money for the eventual replacement of the team equipment. This leaves the board with two choices – either reduce the activities that we provide to the team (less social activities) or to do additional fundraising. We feel strongly that the social activities are a core part of our team spirit and are too important to reduce or eliminate, for that reason, we decided to increase our fundraising so we do not have to cut back and are still able to set aside sufficient funds into our reserve account.

Thank you for your support this year of our fundraising efforts. We will have one or more off-season fundraiser this year, which we are still evaluating to determine if we need to hold one or both of the planned fundraisers.

Swim-a-thon bag tags for swimmers who swam 100 and 200 laps and awards for the swimmers who swam the most laps per age group will be delivered once we receive them.

Treasurer’s Note

Volunteer Checks: The NFST Treasurer will shred the volunteer checks from families who met their volunteer hours. If you’d like to pick it up instead, you can stop by the Embry’s (8176 Curving Creek Ct) between Aug 20-24. After that, all remaining checks will be shredded. If you’d like to donate your volunteer fee, please let Jamie Embry know.