Otter Newsletter for Week of January 27, 2008

Team pictures will be Tuesday, January 29th in the pool/arena/ back hallway area. Individual photos for advanced swimmers only will be at 4 p.m. The team photo will be at 4:20 sharp. After the team photo is completed, there will be individual photos for everyone else. Stay tuned for more information regarding practice changes for that evening to accommodate the photo schedule. Picture forms are available in the bulletin board area just outside the men’s and women’s locker room doors.

Upcoming Championship Weekend Information:

Divisional Championships for those that participated in at least three dual meets will be held on Saturday, February 16th at Palmyra High School. The All-Star Meet is the next day, Sunday, February 17th, at Cumberland Valley High School. Participants in the All-Star Meet are chosen based upon their performance at the Divisionals meet. For both meets, the 8 and 10 and unders swim in the a.m.; the 12s, 14s, and unlimiteds swim in the p.m.

1) To sign up to swim at Divisionals, see Jim at practice for a Divisionals form. If you are a high school swimmer that does not practice at LVC, you may email him at jgardner@acschools.org , but this option is available ONLY to high school swimmers that practice elsewhere. If you do practice at LVC with the Otter team, please sign up using a form at practice, even if you already sent Jim an email last week. (The forms save Jim a tremendous amount of paperwork.) You may choose three events; if one is a relay, you should list a fourth option. You should let Jim know at that time whether you will also be available for the All-Star Meet the next day. February 1 is the ABSOLUTE DEADLINE for signups. Jim will NOT be making phone calls to those that do not sign up!

2) To volunteer to work at either meet, email Kathy Wingert at dkwingert@comcast.net. For Saturday, we still need three timers for the a.m. session, and three more ribbon folks, two for the a.m. and one for the p.m. On Sunday, we still need two a.m. timers. Our team does not get to participate if we do not provide the required volunteers, so please serve your kids and your team by helping. Thank you to the following families who have already stepped forward to serve: St. Clair, Harmon, Silcox (two days!), Brennan, Schugs (two days!), Rudy, Wingert, Weik, Pityk, Bohn, and Gehenio. Everybody else, start volunteering!

3) To order commemorative meet t-shirts/sweatshirts for meet day delivery, please take note of the following.

--For divisionals, long-sleeve t-shirts are available for $15.00; sweatshirts are $25.00. The design is viewable on the Palmyra Aquatic club website, www.palmyrasharks.com.

--For all-stars, only short-sleeve t-shirts are available. They are $14.00, and the design is viewable on the CPAL website, www.swimcpal.org. (Click on the 2008 All-Star link on the left hand side of the page.)

To order either shirt as part of our team order, you must sign up and pay (by check only please, made out to “LVST”) by Friday, February 1. There will be an envelope and sign-up sheet on the bleachers of the pool deck from 4:30 until 5:15 each evening beginning Wednesday, January 23. Or, you can order on picture day, January 29, from 4:30-5:45 p.m. with Kathy Wingert, who will be just outside the pool area by the vending machines.

Senior swimmers—We need your initials for senior gifts! Please email them (first, middle, last) to Lisa Gehenio by February 1. Lisa’s email address is lgcrnp@hotmail.com.

End of year Banquet—Our end-of-year awards night and banquet is Friday, March 7, in the arena. Due to other activities at the college, our agenda will be slightly different this year. All –Star qualifiers should arrive by 5:30 for news photos. Everyone else should arrive by 5:45, because awards will begin promptly at 6:00 sharp. After the awards ceremony, we will enjoy a buffet. Following the buffet, at 8 p.m., we will honor our senior swimmers. The cost of the banquet is as follows: Swimmers are free, as are any siblings under five. All other attendees (parents and family members 5 and up) are $7.50. (This cost covers the food, as well as the special chairs and tables we are required to use on the arena floor.) To attend the banquet, you must RSVP by February 25 so that we can order food and seating. To RSVP, fill out the form below and mail it, along with your check made out to LVST for any non-swimmers attending, to Lynne Gryboski, 427 W. Locust St., Cleona, PA 17042. Please do not hand in the form to the coaches or officers at practice. The mail-in reservation method saves confusion for all those planning the banquet.

Coaches gifts: If you would like to contribute to gifts for our wonderful coaches, please send a check, made out to LVST, to Lynne Gryboski at the above address.

Reminders:

Due to high school and college meets, there are several practice schedule changes in the upcoming months. Be sure to check your paper copies or the complete season calendar now posted on the web.

Weather issue information: In the event of inclement weather, cancellations and postponements will be posted immediately on the team website, www.swimotters.org. This is our fastest and most efficient way of letting everyone know what’s going on. If you do not see anything posted on the home page of the website, you can assume that, at that moment, the event is being held as scheduled. Be sure to refresh your browser if you keep the home page up on your computer. We will also attempt to alert WLBR Radio.

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Otter Banquet Reservation Form—

Friday, March 7, at 5:45 p.m in the Arena

Number of Swimmers (free) Attending:_____________.

Names of Swimmers Attending:__________________________________________

Number of parents and non-swimmers (ages 5 and up) attending at $7.50 each:______

Number of Non-swimmers ages 4 and under (free) attending:__________

Mail this form, along with your check made out to “LVST,” to Lynn Gryboski, 427 W. Locust St., Cleona, PA 17042, by FEBRUARY 25.