David joins us this year as an assistant swim coach after several years of swimming for the Otters! David is currently attending Wingate University, and swims on their Men’s Swim Team. Welcome, David!Emily has been an Otter swimmer for many years, and currently attends Leesville High School. We are excited to have Emily join the WV YS Coaching staff!
General Info
Swim practices will begin May 17th soon after the opening of the pool. While Wake County Schools remain in session practices will be held in the afternoon. After school closes swim team practices will be in the morning and afternoon practices will be held for year round school team member on Monday, Wednesday and Saturday. We are evaluating the number of year-round swimmers and may modify the schedule or coaching arrangement to suit the number of swimmers in the year round group.
Swim meets are normally held on Tuesday evenings and start at 6:00p (warm ups @ 5:30p away meets and 5:00p for home meets). If the meet is rained out it is moved to Wednesday. The order of events at swim meets is as follows: Medley relay, Freestyle, Backstroke, Breaststroke, Butterfly, and the Freestyle relay. 6&under swimmers do not swim relays or butterfly. Each event starts with the youngest boys first, then the youngest girls, on through to the oldest girls. 6&unders swim 15 yards, 7-10 swim 25 yards, and 11-18 swim 50 yards.
To begin the season we will have a “practice” meet on Tuesday June 8th. At this meet the team will swim all events except for relays. This gives the swimmers (and parents) a feel for how the meets are run. Our regular season will begin on Tuesday June 15th. We have six scheduled meets, three of which are considered divisional meets, and three against teams from other divisions.
All children will have the opportunity to swim in the six regular season meets. Some will be selected to swim in the main heat (which scores points for the team) and the rest swim in participatory heats. The main heat selection is to the discretion of the coach and is generally based on the best times from the previous week’s meet. All children under age 11 will receive ribbons for their efforts whether they are in the main heat or not.
New Wave Greater Raleigh Championship Invitational will be held on <TBA> before the end of the regular season. This meet will be held at Triangle Aquatics Center and will include swimmers from teams from the North Wake and South Wake League. The participation of the swimmers on the Wood Valley team will be determined as the season progresses. Each swimmer entered in this championship meet is required to have at least one family member volunteer to help time or assist children to their events at the meet.
Our coaches are committed to making practices as much fun as possible. Although this is summer swimming, a certain amount of stroke technique instruction and endurance building workouts are required to sustain a level of competition. Much of the enjoyment of the program comes from participating on a team, the camaraderie with fellow team members, and reaching one’s own personal goals. Feel free to talk to the coaches before or after practices about your child and any concerns you may have. During a meet please allow the coaches to focus their attention on the meet. If any issues arise during a meet, please contact the TSA representative, not the coaches. If you find it necessary to leave a meet early, please notify the coach immediately, as this could impact upcoming events/relays.
Please be aware that the number of children, their various levels of ability, and general time constraints preclude any significant individual instruction. However, some of our coaches will be available off-hours for private lessons at very competitive rates.
Posted in the breezeway area will be a signup sheet for those meets your child will NOT be attending. Please notify us as soon as possible, or no later than the Monday before the meet, when your child will NOT be at a meet. Although emergencies do arise, please try not to wait until the day of the meet to notify us of your child’s absence. This adds unnecessary confusion to an already hectic time. Relays and heat assignments are made the Monday prior to the meet and the coaches must be informed of a child’s inability to attend to make the proper assignments.
IT IS IMPORTANT TO CONTINUALLY CHECK THE WOOD VALLEY WEBSITE (WWW.WOODVALLEYSRC.COM) AND BREEZEWAY AREA AT THE ENTRANCE TO THE POOL FOR NOTIFICATION OF SWIM TEAM EVENTS, SOCIALS, DIRECTION TO MEETS, AND OTHER IMPORTANT INFORMATION.
Your ideas and suggestions are always welcome. In addition to your ideas, the program REQUIRES your active support and participation. It takes a minimum of 35-40 people to run each of the 3 home meets and somewhat fewer at the away meets. It is required that the parents of ALL swimmers sign up to assist with at least three meets.
We hope that this basic information sheet will be helpful as the new season starts. If you have other questions, please feel free to call the TSA Parent Representative Amy Caulfield or Lori Campoli (247-1167) Wood Valley Youth Sports Director. We’re looking forward to a great summer swim season and to some exciting meets.
SWIM SUITS
Every two years a new team swimsuit is selected. This is done for two reasons: 1) the manufacturer discontinues production of the previous suit and 2) swimsuits do show lots of wear after 2 years.
This year is a NOT a new year for our team suit. It is a TYR suit called Alliance Splice (Girls - MALI1Y, Boys - SALI1A - Black with Royal). We will be ordering through Kast-a-Away (781-3775). A representative from Kast-a-Away will be available on Youth Sports signup day for swimsuit fitting and sales.
