Piranha Parents —-

Well, first let me apologize for the technical difficulties this evening.  For reasons that I can’t figure out, some people could get in and some could not.  Anyway, I have appointed Matt Johnson as my new communications director, so it should not happen again.  Again sorry for those of you who tried valiantly to get into the meeting.  I recorded the meeting and will send that out, but the following is the meeting summary:

1. Coaches:  Nic Santorelli, Lucas Farina, Madeleine Khouri.  I am still working on one more coach.  Regardless, I expect to be spending some more time working with the coaching staff this year with meet planning and preparation.

2. We are in Division L and seeded 3rd.  2 new teams were added to the league.  One in a Division above us and one in a Division below us.  We have 3 home meets and our longest commute is to Long Branch in week 5.  Our other road trip is to Whetstone in Montgomery Village.  They are also offering to host Divisionals.  We have not yet agreed on a weekend for Relay Carnival, but likely not the 2nd of July since the smaller teams are concerned about the July 4th holiday.  Stay tuned.

3. By regular rotation we are the coordinators of the B league this season which means we were slated to host B Relay Carnival, which we cannot do.  Quail Valley has agreed to host Relay Carnival and we will move our B meet with them to our pool giving us three home meets.  Quail Valley have always been great friends to Plantations.  We will still be handling Coordination of the Relay Carnival, so we will need many volunteers.  The B league is all set and ready to go. 

4. The preliminary schedule is missing some activities that we need to plan with Korinne Panchura.  We will fill in the popular bowling, parent’s night , and other activities.  We will meet with Korinne and figure out a schedule for those events.

5. Finally Volunteering.  I sent out the Volunteer Positions and we have a number of needs as our key volunteer parents have swimmers who are aging out.

     A. Rep Team: Need two new Reps in training.  This is my last season leading the team.  I have enjoyed the 6 seasons, but it is time for some new leadership that can transition in while Rosie and I are still around and take the team to bigger and better things.

     B. Automation: Mary is going to help set up the meets, but we need 2 people to learn from Mary how to set up the meets and run the meets.  Mary has been doing this a long time, and her son is also in the final years on the team.

     C. Web-master: This is Kevin Lynch’s last season and he is transitioning to Kurt Panchura.  
    D. Concessions: This is Allison Lynch’s last season and she does the work of like 3 people.  So we need 2-3 volunteers to learn from Allison to take that over after this year.  I don’t expect anyone to be Allison because she does so many things it’s amazing.

     E. Officials:  There are new rules for becoming a Referee and we are back to only Rob and David as certified Starters and Referees.  We need to get more individuals certified as Stroke and Turn and Starter and then ultimately Referee.  Rob works way too many meets for us and needs breaks from being on the deck.  I will send the Officials Training schedule by separate correspondence.  Please consider signing up for joining our officiating team.

     F. Sponsorship: we need a new lead for Sponsorship.  Rosie Tomlinson can show you the ropes.

     G. Treasurer: We may need a trainee here.  Caroline Kettering was shadowing Chris but if she is not back this season we will need someone to learn from Chris as he only has 2 years left with the team as well.

     H. SSL Coordinator: FILLED.  Lora Harmon has offered to take this on.  Thanks Lora!!

     I. Ice cream:  We need a new Ice Cream coordinator.  See Mike for details. 

If none of the above positions interests you, but one of the other positions on the Volunteer list (even where we have a volunteer currently) are something that you would be happy to work on, let us know.  We always can use the help and the more people who know the various roles, the lighter the workload for all.

Finally, if you have an idea for how we can do something different, we would be happy to hear those ideas.  Just because we are doing it one way doesn’t mean that is the only way.  Please share those ideas!

Sorry again for the issues tonight.  Stay tuned for the recording and the list of Officials Training sessions.  Let me know if you have any questions.

Mike, Katie, and Cindy