Hello Gator Families!
Wow! What an incredible season we have had, it's hard to believe that we are already at the end of it! I feel so thankful for all of our incredible families, coaches and athletes that made this season such a huge success! Practice is now done for all swimmers except those who have qualified for the State Meet.
We had a great League Championship meet yesterday! We want to give a HUGE THANK YOU to all of our volunteers who helped make it run. Several of you signed up for additional shifts and jumped in when we asked. We are so lucky to have a group of parents so dedicated to your kids and to our team!
As a team we placed second in the South Jeffco Swim League, with 2,439 points! We saw some great swimming and had several kids achieve State qualifying times and earn PRs. Congratulations to Ethan Hellman, Reese Horn, Reagan Horn, Sage Suazo, and Drew Aparicio for earning the High Points Awards! They earned the most points in their age group out of all seven teams, which is a huge accomplishment!
Even more than the incredible swimming, I was the most proud watching our Gators encourage each other and be graceful competitors. They were good sports in their wins and losses, and we are so proud of all of them!
Junior Coaches: One of the things that makes our team so special is our junior coaches. They get up and swim at their practice, and then stay for another 2 hours to coach all of our younger kids. They are incredible role models and coaches, and they do it on a totally volunteer basis. They are the reason many of our younger kids fall in love with swimming. One of our families would like to collect money to get them a little something extra as a thank you this year. If you would like to contribute, please venmo Andy Hellman at @Andrew-hellman-2. Please put Gator junior coaches as the reason.
State Meet: We have 29 swimmers on our State Team this year! The State Meet will be held at the Applewood Knolls pool on July 29th AM (400 Free's) & Splash Pool in Golden on July 29th (PM), and the 30th and 31st. For full meet details, please see our website. We will also be sending more details to those families. If anyone else would like to come watch please do! It's a really fun meet and our swimmers always love seeing their teammates cheer them on!
End of Season Banquet: Our end of season celebration will be held on August 21st at 5:00 pm at Grant (Ladybug) Park. We will give out awards, congratulate our graduating seniors, and celebrate our season! We will be sending out a sign up genius to bring food as it gets closer. Please RSVP on the website with a yes or a no by going to: Schedule/Sign-up and clicking on RSVP under End of Season Banquet.
Ribbons and Lost and found: We know how important ribbons can be for our swimmers so please feel free to come by the pool this week between 7:30-8:30am to pick them up. We will also have them available at our banquet. We still have a great collection of lost goggles! Come claim your items.
Coaches Corner
Lifting Up Others
Australian runner John Landy was the second man to break the four-minute mile. He also demonstrated that lifting up other people doesn’t keep us from victory. During the Australian National Athletics Championships in Melbourne in 1956 fellow runner Ron Clarke was leading the final of the 1500m of the race when another runner clipped Clarke's heel, causing him to stumble and fall. Landy, who was close behind, leaped to clear the fallen competitor, but scraped his spikes on Clarke's shoulder. Without a thought of his own victory, Landy stopped and assisted Clarke to his feet and apologized, before both runners continued the race. Having given the other runners a massive lead, Landy then proceeded to catch up to the competition, streaking home for a famous victory.
I believe this story demonstrates that showing kindness to another does not diminish our own victories. Nor should winning ever be elevated above showing compassion to another person. When we build one another up, we lift ourselves up in the process. We will never harm ourselves by encouraging and helping someone else. Our words and actions have the potential to have an incredible impact on the people around us. As the years go by, the wins and losses will likely fade out of memory, but the impact of the way we treated others will live on. Quite often the most successful individuals, leaders, and athletes are those who consider others before themselves and take the time to pour kindness into those around them. I think you’ll find those are usually the happiest people, too!
Coach Meagan, Coach Avery, Coach Jackie, and your Junior Coaches
As always, please reach out if you have any questions!
