State or Bust!

The note below is from a recent email sent out by the kids' swim coaches. This is such an exciting thing for everyone involved with this program. Maddie has been swimming with this club since she was 7 yrs old, Will just started last fall, and I've been on the parent board for over a year. I'm not lying when I say that we have all invested an incredible amount of time (and money!) into the program. About a year ago, the club was at a really low point as it was going through some major coaching and team-philosophy changes. It could just as easily fallen apart as remained a team.

It is truly amazing to see what our dedicated coaches, swimmers, and parents have done. Our whole family truly feels lucky to be a part of this group!

HISTORY IN THE MAKING!!

CONGRATULATIONS TO OUR FINALS SWIMMERS WHO COMPETED IN WINONA THIS WEEKEND!!

59 swimmers participated making this our largest finals group in club history! It was a fantastic meet for the Sea Devils with many personal best times achieved. THANK YOU to all of the parents for your amazing support of our swimmers, the coaches and the club! It is an exciting time for the Sea Devils as our club continues to grow and the kids keep getting stronger and faster!

The history making will continue this week as we prepare to take our LARGEST GROUP of swimmers to the STATE MEET in Rochester! We started the season off in September with 3 individual swimmers who had achieved champ times. We now have 13 INDIVIDUAL CHAMP TIME SWIMMERS!! This means we will take a state team of 25 swimmers to Rochester!

Help wish our swimmers GOOD LUCK as they head off to Rochester on Thursday!

There was a "Carb-loading" party for the state swimmers on Tuesday night. The kids had a great time hanging out and playing with their teammates. It actually a very strange site to witness all these kids dry, with real clothes on, and actual hair! It's so funny how I almost need to see them in a swim cap to recognize them!

Apparently, part of the State Swimmer tradition, is to give the kids goodie-bags. Inside the bags are small gifts from other families, usually stuff like Goldfish, Swedish Fish (get it?), Gatorade and granola bars. The most exciting part of this little goodie-bag is an apparel gift from the club/coaches/parents.

The parents got to present the kids with the gift bag


STMA Sea Devils State Team
(The four little girls in the center front row are Maddie's relay team...
Carly, Maddie, Anya and Paige)


Posing in her new jacket

Maddie and Coach Terri

Although it's been 90 degrees here for the past couple days, it's been rare to see Maddie without her jacket. A little sweat never hurt anyone, right?

So, we're off the Rochester! And did I mention that one of the other little gifts in the bag was a Window Marker??? My little artist has been busy planning the details of exact designs and words which will adorn our car for the weekend.

Be sure to honk if you see a little white minivan embellished with yellow paint driving down the road... we'll wave back.