Club Message- November 2023 Hello Barracuda Community! We are excited to be back in action for with the club now that the pools is back in full swing. Our registration numbers are up again this season and we can't wait to watch the swimmers as continue their growth over the coming year! I wanted to highlight a few things that are happening in the club so that both new and returning folks know what is coming over the next little while: ï· The Mr. Lube + Tire Invitational is coming up in Prince George November 17th -19th . Registration is now closed for our swimmers. If you have any questions about the meet or your swimmers eligibility please check with the coaches. o These meets take a large number of volunteers, the expectation is that if you have a swimmer in the meet that you have at least one volunteer available for each day of the meet as well. o We have on occasion had to remove swimmers from competition due to a lack of availability to volunteer for your child's meet and lack of communication with our coordinators. o Communication with our volunteer coordinators is a critical piece of putting on these events. Please respond promptly and politely as this is a difficult task to get all of the positions scheduled and put into place. o Nicole Ellington (Director of Officials) is hard at work putting the officiating schedule together, please sign up if you have done so already. If you are unsure of what position you should sign up for meets or time trials please reach out to Nicole. ï· Recently our AGM was held to go over the past years programming and the current status of the club. Unfortunately, attendance was rather dismal and disappointing for the board to see. We have a dedicated group of people connected to our club that are helping to keep these programs running, several of which do not have a swimmer in the club at the moment. Your input and attendance is critical in order to continue to shape the club so that we can continue to operate for years to come. The Prince George Barracudas are very fortunate to have several members of our swim family stay with the club to help officiate and run other club functions. I want to personally thank all the folks that have been a part of our club to ensure our success while new folks are coming up to take on those roles. A special thanks to Marylin King who has just finished a lengthy term on our board and is a key promoter of the Barracuda Swim Club and the sport within Swim BC and Swim Canada. Thank you Marylin for your dedication and insight! We have multiple officials that have come through our program that have gone on to officiate at the Provincial and National Level. To hold these accreditations is a great accomplishment and we are thankful to have these folks helping to teach our upcoming officials and put on the swim meets that we hold in Prince George. Thank you to Larry Chrobot, Kerim Ozcan, Marylin King, Sheila Nelson, Mike Moran, Kathy Rice, Phil Rice and Jose Lopez. We could not put on the level of meet that we do without your guidance and support. The board is back in action after our AGM with a very similar crew to last year. We want to welcome Katrina Molendyk to the team as our Fundraising Director. Katrina has been helping in capacity a fair amount this past year and we are thankful for her willingness to step into the role officially. We do expect to have some open positions on the board moving past this season. If you are interested in helping to shape the program please reach out to me. The Barracuda Swim Club has meant a great deal to our family. An opportunity for our kids to swim and train at a high level, learn how to set goals and go after them and meet some incredible folks in the swim community in the process. I look forward to this year to see our team come together and work to build some character and resilience in our swimmers. Take care, Mark Grasley President, Barracuda Swim Club president@pgbsc.org |