registration

2021 STINGRAY MEMBERSHIP

The Stingrays are open to all children between the ages of 5 and 18 who love to swim and want the opportunity to swim competitively on a recreational team in the summertime.

TEAM FEE

• • Stingray Fee: $140/swimmer

  • $10 off second, third swimmers in family

  • Pro-rated fees, if family takes two or more weeks vacation

  • Sliding scale fees, if needed (please talk to the coach)

POOL FEES - DETAILS TO COME FOR 2021

Stingrays are required to be members of the Heath Pool in order to participate in practices and home meets. Swimmers can purchase an individual membership; however, families with two or more swimmers may want to select a family membership, so that all family members can enjoy the pool. If you have one child swimming, you may just want to purchase the individual membership. Parents and guests are able to come to practices AND meets without a membership; however, you and any other children in attendance must stay under the awnings by the concession stand. Children are not permitted outside of the swim team area during practices and meets.

** There is WATER WALKING in the Lazy River for adults during our practices in the morning, but parents do need to be members of the pool to participate in those sessions. [HEATH Rates below are up-to-date per Heath's website]

• • Heath Pool: Household Membership, Non-Resident: $270 Resident of Heath: $230

  • Heath Pool: Individual Membership, Non-Resident (age 10 and up): $130 Resident of Heath: $110

  • Heath Pool: Individual Membership, Non-Resident (9 and under): $90 Resident of Heath: $75

Pool memberships must be purchased directly from the pool. Heath Pool staff will be available during Try-Its and on the first two days of practice to sell memberships in the morning. See the Heath City Water Park website for details on rates for the season: http://www.heathohio.gov/government/services/Parks/WaterPark/index.asp

During the 2nd week of the season all memberships are verified by the pool manager with the Team Parent President.

REGISTRATION AND RELEASE FORM FOR TRY-ITS

We will begin team registration at the pool during TRY-ITS between 9AM and 11:30AM for ALL SWIMMERS. You are also welcome to register on the first day of practice.

ADDITIONAL FEES

There are additional fees throughout the season for special events and Stingray gear (all are optional).

• • CHAMPS ($8.00 per swimmer)

  • Team T-Shirt ($17.00)

  • Team Swim Suit & Cap ($15)

  • Spiritwear sweatshirt and pajama pants

  • Relay Carnival ($5.00 per swimmer)

The fundraising committee will coordinate funding activities throughout the summer to offset the costs associated with many of our family events.

THE STINGRAY PARENT COOPERATIVE: The Stingrays is a team facilitated by a parent cooperative and our coaches. Parents are the backbone of the team as they provide the coordination of many team activities and are the volunteers at all the meets. Parental involvement ensures that we maintain a family-oriented environment where we all take responsibility for the FUN and SAFETY of our children.

An organization like ours requires a great deal of volunteer help to be a success. Our league does not provide for officiating or other meet operations assistance. We run our home meets ourselves! It takes about 50 people to adequately staff a dual swim meet. All parents are required to participate as a volunteer in some way during the season (this may include a regular volunteer post and will always include working at least 1/2 of a meet per family doing activities like timing, bullpen operators, and scorers). We understand that there may be times when families can’t provide the volunteer assistance necessary because of work conflicts, child-care issues, and other complications. We will make every effort to accommodate needs while ensuring that efforts are made to be fair for all families working the meets.

OFFICIALS: Give your time and talent to the "Rays. WE ARE RECRUITING NOW!

VOLUNTEER POSITIONS

Parent President:

Provides overall guidance for the team and coaches, recruits all parent volunteers, oversees operations, serves as the TCAL representative, and is the liaison to the Heath Pool. All decisions for the Stingrays are made by consensus of the Stingray Parent Advisory Team.

Treasurer:

Responsible for the financial operations for the team and provides a check and balance operation for all expenditures and reimbursements. Makes bank deposits and keeps accurate financial records.

Secretary:

Collects all registration forms and creates an Excel database of swimmer information.

Pool Deck Supervisors:

Responsible for pool deck supervision during practices and acts as a liaison between parents and the coaching staff. Assists with pool and parent questions. We need several people to do this -- pick two days a week when you can serve!

Head Official:

Coordinates team officials and helps with training each season.

Officials:

Responsible for providing a level-playing field during meets. Officials watch swimmers

during each heat and disqualify (“DQ”) swimmers when strokes are inadvertently

incorrect/illegal. Starters are officials who signal the start of each heat during a meet and

keep the meet running on time. We must provide officials for both home and away meets.

Officials are trained each season.

Head Scorer:

Coordinates team officials and helps with training each season.

Scoring Assistants:

Responsible for electronic scoring during events. Assists head scorer.

Ribbons Coordinator:

Organizes a team of parents to label ribbons during all meets. This parent is also responsible for updating the team file boxes where swimmers' ribbons are kept.

Bull Pen Coordinator:

Takes the lead in coordinating bullpen operations for our home meets.

Fundraising Coordinator:

Responsible for organizing a fundraiser (usually our swim-a-thon) for the team to offset funding needs.

Relay Carnival Coordinator:

Organizes this annual festival for our team.

T-shirt Coordinator:

Gathers design/artwork ideas from children, organizes order, tie-dye party, and t-shirt distribution.

Special Events Coordinator:

Organizes special events for the team, including Pasta Nights for the HS swimmers, the ice cream social, open swim nights at the water park, breakfast of champions, etc.

4th of July Coordinator:

Organizes float design, decorating party, logistics of the parade, etc.

Bake Sale Coordinator:

Organizes the home meet bake sales and is responsible for the cash box during the meet.

Voice of the 'Rays:

Organizes the home meet PA system, makes announcements during the meets, calls swimmers to the bullpen, announces for the Relay Carnival.

Communications:

Maintains the website, advertises team try-its, and more.

To see open positions or who to contact, visit our About page.

Note: There may be last minute changes to these plans based on COVID guidelines from the Health department.

RUNNING A HOME MEET

The Stingrays will host TWO home meets this season at the Heath Pool on Saturday mornings in June and July. We welcome in the dawn bright and early with hot coffee and donuts, a bullpen to set up and lane lines to install. It takes a team of inspired parents to run a meet!

Rise and Shine with the 'Rays. BE THERE AT 6:45 AM! Home Meets start at 8:00AM with warm-ups for the 'Rays at 7:00AM. All home meets are over by 11:45AM in order to clear the pool before the noon opening.

STAFFING

As the home team we will provide the staff for the “critical jobs” of the meet: 1) The Starter, 2) The Head Timer, 3) Meet Referee, 4) Head Scorer, and 5) Announcer.

How you can help:

Each family will be expected to sign up for ONE or TWO positions during EACH meet (timer, runner, official, starter, bullpen, or scoring). We try to break up these positions by assignments for ONE HALF ONLY, so you are only working half the meet, but sometimes we shift volunteers from one position to another if we are short on parents. If you do not sign up for a meet duty prior to the meet, we will assign them as needed at the pool the day of the event.

SET-UP AND TEAR DOWN CREW: We need at least six strong parents to set up and tear down for the meet. This includes raising our tents, setting up the bullpen, installing the backstroke flags, and moving picnic tables. At the end of the meet we do all this backwards and at twice the speed because we have to clear all equipment by noon.

TIMERS: Volunteers are needed to be timers at home meets and at away meets, as well as championships. Timers stand at the blocks and time the race with stopwatches and then record an average time on the swimmer’s event card. Meets require three timers per lane (18 total – 2 are provided by the HOME team, 1 by the away team). One Head Timer stands at the back of the blocks with an extra stopwatch in case a watch (or parent) fails. Remember timers have the best place to view the meet! Sunscreen is encouraged. We provide the splash!

BULLPEN PARENTS: Bullpen parents organize the bullpen, use event cards to seed swimmers for events, hand out swimmers’ event cards, and walk swimmers to the blocks in a speedy, patient and organized fashion! We need two parents in the bullpen during home meets (an organizer and a swimmer shifter) and one parent at away meets. Bullpen parents get to know the children very well and are people who enjoy a little bit of chaos on a sunny day. A coach will always be assigned to the bullpen to help remind the swimmers of stroke, touch, turn, and start techniques.

RUNNERS: We need 4 runners (two first half and two second half runners) for all home meets. Runners collect time sheets from the timers after each race and deliver them to the scorers. Parents who like to be on-the-move during a meet are great for this position. There is always time with this position to stop and watch your child swim! And after the meet, there is no need to go to the gym: you've already had your morning exercise.

SCORERS: Scorers run the Hytek system, do all the data entry for the events, and score the meet. Requires 2-3 people for home meets, 1-2 people for away meets.

OFFICIALS: Officials are responsible for the equal and just treatment of swimmers at our meets. Parents interested in becoming an official must attend a clinic on TCAL swimming rules. Officials “walk the deck” to ensure no swimmer gains an unfair advantage over the others. Officials are dressed in white and wear an official’s patch. When an official views an infraction they usually signify by raising their arm and holding up the lane number with their fingers. The disqualification is recorded in red on the swimmer’s event card along with the letters “DQ” and the official’s initials. The swimmer is notified of the infraction whenever possible. We need four officials for a home meet and take at least two officials to away meets.

The types of officials are:

• • Stroke/Turn Officials - observes strokes and turns, finish touches and relay starts.

  • Starters- Ensures swimmers are ready to start their races and that each child is in the appropriate race and heat prior to starting the race. Uses the bullhorn to issue the appropriate starting commands to the swimmers. The event number, heat number, stroke and distance are also announced.

  • Meet Referee- runs the meet and makes all decisions final. The referee often serves as the starter.

BAKE SALE RETAILERS: Every family is asked to donate cookies, donuts, coffee, water, candy, or small toys to sell at our bake sale. These funds support our team programming. We also need parents to set up and serve as cashiers the day of our home meets. This is a fun and shady job. No sunscreen or experience necessary. And the math is pretty simple!

Parent's Code of Conduct

As a parent, I promise to . . .

• • Enforce pool rules and reinforce Stingray codes of conduct

  • Provide transportation for swimmers to practice and meets

  • Volunteer to work at swim meets

  • Make sure swimmers arrive promptly to the meets and help children get to the bullpen for their races

  • Inform coaches that swimmers will or will not be swimming in meets at least 48 hours prior to the meet

  • Check my swimmer’s folder, and email regularly for team announcements

  • Provide a fun and safe environment where our children can grow

  • Discuss issues about disqualifications with the coaches, NOT the official on duty

  • Role model exemplary sportsman(woman)like conduct at all times

  • Provide supervision for your children during meets and practices (no drop-offs allowed for children under the age of 11)

  • Know the rules or ask someone who knows them to help you interpret meet regulations

The Stingrays host family-oriented events throughout the season to bring our community of swimmers together.

PAST ANNUAL SUMMER ACTIVITIES

Stingray OPEN HOUSE: Join us for an evening of information about the team, meet the coaches, and enjoy some cookies with the team.

T-shirt Party and Ice Cream Social: Our annual ice cream social . . . a great way to relax with new friends, play water games with the kids, and enjoy a build-it-yourself sundae.

Team Night at the Heath Pool: Can you ever spend too much time at the pool? The Stingrays don't think so! We spend an evening at the pool in June to enjoy the water slides and children's area. No timers allowed.

4th of July Parade Float: Take a walk down Broadway with the Stingrays on the 4th. An annual tradition for the 'Rays is to design a float and join all of Granville in celebration of Independence Day.

Family Relay Carnival: Where parents make the biggest splash in our annual Tidal Wave contest! The carnival turns the Heath Pool into an amusement park with tug-of-war, dolphin dives, treasure hunts, and a visit from the Heath Pool Octopus! Join us for the annual Longest Relay Race where everyone gets wet!

Breakfast of Champions: What do Stingrays eat the day before CHAMPS? Egg Casserole, Cereal, Donuts, Bagels, Bacon, and about anything else that shows up at our annual breakfast of champions. We spend the morning together making posters for CHAMPS, designing our swim caps, and cheering on our swimmers!

Stingray Banquet: An evening of celebration, games, and awards for all. The close of a great season and a night to say goodbye to a fun summer of swimming!

Inclement Weather

In the case of thunderstorms we still proceed to the pool UNLESS you have received an EMAIL one hour prior to the meet notifying you that the meet has been cancelled. You may call the parent president or coaching staff to confirm, if you have any questions, but we will not contact all the swimmers on the roster by phone. We often proceed to the pool during foul whether and wait for a decision to postpone the meet until the weather clears, or the meet may need to be cancelled entirely. In this case, we seem to get hungry and make plans to go out to eat together as a team. Unlike other sports, we do swim in the rain (as long as there is no lightening or thunder), so bring your umbrellas . . . while the kids like being wet . . . parents often find this uncomfortable!