History:

The first swim team was started by Steve Shaffer and the Town of New Market in the summer of 1993. Coach Shaffer had 26 swimmers ages 6-14 that first year as they competed as the 7^th team within the Valley Swim League (other teams were Ashby, Broadway, East Rockingham, Massanutten, Spottswood and Westover). The team mascot became the Lightning, because every meet that first summer had a lightning delay. The second summer saw the New Market Lightning team increase to 47 swimmers. Although the swimmers had yet to win a meet, great individual achievements were made and swimming began to catch on.

In the summer of ’95, with swimmers from all parts of Shenandoah County, coach Shaffer began offering a second workout option in the newly opened Woodstock Pool and the team grew to 85 swimmers. Through hard work and enthusiastic coaching, those swimmers also won 3 of their 6 dual meets.

With swimming in Shenandoah County continuing to grow, the New Market Lightning in the summer of ’96 expanded into a third training site at the Strasburg Pool. Assistant coaches Susan Fleming (Woodstock) and Alison Gallagher (Strasburg) were brought on board to help Coach Shaffer with the now 125 swimmers. That summer saw the NMST go undefeated in the Valley Swim League! With this anticipated success, the leadership team of Coach Shaffer, Pam Clem, Donna Linski, Butch Boaz, Susan Fleming, and Alison Gallagher saw the opportunity to also host two dual meets between the training sites and the first ever Shenandoah County Swimming Championship Meet.

In 1997, the leadership team formed the Shenandoah County Developmental Swim League continuing to offer training at 3 locations that came together to compete as the New Market Lightning in the Valley Swim League as well as sponsor dual meets between the training sites and the 2^nd County Swimming Championship. That summer, the NMST team numbers swelled to 130+ swimmers and posted a 5-1 dual meet record. However, some within the Valley Swim League were not happy with the multiple training locations and effectively, our own swim league. At the conclusion of the ’97 season, the NMST resigned its membership in the Valley Swim League and the Shenandoah County Swim League was formalized.

The summers of ’98-’99 saw continued growth and stabilizing within the new Shenandoah County Swim League with dual meets between the 3 teams, and a 3 Meet Championship format. We hosted an All Star Meet where the best of the SCSL swam in a dual meet vs Broadway, a B-Championship Meet for the non All Star Swimmers, and the end of season Shenandoah County Championship! In 2000, the Mount Jackson Fins formed becoming the 4^th team in the SCSL followed by the Edinburg Ducks in 2001 although the Fins and the Ducks competed as one team for 2 years until both grew past the 35 minimum. The All Star meet could no longer find another team/league to compete with, so we drafted the top swimmers into two teams for competition. Much of the growth of swimming within the county was in Woodstock that often had numbers exceeding 120. It was at that point in 2001, that the league placed a 90 swimmer cap on teams to provide some parity amongst the teams.

Additional swimming milestones: In 1997, the Shenandoah County School Board voted to offer Swimming as a Varsity Sport! Susan Fleming was the first coach for all 3 High School Teams (Central, Strasburg and Stonewall) that trained together (at MMA), yet competed separately. As the sport grew, Jeff Guenther took over the Strasburg Team and Kara Jeffrey the Stonewall Team. In 1999, Jerry King opened the indoor Strasburg Pool for the High School Teams and the year round Phoenix Team was formed.

In the fall of 2015, the Shenandoah County Swim League was incorporated by the Virginia State Corporation Commission. Following incorporation, the Shenandoah County Swim League, Inc. filed Form 1023-EZ with the Internal Revenue Services receiving approval from the federal government to operate as a 501c3 nonprofit corporation. After earning this status, the league only continued to expand. With the lack of a swim team in Page County, at a Stanley Council meeting, following a brief, but enthusiastic discussion about the prospect of bringing in more swimmers to the Hawksbill Pool and more visitors to the town, the council unanimously gave a vote of support for the formation of the Stingrays. Requesting membership to the Shenandoah County Swim League, Inc., the Stanley Stingrays were approved by the league's board of directors. Given Page County's approval for membership to the Shenandoah County Swim League, Inc., the board of directors also made a motion for the Shenandoah County Swim League, Inc. to file for a certificate of fictitious name. Beginning with the summer 2020 swim season, the Shenandoah County Swim League, Inc. would do business as the Shenandoah Swim League (SSL). Following a second, the board approved this motion.