Greeting Glenridge Gators!

The days are longer and getting warmer, which means our 2024 season is right around the corner! 2024 will mark Glenridge’s inaugural season in the small pool division of the Greater Forsyth Swim League (GFSL). The GSFL is a larger league and operates on a tight schedule. Therefore, we are getting our registration started now! Rebecca Hartsough and Keith Wilson are the Glenridge league representatives and have been attending league meetings since September. During our swim meets, they will help facilitate the operation of our dual meets with the league representatives from other pools. Many thanks to Rebecca and Keith for all they do for Glenridge!

In addition to registration, I have a few other important pieces of information.

1. Volunteers

This season we will need lots of help from volunteers! I would like to start parent committees to help with different aspects of our team. If you are interested in serving on any of these committees, please email me at [email protected]:

Food and Beverage Committee- we need help to organize refreshments for our home meets. We need to arrange for Kona Ice and/or other food vendors to come to our home meets.

Merchandise committee- we need help with ordering and distributing team t-shirts and merchandise

Party planning committee- we need parents to help plan/organize our team functions including our end of the year party, Gator pancake breakfast and any other fun ideas!

2. Stroke and Turn Judges

GFSL requires each team to provide 4 stroke and turn judges for each swim meet. In order to serve as a stroke and turn judge, you must attend one of the GSFL sponsored trainings at the beginning of the season. Here are the dates and locations for the stroke and turn judge trainings:

Stroke & Turn Clinics:

Tuesday May 21st - 7:00 pm at Forsyth Country Club

Tuesday May 28th - 7:00 pm at Brookberry Farms Barn

Saturday June 1st - 9:00 am at Greenbrier Farms Clubhouse

Monday June 10th - 7:00 pm at Peace Haven Pool

We need as many people as possible to attend these trainings! If you have interest in becoming a starter or a meet referee, you must attend stroke and turn judge training.

3. Registration

This year, all of our registration will be on Swimtopia. Our team’s official website is https://glenridgegatorswinstonsalem.swimtopia.com This means no more google forms and no more swimmingly (YAY!!!!). There are two options for payment: 1) you can mail a check before the start of the season; 2) you can bring a check to the first practice; 3) you can send payment on venmo before the first day of practice. All of the payment info can be found in the registration. REGISTRATION IS OFFICIALLY OPEN! PLEASE REGISTER YOUR SWIMMERS AS SOON AS YOU CAN SO WE CAN PREPARE FOR THE SEASON! WE WILL CLOSE REGISTRATION ON MAY 10^TH OR WHEN WE REACH CAPACITY – WHICHEVER HAPPENS FIRST!

4. New website and team logo!

New for 2024 we have an awesome new team logo! This logo was designed by Coach Marcus and looks amazing! I have spent a few weeks trying to figure out how to put together the team website from the ground up. It is still a work in progress so if anyone has any suggestions, please send them my way! This website will be used to post information. Most importantly, please download the SwimTopia app so you can receive important notifications.

5.Coaches and Junior Coaches

Our 2024 Coaching staff is going to be AMAZING! This year I am super excited to announce that Matt Graham (yes, Coach Matt from TYDE) will be on hand to help me with head coaching duties! Matt is a fellow TYDE coach and is the lead site coach for the Jerry Long branch of the YMCA. Matt brings a wealth of swimming knowledge and will be an amazing asset to have on deck at evening practices and at our swim meets!

Jackson Hartsough will also be returning on deck to help our Gators! Jackson is a fantastic swimmer for Enfinity Aquatics Club and for Mt. Tabor and we can’t wait to have him on deck to help!

Kerith Bell is our newest addition to the coaching staff! Kerith has been a fixture on the Glenridge team for many years and will be a huge help with our youngest swimmers!

We also have an amazing returning junior coach squad! If your child is interested in being a junior coach or helper, please email me at [email protected] so that I can compile my list!

Looking forward to warm summer days and another fantastic Gator season!!

Gator stomp! Gator chomp!

Coach Karen