Happy Monday Stingrays!

Hope you had a great weekend.

First things first . . . Swim FAST Gabby & Nathan! . . . and enjoy the process all! You will be in our thoughts as you experience Y Nationals and NC. Eat some BBQ for us   

If you were at the banquet, you heard first hand our excitement and gratitude for an amazing season! Our Stingray swimmers and coaches had great success in the water to be sure, with too many accomplishments to list! In addition, we were able to grow the team far beyond our expectations, welcome Emily Caffry, upgrade our facility with state-of-art water/air quality technology, continue to improve communications, and resolve a longstanding question—“Where did our fundraising money go?” We are taking this opportunity to answer that question with a final tally . . . and a few bits for the future. 

The KVY Stingrays raised approximately $5000 this season! Concessions and fundraisers netted a bit more than $4600 and we have a bit more than $400 on account with swimoutlet.com for future training equipment purchases. Thank you for your food donations, your purchases and your overall generosity/support!

With some frugality this season, we were able to limit our spending to a bit more than $1000 for all of the KVY Stingray team T-shirts.

With some generosity from our community, we were able to acquire many additional items gratis . . . Elliot Office Products honored a past credit and then some, providing us with a new KVY Stingray banner and all new coach’s shirts, as well as many other items for sale/raffle/fundraising. Hannaford and Shaw’s made small donations as well.

With some generosity from our swim parents, we were able to fund expenditures related to training equipment, repairs, the Slammin’ Social, Spirit Night, the Banquet, the Pace Clocks, a significant portion of the air/water technology upgrades, etc.

Unlike previous years, we are now able to “carryover” funds from this season . . . We are happy to announce that we will carryover $3500 in to next season and that those monies are designated for our starting blocks. We have yet to reach a final decision re the starting blocks (refurbish vs. replace, timing, cost sharing, etc.), so stay tuned!

Summary: Net: ~$5000, Expenses: ~$1000, Carryover: ~$4000 ($3500 + swimoutlet credit)

Finally, our host organization, the KV YMCA, funded over $100,000 in upgrades (i.e., beyond “normal” maintenance expenses) to Aquatics this season. While we may reasonably expect the Y to maintain its facilities, we are immensely grateful for the upgrades and continued maintenance, making the KV YMCA an awesome facility!

The Stingrays accomplished a lot this year, and we learned a lot this year as well . . . We hope to carry our successes forward and set some new goals to make the KVY Stingrays even better! We have made lots of notes along the way, with goals to improve the “little things,” but 2 of our primary and not “little” leadership goals for the upcoming season will be to:

1) Expand our recruitment of swimmers to include the recruitment of additional assistant coaches. With the growth we are experiencing, we need additional coaches on deck and in the water at practice, and additional coaches on deck at meets. This is a good need to have! Please demonstrate your gratitude to our existing coaches and employ your network to help us recruit some helpers/colleagues for them! If you know or hear of a quality person in the area who might fit the bill, please direct them to Coach Mike so he can see if they are a fit for the Stingrays. 

2) Expand our fundraising and move from a primarily internal-focused approach to include an external-focused approach. We need to give individuals and businesses in our communities the opportunity to share in our success, to reach our community and to support swim in particular (which may even be their passion) and youth sports in general. As we continue to grow, our support will need to grow with us . . . In our experience, many in the community are happy to support youth sports and all the benefits that accompany them.

Hope you find the above helpful . . . Please reply with any questions, suggestions or concerns. Happy to hear from you, as always!

Thanks again for your support!

Gary & Kristy