Hi Fall Training Group!

I am so excited to welcome you to the St. Michael's College Pool in 8 short days!

On Tuesday the 8th we will have practice for Crimson 6:30-7:30pm, Teal 6:30-8:00pm, and Big Sturgeons 6:30-8:30pm, no Little Frys on Tuesdays. 

On Wednesday the 9th and Thursday the 10th we will have practice for all groups with the following schedule:

Little Frys 5-5:45pm

Crimson 5-6pm

Teal 6-7pm

Big Sturgeons 5:30-7pm.

Friday the 11th, practice for only Big Sturgeons at CrossFit Burlington. I will send out details and an RSVP for that early next week. 

Next big housekeeping announcement, is let me know ASAP if you want to go to the one day- all Freestyle meet at the new Boston College High School Pool on Saturday October 3rd. The meet info sheet is attached to this email. 13 &Overs in the morning and 12 & Unders in the afternoon. The sign-up window is closed but if you email your interest by tomorrow morning I can get you entered. This should not be your first meet for first timers. This is mainly only for Big Sturgeons and Teal Swimmers in their second season. 

Now that the super important stuff is out of the way. On to the relatively important stuff:

Please enter through the Tarrant Rec Center Doors, this is the main entrance to the gym. Occasionally we have disruptions and we have to enter through the side doors, but I will give you notice when that happens and notify you all by email or text alert. 

Also because we are very much guests in this facility, we do not have any storage space or space to leave spare equipment. We need to pack in and pack out all our equipment. Like Hiking on the Long Trail, we must leave no trace. 

I would recommend you all get fins, pull buoys, kickboards, and a swim bag:

Swim Outlet is the best/cheapest source for a lot of this gear:

For the littlest group we like these:

Long Sporti Fins on SwimOutlet

For the older groups we like these:

TYR HydroBlade Short Fin

Also it would be nice if you could bring a kick board:

Sporti Kick Board on Swim Outlet.

And a Pullbouy for the older groups:

Sporti Pullbouy on Swim Outlet

We (my coaches, me and my kids) love these mesh bags for carrying this wet gear in:

Sporti Mesh Gear Bags on Swim Outlet

Swim Caps, Swimsuits, goggles, and a water bottle are also a must.

I have CVSA swim caps for purchase ($15 cash or Venmo) and I will have some with me every practice.

Our team store for sweatshirts, swimsuits, caps with your name on them will open in late October to capture the winter session order. So feel free to wear any competitive training suit that you own. Jammers for boys are much easier to swim in than trunks. One pieces are better than two pieces. Also bring goggles. 

For those of you new to Winter swimming or US Swimming, every swimmer must have a US Swim Membership in order to swim meets or practice on our team. New swimmers have a grace period of insurance coverage for the first 30 days, so we have a small amount of time to get that squared away. I will send out information with a link on how to register for US Swimming and how to connect to our team in the next email. Don't you worry from here on out you will be hearing from me probably more than you want to.

For those of you who don't know me, I am your head coach Hilary Stanton-Geddes. I have 3 kids on the team (Maddie 15, Gabe 13, and Dylan almost 10), who will be sparsely attending Fall Training but will be mostly all in for Winter. I have been coaching swimming in the area for over 7 years now. I have been in the world of swimming most of my life. I grew up in Plattsburgh, NY and swam on the Lake Champlain Waves. If you swim with us in the winter session we will do a Pentathlon Swim Meet in January with the Waves. I also swam all four years at Amherst College and was once the school record holder for my best event, the 200 yard Breastroke. I have done a variety of jobs, but coaching by far is my favorite. My general philosophy is to show you all that you are stronger than you think and capable of more than you ever thought possible. We are going to work hard, have fun, and be curious as to where this will take us. So get excited! 

I will have information on parent jobs in the next email. We take a lot of help to keep this team rolling along. I will detail my highest need areas. So get excited and pitch in if you can.

Please feel free to reach out with questions at any time! We are happy to have you all! Welcome to the 2026-2027 Swim Season!

See you at the pool!

Coach Hilary