Update from the board

Hi,

Last night was LAC's first annual talent show. It was quite the evening. Many of the kids showed their unique talent with playing musical instruments, singing, modern dance, a short movie to name a few.  As a parent, it's so rewarding to see creative talent from kids. It's a great thing when they come up with their own ideas and share their art with friends. With school, homework, swim practice, etc. I don't know how the kids find the time to develop these talents and put on such a great show.  Thank you to all the kids!

Ok, changing gears... here is an update from last month's board meeting.

We approved  a new fund raising calendar for the year. It's posted on the team web site so you can plan accordingly. You'll see fewer small fund raisers and two substantial events; the swim-a-thon (June 5th) and the USA swim meet LAC will host at Los Positas on November 20th and 21st. Since we have focused on just two fund raisers, based on the direction from parents, it is a requirement that we get 100% volunteer rate from parents.

What does this mean? Well, for the swim-a-thon, we need all LAC swimmers to participate in the swim-a-thon and get friends, family, co-workers...etc. to sponsor your children. This event is open to LVTC Fireballs as well. We'll have a BBQ/pot-luck. And prizes will be awarded to participants who pull in the most money for the team. Last year we did a good job. This year, we are looking to do a great job!

The LAC swim meet will require all parents and more to fill many jobs. If you've ever been to a swim meet, you know it takes a small army to make a meet successful. You can take a look at the posted jobs on our web site. Some people have already signed-up for some of the positions. Please take some time and sign-up whatever job you feel fits your abilities.  Our goal is to fill 100% of these jobs by the end of May.  Any jobs not filled by the end of May will be assigned to families who have not yet signed up for a job.

Why is this so important? Well, first LAC has an obligation to USA Swimming, specifically Zone 2 swim clubs, to host a meet. We need to do our part and shine as one of  the premier clubs in our zone. As the saying goes, "all eyes are on us"! Second, it makes great business sense.  We stand to earn $5,000 towards our fund raising goal if we manage this right.  We have a core team of people who have a various levels of experience in running a meet. This core team is made up of parents who regularly attend meets and we are confident we need 100% participation from all LAC parents. Please take some time to review and sign-up for any of the open positions.

The other areas the board has spent considerable time on is getting our finances together. We are a young team, but every successful team needs to manage to a budget.  We also owe you, as a member, visibility to "the books". It's taken us some time, but we've finalized  our income statement.  We'll post this to the team web site in the coming weeks.  If you have any questions, feel free to contact me or Don Swanson our Treasurer.

So, I typically close these blogs with something you can do for the greater team. Well, some has suggested we start a tradition of a LAC year book. It's important that we preserve our legacy in some way for the future. Something tangible the kids can hold and look at in years to come.... that would be a great thing!

I've spoken to a couple of generous parents who have offered to help - even with busy work-life schedules, people are willing to help this great cause for the kids. Some people have lots of pictures from various LAC events, and some have pictures of swim meets. So, if you have online photos of your kids or others, please contact me.  Some of the senior kids will help with building the year book -- as it should be, right? As we collect pictures, we will look for quotes from this kids about their best and funniest times during the year. Our goal is to have the book ready for sale at the end-of-the-year party for autographs.

If you have pictures, ideas, or would like to work with the senior kids, please contact me directly.

That's it for now.

--Tom

A little background

Hard to believe it has been 6 months since I assumed the great role as LAC President. Time has flown by and I've learned quite a lot about the business side of a USA Swim team and about the personalities of the parents. The biggest source of my education comes from the simple conversations with parents at the club, at meets, quick emails, or walking to our cars in the parking lot.

I came to this role with +17yrs in the technology industry. I've held a variety of jobs ranging from working as a software developer in health care to managing technology at Sun Microsystems (now Oracle). The biggest difference is one group of people are paid through payroll (salary), while the other group of people are purely volunteers and motivated in other ways. The similarity being, we all have choices.

Personally, I chose to take on this role for many reasons - because I believe on Coach Alex's program, I believe that LAC families all share a common vision for their children and we make sacrifices every day for our children, and I believe I can advance the business side of LAC to the next level. This is a group of people I want to be a part of!

I spent a lot of time writing about our recent accomplishments with fund raising and events in my previous blog. You as parents have stepped up to exceed our fund raising goals and provided the board with tremendous support. For this I, and the board thank you!

We have great plans for LAC's future as we build our legacy. There are few areas where we will chose to focus on as we move the business side forward. Many of these, we have spoke about in the previous blog and parent meetings. And I'll expand on new areas in future blogs.

As we build our future together, I've been working with some mentors along the way. I often reach out to other swim team leaders to learn from them what works and doesn't work. I truly believe in learning from the successes and failures of others; with the best of intent, of course. I also meet once a month with a well respected director in the USA Swimming organization, Tom Avischious. Tom teaches USA business development and currently a Director of Field Services for USA Swimming. Tom's a great source of experience and knowledge about running the business side of an A-class team.  I look to coach Alex for all the wisdom he has with the swim program. I rely on my board to set the pace and keep us on the right track. And I look to the parents to give me real time input and open and honest input about the program.

Stay tuned for details from lat week's board meeting.

See you at the club,

Tom