Gator Gazette
Vol. 1: Summer is Here
Introducing our Future A-Reps!
We are so excited to announce Ingrid Lund and Jenny Blasdell have stepped up and volunteered to train as our future A-Reps! Megan will be stepping down after this season, but will make sure to pass on lots of Gator knowledge and make sure they are fully ready to take the helm next summer. As the season progresses, expect Ingrid and Jenny to be more visible on deck for A-meets and related activities. Thank you, Jenny and Ingrid, for volunteering and for your support of our Gators!
FUN FRIDAYS! Introducing our new Social Chair!
Jennifer Meyer has stepped up to be our Social Chair. She has professional experience as an event planner and will bring lots of great ideas to our Fun Friday programming. Stay tuned for updates, signup geniuses and the like. We are grateful to Jennifer for taking on this role and relieving our reps of so much multi-tasking!
GATOR FINANCIAL YEAR END REPORT
2023 was a robust year for our Gators!! As previously stated, we had 200 Gators and 26 Mini-Gators on the roster. This was the largest team we've had in many years. We can attribute that growth to the outstanding coaching and the enthusiasm our coaches and swimmers inspire in our summer team! We are so proud of our Gators and our Franklin Knolls Community.
Coming off of a few hard years with Covid and rising costs of everything under the sun, we raised dues in 2023 to $150 per swimmer. This jump was carefully considered and calculated based on careful bookkeeping from several years prior, and proved to be an accurate reflection of funds needed to operate the Swim Team. Additionally, we actively sought out a role as Swim Lessons Leaders. We felt this role was important to a) emphasize the Gators as a learning environment for the benefit of the entire pool community b) maintain better control and flexibility over pool usage in the pre-opening hours throughout the week and c) to serve as a fundraiser for the team. Max Gondi and James Case did a fantastic job launching this program for us, and after salaries and expenses, the Swim Lessons Program netted a little over $4,000 for the team.
This money is crucial to keeping the Swim Team operational, and covering rising regular costs of food and equipment, but also gives us the ability to take on larger purchases like tents, lane ropes, computers, etc. when needed. This year, we have decided to keep dues flat at $150, and have been granted permission to run Swim Lessons again. We are excited to announce our Fundraising committee, who will be actively seeking Sponsors and other fundraising opportunities for the Gators.