Tuesday, May 12, 2009

Ring in the Spring!




The second GMA Spring Clinic has started and it is great to see not only returning swimmers from the first clinic, but also returning swimmers from the winter season and even more new faces! I can see the excitement building for the long course and summer rec seasons. On top of that, the weather is starting to look much more like summer!

Hopefully the weather will hold for the 25th Annual Vermont City Marathon on May 24th. This will be the 2nd year GMA has run one of the many water stations providing valuable support to the marathon runners. The GMA water station is on mile 25.5, right at the end of the 26 mile course. Last year, it was so much fun watching the competitors. We saw the wheelchair athletes as well as the winner of the last three years, Matt Pellitier, pass by our station. The marathon involves such a variety of athletes who have competitive goals, or race to achieve personal goals. Some bring a fun flair to the race by running in creative costumes.. I am looking forward to seeing another exciting marathon and to helping GMA show our commitment to our community!

Lets have some fun again this year! Please sign up on the Vermont City Marathon Poster or e-mail Laura to sign-up. We need 20-25 volunteers to cover two shifts. You can choose to attend for one or both shifts. Everyone is welcome! So if you are swimmer, family member or friend, come sign up!

Looking forward to seeing you all there!

Sincerely,
Coach Tim Bard

Thursday, May 7, 2009

GMA Swimmers "Clean Up" In the Pool







On Friday, May 1st, 2009 twenty of the GMA Senior, Sectional and National swimmers worked diligently to clean the Saint Michael's College Pool. To show their appreciation for the use of the wonderful Saint Michael's College Pool, the GMA swimmers devoted about 45 minutes of their training time to scrubbing the pool gutters, cleaning the pool deck, organizing the pool closet and generally beautifying the pool area. The coaches were impressed with the athletes and their effort. Each athlete promptly got to work cleaning. Every GMA athlete did so with smiles on their faces and determination to finish the task at hand. You will notice that the water line on the gutters has been painstakingly scrubbed away and the pool area is neat and clean. THANK YOU GMA SWIMMERS FOR DOING YOUR PART!!