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Welcome To GPAC (Greater Philadelphia Aquatic
Club)
Team
Website: www.swimgpac.org(BOOKMARK THIS SITE
NOW!!!)
Welcome to the team! We are so glad
you decided to join the premier year-round swimming programs in the
area. We have a very proud tradition started under the name
GCIT Swimming in 1994. Over the summer the school
administration at the Gloucester County Institute of Technology
decided it was in their best interest to get out of the business of
operating a USA Swimming program. GPAC was formed as a
private company (full legal name is Greater Philadelphia Aquatic
Enterprises, LLC) that pays the school pool rent for exclusive use
of the facility. We are and will be the only USA Swimming
program that operates out of the GCIT Aquatics
Center.
There is a lot of time, effort and
information that goes into running a USA Swimming program.
Please do not be discouraged if you are confused about anything at
any time. It will certainly take you some time to get up to
speed on how our club operates as well as the operation of USA
Swimming as a whole. This document is intended to give you
some information necessary for you to hit the ground running at
this point in the season.
Coaching Staff and
Important Contacts:
Head Coach and CEO (National and Senior 2 Group Head Coach): Matt
Sprang (admingpac@gmail.com)
Parent Booster Club President: Kathy Saia
(kathydansaia@gmail.com)
Head Age Group Coach, Gold 2 Head Coach:
Ryan Hahn (coachryan@gmail.com)
Senior 1 Head Coach: George Kelly
(George.kelly@L-3com.com)
Senior 1 Asst. and Gold 1 Head Coach: Chris
Dalsey (dals1521@yahoo.com)
Assistant Coach/Video Analysis: Dan Saia
(dankathysaia@gmail.com)
Bronze Head Coach/Roving Assistant Coach:
Gordon Thomas (gordon.thomas@yesbank.com)
Mini & Silver Head Coach: Skyler
Lindsey (skyblu1023@yahoo.com)
Bronze Assistant Coach: Rob Conova
(swimrec21@yahoo.com)
Fall Warm-up Head Coach: Shannon
Clancy
Lines of
Communication:
This is a brief listing of who you should contact with different
questions:
1)
Matt Sprang –
Registration; billing; General Team information; National Group;
Gold 2 Group; questions about your child’s group you prefer
not to ask that group’s coaches; general practice schedule;
website; overall meet schedule; future team plans and goals
2)
Kathy Saia – Meet
volunteering; Team activities outside of the pool. Please
understand that the Parent’s Association and the team are
completely separate entities. GPACPA has nothing to do with
the operation of the team, the staff, the meets we attend, the team
philosophy, etc. Please do not go to anyone
associated with the Parent’s Association with any questions
or concerns regarding the operation of the program.
3)
Your Swimmer(s)’ group
coaching staff – Specific questions regarding that group;
specific questions regarding your swimmer; meets for your child;
meet entries for your child; practice time missed by your
child
If there are ever any questions you cannot
or do not feel comfortable asking anyone please direct them toward
Matt Sprang. It is very important that you ask questions if
you are not sure about something…that’s the only way
you will learn! You will certainly have a lot of questions
for a long time (at least a year). Don’t be shy; we are
here to help you as much as help your children.
How to
Communicate:
This is as important as whom to communicate
with. Please follow these steps in communicating with
coaches:
1)
Email the coach. They
will get back to you as soon as possible.
2)
If necessary, set up a
meeting time with the coach. It doesn’t matter how
small your question is, it just might be better to talk about it
face to face after practice.
3)
Under no circumstances should
you walk onto the pool deck to talk to the coach at anytime unless
it is an absolute must be taken care of at that time
emergency! You are not covered under any insurance to be on
the pool deck at any time unless you are volunteering for a
specific job at a meet. Parents can observe practices from
the balcony at all times.
Team Financial
Information:
You can choose to pay your bill in full up
front (full season’s dues for all swimmers on your account as
well as the $35 team administrative fee) by the 15th of the month
you join the team. If you do not pay in full you will
automatically be placed on the deferred payment plan. All
accounts must be registered for our online payment system.
Invoices are generated on the 21st of each month. Cards are
run on the 1st of each month. Please be sure that there is
enough money/credit to your personal account for the monthly
charges to clear. Those that pay in full will not go on the
monthly payment plan but still need to register for online payment
to cover meet entry fees and other fees. Those on the monthly
payment plan will also have a $10 per month charge to cover the
costs of billing. Those that pay in full will not have this
fee associated with their account. All charges for the team
will appear on your invoice here. Some of the charges you
will notice are as follows:
1)
Team Dues – Depending
on what group your swimmer(s) is in your monthly team dues will be
different. The second swimmer from each family receives as
10% discount; the third swimmer a 20% discount; the fourth swimmer
a 30% discount; the fifth swimmer or more is free of charge.
The swimmer in your family at the highest level is always charged
as the first swimmer and so on down the line. There is no
discount for the Fall or Spring Warm-up group as they are $300 each
regardless of how many swimmers you have on the team. Any
questions regarding team dues should be directed to Matt Sprang.
2)
USA Swimming Registration Fee
– This $57 charge is necessary for all team members, coaches,
officials and some select volunteers for insurance purposes.
You need to pay this fee once per year to not only enter meets but
to also receive insurance coverage under USA Swimming’s
umbrella policy. Having an unregistered swimmer in a practice
group negates the insurance coverage for all swimmers and coaches
in that group. This fee is automatically charged per swimmer
(no discount is available for more than one swimmer) when you join
the team and must be paid in full with the first month’s
invoice.
3)
Meet Entry Fees – When
we enter meets as a team we can only provide one check for all team
entries. Therefore each account is billed the per event
amount for meet entries and the team pays for everyone with one
check. Per
event fees for meets are as follows:
A)
Short Course A/BB/C Meets are $4
B)
Mini Meets (8 and under
swimmers) are $4
C)
Championship Meets are $5
D)
Long Course Meets are $5
Two other
quick bits of information on meet entries. The fees above
reflect those for meets held within our local region. If we
attend a meet outside of that region (for instance in Northern New
Jersey or Maryland) the charge could be different. Also, you
never pay for relay entries. If we enter a meet that has
relay events the coaching staff will decide if we enter relays,
what swimmers will go on those relays and the team picks up the
cost for those events. NEVER enter your swimmer in a relay
event as the team takes care of this.
More
information on meet entries can be found in the section titled
“How to Enter Meets” under “Events” on the
main menu bar of the website.
4)
Team Administrative Fee
– This $35 fee is charged to all team accounts at the
beginning of the season (or when you join the team) and goes toward
the various administrative costs of running the team.
5)
Deferred Payment Fee –
If you do not pay the full amount for all team dues associated with
your account by the 15th of the month you join the team you will be
charged a fee of $10 per billing month (bills are run October
through May). This goes toward covering the costs of billing
each month.
6)
Late Payment Fee – Any
account not zeroed out by the 15th of each month will be
assessed a $25 late fee and swimmers will not be able to
participate in any team activities until the account is brought
completely up to date.
Team Website:
Our team website (www.swimgpac.org) is
the center of communication for our team. Please be sure to
bookmark the site and check it at least daily. Pay special
attention to two separate sections on a regular
basis:
1)
News – The news section
will be updated with announcements regarding meet registration,
news about the team, and special announcements. Check this
section daily.
2)
Calendar – The team
calendar is up to date with all meet entry deadlines, practice
changes or cancelations, and meet dates.
It is especially important to check the
website in the winter months. If GCIT closes school due to
weather we will not have practice that day. We do not have a
phone chain (they do not work with 180 different families) so we
will send out an email and post a message on the website.
GCIT is always very cautious when it comes to bad weather and road
conditions. It is of the utmost importance that you make sure
you make checking the website the last thing you do before heading
out to practice on days when the weather is bad and even when there
is the threat of bad weather.
Finally, be sure to go through the team
website as soon as possible to learn more information about the
team. You want to check out these sections:
1)
Team Philosophy
2)
Vision and Mission Statements
3)
Meet Schedule
4)
How to Enter Meets
5)
Time Standards
6)
Team Documents
As we are still considered a new team and
will be changing a lot from how we operated under GCIT, we will be
updating the website constantly with new team information and
documents.
Swim Meets:
Swim meets in USA Swimming are vastly different from summer league
meets. Most meets we attend are held at GCIT and are
“A/BB/C Meets” which are open to all swimmers ages 9
and over regardless of their times or ability level. We also
attend several “Mini Meets” throughout the year which
are strictly for swimmers ages 8 and under. There are also a
number of meets we attend that have qualifying standards: some a
minimum time you must have achieved in order to swim an event and
some a maximum time you cannot have exceeded to swim that
event. Take the time to look at the meet schedule and the
section showing what swimmers can or should sign up for events at
that meet.
The coaching staff will always tell
swimmers what events they should swim at certain meets.
Sometimes we will be general and say things like “Swim your
best events” or “Only sign up for events on Saturday
and take Sunday off”. Other times we will be a bit more
specific and say something like “Everyone must sign up for
the 200 IM at this meet”. WE LOVE IT WHEN swimmers come
up to us with events for a meet on a sheet of paper asking us to
look them over!
Entering Swim
Meets:
All of our meet entries are done online through our website.
You can get the information on how to do this by going to
“Events” on the main menu and clicking on “How To
Enter Meets” from there. This gives you step-by-step
instructions on how to enter meets.
Unfortunately there are entry deadlines for
each meet. This is necessary for the meet host to be properly
prepared on meet day. You will notice that there will be two
separate meet entry deadlines: one in the meet information and a
different, must sooner one for our team. All meet entry
deadlines should be viewed as “soft” deadlines.
This is because USA Swimming has a rule that states no meet session
can run longer than 4 hours. This is so the swimmers are not
sitting around all day between events. Once a meet session
has reached 4 hours in estimated length, the meet director will
close that session to future entries. It does not matter when
the entry deadline is, once that session reaches 4 hours the meet
is closed. This is why our entry deadline is so far in
advance of the meet.
Entries are accepted at any time
online. Again, read over “How To Enter Meets”
under “Events” on the website to see how to do
this. If you have any further questions please direct them to
your group’s coaching staff or Matt Sprang.
Family
Folders:
We maintain a folder for each family on the
team for distribution of meet awards as well as other
handouts. It is okay for you to go out onto the pool
deck to check the folder (it would only need to be done once in a
while or a week or so after a swim meet to get the ribbons) but
please do not stay there longer than is necessary and do not engage
any of the coaches in conversation while you are there. If
you need to speak to a coach and it is not an immediate emergency
please email them to set up an appointment. The family folders are
located around the entrance to the pool, either on the tables to
the right or in front of the pool office windows.
The
Season:
Our Season always begins the Monday after
Labor Day and lasts through the Friday before Memorial
Day. There is a separate charge for that season and
information on it is usually out during the month of March. We also
have a summer season for long course swimming that picks up on the
Tuesday after Memorial Day and ends in the beginning of
August.
Registering for Next
Year:
Our team has grown from 113 swimmers in 2004 to its current size
near 260 swimmers. During the past two years we have had to
close out practice groups to further enrollment because they
reached their limit. We will always attract interest from new
swimmers during the summer months, which is why it is recommended
that you reserve your spot on the team for next season with a
deposit in the beginning of July. Returning swimmers have
exclusive rights to a spot on the team until the end of July.
Once the stated deadline is passed we will enroll new swimmers onto
the team until it has reached capacity. Once we have reached
that level we cannot let any new swimmers onto the team regardless
of how long they have been swimming with us.
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