Before you know it Memorial Day weekend will be here and the Village Green Pool will be open! We are looking for your input on weekend pool hours this year.
Please vote once per household and if you don’t plan on being a pool member this year, please do not vote.
This poll will close on March 2, 2019.
[yop_poll id=”1″]
Fourth of July Picnic Party Was Fun for All
Our annual 4th of July bash offered a big parade, fun raffle, pool party, and splendid weather.
2018’s rendition fell on a Wednesday. Mid-week holidays equal a weeklong party for some. Early July is best known for hot weather and a neighborhood celebration in this little place we call home.
The fun started on Monday night when the Patriots swim team hosted Villages of Westminster/WISC for a fast night of swimming. Our swimmers love showing off abundant neighborhood pride. Thanks to VG for coming out and buying food and cheering us on. We won this dual meet. Many swimmers dropped times. The competition and spirit were amazing.
Tuesday night featured our annual biathlon. All ages competed in this year’s splash & dash. All are invited to next year’s event. VG especially thanks Laura Cvitanovich for organizing this athletic tradition.
The big day finally arrived, ushering a sunny dry day for a picnic celebration. Kids lined up for a parade led by NNFD. There were 4 or 5 trucks but the main attraction was Uncle Sam himself together with kids on bikes.
After the parade routed through VG the party started. Little kids enjoyed the carnival and played games and won prizes. Thanks to our swim team for running the games.
There were food tables, patriotic displays, and smiles everywhere. Did we mention the raffle? Prizes were amazing! Think about stacks of gift cards, artwork, and other goodies.
A natural fit for the events was a pool party. All were invited to the wet & wild time. Dave Cvitanovich was the announcer. From his mic, Dave led dive competitions. Do you have what it takes to win belly flop? See you in 2019 for next year’s annual Independence day picnic in VG.
Check out this video posted on NNFD’s Facebook page showing our parade.
As I reflect on our summer league swimming season, I have to first say how truly blessed Kameron and I are to be a part of this team. Village Green is a well-kept secret in Newport News, with a great community. When you coach a team and see former swimmers, and parents of former swimmers coming to home meets and timing and doing concessions when they do not have children on the team, and neighbors who walk their dogs and show interest in the team, it shows a neighborliness than cannot be found everywhere.
Of course our swimmers are the stars. Being a great swimmer is a combination of what you can do in the pool, such as speed and technique, and good character out of the pool, also known as sportsmanship. This season, the improvement in technique was so drastic that Mom’s and Dad’s at practice suddenly saw the younger kids looking like the big kids swimming. We moved from 10% of the team doing flip turns to about 90% of the team doing flip turns and the time drops were quite frankly jaw dropping!! Eight swimmers qualified for Champs meet and three of those dropped times at Champs meet!
Our older kids provided great role models and leadership to the younger ones, cheering them on, congratulating them and anchoring our team. The younger swimmers reminded us that summer league swimming is fun, sometimes too much fun. Which brings me to the Blue Jay, known as Bobo. It’s not often a Coach is upstaged but this happened frequently whenever Bobo made an appearance at practice. Bobo has the kids trained to bring him mealworms, bread, and leaves (the kids think they have trained him). When he arrives, everyone had to say hello to him and of course feed him. I am surprised Bobo can still make it off the ground, as much food as he eats. He is certainly the smartest bird I know!!
A summer league team is volunteer-heavy and this season would not have happened if parents and neighbors hadn’t stepped up and helped with setups for home meets, concessions, timing and officiating, scoring table, crafts at practice and even helping to put flags and blocks up at practice. Thank you for your support.
It is my wish as a coach to create great memories and instill a love of swimming in every swimmer, to see that blossom into lifeguarding, coaching or a future career in the Coast Guard, or as an instructor, or maybe the next great Olympian. Thank you to Village Green for providing the environment where those kinds of dreams can begin.
Coach Amy
On July 21 your VG Patriot held their first annual Swim-a-Thon to raise needed funds for equipment. The goal? We need new lane ropes. Lane ropes are the long floats that separate each lane during practice and competition. They are very old and literally falling apart. Our team is always in fun raising mode. We need money for coaches’ salaries, insurance, league fees, and equipment.
The swim-a-thon idea lets each swimmer swim laps for donations. Our team is around 48 swimmers. Each swimmer was challenged with a goal. Some swimmers were given 66 laps. Some faced 100 laps! After the challenge was accepted, swimmers went out into the community for pledges. If the swimmer finished their challenge, then the sponsor was obligated to pay their pledge amount. Swim-a-thon day was a rainy Saturday morning. The first group entered the warm water. It was on! Back and forth they swam. An adult and coaches were counting each lap for authenticity. The day included prizes for most laps and most pledge$. Thanks go out to VG neighbors who pledged!
In the end we achieved our goal. In fact, this was the single greatest fundraising take in our history. Now we can buy new lane ropes AND a cover.