Orange Shoals Swim Team
Otters Swim Team Inaugural Season in Review (check back for photos and video highlights!)

Well, we have actually done it. Our first official swim season is complete and has been a smashing success. As most of you know, we have formed a swim team to compete in the Cherokee County recreation league. Dubbed the Orange Shoals Otters, our team competed in 7 meets (one was an exhibition) against other neighborhoods in Cherokee County and I must say we faired very well for a start up team.

Late last year we began discussing the viability of forming a team. In order to establish a case we needed to show sufficient
community interest, a financial justification, and a project plan. In other words, how are we going to do it? In order to discover
what sort of community interest there was many tactics were used. After many e-mails, conversations with neighbors,
surveys, and public announcements on the Yahoo Group we determined that we would have enough people to form a team!
The minimum number to compete is 40 swimmers and at the time we were showing 50 confirmed! Our next task was to show
financially how we could make this happen. As you can imagine there are some substantial costs associated with starting a
swim team. These costs include new lane ropes, starting blocks, a speaker system, and much more. Our initial proposal was
for the HOA to loan the swim team $4,000 dollars in order to get us started. Based on revenue from 50 swimmers and
estimated concessions, our plan was to have the $4,000 paid back in 2 to 3 seasons. Well, as it turns out, we had a much better
turn out then we ever expected- we registered 80 Swimmers!! I am very pleased to announce that with the added registration
fees and concession revenues no money has yet been loaned to the team, but at seasons end we will have a deficit of under $500.

That’s a far cry from the initial $4,000 we planned for. That deficit will be paid back on day one of registration next season (Feb – March)
and it is important to point out that we won’t have most of the costs of starting a team to contend with next year. The Otters will be profitable next season.
With our continued success the Otters will be a benefit to the neighborhood both in terms of community and finance.

So, now let me explain how we sorted out the logistics of starting and running a team. Without boring anyone with too much minutia let me just say that it all boiled down to personnel. In order to tackle all the details we formed a committee of seven individuals to tackle very tasks. Julie O’Connor, Beth Hill, Mary Stuart Neil,
Karen Dunson, Conny Gilmore, Cindy Gleason and Willie Gleason make up our committee and have worked very hard to make the team possible. Every one of us has a strong desire to make the Swim team a top notch program.

Equally as important as the 7 committee members are the numerous parents who have stepped in to help out. I am amazed at the unselfishness and willingness to help displayed by our swimmers parents. Without their enthusiasm and willingness to be involved there is no way we would have enjoyed the same level of success.