The YOTA Experience

Welcome to what will undoubtedly be an EPIC year. As we shared on September 3, EPIC stands for Experience, Performance, Inspiration, and Connection—core values that will guide both our teams and individual development this year.

This journey will be filled with moments where you push beyond your limits, not just for yourself, but because others are counting on you. An epic experience seamlessly blends personal achievement with being part of a team, showcasing the incredible power of collaboration and individual excellence. Your unique contributions elevate the team, just as the team propels you to new heights.

This is the essence of the YOTA experience. Here, you’re not just working toward a personal goal—you’re doing so within the context of a shared vision and mission. Your individual achievements gain deeper meaning because they contribute to the team's success. Every milestone you reach is celebrated by the team, and every victory the team achieves reflects your hard work and dedication.

As you navigate this year, you’ll find that the camaraderie, support, and encouragement from your teammates and coaches make challenges less daunting and successes more exhilarating. You’ll draw strength from knowing you’re not alone in your efforts, and you’ll experience the profound satisfaction that comes from contributing to something bigger than yourself.

When personal achievement and team success converge, they create a powerful synergy that amplifies both. You’ll walk away not only with the satisfaction of significant accomplishments but also with enduring bonds and shared memories from being part of a team that has achieved greatness together. The YOTA experience shapes you both as an individual and as a teammate, leaving a lasting impact on your life and the lives of those around you.

USA Swimming Registration

The YOTA Swim Team is both a registered YMCA Swimming team and a USA Swimming team. YOTA Swimmers are automatically registered with YMCA Swimming through team registration, but USA Swimming registration is a separate process. All YOTA swimmers are required to register with USA Swimming as a premium athlete for the 2024-2025 season through one of the following steps below:
1. If your swimmer was registered with USA Swimming through YOTA last year, please go to their member dashboard and click renew. 
2. If your swimmer is new to USA Swimming, please register them using this YOTA specific link. 
3. If your swimmer receives free or reduced lunches at school, they qualify to register through the outreach membership program HERE. After registering with the outreach membership, you will need to send Coach Jamie Bloom (jamie.bloom@ymcatriangle.org) a copy of the Reduced or Free Lunch letter you received from your school. 

YOTA Equipment & Merch

The YOTA Swim Team is sponsored by Arena USA and Kiefer Aquatics. Please review the list below to make sure you have all the equipment and merchandise that you need to start the season:
  • Secure all necessary equipment through Arena and/or Kiefer Aquatics 
  • Pick up your 2024-2025 team suit at Kiefer in Cary by October 31st using this voucher
  • Check out YOTA merch for swimmers and parents through our online team store (U: YOTA P: Swim)

Swim Meet Volunteers

The start of every new season brings new experiences for both our swimmers and our YOTA parents. One of the most important things that YOTA parents do throughout the year is volunteer at our many meets - especially the meets that we host as a team. We cannot run meets without volunteers so having a team full of parents who step up to contribute to these events is crucial. 81% of our YOTA parents volunteered last year and we would love to see that percentage increase this year!
We know it can be nerve wracking for many parents to volunteer at first since many are scared to mess up or negatively impact a swimmer’s race or experience. Please do not let this fear stop you! Once you start volunteering, you will quickly learn from our family of volunteers and each experience will give you more confidence to volunteer more in the future. In an effort to help ease some worries headed into our first meet, we have provided some descriptions of common volunteer positions below:
  • Timers: time the swimmers during races. You are the back-up to the timing system. We will train you!
  • Runners: work with the meet admin team during the meet, post results, get back-up times from timers when needed, help bring snacks and drinks to stationary meet workers
  • Computer: help process the results (requires some training) - if you work with computers and know a little about swimming it is easy to pick up
  • Hospitality: we provide snacks and meals for meet volunteers - this position helps organize the hospitality room and brings snacks and drinks to coaches, timers and meet admin
  • Bullpen/Kid Pushers: organize the swimmers in each heat in their lane order before sending them behind the blocks
  • Meet Marshalls: monitor the pool deck to ensure that it remains a safe and clean environment
  • Officials: this position requires training through USA swimming. If you are interested please let your Site Director know!
Ready to get started? Our YOTA Intrasquad meet serves as a practice meet for our young swimmers and is a great opportunity to practice volunteering as well. Sign up to volunteer at our YOTA Intrasquad Meet HERE! Note: After creating your Volunteer Matters account, please review and commit to the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP) event, and then you will be set to sign up for any volunteer event for the rest of the year! 

Looking Ahead

  • September 13-15: Senior Leadership Camp at Camp Seafarer (Senior Level Athletes)
  • September 29: YOTA Intrasquad meet at the Taylor Family YMCA (Age Group Level Athletes)
  • October 11-13: TYDE Andy Craver Invitational at the Greensboro Aquatic Center (All YOTA Athletes)
One Vision, One Team: UNITY footer

Share this email:
Email Twitter Facebook LinkedIn
Manage your preferences | Opt out using TrueRemove®
Got this as a forward? Sign up to receive our future emails.
View this email online.
801 Corporate Center Drive Ste 118
Raleigh, NC | 27607 US
This email was sent to macy.blake@ymcatriangle.org.
To continue receiving our emails, add us to your address book.
powered by emma