Official Website: www.gcsto.com       614-478-5445      PO Box 30483, Gahanna, OH 43230                                                       Steve Nye: Head Coach/Owner   stevenye@sbcglobal.net
Greater Columbus Swim Team of Ohio
mountain top bears 
   

                              Polar Bear Pride In Vail, CO

This Is Greater Columbus...

If you are looking for anything in terms of aquatic programming whereby you are assured that quality comes first and that the needs of the participants remain the driving force for how a program is structured then you have found a home. Approaching our 4th decade under the same leadership, Greater Columbus has become a name to know in central Ohio due to the tremendous efforts of hundreds of professionals, volunteers & participants. Through their quality, this program has stood the test of time!


11-12 boys 1 
11-12 Relay Team Record Breakers... good news coming!

 HAPPY NEW YEAR... May 2012 bring you happiness!
GCSTO's "Greater Columbus Swim School" Chosen as the "Best of Columbus"
  
Award Image
Once again, our swim school was honored by being selected by the US Commerce Association as the "Best of Columbus" for 2011 amongst all programs in central Ohio. We are proud to receive such an award and will continue to focus on keeping this program as a leader amongst all such programs here in Columbus and around the country! 
GCSTO Chosen As Local Partner in USA Swimming's Make a Splash Campaign
Make a Splash  is a national child-focused water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation. It works by aligning the nation’s top learn-to-swim resources in an effort to save lives. Make a Splash educates parents through a national awareness campaign, saves lives by joining forces with grassroots learn-to-swim programs and reaches thousands of children through wide-reaching in-school materials. CLICK HERE  to read more about how Make a Splash helps our communities! 
Note that we are revising the program to incorporate a new line of scholarships that we will make available to specific members of our community. Stay tuned for more on that shortly!

Parents Pick  GCSTO Selected as Winner of NICKELODEON'S PARENTS' PICK AWARD
GCSTO's Swim School was recently named the winner of this award as the best in our class in the central Ohio area. You can go to PARENTSSPICK and see more on this and other award categories. Note that we are honored to have received this award and will continue to strive to make our programming first class and programming of which you are proud to be a part! Creating the Difference!

******************************************************************
                                                                            
bronze medal award
The Club Excellence Program
 This program deals with the performance levels of the older athletes on the team in comparison to the rest of the nation. Of the thousands of clubs in USA Swimming, only 200 clubs were screened for such recognition. GCSTO was first recognized in 2007 as a Bronze Medal Club in USA Swimming and has repeated in 2008, 2009, 2010 & 2011. Click on the icon for more information about this program from USA Swimming.

******************************************************************
  Club Rec. Level 3
USA Swimming’s Club Recognition Program
GCSTO is a Level 3 qualified club in USA Swimming's Club Recognition Program! Recognition at this level deals with club administration and organization and it is no easy task to achieve. Congrats to all of our swimmers and coaches on this achievement. CLICK HERE for more information about this program from USA Swimming. 

******************************************************************

Virtual Club ChampionshipsToyota Virtual Club Championships
This system of ranking the thousands of clubs in USA Swimming is based on overall team performance in relation to the rest of the nation. Click on the icon for more information about this program from USA Swimming.



  
            SEE OUR STATE CHAMPIONSHIP VIDEO!


Announcements

GCSTO Hosted Meet Entry Acceptance System
Please note that due to the recent sizes of all of the central Ohio swimming meets we have instituted an entry acceptance system for all GCSTO hosted meets. Instead of simply accepting entries on a first-come-first-serve basis whereby someone who could have been coming to our meets for decades could possibly lose their spot in our meet simply due to their entries arriving to us 1 day later than someone else's, we have chosen to accept entries into our meets based on their past attendance record at our meets. As a result, those who have demonstrated the most consistent attendance over the past will be at the top of the list for acceptance into our meets. We do not feel it wise, nor fair, to allow simple chance or simple "timing" to override the years of loyalty that we have seen from these teams thus the reason for the institution of this system. Once those teams are taken care of who have been coming to these meets consistently in the past it will be the other central Ohio teams that are taken care of next. Everyone is encouraged to get their entries in early for our remaining meets regardless as we will use a first-come-first-serve selection within each division from there. Here is that list of acceptance based entirely upon attendances of our meets in the past:

Gold Level Acceptance (first group of teams to be accepted)
DCST
LTPY
UASC
WAC
WOR

Silver Level Acceptance (second group of teams to be accepted)
Blaze
Bobcat
BHY
DORC
NAAC
OSSC

Bronze Level (third group of teams to be accepted)
All other central Ohio teams and then any team from outside Central Ohio.

GCSTO's Jan. 2 To Feb. 22 Practice Schedule
 Please CLICK HERE to see our amended practice schedule for this time period. This supersedes all information that you might have received earlier in the year.

GCSTO's Charity Efforts 

 We would like to thank EVERYONE who helped out our 2011 Salvation Army Holiday Cheer efforts by bringing in a toy or a gift to donate at our Holiday Cheer meet. We were able to deliver upwards of 200 such new gifts to the Salvation Army in time to be handed out at their Holiday Cheer event held at the Fairgrounds this year. Your efforts truly brightened the day of hundreds of children. Please visit  SALVATION ARMY COLUMBUS to read more about their efforts with this project.
  This is not the only charity that GCSTO supports. GCSTO also donates over $200 a year to Recreation Unlimited. Recreation Unlimited Farm and Fun is a 501(c)3 not-for profit organization serving individuals with physical and developmental disabilities and health concerns and supported through the development efforts of the RECREATION UNLIMITED FOUNDATION. Our Greater Columbus Swim School also donates to the Make-A-Wish Foundation MAKE A WISH. The Make-A-Wish Foundation® enriches the lives of children with life-threatening medical conditions through its wish-granting work. The Foundation's mission reflects the life-changing impact that a Make-A-Wish® experience has on children, families, referral sources, donors, sponsors, and entire communities. Our "Greater Columbus Swim School" also makes monthly donations to the ST. JUDE'S CHILDREN'S RESEARCH HOSPITAL and has done so for several years in a row. The mission of St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital is to advance cures, and means of prevention, for pediatric catastrophic diseases through research and treatment. Consistent with the vision of our founder Danny Thomas, no child is denied treatment based on race, religion or a family's ability to pay. And as you may note, GCSTO also offers scholarships to local community organizations and individuals through the MAKE A SPLASH FOUNDATION as described under our "Swimming Lesson" tab on the left. We are proud to be a part of these incredible community efforts which make everyone's everyday lives a whole lot better!
USA Swimming's DECK PASS
 Stay in touch with you times and everything about your performance as an athlete in this sport via the web or via your smart phone. To find our more about USA Swimming's DECK PASS, please click on: Deck Pass Promotional Tool Kit  to learn more about this free program.
GCSTO Waiting List Started  
Our nine practice groups on our team are totally closed for the season. We are taking names on a waiting list for any other athletes in any of the closed levels for future positions on the team. If you would like on this waiting list for the fall/winter season please fill out a team application and mark it with "Waiting List" across the top and send that in to our offices. 
   
Cullen Jones' "Make A Splash" Message
Please click on "Today Show with Cullen Jones"   for a GREAT clip on this interview and why this program is so vital to our community!