GCSTO Selected As 2013 Bronze Medal Club For USA Swimming
For the 6th time in the last 7 years GCSTO has been awarded Bronze Medal ranking in USA Swimming's Club Excellence Program for 2013. This program recognizes the actual performance of a club's senior swimmers at the national level. GCSTO was the only central Ohio club to be recognized at any level of this program and was one of the 5 Ohio Swimming teams to be recognized (Dayton Raiders, Cincinnati Marlins, Mason Manta Rays & Northern Kentucky Clippers were the other 4 teams).   

GCSTO's "Greater Columbus Swim School" Chosen as the "Best of Columbus"

Once again, our swim school was honored by being selected by the US Commerce Association as the "Best of Columbus" for 2012 (after also receiving this award in 2011) amongst all programs in central Ohio. We are proud to receive such an award for the second year in a row and will continue to focus on keeping this program as a leader amongst all such programs here in Columbus and around the country! 

Once Again In 2013, GCSTO Is Awarded A $4,000 Make A Splash Grant By The USA Swimming Foundation
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 on www.MakeaSplash.org to read more about how Make a Splash helps our communities! GCSTO was one of only 41 programs across the country awarded grant money for 2013 (our third year in a row). Please see more about this program by clicking on the associated tab on the left side of this page. 



  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!

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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 & 2013. Click on the icon for more information about this program from USA Swimming.

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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. 

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 Toyota 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.

Announcements   

Start, Turn & Finish Camp Openings
We have 3 openings (as of 5/14/13) in THIS Saturday's STF Camp from 3-5 p.m. at Academy. Contact stevenye@sbcglobal.net to secure one of these remaining spots. The 12:30-2:30 camp is full just fyi!

Summer Team Registratoins Are Open
Summer season registrations are open for swimming with GCSTO during our long course season. The trial week for new members begins on the first day of that season (June 3). New athletes should bring in a completed seasonal team application marked with "1 week trial" across the top. Athletes should have tennis shoes, shorts & t-shirts for dry land activities and should also have all of their swimming gear for the in-water portion of the practice. Call Steve Nye at 614-478-5445 with questions. Our spring/summer brochure will help you with practice times, costs and such for the upcoming season.

Creekside Meet & Senior Circuit Meet Information - Updated 5/7/13
We have been asked to split these into 2 separate packets for simplicity sake. CLICK HERE for the Senior Circuit Meet packet and CLICK HERE for the Hytek Meet file. The Hytek file & OME entries will be ready by May 7 although the meet entries will not open until May 20. CLICK HERE for the Creekside Meet packet and CLICK HERE for that Creekside Meet Hytek event file.
We will have a Hytek file available for this shortly.

MANDATORY... the Ohio Department of Health's YOUTH SPORTS ORGANIZATION CONCUSSION FORM must be made available to ALL competitors in both meets by their teams or coaches. This is required by House Bill 143 of the 129th General Assembly. Please forward this that document on to them if you have not already done so.
   
 Per reservations, for the Hilton at the airport (5 minutes away) please visit:
http://hiltongardeninn.hilton.com/en/gi/groups/personalized/C/CMHCAGI-CSM-20130614/index.jhtml?WT.mc_id=POG      
for the Embassy Suites please click on: Embassy Suites

Concussion Training - New State Law For ANY Coach in ANY Youth Sport
The new focus in Ohio is now concussion training for coaches of youth sports. This NEW STATE LAW was enacted this April (2013). It looks like every single coach at every single level of every single sport in the state is now required to have this training. The ramification for us is that every coach coming to an Ohio Swimming, Inc. meet must have this training even if they are from out of state. As such (and until such time as we get better legal clarification), as a team, we would ask you to please do the following:

1 – Go to this web site and read the content if you would:  http://www.healthyohioprogram.org/~/media/HealthyOhio/ASSETS/Files/injury%20prevention/concussion/2Return%20to%20Play%20-%20What%20Coaches%20Need%20to%20Know%20-%20Youth%20Athletics2.ashx (note that the state law can  be found here: http://www.legislature.state.oh.us/bills.cfm?ID=129_HB_143 and the ODH cover page here: http://www.healthyohioprogram.org/concussion).

2 – Complete one of the two allowable training courses found at that first link in #1 above.

3 – Ohio coaches should probably send a copy of that to Erin Schwab and take a copy on their certificate to meets with them to be safe. Out of state coaches should bring a copy of that certificate of completion with them to OSI meets just to be safe. We're not sure how enforcement is to be carried out and are waiting legal advice on that now but please have this certificate with you if you are coming to the Creekside/Senior Circuit Meet GCSTO hosts this June.  Thanks!

Hannah Stevens Qualifies For World Championship Trials
What meet this year is harder to qualify for than last summer's US Olympic Trials? The 2013 USA Swimming World Championship Trials! And Hannah Stevens has done just that... qualified in the 100 & 200M backstrokes! The event will be held at IUPUI in Indianapolis June 25-29 and will be the meet at which athletes can qualify for USA Swimming's World Championship team. Congratulations Hannah!

Spring Officials Certification Clinics Announced
Please click on 2013 Spring Official's Clinics for information on the dates, times and locations of all of the 2013 Spring Official's Certification Clinics.   

High School District Results
There are a total of 36 individual events in Division 1 & 2 men and women's swimming at the high school level. GCSTO athletes won or placed second in 17 of these events here in the Central District and then won 2 more titles in the Northwest District. CLICK HERE to read more about this amazing showing!

All About Spring Swimming
CLICK HERE for a document that will walk you through the registration process. The first 2 pages are for our fall/winter swimmers returning for spring. The final 3 pages are for those swimmers who are brand new to the team or who are returning to the team from seasons past. We are finalizing the practice schedule this week so that brochure will be made available as soon as it is done.

GCSTO Selected As Bronze Medal Club
Congratulations go out to our senior swimmers and coaches for their efforts to help us qualify as a Bronze Medal Club in USA Swimming's Club Excellence Program this year! You can read more about this program on USA Swimming's web site (www.usaswimming.org).


GCSTO's Charity Efforts
We would like to thank EVERYONE who helped out our 2012 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.

 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!