be able to hold the line against any dues increases to cover those costs. In these difficult economic times, I regard that as a considerable achievement. So, assuming no epic snowfall this winter, you can be confident that when you return in the spring, you will return not just to the same club, but a sig-nificantly improved facility. My best to all of you for a happy holiday season.

Although we had planned a busy offseason this year for some major rehabilita-tion work on club facilities, we didn’t plan on the flood of September 6. At the high water mark, the lower pool had entirely disappeared, large objects were redistributed around the property and fencing in various areas col-lapsed. Fortunately for us, on the very next day, a host of club members vol-unteered to bail us all out, literally and figuratively. Headed up by the indefati-gable Rawley Gilmore, probably the only one who actually enjoyed working in muck and mire, they turned what could have been a disaster for the club into a transitory inconven-ience. We all owe them a great debt, and to recog-nize their service, we’ve listed them in the special

list of honor below. To each and every one of you, our sincere thanks. Inevitably, the flood neces-sitated certain cutbacks in our construction plans, but we made considerable pro-gress nonetheless. I’ll talk about them in more detail in the next newsletter. And although we experienced certain flood related ex-penses that we did not anticipate, because of care-ful budgeting, I am pleased to announce that we will

A flood of thanks Steve Hoffman

Falls Church, VA 703 532-0814

December 2008 www.shbr.org

Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet Club

Winter News

Inside:

Social events 2

Swim team news 2

Strength in numbers 3

Membership update

4

Cabanas and use 4

Thanks to:

• Kay Cooper

• Ann Wilkins

• Nancy Racette

• Theresa Lemair

• Matt Borman

• Bill Liberti

• Dave Harrell

• Jeff Cole

• Travis Gilmore

• Paul Trotter

• Stefano Luccioli

• John Wilkins

• James Wilkins

• Boardwalk Pizza

• Steve Hershner

• Mike Brady

• Amy & Don Hammond

• Mary & Hank Terhune

• Kevin Lemarque

• Coleen Lemarque

• Rawley & Beth Gilmore

• John & Sandy Arczynski,

and Victoria and Andrew

Page 2

“Swimmers of all

abilities are

important to the

team. We

welcome new and

returning

swimmers.”

Swim team news Rebecca Harrigal

If change is invigorating, the SHBR swim team will cer-tainly be invigorated next summer. Theresa Chmara and Lauren Bugel will be leaving the helm as swim team reps. They have served the team for many years and deserve to sit for a while. The team also lost head coach Doug Burns, and As-sistant Coaches Katie Pugh and Ana Jakabcin, who gave many years to the swim team and need to devote their summers to other pur-suits. Gail Solomon and I will take over as team reps and, with the help of Theresa, Lauren and SHBR board member Amy Hammond, are interviewing for the new coaching staff. We have received applicants from highly qualified candi-dates and are certain that, while we can’t replace Doug, Katie, and Ana, our new coaches will find their special niche with the team. The swim season lasts for about six intense weeks. The season starts on Memo-rial Day with registration. The practices start the fol-lowing Tuesday and are every weekday until the end of the season. The meets start in mid-June and are every Monday and Saturday (yes, this includes the Fourth of July). Please keep this schedule in mind when you plan your vacation for next

summer. This past season we had many Saturday meets when we didn’t have enough swimmers to fill our lanes, which meant we for-feited many points due to absences. Parents are also a critical part of the swim season. Each meet requires about 40 volunteers and hours of planning and work before and after the event. We have already received commitments from some parents for next year. Signe Yock, who will coordinate our officials next summer, will contact you and look for more officials as the season approaches. While the sea-son involves a lot of work, swimmers will tell you that summer swim is a lot of fun. Swimmers of all abilities are important to the team. We welcome new and returning swimmers. New swimmers will be evaluated to be sure they are ready and water-safe. We don’t expect our swimmers to know any strokes, but we need to be sure they will be safe while practicing in a group. Lori Whitehand will organize Monday “developmental meets,” to help swimmers who normally don’t swim Saturday meets hone their competitive skills. These meets are also used by more experienced swimmers to fine tune their strokes. The Saturday meets are scored

and used to determine standings in the division. The team may only take three swimmers per event to these meets. Whether your swimmer swims Monday or Saturday meets, he or she will add needed depth and energy to the team. We will post updates on the SHBR website during the year. When the new coach-ing staff is selected, we will post their information on the website as well as the team practice schedule. In Febru-ary, we will receive our Divi-sion assignment and learn which teams we will be com-peting against for the Satur-day “A” meets. Look for this information in the spring. Finally, please join us at the pool on Memorial Day (May 25) for an ice cream social from 4-5:30pm. This will be an opportunity to meet and socialize with the coaches, register for the 2009 swim season, order swim suits, pick up important informa-tion about the summer, and volunteer. We will also have a meeting for new parents to answer specific questions about the swim season. If you cannot make it on Mon-day, there will be other op-portunities during that first week to register. If you have any questions about the team, you can call me at 703-750-2393. Go Seals!

Social events and activities Claire Burke A good time was had by all last summer at our various social events. For 2009, we will continue to offer more family centered events per your requests! The annual Wine and Cheese event will kick off the 2009 season on May 22. Opportunities abound for

those willing to give us a little time throughout the summer. Please email the board if you can assist in any way with next sum-mers social activities. It is a big job, made easier with many volunteers. We welcome your feed-back, comments and crea-

tive ideas. We look forward to hearing from you!

www.shbr.org

The SHBR Diving Seals con-cluded a strong rebound season with a record of 4-1 in Division IV of the NVSL. Our one loss came at a mere six point spread! The influx of new divers this season helped cover age groups where previously we had no divers and therefore no chance of picking up points. The depth and ex-perience of the team carried us through several tough meets. We also welcomed many new younger divers – by adding another assistant coach, we were able to broaden the training and participation for our young-est divers. Five members of the Diving Seals participated in the Division IV All Stars. Chloe Grishaw (Senior Girls), Bobby Horton (Senior Boys), Ryan Herron (Intermediate Boys), Alex Branham (Junior Girls), and Aidan Brady (Junior Boys). Joe Griffin (Intermediate Boys) and Alex Brady (Freshman Boys) were All Star Alternates.

Every summer, the NVSL hosts the Cracker Jack Invi-tational. This meet is com-monly referred to as the largest one-day meet in the world and attracted more than 350 divers this year. In 2008, SHBR had 15 divers compete in this meet. Another specialty dive meet hosted by NVSL is the Wally Martin 3-meter Meet. This year the Seals were repre-sented by Linda Womack, Bobby Horton, Aidan Brady, Alex Brady, and Aidan Jones. Other divers tested the 3-meter board at the league-sponsored indoor practices at Oak Marr Rec Center, and we are looking forward to additional partici-pants next year! At the awards picnic, Coach Anita O’Quinn recognized two divers for their hard work and contributions to the team. Georgie Jones was presented with the Coaches’ Award for the tre-mendous work and effort she puts forth every week in her own practices and in

helping younger team mem-bers. Alex Branham was presented with the Jakabcin Sportsmanship award. This award is given to the diver who is nominated by his or her team members for dem-onstrating good sportsman-ship with her teammates, competitors and coaches. Every year we need parent volunteers to successfully run our dive meets. The toughest category to fill is Referee/Judging offi-cials. Once again, Dive Rep Emeritus George Jakabcin agreed to help out by serv-ing as referee at our two home meets and mentoring three refs for next year. We still need to develop our skills in these areas for the upcoming season. If you would like information on off-season or early summer programs to develop these skills, please call me at 703/560-0329 or e-mail me on ktwalter@cox.net. As we head into the coldest part of the year, think sum-mer and SHBR!

Strength in numbers Kate Walter

“The SHBR Diving

Seals concluded a

strong season with

a record of 4-1 in

Division IV of the

NVSL.”

2009 SHBR Board of Directors ballot Please vote for (3) candidates and mail ballot to address on back by January 18, 2009

( ) Rebecca Harrigal Rebecca and her husband Ron have been SHBR members for 14 years. Their children, Kalvin and Megan, have been on the SHBR swim team for 5 years. Rebecca is an attorney/manager with the Department of the Treasury and will be a swim team rep next summer.

( ) Jessica Nadler Jessi and her family (husband David and children Isabelle and Dylan) have been members of SHBR since 2003. She has served as Acting Secretary since the spring of 2008. Both of her children have participated in the Swim and Tennis Programs.

( ) Mary Terhune Mary and her family have been active members of the pool for 16 years. They enjoy all the pool has to offer. Her children play on the tennis team and swim for the Seals. She and Hank enjoy the more serene activities – sitting poolside and reading.

( ) Write in___________________________________________________ Copies of ballots will not be accepted

Sleepy Hollow Bath

and Racquet Club

P.O. Box 2540

Falls Church, VA 22042

Phone: 703 532-0814

E-mail:

board@shbr.org

Internet:

www.shbr.org

Membership update Amy Hammond

SBHR General Membership Meeting

Thursday, January 22, 7:30pm

Mason District Government Center

Sleepy Hollow Bath and Racquet Club

P.O. Box 2540

Falls Church, VA 22042

Our waiting list continues to grow each season. If you know anyone that is inter-ested in joining, there is a nonrefundable $125 deposit to place their name on the equity membership waiting list. As long as their pay-ment is received by March 1, we will guarantee them a lease for the families who do not move far enough up the waiting list to get a full

membership. Let your friends know that the ear-lier they contact the mem-bership line, the better their chances of joining. The membership line num-ber is (703) 532-0814. People who had cabanas last year will get their same cabana back as long as dues and cabana fees are received by April 1. After

that, any remaining cabanas are assigned on a first come basis; there is no wait list. So get your dues in early and remember--we go by the post mark, so please do not drop off your cabana requests at the pool or at my home!! Have a wonderful holiday season and a Happy New Year. See you at the pool!

Cabanas: how often do you use yours? Cabanas…we all love ‘em, we all want ‘em. But just how much use do we get out of them? Cabanas are an important part of the charac-ter of our club. They are also really handy for families with lots of pool stuff. Unfortu-nately, there are simply not

enough to go around. Many families with young children looking to ease their daily burden of carrying noodles, floaties, towels, sunscreen, coolers and children to the pool would love to be able to rent a cabana. If you remember the relief you felt

at not having to carry every-thing to the pool every day, and now find you don’t use your cabana as much as you used to, we kindly ask you to consider not renewing your rental this season. A family with small children will be very thankful.