End of Season Survey Results

Hi Stingray Families,

Thank you to everyone who completed our end-of-season feedback survey! We received 23 responses and appreciate the thoughtful feedback on what made this season special and areas where we can improve. As the board begins planning for next season, we wanted to share the key takeaways.

What families appreciated

Our junior coaches were a standout, receiving a 4 or 5 from every respondent! Families also gave strong ratings to practice organization, registration, coaching, and meet organization. Your comments highlighted clear communication, the work happening behind the scenes, and the fun that events, relays, and team traditions bring to the Stingrays experience.

Thank you to our coaches and parent volunteers for making those highlights possible! The Stingrays are a parent-run team, and so much of what happens during the season is possible because families volunteer their time.

Where we will focus on improving

• A welcoming experience for everyone: In addition to our welcome meeting, we will look for more ways to help new families find their footing, strengthen inclusion, and offer activities that appeal to both older and younger swimmers.
• Swimmer support: Ensuring swimmers of every ability feel seen, encouraged, and supported through respectful, positive coaching and opportunities to develop their skills. We are also beginning to explore ways to acknowledge all swimmers on a more regular basis.
• Volunteer communication: Improving response times, clarifying who to contact, and making it easier to understand volunteer opportunities and complete volunteer commitments.
• Simpler information and smoother meets: Exploring easier ways to track sign-ups and working with meet organizers to improve check-in procedures.

A little context on scheduling, events, and snacks

Several suggestions touched on areas we wish we could change but where we face some limitations:

• Wednesday night meets: Wednesday night meets are not our preferred option. However, our meet schedule is limited by pool availability and the length of our swim season. We will continue looking for the best options within the time available to us.
• Summer practice times: We understand that different practice times would help working families. Unfortunately, the city’s summer pool availability does not allow us to offer both daytime and evening practices. One suggestion could be organizing carpool options for families who need them. This could be a great parent volunteer role if someone is interested in taking it on. Please let us know!
• Bigger social events: We would love to offer larger events and activities for a wider range of ages. Making that happen requires parents to help plan, organize, and run them. If this is something you would enjoy helping with, please reach out!
• Snack bar choices: We can explore healthier options within the city’s rules, but those rules limit what we can sell, including not allowing hot food. If you have ideas for healthy options that could work, please let us know.

More helping hands will make these improvements possible

One important theme we want to emphasize as we look ahead: the Stingrays are run by a volunteer parent board. The board members planning the season, responding to emails, organizing meets and events, coordinating volunteers, and handling the many things that happen behind the scenes are parents volunteering their time alongside everyone else. We meet 1x per month with the exception of December.

We need more parent support in important board and core volunteer roles. These positions help make communication, social events, meets, and family support happen- the very areas families have asked us to strengthen.

Your feedback is important to us, and whenever possible, we will work to implement changes that create a better team experience for everyone. But we can’t do it without parent involvement. More families participating means we can share the workload, follow through on more ideas, and continue improving the Stingrays experience for our swimmers.

You do not need to have everything figured out to express interest! We can explain the roles, responsibilities, and support available.

If you indicated interest in a board or core volunteer role on the survey, please reply to this email. Some responses did not include a name, so we have no way to follow up with you. And even if you did not express interest on the survey, we would still love to hear from you.

We are already planning for next season, and now is a great time to get involved. We have a variety of positions available on the board and have also developed some new core volunteer positions based directly on your survey feedback. The ideas are there—we just need the parent power to help make them happen.

We know everyone has full schedules, and we appreciate every family considering how they might be able to contribute.

The Stingrays are hosting our Monster Splash Invitational on October 25, and we’re looking for volunteers to help with advance planning and key day-of roles. It’s a fun way to get involved and support our team! If you’re interested in helping before the event, please reply to this email, we’d love to have you join us!

Thank you for your honesty, encouragement and commitment to our swimmers. We look forward to building on a wonderful season together and continuing to make the Stingrays better for all of our families.