In 2012, members will be offered numerous fundraising opportunities to help the club and earn back your fundraising deposit. Details to come.

Descriptions of Social and Fundraising Events

Pancake Breakfast

Each year, after the first Saturday morning swim practice at Harry Jerome, the Exec flips flapjacks for parents and athletes of all aquatic disciplines in the courtyard at Harry Jerome. There are Parent Meetings (attendance recommended for new parents) for each sport, where you can meet the coaches, learn about training and competition plans, how to sign up for meets, pool protocol, etc. Cruisers Aquatics clothing and other swim wear is also available for purchase.

Swim-a-Thon & Potluck

The annual Swim-a-Thon is one of Cruisers’ best fundraisers, and a great way for the kids to make a difference for their club. Kids collect pledges, either by length or for a fixed amount. Then they jump in the pool and see how many lengths they can swim in an hour. Grandma is always surprised!

Kids and parents celebrate with a Potluck dinner afterward. Date, location and other details will come out early in the season. Pledge forms will be distributed by email and to kids at practice.

Sleepover

The annual 12-and-under sleepover at a RecCentre will be held at a date TBD in late-June or early-July. This popular, not-to-be-missed event is for participants in all aquatic disciplines. There’s pizza, movie, late night play-in-the-pool, and sleepover in the gym.

The coaches and the volunteer coaches will be there all night to make certain that the kids have a great time.

Challenge Week

Challenge Week is a week to build endurance – a week of extra practices, some longer, sometimes cross-training. Coaches in each discipline design the endurance practices, and offer rewards for hard work. Challenge Week is typically in July.

Hootenanny

The Hootenanny is a mega-meet that Cruisers Aquatics hosts – this year on July 6, 7 and 8 at UBC’s Aquatic Center. The Hootenanny combines a Water Polo tournament on Friday, Speed Swimming meet all day Saturday and Sunday, Diving competition on Saturday, and Synchro display on Sunday. We've had about 850 participants from around the province compete, making this the largest summer aquatics event in the province and great training for Provincials.

This can be Cruisers’ largest fundraiser. In addition to the fees visiting teams and athletes pay to come to the Hootenanny, we also run a Silent Auction, Book Sale and concession. These funds are critical to ensuring our club breaks even.

It takes about 100 volunteers each day to run the meet and associated fundraisers. Please make sure you sign up for lots of volunteer duties. It’s always fun, and a great way to support your kids’ club.

Pep Rally

The Pep Rally is the Cruisers’ team send off to Regional events in August. Typically at Cates Park a weekday evening in early August, kids have a blast with outdoor games, potluck dessert and the ever-popular pie-the-coach.

Cheers Night

This popular dinner and dance, held after Regionals  at Cheers restaurant, is for families, the last event of the Cruisers season until awards night. This party is what many swimmers remember most about the year. After a kid-friendly buffet dinner and some silly entertainment supplied by the coaches, the DJ will start up and rock the kids into the night. It's a fantastic celebration for every age of the swimmer and a great reward for the end of the season.

Awards Night & AGM

Usually the first weekend in October, the Annual Awards Night & AGM is a night filled with excitement and celebration! Elections of the next year’s executive, awards for athletic and leadership achievement, and plenty of potluck desserts!