WELCOME

The Stillwater Starz is a developmental summer swim team and a member of the Naperville Swim Conference (NSC). A volunteer-driven 501(c)(3) nonprofit, our mission is to develop confident, capable young swimmers and foster a love of competitive swimming in a safe, supportive, and fun environment.

Our swimmers range from 4-18 years of age, and most are residents of the Stillwater subdivision and other nearby communities in southwest Naperville, Plainfield, and Oswego. For our youngest swimmers, their time on the Starz is often their first experience with competitive swimming. It’s also where many of our returning swimmers, some of whom now swim year-round in club and school programs, got their start. Join us this summer, and find out what fun you can have when we shoot for the Starz together!

Starz Roundup: Monday, May 26, 2025

Lea Fortkamp

 

Starz Roundup

Monday, May 26, 2025

 

 

Pre-Season Practices Begin Tomorrow

Given the predicted low temperatures, Tuesday ‘s (6U) and Wednesday’s (7/8) practices will be DRY. Swimmers will not get in the water on these days. Please dress your swimmer in sweats and sneakers. Clothing should be suitable for outdoor, coach-led games and dryland training.

At this time, we expect that Thursday and Friday practices will be in-water, but we’ll let you know if this changes.

Private Lessons for Team Families

Beginning today, interested team families may sign up for ONE private lesson per swimmer. These lessons are held on weekday mornings from 10:20-10:50. If a family books additional lessons during this initial signup period, these additional bookings will be removed.

Please use this Google sheet (also available on the team website under Resources>Private Instruction) to sign up. Refer HERE for coach bios, then view the tabs at the bottom of the Google sheet for coaches’ preferred payment methods and daily availability. Note that each week of the season has its own tab.

You can work with one coach throughout the season or mix it up. Private lessons are $30 (Volunteer and Junior Coaches) or $35 (Head Coach and Asst. Head Coaches). On June 1, families will be invited to sign up additional lessons—as many as they like.

If you’re interested in arranging private lessons OUTSIDE the daily team development block (during other regular pool hours), please contact a coach directly to inquire about his or her availability.

 

Time Trials (June 7): Declare Your Swimmer BEFORE Saturday, May 31

Time Trials in an intrasquad mock meet designed as a dry run for swimmers, parents, and meet organizers. Without the stress of having another team present, this practice meet shows new families what to expect at an NSC swim meet and allows meet organizers and returning families to knock the rust off before competing against another conference team.

If you haven’t already done so, please DECLARE your swimmer (yes OR no) for Time Trials BEFORE Saturday, May 31. Participation is strongly recommended for all swimmers, ESPECIALLY those who are new to the program. You should have received an email reminder to declare your swimmer earlier this week.

To declare your swimmer for a meet, either log into our website or the SportsEngineMotion app. Select the event, then click “Edit Commitment” (website) or “Declare” (app). Select your swimmer, click “Yes” or “No” to commit or decline, then select the session, if applicable, (Day 1/Session 1). Finally, click “Save Changes” (website) or “Apply” (app).

 

Job Signup Closes Sunday, June 1

Job signup will remain open through 11:59 p.m. on Sunday, June 1. All families, regardless of how many meets their swimmers participate in, are responsible for working four (4) regular season meet jobs. If your family has not signed up for its four regular season meet jobs by the time signup closes, jobs will be assigned for you, and a $25 per job convenience fee will be applied to your credit card on file for this service. Assigning jobs for families takes a significant amount of time AND eliminates your opportunity to choose the jobs and dates you prefer, so we’d like to avoid this as much as possible.

If you are unable to work a meet job yourself, please check HERE for a list of proxy workers available for hire. Hire and payment is arranged independently by the team parent, and an hourly proxy wage is generally comparable to a locally competitive babysitting wage.

If you have selected a job and the date no longer works for you, you can also search for and post on the “Stillwater Starz Parent Job Swap” group on Facebook. Here, parents can try to swap jobs with one another when schedules get tricky. Unfortunately, our Volunteer Jobs Coordinator, Asheley, is unable to facilitate parent job changes; these must be handled between parents. Missed jobs will result in a $100 missed job fee per occurrence.

If you have questions regarding jobs, please contact Asheley.

 

Gear/Suit/Cap Orders

If you ordered from our team store prior to the deadline and selected Stillwater as your shipping location, we anticipate receipt of your orders prior to Time Trials. We will send an email notification when orders arrive, and your swimmer can pick up your family’s order at practice.

 

Big Fish/Little Fish

Big Fish/Little Fish is a new mentorship program designed to grow our older swimmers’ leadership abilities while helping our younger swimmers learn the ropes of summer swim—all while building Starz team spirit!

What does a BIG FISH (ages 11+) do?

  • Teach Little Fish families how to read a heat sheet 
  • Teach Little Fish relay order and where to stand
  • Remind Little Fish where to start (in or out of the water), how to turn, and how to finish (two hand touch, etc..)
  • Remind Little Fish what to bring to the meet
  • Help Little Fish with cap, goggles, and getting to bullpen
  • Answer Little Fish’s family’s questions

What does a LITTLE FISH (ages 5-8) do?

  • Cheer on their BIG FISH
  • Ask questions

Would your younger swimmer love the guidance of a “Big Fish” this season? Would your patient, attentive older swimmer enjoy helping our younger Starz swimmers learn the ropes?

Sign up your swimmer HERE by Sunday, June 1!

 

Missed Meet the Coaches/Parent Info Night?

The slide deck from this event is posted on our website’s front page, HERE. Please make time to check it out in the coming days.

 

 

That’s it for today! Have a safe and happy Memorial Day Weekend, and we’ll look forward to seeing many of you at pre-season practices this week. Remember, 6U (Tuesday) and 7/8 (Wednesday) practices will be DRY.

Be on the lookout tomorrow for a special announcement about our preferred parking raffle!

 

Take Care,

 

Lea

Stillwater Starz Parent Board