Gloves, Grants, and Glory (long read)

[Steven Tiell]

Hello SFUWH Family -

Lot's to cover, so let's get to it...

GLORY

If you haven't been to kids practice lately, you're missing out! It is packed with littles! We're averaging more than 20 kids at practice -- 22 last night (+4 coaches) and a handful of our more experienced players were at a tournament in San Diego! ...and we're still recruiting. I want to see 40-50 kids in the pool. We can get there.

We have a 7-year old girl who's one of the most fierce competitors I've seen. Given the option to frolic in the water for that last 10 minutes of practice, she said, "If we have time left, let's play another point!" And so we did. Last night, we had to coach a 13-year old that she can't drop her shoulder and barge the other players when she has the puck - even if they're all bigger than her. She's a monster with the puck!

And another handful(ish) of athletes from our club are hoping to be named to Team USA in February to compete in Turkey in July. Hip-hip-hooray!

A special thanks to new coaches Emerson, Calvin, and [occasionally] Rosa. And a humongous thanks to long-time coaches Jakub, Rhett, and even Holland has been bringing his leadership back, especially when we're in a pinch. Love the team spirit! Some of our players have even taken to coaching me...I've got a long way to go. 

GRANTS

We had a visit from the Olympic Club Foundation at the pool last night. We applied for this grant last year, didn't get it, but got to talk with the Executive Director for about an hour and figured out that ours is exactly the kind of program they want to support. This year, our representative who will pitch the program to the grant committee was hand-picked by the Executive Director. We have high hopes and expect to hear the results before Thanksgiving. 

Not only could this result in a grant of $5-10k (that's renewable for up to 3 years), this is also our first step in assembling the philanthropic infrastructure partnerships required to redo the bottom of MLK Jr. Pool with a smoother surface (which will take many more years and nearly half a million dollars). I have a vision of walls like Tahoe and a 4-on-4 tournament with 6 courts for 120 kids! We can do it!

Not all donations need to be so large. We also accept - and encourage - tax-deductible donations from our community. Donations go to support the Youth Program (still 100% free) and the Gus Fund (which will see its donation to TeamUSA matched by Atlantis Sports for 2026). 

I'll personally match up to a total of $500 of donations from members of our community who haven't donated before. And we will accept (and manage) other challenge grants. Please reach out to me if you'd like to participate.

GLOVES

Finally, the glove drought is soon to be over! 

Yesterday, I got word from the owner of HydroUWH that within the next two weeks, their website will show their existing selection of hand-made gloves as in-stock. And by mid-Nov, they will add a new, less expensive beginner glove to their repertoire. 

To support our growth, the club is planning to place an order for beginner gloves and more snorkels. We're hoping for a 5-10% club discount. Remember, if your kids are sticking with UWH, you need to buy them gear so club gear can be reserved for new players.

To support our community and all the littles we're recruiting, I'm happy to administer a single large order. If you'd like to get in on the group order, you need to fill out this form by noon on Saturday, Oct 25. I'm not able to list everything HydroUWH offers, but I've provided details on the gloves (as that seems most in-demand). Please input the correct information for whatever product(s) you want. If the form causes you problems, send me an email with a screenshot of your shopping cart. Families are responsible for the cost of equipment they're ordering. We will confirm how ordering will work soon.

Also, More-Sport started shipping to the USA and they have gloves in-stock (in some styles/sizes). 

[Steven Tiell]

If you're adding your items to the order form, please add another row. Do not write over existing entries. This should go without saying, but someone already wrote over several entries. Let's be respectful of others, please. It's far too time consuming to fix this stuff after the fact.