President’s Letter – Spring 2023

Greetings, friends, and neighbors! It’s a huge pleasure to serve on your SRA Board of Directors and especially an honor to serve as its President this year, working with a team of Board members who truly love SRA and everything is stands for. This is SUCH a special place and I know we all see ourselves as stewards of a long tradition of family fun in a safe setting that will stretch far into the future. Thank you for your part in it, as well – every member and family is a key part of our success. And I’ve got good news:

Summer is coming!

I don’t know about you, but March always feels like the cruelest month – I’m tired of the cold, tired of grey, and so ready for green grass and blue swimming pools that I can hardly stand it! Fortunately, we’ve finally turned the seasonal page and warm weather is in sight – but among the many things I’ve learned as a member of your SRA Board is that there’s really no such thing as “off season” around here. I’m no ice skater myself – my feet are apparently not put together right for that – but I’ve been AMAZED at how vibrant Southampton’s ice vibe is all winter! We owe a huge thanks, again, to our whole team of leaders, coaches and volunteers who make hockey clinics, skating lessons, free ice time and a truly spectacular season-ending show such an amazing part of SRA life. (And, I have to say, I’ve discovered a new simple pleasure in life: an hour of solitude in a silent ice rink on three or four early mornings each week in December as we take turns hosing it down to build up fresh ice for the season. If you haven’t ever tried it, you should!) Nevertheless, ice season is swiftly turning to pool season. But first:

Mulch is coming!

That means it’s part of my job to not let you forget that SRA is primarily a volunteer-led and -operated club and we depend heavily on your strong backs, creative minds and consistent commitment to keep the wheels on. Among other things, that means pitching in to shake off the above-mentioned winter blahs that settle across campus and shine the place up for another season of outdoor fun. So please join us for the SRA Volunteer Workday on Saturday, April 29th. In addition to spreading veritable mountain ranges of playground and landscaping mulch, there’s trimming, painting, power washing, weeding, and more fun to be had with your fellow members on what’s always a fun Saturday around campus. And you know what they say about many hands and light work – please do come and join in so we can check off the whole list of to-dos together! If you cannot make it (or even if you can) and have some spare time between now and May, please select a task from our sign-up list and take care of it on your own time.

And in the meantime, the approach of pool season means:

The Swordfish are coming!

Coming off one of the most successful swim seasons in years (which is really saying something, considering that SRA is widely known throughout the land as the perennial swimming powerhouse), our Swordfish are already off to a great start with their sold-out preseason swim clinic at the SwimRVA pools. Then registration for the swim season opened up on April 1 and the first of six meets is rushing our way on June 6. Go Fish!

At the same time, we’re excited to rollout enhancements to our Summer Camp schedule that will keep our younger members engaged in our clubhouse and beyond in various arts-and-crafts, games and kid-oriented fun. Watch for details coming soon!

Elsewhere on campus, members and friends are enjoying recent improvements in our racquet sport facilities, including new Pickleball lines on the basketball court and last Summer’s new viewing terraces at the upper tennis courts (with profuse thanks to our partners at Trinity Episcopal School for their support). The Pickleball court has been such a hit that consideration is already being given to re-lining a couple of lower tennis courts for more Pickle-play. Let us know what you think, and be on the lookout for schedules of tennis camps and lessons from our amazing staff of pros!

Among other capital investments around SRA, you’re sure to notice our newly paved and striped parking lot, a new parking area more convenient to the upper courts which you’ll access by way of a newly-reconstructed bridge over the creek, newly air conditioned pool bathrooms (along with other improvements to those facilities we know you’ll enjoy) and new picnic benches scattered around campus.

To conclude, and knowing what a friendly bunch of people we are, I want to make sure you know that …

New members are coming!

Of course, every year we enjoy at least a small influx of new faces but I want to ask you to put a special effort into extending a special welcome to any unfamiliar faces you see–they might be old members you just haven’t met yet, or new folks hoping to make new friends for themselves and their family. Your friendly smile and warm introduction will be the best way to bring them into our community. Membership renewal has been again been a huge success with over 60% of our members taking advantage of the early bird deadline. More will renew prior to swim season, and we’ll likely be able to offer new membership to most of the folks who have expressed interest in joining us. If this year is like the last, though, we’ll probably have to start running a waiting list early in the summer to make sure we don’t exceed our capacity & overstress our facilities, so don’t wait too long to renew. The word is out about how great SRA’s culture and facilities are, and you don’t want to miss out!

On behalf of the entire SRA Board, thank you again for your continued support of our club. Have a great spring season and I look forward to seeing you out on the pool deck!

Shannon Harton
SRA President (on behalf of your SRA Board)