President’s Letter – Fall 2023

Greetings, Southampton Family!

What a terrific summer around our terrific recreational campus, right? If you’d have told me a few years ago how much satisfaction I’d get from just leaning over the sun deck railing overlooking the SRA pools and watching hundreds of adults and kids goof off, seemingly without a care in the world, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have believed you. Yet exactly that became one my favorite summertime pastimes – watching you have fun at Richmond’s best rec club (just before cannonballing down the slide to join you, of course.) And the word is definitely out across Richmond – with over 550 returning member “units” (families, couples and singles) plus 120 new member units, SRA is very nearly as full in 2023 as we’ve ever been and more folks are reaching out all the time to learn about how they can join the fun, too.

It’s been a lot of fun serving as president this year alongside a dedicated and dynamic group of fellow board members who are all crazy committed to the long-term health, vibrancy, and culture of this unique club of ours. You’ve heard it before, and it bears frequent repetition: SRA is a volunteer-led organization. That means it depends on individuals, couples and families showing up not just for the fun, but also for the periodic work of stewarding this amazing asset into the future. I often think about the hundreds of board members before us over the past 75 years and how each one of them linked arms to lead us to the place we are today. And now we’re all — including you! — setting future SRA generations up for untold hours of fun, day by day.

Just this past year we laid new patios, new Pickleball courts, new sidewalks, and new viewing terraces. We added small amenities like air-conditioned bathrooms, an outdoor ice dispenser, and freshly paved parking. And we brought back an old tradition of summer’s end parties on the lawn, started new holiday traditions, and — let’s not forget — our legion of amazing swimmers brought back the hardware from both Champs and the regular season! Again!

Even better, the fun doesn’t end just because the pool gates have been locked up for the next few months – ice skating season is just around the corner, and the cooler months are the perfect time to hit the courts and work on your tennis or pickleball game. There’s always fun to be had around Southampton – be sure to check the schedules on our website to see what’s coming up next!

The best news? Even better stuff awaits SRA! Pool improvements, tennis facility updates, ice rink renovations – it’s all on the drawing board and up for discussion as we set long range visions and goals. It’s a great era to be at Southampton, and a great time to sign on to help. We’d love to hear from you if you’d like to find a way to get more plugged in, serving on a committee of interest to you, sharing ideas on improvements you’d like to see, and helping Southampton continue to be the best rec club in Richmond. Email or call the office any time or reach out to any Board member and let us know how you’d like to get more involved; we’ve probably got the perfect opportunity for you.

Thank you for letting me serve this year and thanks to our amazing board and staff for making the magic happen across every corner of campus. I’ll see you at Southampton soon!

Shannon Harton

SRA President (on behalf of your SRA Board)

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)

2023 Save the Dates!

Stay tuned for an usual fall spirit night and look for information
about our Spring Swim Clinic and next year’s team registration.
Swim practice will begin in May ‘23 as usual!

Please mark your calendar with our 2023 meet schedule as follows:

• Sunday, June 11

• Monday, June 19

• Monday, June 26

• Monday, July 3

• Monday, July 10

• Monday, July 17

• Championship Meet: Wednesday, July 26

Congrats to our Back-To-Back CHAMPS!

Southampton Swordfish had a fantastically fun 2022 summer swim season! Our team continued to soar and again won all 6 dual meets, winning the regular season, and won the JRAC Championship Meet for the second year in a row! We couldn’t have done it without our 320+ strong team members.  Each contributed in some manner, from swimming their hearts out at meets to cheering on teammates.  We wanted to acknowledge 2 special swimmers, Henry Gwyer and Joshua Fisher, who smashed JRAC records this year.  Congrats and we are so proud of you both!!

HUGE THANKS to our coaches, Head Coach Mike Peters, Assistant Head Coach Emily Garrett, Ian Donnellan, Lily Hunnicutt, Skylar Mullins, and Porter Hudgins, who guided our team to victory and made for a fun and safe swim season for our swimmers. Coach Emily and Coach Lily will be “retiring” and we wish them all the best!! We are going to miss you both so much and hope you come visit next year!

This year, we launched a new Team Unify site which was extremely helpful to the coaches in planning our meets. We also wanted to thank everyone who supported our new Summer Clinics and our Clinician, Hallie Perry, for leading these!  The swimmers that took advantage of the clinics saw huge improvements and enjoyed the small group environment. We will be looking to enhance these next year so feel free to provide feedback!

Lastly, thank you to all of our family volunteers. No other team in JRAC has as many dedicated parents/family members, who selflessly step up to help in any capacity.  YOU are the reason that our team is a well oiled machine. You make our job easy!

Have a great school year Swordfish — Strength & Honor!

Cathy Durrette & Jenn Walker
Swim Team Directors