Thursday, December 30, 2010

Drinking Enough Water?

USA Swimming is has just revamped their website and has made it a lot easier to use. The problem is that there is so much information that it wasn't always clear where to find it. I do encourage parents to check it out since it offers a great source of general information about the sport. There is even an area specifically dedicated to parents like you and giving you access to lots of different topics.

As an example, please read this excellent article on practice and water drinking (which the kids rarely do well enough - even the ones who bring water bottle at swim practice).

Friday, December 10, 2010

Marlins News: Junior Olympics and Fort Bragg


Kate, Anton, Monica and Ava at JOs
Last weekend (12/3-4-5) was very busy for some of our Marlins swimmers. We had 4 athletes who qualified and attended Junior Olympics in Pleasanton on Friday. Congratulations to Kate Claman, Ava Salmi, Monica Sears and Anton Zahradnik for a good performance at the meet. Worth mentioning that Monica finished 14th in the 100 free and Anton finished 13th in the 200 back.


From Pleasanton, we drove straight to Fort Bragg where we met the rest of the team for a 2 day meet in the brand new indoor complex that made the experience a real pleasure. We were received very well by the host team that was pleased to see us make the effort to attend the event. Yes, it was an effort as it is a 3 hour drive to get there, and the return trip was quite a challenge as we headed back to Marin under some really intense rain that made visibility an issue. That said, everyone agreed, it was so worth it that we are looking forward to going again next year!

..and swimmer's corner.
The team stayed at a nearby hotel and we managed to spend Saturday evening’s dinner with most of the athletes and their families in one place … not a small feat, thank you Norm for the planning it took to make it happen. We did get a small treat by stumbling out of the restaurant onto the holiday parade down Fort Bragg’s main street. Being used to Bolinas and Woodacre parades, I certainly connected with the small town feel and the random floats but let’s say that it was … different. The highlight (for me at least) was the pigeon who was walking slowly at the end, apparently banned from being part of the actual parade because of its edgy attitude and propensity to do his business in the middle of the street.
Float Fort Bragg style! .... sorry no pics of the pigeon.
Parents corner ..

But let’s get back to why we really drove up north: the swim meet! 23 swimmers participated in the event over the 2 days, not bad for a really far away meet. As a team we did really well, 153 individual events and 7 relays later, we managed to finish 3rd overall with 2 marlins swimmers taking the high point award in their respective age group. Congratulations to Monica Sears and Anton Zahradnik both in the in the 11-12 age group. Since the pool is new, this was the 3rd meet there and therefore the list of pool records got completely updated during the meet and our Marlins swimmers broke 31 pool records over the 2 days. That experience  was new for me as well! 


Some of the swimmers holding trophy and plaques!
Although the overall improvement was only 55%, and in some ways quite average for this kind of meet, it does not reflect the smaller victory that almost all the swimmers experienced. 22 swimmers ended up improving at least one of their events. 5 team records were updated as well, Monica Sears broke the 11-12 100 back, Isabella Salmi broke her own record in the 15-16 200 back, Jared Sears broke 2 team records in the 500 free (what a race!) and the 200 IM for the 15-16 age group, and last but not least Tyler Welty broke a very long standing record in the 100 breast for the 13-14 age group. That record belonged to Chris Mai (Coach Chris) who by far had been the fastest breastroker the marlins have had the privilege to call one of their own. Looks like Tyler, who is just getting back in shape and has recently moved to Marin from Ohio with his family, is not done updating our team records in that stroke. Welcome to the team Tyler!

Special thanks to the parents who supported the event and made it such a great experience for their kids. We hope we can be back next year if the meet is offered again. Fort Bragg is a younger team and is struggling with all the challenges that running such a meet imposes, in addition, the city is having difficulties keeping the newly built center open year around. Let’s wish them well and hope things will work out for them.

Happy Holidays,
Marc

Wednesday, December 8, 2010

The Swimmer’s Will


The Swimmer’s Will
(15 steps for greater success)

1.    I will always say “I will” or “I do.”
2.    I will think positive at all times.
3.    I will respect myself, my teammates, my coaches, my parents and my competitors.
4.    I will do my best each day.
5.    I will be on time.
6.    I will start and end each swim at the wall.
7.    I will start each set on time.
8.    I will streamline always.
9.    I will flip all turns.
10. I will breath from both sides.
11. I will push myself past what I believe possible.
12. I will encourage my teammates.
13. I will follow directions.
14. I will have a strong kick.
15.  I will have fun!

Borrowed from a USA Swimming Newsletter .... This pretty much covers it all, although I could add: " I will attend every practice" to the list but that would be pushing it!

Wednesday, December 1, 2010

Matt Biondy was in town!

On Tuesday, November 23rd Matt was in town. Thanks to long time friends of his and Marlins parents Karen and Howard Luria, Matt was invited to speak to the St Marks kids during the their general assembly. Of course  I had to be there.

Matt Biondy is one of the most distinguished swimmers of all times, competed in 3 Olympic Games 84, 88 and 92 and broke many records (more info here). At the height of my swimming carrier, I remember Rowdy Gaines was a big focus for me for one main reason: Rowdy was fast (he won the 100 free at the 84 Olympics) ... and he was just a short as I was - actually, he was the shortest swimmer in that race. Yes in the world of freestyle sprinters, 6'1 is short, and I must admit that it was too easy to latch on to that excuse as a ceiling for my performances.

In any case, Rowdy did help me during my competitive years as a reminder that you didn't have to be a giant to swim fast. All was well, until I attended an international meet in Monaco in 85 or 86 where many countries would send their national teams as a gauge meet. No one broke any records there (as far as I can remember) as every swimmer was still in the thick of training (it was in May), but just being there with the best swimmers in the world was, well, it was awesome!

When I was not warming up, racing, warming down, stretching and hanging with my teammates, I would go  sit amongst the various team attending the meet. The US team and Australian was a bit more interesting because I could understand bits of what was said between the swimmers, but sitting next the the Russians or Japanese was fascinating. It was like traveling abroad and not understanding anything, still realizing that we were not all that different in our needs (stretching, visualizing, talking with coaches). Anyways, at one point in the meet I found myself trying to figure out a way I could swim in the same lane as some of the great swimmers during warm-up. I know I sound like a groupie, whatever, what if by some kind of miracle, swimming within feet of them would rob off on me. Nothing magical happened of course except for the fact that I actually found my self standing right next to Matt Biondy as he was about to get in the pool for warm-up. Granted he didn't have his hand on my shoulder as depicted in the picture above, but I was close enough that I was looking straight into his eyes ... just kidding, straight at his shoulder!

Matt was the Michel Phelps of my time and I know it was an honor for Jeff and I to be part of this event at St Marks. Thank you Karen.

Saturday, November 13, 2010

Marlins News - Napa - Fort Bragg and more

We are just returning from the Napa meet (11/5-6-7) and we have 17 more practices to get ready for Fort Bragg. Napa was a good meet, well run and this year the weather was not as bad as it could have been. The meet was a good measuring tool to see where the swimmers are in their preparation. Based on the amount of swimming and the intensity of training, combined with the fact that the kids were not rested before the meet, I was hoping most of our swimmers would swim close to their best time (within .5 sec on 50s, 1 sec on 100 sec and 2 sec on 200s). As it turned out, out of the 80 races performed at the meet, we had 32 best times and only 16 races were worst than predicted. Out of the 16, only 7 were out of character an 3 of them were an "off" performance by an otherwise good swimmer for the meet.

I don't usually get into such detailed meet analysis, but with our next meet less then a month away, I really wanted to make sure my gut feeling was correct. In other words the kids are doing well, and even though we had a 43% best time and 2 DQs - which in itself is nothing to rave about - they are swimming close to their best while not rested. Also worth mentioning, is that 4 team records were broken, Isabella Salmi in the 200 back 15-16, Jared Sears in the 400 IM, 200 back and the 100 back 15-16. In addition 2 new team records were establish in races never swam before in the 13-14 1000 free by Alicia Vogelaar, and the 15-16 1000 free by Justas Reskevicius. Good job to all of you!

Our next meet, and the focus of our preparation is Fort Bragg (12/4-5 the meet will close on 11/22 or when full). This is a first for the team as we have never traveled this far for a meet, but I was motivated by by some very tangible facts irrevocably linked to competing at this time of the year. Last December we attended Junior Olympics and it was 32 degrees on the pool deck during warm-up! Although not the optimal temperature to swim your best, it would not be so bad it the meet was in the middle of the swimmer's preparation, but about 3 times a year the kids need a focus meet were they can really shine, otherwise swimming hard at practice becomes less palatable.

I am delighted to see that parents and swimmers alike are supporting my decision to enter a meet held in an indoor facility, and at the same time providing swimmers and parents with an ability to bond with the team during the trip. So far, we have 23 swimmers committed to the event and we might get a few more before the meet closes.

We will also have a few swimmers who qualified, attending Junior Olympics on 12/3. It will be a busy weekend as they will be traveling straight from on meet to the next. this is exciting!

We are still having some problems with the pool heater. Seems that it turns itself off and needs to be reset at random times. The staff is staying on top of it and it is only a mild inconvenience for the kids as the water dropped to 81 - 82 degrees only a couple of times since we have discovered the problem. We are still working on solving the issue.

The transition to our winter schedule was pretty smooth and we will maintain the training schedule until the end of the session (12/17). We will be combining swim practice for all groups on 11/24. This is usually a poorly attended swim practice and we will use the same practice schedule as Fridays (G1 and G2 from 3:40 to 4:40 pm and G3 and G4 from 4:40 to 6:10 pm).

I have been experimenting with taking videos of the kids during practice. The concept is not new for the Marlins, but our technology has so far prevented us from sharing it with everyone as the finished result was such a big file (anywhere from 1 to 2 Gb) that it made it impossible to post it on the website or e-mail it, and very unpractical to burn on DVDs for everyone. But technology is catching up and with the use of a "flip" video I am able to take short clips 3 to 5 seconds of the swimmers in action, without affecting the flow of swim practice, and make it available for the kids to watch. I will be posting the videos on the Marlins Website and arrange them by practice groups. You do have to log in to access this section of the site, but I hope you will find it well worth it. I even plan on adding pointers and small critics as I get use to it to make it an even better teaching tool. I am also working on using the same camera and installing it on a pole so that we can see under water. Below is an example of a video:


That's it for now!

Monday, October 18, 2010

Marlins News

We are already getting in the 3rd week of October, days are getting shorter, cooler ... and practice is getting harder! Our swimmers are doing a great job at staying focused on the December meets and trying not to let the challenging practices shake their determination. The group 4 swimmers are very excited to have added a couple of "torture" instruments at practice. It will take some getting use to it but the new snorkel and paddles will help a lot.

View of the girl's side of the pool.
We have just participated in our second away meet of the season at Indian Valley in Novato on October 9th and 10th. Although the meet felt a bit chaotic with girls and boys swimming at the same time (at both end of the pool), it was a good demonstration of where the kids are at in their training. 23 swimmers participated in the event, mostly group 3 and 4 swimmers, but we did have a few younger kids represented by Alyssa Mulligan (7) and Amelia Downs (9) who swim in her first away meet ever (good Job!). 40% best time is below what we usually do at meets, but this early in the season it makes sense. Worth noting that our swimmers only collected 2 disqualifications out of 109 races. What is unusual is the fact that we had 5 new team records during the meet. James Beard improved his one year old record on the 9-10 500 free, and Jared Sears broke 3 eight year old records in the 15-16 200 free, 100 back and 200 IM and one seven year old record in the 200 back. Good job to all of you!

This last weekend, a few of our swimmers decided it would be a good idea to go swim in cold water and participated in the Tiburon Mile. Congratulation to Adam Loo, Isabella Salmi and Jared Sears.  Its been just over 24 hours so everyone should be thawed out by now and the good news is no Marlins were part of the 6 swimmers that had to be rescued due to the cold conditions.  Besides the rain and overcast sky an article in today's IJ mentioned because of the large number of swimmers (850) there was a longer wait on the beach so people were chilled going into the water.  
Take a wild guess! Was this picture taken before or after the race? You go guys!

We are now getting ready for our Saturday home meet (The Spooky Plunge) and hope to get good weather for the event. I you haven't done so yet, please take the time to sign-up. Of course I would be happy to help. NBA will be bringing a small crew to the meet and I hope to see a lot Marlins swimmers attending.

We are still planning on attending an away meet on November 20-21 (most likely in Oakland or the peninsula) more on this as soon as I have some info about our option. Regardless, this will be a meet that will not give us a long time to register for it, as soon as you get my e-mail announcement I suggest you sign-up.

Last but not least, the Fort Bragg meet is back on and just got posted. It is the same weekend as JOs and will be serving swimmers who didn't qualify for Junior Olympics ... or who are too old (15 and over). Now you are thinking Fort Bragg!!! Is he nuts? ... I know that a 3 hour drive is not everyone's favorite, but concider going for both days and spending the nigh there. It is an indoor pool with a really fun and attractive format for the meet (relays and team scoring). I will be sending you a specific e-mail shortly about the event.

Tuesday, October 5, 2010

Marlins News

Hi Folks,
here we are at the beginning of October with already 4 weeks of swim practice, one home meet and one away meet behind us.

As of today, we have about 125 swimmers actively participating in swim practice and it looks like everyone has their school schedule down. We are seeing the swimmer in group 1 and 2 an average of 2 practices a week, group 3's average is 2.6 and group 4's is 3.

We had beautiful afternoon for the first event of the season. 59 swimmers participated in the meet only 10 days after our first scheduled practice of the year. This was a great time to practice racing, get a feel for swim meets for our newer athletes and get parent to spend some time socializing. The performance in the 25 yard events, as expected,  was good. Most events were improved particularly with the 9 and over swimmer who do not race a 25 yard very often. The 50 yards events were a lot tougher on the kids as only 16% of the events were improved! Parents, thank you for helping with the meet. For results please click here.

Our first social event of the season was schedule right after the meet. We had Bobby from the RRC kitchen cater the event and everyone was able to enjoy the evening amongst friend and family. 20 families participated and everyone truly enjoyed Cheryl Davis' slide show put together with love about our last season.

Reed from Norcal was here ... if you came to practice that day (9/21), I am sure you heard his booming voice. I know he took quite a few orders for team suits, warm-ups and parkas. If you missed the event, you can still call Norcal at 1-800-752-7946 and place your order. I do have a sizing kit (a bunch of suits of all sizes in a box) in my office.

Jeff and I took 17 kids to our first away meet of the season in Hercules. This was a first for us and we loved everything about the meet. The format, the people, the pool and of course the weather. This is definitely a keeper and we will add this event to the schedule next season. The kids did OK, with 35% best time, I cannot call this meet great as this is well below average for the team, but the numbers do not seem to reflect the over all feel of the weekend. No one got disqualified (although Annelise should have ;-)) and many swimmers swam fast on a few of their events. Ultimately, everyone had been working hard the previous week - 25% harder then at the beginning of last fall season, and Jeff and I were happy to see the kids get within 1 to 2 seconds on their 100s. The results are posted on the Marlins website. Certainly worth noting is the fact that 2 team records were broken at the meet: Jared Sears broke his own record in the 13-14 200 Free and Jared Sears, Alicia Vogelaar, Kate Claman and Jack Berkenfield broke the 13 and over mixed 200 Medley Relay record as well. Good job.
Jack, Kate, Alicia and Jared - Go Marlins

This weekend, Jeff and I are taking 23 swimmers to the Marin Pirate meet in Novato (10/9 and 10/10). The kids have been training hard but we should see an overall better performance as they are all getting closer to their top shape. More on this next week.

If you have not noticed it yet, the sign-up for our next home meet are open. This year will be our 15th Spooky Plunge Meet, with the usual spooky events and hopefully the beautiful weather we hope will come with it.

You all have received you first invoice of the season. If you are paying by check, please make it payable to RRC and bring it by at practice at your earliest convenience.

Any questions, please call me at 456-1153
Marc

Friday, September 24, 2010

San Rafael Schools Fundraiser

In denial that summer has ended? Then on Oct. 2 come together to play and support San Rafael City Schools at ANDY'S SUMMERFEST, a daytime family carnival and nighttime blues concert at the Loch Lomond Marina, 688 Point San Pedro Rd. The carnival runs from 11 a.m.-4 p.m. and features games, bouncy houses, petting zoo, music, art, BBQ and beer garden. Admission is FREE! Come back at 7 p.m. without the kids for a concert under the stars featuring Tommy Castro, Big Brother and the Holding Company, Vinyl, Miles Schon Band, Terry Haggerty and Frobeck. Enjoy Sol Food for a delicious, cultural event. General admission tickets ($50) and VIP tickets ($200) are available at Brown Paper Tickets http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/79813.

All proceeds benefit HeadsUp, a public education foundation supporting San Rafael City Schools. Vital school programs face devastating state budget cuts and need our help! For more information, or to volunteer at Andy's Summerfest, contact event chair Judy Tuatagaloa at (415) 459-2225 or judywt13@comcast.net.

Sunday, September 12, 2010

marlins Info for September 13, 2010

Hello Everyone,
and welcome to a new season on the Marlins Swim Team. This coming week, Jeff and I will continue to work on placing the swimmer in the correct practice groups. We should be done by Thursday and I will contact you if this affects you as we move through the team roster. Thank you for your patience.

All the new families should have received their password in order to access your account on the website. I will be invoicing everyone by September 21st and payments will be due on October 1. If you chose to pay by credit card, you will have until 9/30 to setup your account, otherwise checks will be due on 10/1 and RRC members will be billed on 10/1 through the club.

Our second week of swim practice is already lined up with events for you to consider. We will have our first home meet of the season on Friday evening from 4 to 6 pm. This is a great event for all our swimmers, even our newest one. If you are interested, please take the time to sign-up for the event or you can e-mail me or call me at 456-1153 if you need assistance.

Also, because we felt a home meet was just not enough socializing, we will be having a great social event right after the meet. Bobby, the chef from the RRC Café, will be catering the event for all who take the time to sign-up before Wednesday. We have reserved the club house and will be comfortable in case the weather is cold. A few parents have put together slide shows that we will be showing on the TV during the event.

On Tuesday, September 21st, Reed from NorCal Swim Shop will be at the pool from 3:30 to 6:30 pm to assist you with all you swim suits, goggles and other swim gear needs. I have just been told the our team parkas are not in stock and available.

We will be attending our first away meet in Hercules on September 25 and 26. This looks like a great meet with good event and relays as well. The meet is now closed and we look forward to taking our 17 swimmers attending. Our next two away meet in Novato (10/9 and 10/10) and in Napa (11/6 & 11/7) are still open for registration at this time.

That’s it for now. As always, I am available to answer your questions about our program so do not hesitate to contact me by e-mail or by phone (456-1153).

Thank you,
Marc