Norwood Aquatics Club
Swim Meet Information
Splash Notes Dec 12, 2010
Dec 12th
Congratulations to all of our swimmers who swam in the first dual meet of the new winter season in the new swim league. Everyone should be very proud of themselves, whether they are a seasoned swimmer on our team, or this was their first swim meet ever! We use the swim meets as an opportunity to see where our swimmers are with their stroke technique. Sometimes what we see in practice is different than what happens at the swim meets. These are great learning experiences, and yes there were some DQ’s yesterday, but all are things we can work on, and I will say that likely at least 65% of them will be corrected for our next meet. If your swimmer was DQ’d, this is a learning opportunity, it is not a negative – there are positives in every race your swimmer swims.
Dedham is a very large team (likely twice our size), as most of the teams will be that we swim in this league, and we swam them very well. Our focus as a team is working toward best times at meets, improved technique and to have fun! Swimming is a team sport, but it is also very individual too, you are working toward being the best YOU! The final score was Dedham 300 Norwood 134.
I think you all saw and experienced it was organized chaos yesterday, but overall went very well. I must thank all of the parents for doing such a tremendous job organizing swimmers, learning our new computer system, our new stroke and turn official, and those timing.
A special thank you to Marie Bonner for organizing all of you, she has been a wonderful support this season! Kudos also goes out to those who worked the meet:
- Stroke & Turn: Kim Goodwin and Laurie Kerns
- Timers: Maria Conley, Krista Cardini, Matt Hebner, John Looney, Tricia Gunning and Chris Osborne
- Bullpen: Denise Kiley, Kathy Keady and Myev Bodenhofer
- Scoring Table: Chris Larson and Marguerite Lee
Your help and support is what makes our program work!
Finally, thank you to all the parents for bringing their children to the meet, giving hugs, words of encouragement, and drying a few tears up too. J
Here are a few stats for those of you that are into those.
- 94 of our 147 swimmers swam in the meet (64% of our team)
- 59 best times were swum at the meet – this was 34% of all swims – Great Job!
- 25 swimmers swam their first meet ever yesterday – this was 26% of those who swam in the meet.
Codes of Conducts are due today! – Sunday, December 12
Swimmer and Parent Codes of Conduct need to be signed by EVERYONE on our team per the league bylaws. If you have not submitted these, please do so as soon as possible. They can be dropped off at my house (96 Maple Street) or brought to any practice this week. Attached are the codes of conduct and a list of who we have on file thus far.
Meet Results
New this season; we are operating on a software program that allows us to get you times immediately following the swim meets. There are two files attached, results from Meet Results For The Team and times by swimmer in alpha order. This is great feedback for the swimmers. I must warn everyone though – best times do not happen at ALL meets, and just because swimmers did not swim a best time, does not mean that they did not have a good meet. So chin up, there are many meets in everyone’s future. Enjoy your sport and think POSITIVE!
SWIM Meet commitments – December 19 – natick meet
Attached is a document that highlights commitment forms received and who I have down for the Natick meet. I have a feeling there are some more swimmers out there planning to swim, so please review this document. If your name is NOT on the list and it should be please get back to me as soon as possible. IF your status has changed and you will NOT be able to attend, please email me.
If at all possible, please let me know of any change in status by Wednesday, December 15 by noon.
Fin Swap – Sunday, December 12
I have had a number of people request a fin swap date. We will do this at the reception table on Sunday, December 12 and again on Saturday, December 18. The club has some lost and found and donated pairs that will be available as well. If you leave a pair there is no cost, if you do not leave a pair, please leave $5.
Splash Notes Dec 6, 2010
Dec 7th
Our first meet is right around the corner! Please have your swimmer at the pool no later than 3:15 for our 3:30 warm-up. The meet should start at 4PM barring any unforeseen technical challenges with the meet software. For those of you who might not have been to the Dedham pool before – deck and bleacher space is very limited, so be prepared for close quarters. Lots of patience and tolerance will be needed. I’d like all swimmers to plan on sitting on the deck on the far side of the pool, this will allow us to get them organized prior to each swim. I am attaching the order of events, rules and terms for your reference too. These all appeared within the team parent packet.
I want to remind our families and swimmers of a few things prior to this meet.
- We want to be good sports no matter what the outcome of the meet. Please remain in the water until all the swimmers in the race you are swimming in touch the wall.
- Trash talking, showing off or taunting other swimmers on our team or on Dedham is UNACCEPTABLE. Please be positive and congratulate other swimmers on their performances regardless of the team they swim for.
- Treat the Dedham facility with respect as if it were your home. Police your area and pick-up after yourselves.
- Try your best! Swimming is an individual sport and you are competing for your team, but you are also competing to be the best YOU, no matter where you finish in your race.
DQ’s At Swim Meets:
ALL swimmers will be disqualified for any infraction of a swimming rule. The league needs to be very consistent so as to not send the wrong message! Officials disqualify new/inexperienced swimmers so they will learn! Being disqualified should be used as a learning and teaching moment! It is best to learn NOW of a mistake in a swim stroke and have your coach work with you to correct your stroke so that you will not get DQ’d in a championship event! Swimmers (nor parents) should get upset about a DQ. Your coach will be notified and, again, will work with the swimmer to correct the mistake!
SWIM MEET LINE-UPS
I will have line-ups with events to everyone by no later than Friday morning.
It is extremely important that your swimmer is at the meet if you have committed. The reason for this is that lanes and heats are pre-assigned and if we have no shows it will make the meet run slower because in some cases heats (races) could have been combined.
Meet Volunteers
Another big pat on the back to Marie Bonner for organizing all of our volunteers this season! Listed below are those who have confirmed for the Dedham meet on Saturday, December 11.
- Stroke & Turn: Kim Goodwin and Laurie Kerns
- Timers: Maria Conley, Krista Cardini, Matt Hebner, John Looney, Tricia Gunning and Chris Osborne
- Bullpen: Denise Kiley, Kathy Keady and Myev Bodenhofer
- Scoring Table: Chris Larson (Marguerite Lee)
**We would like to have three more parents volunteer to be back-up timers just in case we need to provide more timers or something comes up with those assigned. If you are interested in volunteering please email Marie Bonner at THEBONNERSSIX@aol.com <mailto:THEBONNERSSIX@aol.com>
Team Website
A big thank you to Beth Carroll, she has been working very hard on putting together a new website for us that will hopefully be a little more user friendly for all of us. It is still a work in progress so check back for updates, but check-out the progress thus far at www.norwoodstingrays.com <http://www.norwoodstingrays.com/> THANK YOU BETH!
Codes of Conducts are due – Sunday, December 12
Swimmer and Parent Codes of Conduct need to be signed by EVERYONE on our team per the league bylaws. If you have not submitted these, please do so as soon as possible. They can be dropped off at my house (96 Maple Street) or brought to any practice this week. Download the Code of Conduct Form.
Fin Swap – Sunday, December 12
I have had a number of people request a fin swap date. We will do this at the reception table on Sunday, December 12 and again on Saturday, December 18. The club has some lost and found and donated pairs that will be available as well. If you leave a pair there is no cost, if you do not leave a pair, please leave $5.
Swim Suits
There are three suits still waiting to be picked up (Bella Bennet, Hannah Gillis and Meg Johnson) I can bring these to workout on Tuesday and will also have these at the meet on Saturday for pick-up.
I also have two size 26 suits and one size 28 swim suit that will be available for purchase at the Sunday, 12/12 practice. If you are interested, please see the team reception table. These are available on a first come-first serve basis.
Team Apparel Order
Many of you have asked about the status of this order. It was turned in prior to my leaving for Arizona. I anticipate delivery sometime prior to the holidays. I will check on the status at Day Street at the end of the week if I have not heard from them prior to that.
December Practice & MEET Schedule
Sat., 12/11 Dual Meet Versus Dedham at Dedham (1 Recreation Road, Dedham, MA)
**Note Change
3:30 Warm-up – 4PM Start
Sun., 12/12 Blue Hills
1 – 1:45 Little Ray I/Blue I/Gold IA
1:45 – 2:30 Little Ray II/Blue II/Gold IB
2:30 – 3:30 Gold II/Junior/Senior
Tuesday, 12/14 Westwood
3:15 – 4:15 Senior/Junior/ Gold II
4:15 – 4:45 Little Ray I&II/Blue I&II/Gold IA & IB
Sat., 12/18 Blue Hills
12 – 12:30 Little Ray I/Blue I/Gold IA
12:30 – 1:00 Little Ray II/Blue II/Gold IB
1:00 – 2:00 Gold II/Junior/Senior
Sun., 12/19 Dual Meet Versus Natick at Keefe Tech (750 Winter Street, Framingham, MA)
3:30 Warm-up – 4PM Start
Tuesday, 12/21 Westwood
3:15 – 4:15 Senior/Junior/ Gold II
4:15 – 4:45 Little Ray I&II/Blue I&II/Gold IA & IB
Tuesday, 12/28 Vanderbilt
3:15 – 4:10 Senior/Junior
4:10 – 5:00 Gold II/Junior
If you have any questions regarding any information within this email, please feel free to contact me via email.
See you soon!
Kimberly Miller
Head Coach
Norwood Aquatics Club