ELITE NEWS BULLETIN 01-04-10
SENIORS CONQUER IRREGULAR PRACTICE
TIMES, IRREGULAR POOL SIZE AND (MINOR) EARTHQUAKE:
Fulfilling their annual training rite, 15 Elite Seniors traveled 3000 miles last week to train 12 times in 6 days outdoors in (sometimes) sunny San Diego. While this was the 10th training trip for Elite Seniors, it was the maiden voyage to San Diego for Elite. As with most 1st time trips, this trip was not without its surprises.
The Seniors trained twice a day and swam approximately 11,000 yards of training (approximately 7 miles) each day for an approximate total of 72,000 yards. During a standard training week, Elite Seniors train about 32,000 yards. To make the training that much more difficult, six of the practices were long course (a 50 meter length pool rather than the 25 meter pool the Seniors train in at MBS). The remaining practices were held in a 35 (yes 35) yard pool (rather than a standard 25 yard pool). These 35 yard practice proved most technically difficult as they were in a shallow pool (one end’s depth was 2.5 feet deep-making a standard turn difficult) and at the same end, there was no backstroke flags. Interestingly, the intervals for 35 yards are close to scm intervals-as long as the correct amount of laps were swum (a 100 meter swim at MBS converted nicely to a 3 lap swim in this pool-or 105 yards).
In addition to the irregular pool, the Seniors also combated an irregular practice schedule. Originally, Elite had contracted to train at the University of California at San Diego. In September, a fire in the pool pump house melted most of the pipes at that facility. As a result, UCSD is still fixing the pump house and Elite (locked into the flight to San Diego) then contracted to train at a local JCC center (which had the irregular size pool).
Because of this situation, Elite was forced to practice around the general membership and the local USA Swimming Club (North Coast Aquatics) practice schedule. That meant that 3 times during the trip, the Elite Swimmers trained 3 times in 24 hours!!
On Thursday afternoon (between practices), Southern Califonia experienced an earthquake of 5.3. Many of the swimmers did not even feel the movement.
Despite being very tired, swimmers still managed to “play” abit between practices. Swimmers walked the La Jolla beach, played games at Dave & Busters and spent New Year’s Day at the San Diego Zoo (saw the panda bears!!).
The coaches and
swimmers would like to thank David Strand, Pat Mango and Don Mango, who
chaperoned the Seniors. The chaperones made the trip
possible by driving the swimmers to and from the practices and planning the
down-time activities. The Seniors would also like to
thank ESCPO for sponsoring the Dave & Busters New Year’s Eve activity.
Swimmers
participating in the trip were: Chelsea Allocco,
Lindsay Anderson, Victoria D’Altrui, Tad Deatly, Priya Duvvuri,
Venka Duvvuri, Michael Li,
Alex Mango, Danni Martinez, Brendan Miller-Radest,
Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson, Michael Strand, Adam Weinbrom & Ryan Wyer.
ATTENDANCE
STATS STILL STRONG THRU DEC; 3 OF 7 TRAINING GROUPS AVERAGING OVER 80%
OR HIGHER
Swimmers
and Parents are reminded that only swimmers with 70% attendance records will be
considered for promotion into the next higher training group this spring (Wave Golds need 80% attendance to be considered for promotion
into the Senior Prep training group).
CO-HOSTING PRINCETON
INVITATIONAL MEANS GUARANTEED SWIMS PROVIDED BY ELITE’S (PARENTS PLEASE
NOTE) TIMING ASSIGNMENTS GALORE!!
As each Elite swimmer and parent knows, entering NJ/USA Sanctioned swim meets in New Jersey is a challenge. There are over 8000 swimmers registered in New Jersey and a single 8 lane pool can accommodate approximately 350 swimmers for 3 events in 4 hours.
Because Elite is very organized, Elite swimmers almost always get entered into the meets the team wants to compete in. Elite rarely gets “shut out” of meets-though the possibility is very, very real that this will happen in the future-despite being organized. To reduce the possibility of being shut out of two very important meets, Elite has agreed to “co-host” two new meets this year:
1) the Princeton Invitational. This meet is held January 16th & 17th. This is a short course meet held in a fantastic facility (often over shadowed by an even more fantastic facility-Rutgers) late in training cycle. Competing in this meet means swimmers get one last opportunity to improve their times in a top notch facility prior to championship season in early March. Please note that most of February is spent preparing swimmers training wise on their championship season-not competing.
2) The Tiger Challenge. This meet is held May 15th and May 16th. This meet is a long course meet held very early in the summer long course training cycle. Competing in this meet allows swimmers to get updated lcm times for the summer competition season
By agreeing to “co-host” this meet, Elite offered to provide timers and a meet referee. This “co-hosting” then “locks” Elite into the meet
(thus preventing the team from being shut out of these two timely meets). This guarantees Elite to participate as a result of the Elite parents willingness to “work the meet.”
Please note this message from the timing coordinators Carolyn Balbo, Jennifer Campbell Tortorella and Lisa Allocco:
On January 16th and 17th Elite is co-hosting the Tiger Challenge Meet. Elite’s responsibilities include a large timing assignment as one of the host clubs. We will need all parents of swimmers entered in this meet to help fulfill Elite’s timing assignment. Please expect to time one or more shifts over the weekend. If your child is entered in this meet but will not be swimming one or both days please let Carolyn, Jennifer or Lisa know immediately. Thank you in advance for your cooperation. Please contact Carolyn, Jennifer or Lisa with any questions or concerns.
Carolyn
Balbo – cbalbo@comcast.net
, Jennifer Tortorella - campbel5@optonline.net , Lisa Allocco
– lvallocco@verizon.net
RUTGERS COLLEGE CONFERENCE CARNIVAL: ELITE RELAYS
(HOPEFULLY) FOR TOP ELITE SWIMMERS, OLYMPIAN ERIC SHANTEAU CLINIC FOR ALL:
Year 2 of Rutgers
University Women’s Varsity Swim Team’s
College Conference Carnival will see
Olympian Eric Shanteau and Olympian Josh Davis in a 3 hour clinic open to all swimmers
in New Jersey.
Building on the
swimming phenomena generated from the 2008 Beijing Olympics, Rutgers University
Women’s Team will again host a “College Conference Carnival” at Rutgers
University on Friday, January 22 & Saturday, January 23, 2010. Committed to
competing at the collegiate level are Rutgers, the University of Minnesota, the
University of Maryland-Baltimore, the University of Richmond, the University of
Central Connecticut and Rider University. All of these teams either won or
placed 2nd in their respective conferences.
As
part of the festivities, Rutgers will coordinate 4 events that will (hopefully)
directly impact Elite Swimming: in the middle of the meet: Rutgers has
scheduled relay races for the top 8 teams in New Jersey (including southern NJ
which is part of the Mid-Atlantic LSC) in both the 9-10 and 11-12 Age Groups. Elite has submitted 4 relays (one each for girls and
boys in both the 10 & Under and 11-12 Age Groups).
Elite expects to hear shortly if any/all their relays are accepted to
participate. Relays that are accepted will be posted on the
team website.
As
currently scheduled, the 11-12 Boys and Girls Relays will participate at
approximately 7 pm Friday night and the 9-10’s will participate at
approximately 7:45 pm on Saturday night.
In
addition to the competition at both the College and Age Group level, Rutgers
will be hosting Olympian’s Eric Shanteau and Josh
Davis (who visited Elite two years ago with Kate Zieglar)
on Saturday from 2:30 pm to 5:30 pm. Information on how to reserve your tickets
to this clinic will be forthcoming.
Rutgers will also be planning other entertain activities at the meet such as Synchro Diving & Big Man Cannonball Contests, Masters World Record 3-Meter Diving Contest and Clown Diving. Tickets for the event are now being offered at: http://ev12.evenue.net/cgi-bin/ncommerce3/SEGetGroupList?groupCode=RF&linkID=rutgers&shopperContext=&caller=&appCode=.
Elite
parents of swimmer participating: if you are a NJ Swimming Official, please
contact Jim O’Neil to officiate (these events only!). This will get you into
the door for free and will help enable any record setting relay to be
recognized as such!!!
….JUST WHEN YOU THOUGHT IT WAS SAFE NOT TO LOOK AT OUR PRACTICE
SCHEDULE: HIGH SCHOOL MEETS TO DISRUPT PRACTICES:
In December, January and thru the middle of February, high school & middle school swim teams conduct practice and meets at the two pools Elite uses. Incredibly, a total of 7 high school and middle school teams use either Newark Academy or Morristown-Beard School during this time in addition to Elite. What these means to us is that Elite’s practices will be disrupted as meets will encroach into Elite’s practice times.
On
days when there are no meets, Elite’s practices will be held at the identical
time. However, on those days when a high school or middle school is using one
of our pools for a meet, our practices might be shortened at the front end or
on the back end. And meets get canceled and rescheduled. So, please continue
to check the practice schedule for practice time changes on a daily basis!!
ADDITIONAL 12 & UNDER ENTRIES FOR
WINTERFEST; PRINCETON ENTRIES ALSO MODIFIED FOR 12 & UNDERS:
Elite was able to modify its 12 & Under entries for Winterfest, adding those swimmers and swims achieved at Fall Festival. The 13 & Olders portion of the meet was closed prior to competition at Fall Festival; thus no modifications of entries for 13 & Older were made for Winterfest.
As a result of the modification of the Winterfest entries, the Princeton Invitationals entries were also modified to take into consideration the Winterfest modifications. An attempt was made to provide as many different events per swimmer between the two meets held in January.
JOURNALISM
INTERNSHIPS AVAILABLE WITH SWIMMING WORLD AT CERA VE INVITATIONAL IN JANUARY:
Recreating the opportunity provided to New Jersey Swimmers last winter, Swimming World and Berkeley Aquatic Club will provide journal internships during the Cera Ve Invitational Meet to be held January 15 thru January 17, 2010.
With the overwhelming success of the Summer 2008 Beijing Olympics and what swimming as a sport provided to that success, swimming is becoming more main-stream each year. This winter, NBC Sports will be telecasting the USA/European Dual in the Pool contact in December, 2009.
Swimming World, the most widely read swimming magazine, will be providing internships for those people in New Jersey to 1) to interview Olympians and top swimmers at the meet 2) to be involved in producing content for Swimming World’s magazine and website-both audio and visual and 3) to interact with the Swimming World Staff.
Last year, Elite swimmer Sam Duren (now a Senior Prep) took advantage of this opportunity.
Forms for applying for the internship are attached to this memo.
PARENTS: PLEASE BE PROMPT IN PICKING UP SWIMMERS:
Parents are requested to be prompt in picking up their swimmers at the end of practice. Recently, especially after the Wave Golds on weekdays and the Wave Teals on Saturday, swimmers have had to wait 30-45 minutes after practice for their ride.
Bill has asked the coaches to remain at practice until the last child has been picked up (for the obvious safety reasons). Coaches are more than willing to do so occasionally. But Elite coaches have other full time jobs and several are attending school in addition to their primary jobs and coaching. It is unfair to ask the coaches to spend an additional 30-40 minutes waiting for parents to pick up their children virtually every night.
Elite is prompt about ending practice on time. Please help out the coaches by being prompt to pick up your child.
CLOTHING ITEMS PREVIOUSLY
PURCHASED THRU ESCPO NOW IN: CONTACT ALLISON NASH:
The clothing items previously purchased thru ESCPO have arrived. Parents are encouraged to contact Allison Nash to arrange pick-up at Newark Academy. Allison’s email address is ALLISONRNASH@MSN.COM.
WHEN IN DOUBT, CHECK THE WEBSITE:
If you have questions about Elite, your first source of information is Elite’s website located at eliteswimclub.org. When in doubt, first check the website!!!