ELITE NEWS BULLETIN              

 

ATTENDANCE STARS EMERGE: ATHLETES RECOGNIZED:

 

          As all swimmers at Elite know, coming to practice on a regular basis is the major reason swimmers see consistant progress in their sport. Practice trains the muscles and the mind and as a result, practice makes better swimmers. Thus, the swimmers with the best practice attendance are apt to be the best swimmers in the pool.

 

            With April concluded, the following swimmers have been at practice at a better than 85% rate (* denotes perfect attendance):

 

            Marlin Teals:  Megan Balbo, Brielle Barba, Bria Bernstein*, Katie Brosnan, Elizabeth D’Altrui*, Amy Duren, Emily Goad, Dominique Gordon*, Emily Goad, Dominique Gordon, Sarah Lowe*.

 

            Marlin Blacks: Arlynn Baer, Chris Balbo, Andre Guacelli*, Julia Guacelli, Mark Kellstrom, Kara Miller-Radest, Julia Muro, Killian O’Gorman, Nicholas Pachiolo, Kaitlin Stearns. 

 

          Wavebuster Teals:  Meg Brosnan*, Ethan Cohen, Parker Dixon, Jeffrey Dong,

Brandon Faris, Jessie Lowe, Christina Pick, Gabrielle Pick, Michelle Pick, Caroline Watt

 

          Wavebuster Blacks:  Marshall Cohen, Audrey Gammel, Brendan Miller-Radest,

Collin Reilly*, Andrea Shepard

 

 

 

 

 

 

        Wavebuster Golds: Peter Davey*, Shelby Dixon, Breana Fitzpatrick, Greg Keiser, Victoria Keiser, Kendall Murray, Erica Takahashi

 

          Senior Preps: Victoria D’Altrui, Tad Deatly, Michael Li, Danielle Martinez*, Ali Morreale, Maggie Nelson, Sarah Peay,

 

        Seniors: Kayla Wolonsky

 

FOUR EVENTS PLANNED IN MAY:

 

            There are four events for swimmers/parents to be aware of this May. Dates for two of the events are set and the dates and formats of the other two are being formalized. 

 

            ELITE-A-THON

 

The 5th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser will be held Saturday, May 13th at Morristown-Beard from 4 pm to 6 pm.

 

Like all past “Elite-a-thons,” this year’s event will be structured so each indvidual participating will be raising money for the “charity of their choice.” A suggestion list of charities will accompany the information provided by Senior Corey Deatly, who taking over the responsibility of running this fundraiser from (graduating Senior) Will Peters, who was the creator of this exciting and rewarding function.

 

Last fall, this “Elite-a-thon” format enabled Elite to raise over $9,000 for the American Red Cross Katrina Hurricane Relief Fund.

 

In a tradition begun two years ago, Bill will swim approximately 2000 yards to raise money for his charity. This year, Bill will raise money for Friends in Adoption (FIA), a non-profit adoption agency located in Middletown, Vermont. FIA not only helps place children in adoption but also stays involved with both the adopting and the birth parents to help with the integration of the adoption process. 

 

In addition to raising money for their own particular charity, Bill is hoping that each swimmer on Elite will pledge at least $1 towards his swim !!!

 

Information regarding the Elite-a-thon is posted on the website!!!

 

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS:

 

Elite will attend the Tidal Waves 2nd Annual League Championship Meet held Sunday, May 21 at the Union Boys and Girls Club in Union.

 

All Elite swimmers in the Marlin Teals, Marlin Blacks, Wave Teals, Wave Blacks and Wave Golds will be entered into this meet.

 

Information regarding this meet will be posted later this week on the website under Meet Schedule.

 

PARENTS ORGANIZATION MEETING:

 

One of Elite’s shortcomings is the lack of a vibrant Parents Organization to help organize the ancillary needs of the Elite Swim Club. While parents have been extremely helpful in offering their time and efforts to Elite in the past, this has been done in a haphazard manner. In order for Elite to continue to develop and become an even stronger swim club, an active and energetic Parents Organization is a must.

 

Information regarding a date and agenda for the Elite Parents Organization will be provided in next week’s bulletin.

 

COLLEGE NITE: WEDNESDAY, MAY 24:

 

            In an effort to provide parents AND swimmers with insight into the “college hunting” process, Elite will hold a “College Nite” for parents and high school on Wednesday, May 24 from 7:00 pm to 8:00 pm at Newark Academy.

 

Margery Slonaker of Best Foot Forward will once again join Elite during the discussion. Thru Best Foot Forward, Margery has been instrumental in helping local student/athletes get into prestigious universities for more than a decade. Parents are welcome to visit Best Foot Forward’s website at www.bestftforward.com.

 

This year’s program will be a round table discussion with Elite Seniors in High School and their parents asked to participate. Since in getting into small liberal arts college has become increasingly difficult, the College Nite is an effort by Elite to share the collective wisdom it has regarding the college hunting process with all its high school age members.

 

Last year, Elite invited Margery Slonaker of Best Foot Forward to lead the presentation. Slonaker, a local parent of 3 outstanding scholar athletes (two attended Princeton and one the University of Virginia-all three competed in college), provided personalized college guidance for student athletes. Her clients have been accepted into some of the country’s best colleges including Princeton, Harvard, Brown, Amherst, Middlebury, Lehigh, Georgetown, Colgate and the University of Maryland.

 

ELITE TO PROMOTE USA SWIMMING’S MOTIVATIONAL CUT TIMES:

 

            Those familiar with New Jersey Swimming’s qualifying times for Silvers and Junior Olympics are well aware of how challenging the current qualifying times are (and they are expected to get even harder next year!!!). While these are the qualifying times everyone in Elite is focused on (and this will remain so), Elite will also begin having the Bronze level swimmers focused on USA Swimming’s “Motivational” Qualifying Times.

 

            These Motivational times are established by USA Swimming to help each swimmer think in terms of smaller steps of improvement. The times are 6 levels of achievement-rather than 2, so swimmers can aim for times just within their reach as interim goal times. These times are now posted on Elite’s website under Time Standards.

 

            While Elite swimmers will still need to focus on Silver and JO qualifying times, we do want the swimmers to understand that any improvement is significant improvement. Hopefully, these Motivational Time Standards will help swimmers feel proud of their incremental improvements along the way!!

 

These times are now posted on the Newark Academy wall by the locker rooms!!!  Check out where you stand and aim for the next higher time standard!!!

 

ATTENDENCE GUIDELINES FORMALIZED:

 

            As all Elite swimmers and parents know, Elite places a high priority on getting swimmers to practice. To our credit, swimmers take this priority seriously. Being the serious swimmers they are, when they are unable to make their normal practice, Elite swimmers like an opportunity to attend a “make-up” practice.

 

            In order to provide an opportunity for these swimmers to practice while simultaneously placing the correct weight of the “make-up” practice within the attendance scale, Elite has “formalized” its attendance and make-up practice policy. This policy is now posted on the website under

 

SUMMER LONG COURSE MEET SCHEDULE REVISED:

 

            For those planning ahead, Elite swimmers in the Wave Blacks, Wave Golds, Senior Preps and Seniors are expected to participate in the following long course meets:

 

            1) Heat Madness: held at Rutgers on Saturday, June 3. Meet Information now posted

 

            2) Either “Long Course Cup” (held at Princeton University) or “Summer Solstice” (held at Rutgers) on Saturday, June 17 & Sunday, June 18. Decision as to which meet Elite will attend will depend on qualifying times and events offered

 

            3) NEW!! Seniors Only: Summer Sizzle on Friday, June 23 thru Sunday, June 25 at Rutgers.  Meet Information now posted

 

4)  Either 12 & Under Silvers will be held Saturday, July 15 and Sunday, July 16 at Rutgers (same weekend as in the past) or 13 & Older Silvers will be held Saturday, July 22 and Sunday, July 23 at Rutgers (same weekend as in the past).

 

5) Bronze Championships will be held on Saturday, July 29 and Sunday, July 30 in Bayonne (at an outside venue!).

 

            6) Junior Olympics will be held Friday, August 4 thru Sunday, August 6, 2006 at Rutgers University.