ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               05-08-06

 

ELITE-A-THON THIS SATURDAY!!

 

The 5th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser will be held this 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.

 

Yesterday, Corey spoke to each training group and answered questions. One question asked was regards to swimmers attending practice on Saturday am prior to the Elite-a-thon. Since the Elite-a-thon is voluntary, swimmers will not be given attendance credit for swimming at that time. Elite swimmers are in good enough shape to practice in the am and still swim laps in the pm!!! 

 

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 !!! Swimmers and Parents have already pledged over $100 towards Bill’s swim!!

 

Information regarding the Elite-a-thon was posted on the website last week.

 

LONG COURSE STARTS NEXT MONDAY (MAY 15)

FOR SENIORS/SENIOR PREPS:

 

            In what Bill believes is a real coup, Elite Seniors and Senior Preps will begin their long course training 5 weeks early this year by training at the Summit Municipal Pool from Monday, May 15 thru Saturday, June 17.

 

            Long Course training (swimming in a pool that is 50 meters long as opposed to 25 yards-Newark Academy or 25 meters-Morristown-Beard) is superior training for 2 reasons: 1) swimming twice as far while reducing the number of turns by half significantly builds endurance and 2) as the body tires, it fights to become more efficient-thus, stroke technique actually improves due to a necessity!!!

 

            Summit’s Pool is heated to 80 degrees so the pool is expected to be warm.

 

            Directions to the Summit Municipal Pool are posted on the website under Practice Schedule: Directions to Summit Municipal Pool.

 

            Elite will move to Springfield Municipal on Monday, June 19.

 

PARENTS ORGANIZATION MEETING: TUESDAY, MAY 16:

 

In an effort to formalize and create a vibrant Parents Organization to help organize the ancillary needs of the Elite Swim Club, there will be a meeting on Tuesday, May 16 at Newark Academy at 7:30 pm.

 

 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.

 

All Elite parents are strongly urged to attend.

 

FILMING ATTACKS SWIM COACHES BIGGEST CHALLENGE:

DVDS PROVIDE VISUAL FEEDBACK TO SENIORS, SENIOR PREPS:

 

            Because the important athletic tasks are performed below the surface of the water and out of a direct sightline, swimming poses the interesting but daunting challenge to coaches: what are the swimmers actually doing under water?? Most coaches simply “suppose” what is occuring from cues seen above the water rather than actually knowing what is occuring.

 

            But since Elite is not satisfied with that answer and because a picture is worth a thousand words, this spring Elite is attacking this age-old problem by digitally filming the Senior and Senior Preps. By harvesting technology, Elite will provide a DVD (including voice over) to each Senior and Senior Prep of their swimming as viewed from under the water.

 

            This year, Elite has upgraded its technology by purchasing an Apple Macbook laptop computer. With the help of the Apple and with assistance of Sam Duren (Wave Black swimmer), Bill has been busy working on providing a product that answers the question of what each swimmer is doing.

 

 Although still a week or two away from actually producing DVD’s, the product that Bill anticipates providing is simply beautiful. Each swimmer will be able to view themselves swimming from both the side and head-on view. The voice over will provide verbal instruction on what is being done correctly and what can be improved.

 

The Apple has already contributed to Elite’s video library as Bill has filmed (the Seniors) and made a DVD of Elite’s sculling drills. This DVD will be presented to the younger swimmers thru the television at Newark Academy as to how to perform effective sculling. Bill is also at work at filming the the Seniors of all the Elite drills, which again will provide a visual tool to Elite swimmers as to how to perform these drills properly. 

 

            Lastly, Bill anticipates that clips from these films will be posted on the website for Elite swimmers to view.

 

LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIPS SUNDAY, MAY 21:

 

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 has been posted on the website under Meet Schedule.

 

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. 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. 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 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.

 

ELITE PROMOTES 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!!

 

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) Summer Solstice: held at Rutgers) on Saturday, June 17 & Sunday, June 18. Meet Information now posted

 

            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.