ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               10-24-05

 

SWIM MEETS ON THE HORIZON:

 

            As the calender heads into November, Elite is entering into its 1st of 3 phases of competition. Over the next 5 weekends, all swimmers of Elite will participate in 1 or more “early season” competitions. These competitions are meant to get baseline times from which swimmers will aim to improve upon over the course of the season. In addition, these meets are “dress rehearsels” for late season championship meets.

 

            Phase #2 of competition will run from January to late February, where swimmers will circle back to events they competed in during phase #1 and will see their improvement. Throughout Phase #1 and #2, swimmers will be working on their swimming details (those techniques that greatly increase the liklihood of improvement). Phase #3 is the championship season (late February thru mid March), which is the swimming equivalent to final exams.

 

            The meets on the near horizon are as follows:

 

            1) Saturday, October 29 and Sunday, October 30: Wavebuster Golds, Wavebuster Blacks and Wavebuster Teals will participate in the Hall-o-ween Meet held at Seton Hall University. Meet & Event Information now posted on the website under Meet Schedule

 

            2) Saturday, October 29: Seniors and Senior Preps will participate in the 3rd annual College Dual Meet verses the Jersey Gators of Cranford and the Monmouth Barracudas. Meet & Event Information now posted on the website under Meet Schedule

 

            3) Saturday, November 5 and Sunday, November 6: Fall Festival. For swimmers with qualifying times: Meet & Event Information now posted on the website under Meet Schedule

 

            4) Saturday, November 12 and Sunday, Novermber 13: Distance Derby: All swimmers in the Wave Teals, Wave Blacks, Wave Golds, Senior Preps and Seniors. Meet & Event Information now posted on the website under Meet Schedule

 

            5) Sunday, November 20: Dual Meet verses Caldwell at Caldwell: All Marlins, All Wave Teals, All Wave Blacks and Some Wave Golds. Meet information to be posted shortly.

 

PARENTS ORGANIZATION HAS BALL ROLLING:

 

            Showing as much energy as their swimmers, parents and their committees are gathering momentum with regards to the different tasks needed completed by the Parents Organization:

 

DISTANCE DERBY:

 

            See next news item.

 

FUNDRAISER:

 

            This committee plans to hold an “Elite merchandise” sale as a fundraiser prior to the holidays (think of all those Elite gifts at holiday time!!!). All items would be adorned with an Elite theme or logo. To get this sale moving, the committee asks for your ideas as to merchandise to be offered. Suggestions so far include: flannel pants & shorts, basketball shorts, t-shirts, collar shirts, “Elite-Strong” bracelets, car magnet & swim bag.

 

            To help the committee to understand the interest in these items or for you to add a suggestion of your own, swimmers and parents are STRONGLY urged to contact Jodi Shepard jc.shepard2@verizon.net . 

 

PUBLICITY:

 

            The 1st step to have your swimmer as part of Elite’s publicity push is for a parent to sign the Publicity Waiver that authorizes Elite to use pictures of these swimmers. The Publicity Waiver is now posted on the website under “Forms.” Please place the signed waiver in Bill’s Mailbox at Newark Academy.  

 

DISTANCE DERBY

 

            All parents within the Wavebuster and Senior Training groups received a separate email last week regarding the different volunteer tasks at the meet. Please respond to the appropriate contact for your group. Those who do not respond by Friday, October 28 will be assigned a task.

 

            All Elite swimmers within the 5 following training groups will participate in Distance Derby (Wave Teals, Wave Blacks, Wave Golds, Senior Preps and Seniors). Thus, all parents of swimmers within these 5 training groups will be needed to volunteer that weekend during their swimmer’s session.

 

            Coordinating the efforts of the Distance Derby are the following: 1) Wave Teals: Wendy Reilly and Margie Lowe 2) Wave Blacks: Keika Takahashi and Sherry Plunkett 3) Wave Golds: Pam McCullough and 4) Seniors/Senior Preps: Rita Furdyna.

 

            NEW:  Parents: you can show your support for your special swimmer(s) by placing an advertisment within the Distance Derby Meet Program sold the day of the meet. Advertisments information is posted on the website under Distance Derby. Ads must be submitted prior to Saturday, November 5th. Please get your ads today!!!!

 

PARENTS STROKE CLINIC: WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 2ND:

 

            In the spirit of educating the parents as to what we are teaching your children, Elite will hold a Parents Stroke Clinic at Newark Academy at 7 pm on Wednesday, November 2nd.  

 

            Run by Head Coach Bill Deatly, the clinic will cover 1) an explanation of why stroke technique is so important 2) how the drills we teach develop the stroke technique 3) nutrition and hydration 4) Elite’s philosophy as to competition and 5) tips on how a parent can add to the development process of the swimmer.

 

            The clinic is completely optional for parents and will last approximately 90 minutes.

 

KATRINA FUNDRAISER UPDATE: OVER $9 THOUSAND PLEDGED, OVER $8,700 IN RECEIPT:

 

Elite Swimmers and their sponsors should be extremely proud of their efforts to help the victims of Hurricane Katrina as the total amount of pledges from the fundraiser has topped $9,000 ($9,045 to be exact)!!!

 

As of today, Elite is in possession of $8,715 of the pledged money.

 

            The following swimmers (or families) raised $100 or more in their efforts: Christopher Balbo ($400), Sam Barback ($100), Meg Brosnan ($525), Courtney Brosnan ($500), Katie Brosnan ($500), Ryan Buckham ($155), Corey/Tad Deatly ($350), Will DeMartin ($160), Carolyn/Daniel DeMeo ($100), Claire DiGiacomo ($110), Noah Eagle ($100), Mickey Ennis ($263), Cassandra Farnow ($350), Emily Goad ($240), Katie Golway ($120), Alistair/Duncan Hall ($200), Brent Jones ($100), Kristin/Mark Kellstrom ($100), Caroline/Lauren Kelly ($140), Regan Kology ($210), Jessie Lowe ($140), Robert Maloney ($150), Daniela/Marisa Manzi ($100), Megan Mataga ($125), Annie/Katie McCullough ($140), Austin Meszaros ($120), Jacquelyn Mullens ($400), Julia Muro ($310), Christina Pick ($345), Brittany/Nicky Ross ($250), Andrea Shepard ($120), Veronica Smith ($215), Bethany Stachenfeld ($200), Lindsay/Kaitlin Stearns ($250), Amber Teetsel ($100) and Natalie Wetmore ($250).

 

We would like to turn over this money to the American Red Cross as soon as possible. The following swimmers who have received pledge money need to get it turned in as soon as possible: Crissy Condus, Katie Gorman, Ali Morreale & Isabelle Morreale.

         

TIME STANDARDS POSTED ON WEBSITE:

 

            New Jersey Swimming has established the Gold and Silver Time Standards for this year’s winter’s championship season. These standards are now posted on the Elite website under Time Standards (this section will be expanded shortly).

 

            Swimmers who achieve Gold times qualify to swim at New Jersey Swimming’s Junior Olympics, held in late March, 2006. Swimmers who achieve Silver times qualify to swim at the Silver Championships also held in March. There are Bronze level meets for those swimmers who do not achieve Gold or Silver times. Swimmers who are 8 & Under will participate in a separate championship meet. All Elite swimmers will participate in at least 1 Championship Meet.

 

            Since Elite uses Morristown-Beard’s 25 Meter pool, an Elite “Conversion” table will be posted on the website so swimmers and parents can understand if the times performed at Morristown-Beard are qualifying times. Be advised there is no accurate conversion rate so Elite is using a very, very conservative conversion formula.

 

            In addition, Elite has posted the Christmas Meet time standards on the web.

 

SAVE THE DATE: TEAM BANQUET SUNDAY, MARCH 26, 2006:

 

            Preparations are underway for the biggest party of the season: Elite’s 11th annual Winter Swim Team Banquet!!! This year’s party will be held Sunday, March 26, 2006 from 12:00 am to 4:00 pm.

 

            This year, Elite will again be at the Hanover Marriott, located at 1401 Route 10 East, Whippany, New Jersey. This facility can accommodate up to 700 people!!! The last 4 Elite banquets have had an excess of 350 people each!!!

 

            Further details about the banquet will be provided in the future. As for now, MARK YOUR CALENDAR!!!

 

SWIMMING SUITS, ASSESSORIES AVAILABLE AT STORES; WEBSITES:

 

            If you are in need of practice suits, goggles, racing caps or any swim assessory imaginable, easy access to these items can be made by 1) calling Donna Kay of Swimming Etc at 908-604-8605 or 2) visiting Metro Swim Shop’s online store (metroswimshop.com) or visting its store at 1221 Valley Road, Stirling, New Jersey.

 

            All Swimmers need fins. All Wavebusters and Seniors need pull buoys. These items can be purchased at either store.

 

            NEW: Elite has received a shipment of Elite Silicon Racing Caps. Contact Brandy Deatly @ brando32@comcast.net to order yours today (cost: $12 each).