ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               11-01-10

 

    “Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”

 

WINTER 2010-11 THEME:

PB= A + TP + (F+W) + R + RS + (S + T + ST + FN) + E!!

            This season, Elite’s theme is an algebraic formula that describes the 11 controls that go into a personal best (PB) performance. A swimmer may not be able to “control” the time they get during a performance, but every swimmer can control each and every 11 controls that go into a personal best swim! This formula is on the back of this year’s white shirt uniform.

            This formula is meant to give each Elite swimmer the knowledge that they, the swimmer, control all the factors going into a personal best. Armed with this knowledge, if a swimmer works on improving or controlling each factor going into a personal best, they can virtually guarantee themselves a personal best most of the time.

            PB = personal best. A = attendance at practice while TP = training performance (how hard a swimmer works) during practice.

            F + W = fuel (nutrition) and water intake. R = rest while RS = race strategy. S + T + ST + FN = starts, turns, stroke technique and finishes.

            The most important factor is, of course, “E” which stands for ENTHUSIASM!!!

MARLIN TEALS TO BE INCLUDED IN DISTANCE DERBY IN SESSION #1 (SATURDAY 10 & UNDERS): MEET ENTRIES TO BE POSTED SHORTLY; MARLIN TEAL PARENTS REQUESTED, BUT NOT REQUIRED, TO HELP OUT AT THE MEET:

            Due to room within Session #1 (Saturday, 10 & Under Session), Elite will include the Marlin Teals at Distance Derby in Session #1 this year. All Marlin Teals will be entered into two new events: the 50 free and the 50 back.

 

            This year’s Distance Derby event format was structured to be swimmer and parent friendly; each session was designed to be limited to 2 hours, with the theory that shorter sessions will allow swimmers to get their races in and then get out and enjoy the rest of their day. 9 of the 10 offered sessions will be between 1.5 and 2.25 hours long.

 

            The one Session exception is Session 1 (Saturday, 10 & Under Session). Based upon the current entries, this session is timed out to just 1 hour, which is just not long enough for swimmers of this level to recover between events. Quite simply, Session #1 needed to be elongated.   

 

            Head Coach Bill approached NJ Swimming and they have approved Elite to add 2 events (10 & U 50 free & 10 & U 50 Back for both girls and boys).  The 50 free event will be swum after the 200 frees and the 50 back event will be swum after the 100 butterfly.  

 

            Although this is an Elite hosted meet and parents of Elite swimmers are expected to man those jobs needed to be performed to provide these splash opportunities for our swimmers, because of the late notice, Elite will not require Marlin Teal parents to work this meet. However, Marlin Teal parents are highly encouraged to offer to help while they are at the meet. Marlin Teal parents who would like to help are requested to contact Carolyn Balbo at CBALBO@COMCAST.NET this week.

 

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 14 thru January 16, 2011.

 

            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. NBC Sports has increased its coverage of high level swimming, including telecasting the Pan Pacific Games this past summer.

 

            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.

 

            For the past two years, Elite swimmer Sam Duren (now a Senior Prep) took advantage of this opportunity.

 

            Forms for applying for the internship are attached to this memo.

ELITE SENIOR LINDSAY STEARNS TO BE HONORED BY SUSAN B. KOMEN FOR ELITE-A-THON CONTRIBUTIONS!!! YEARS OF WORK RECOGNIZED!!

            Elite Senior Lindsay Stearns will be honored by the Susan B. Komen For the Cure North Jersey Foundation on Sunday, November 7 for her cumulative efforts of raising money for this prestigious foundation thru the annual Elite-a-thon each May. Lindsay is a 14 year old high school freshman at Millburn High.

            Each May, Elite holds a fundraiser for charities called Elite-a-thon. Thru Elite-a-thon, swimmers raise pledges for the charity of their choice by obligating themselves to swim laps during a 2 hour open swim.

            The Elite-a-thon was the brainchild of Elite swimmer Will Peters 9 years ago (Will is now a 22 year old Senior at Kenyon College).

Stearns has participated in Elite-a-thon each of her 8 years she has been part of the Elite Swim Club and has raised approximately $3000. Last May, Linday took over the responsibilities of coordinating the event and rallied Elite swimmers to the largest turnout in recent memory (39 swimmers participated)!!

            Susan B. Komen will honor Lindsay at a ceremony on Sunday, November 7 at the Saint John’s Lutheran Church in Summit.

HEAD COACH BILL LEARNS LEADERSHIP SKILLS AT USA SWIMMING HEADQUARTERS;  

 

          As a representative of New Jersey Swimming, Head Coach Bill Deatly was invited to attend a “leadership” workshop at USA Swimming’s headquarters in Colorado Springs, Colorado last week. Bill was invited because he is the current Administrative Chair of NJ Swimming.

 

            During the 2+ day of seminars and breakout sessions, Bill was tested as to what personality trait he was and how that trait interacts with others, learned words and phrases that will help in rational presentation discussions, was further instructed on athlete protection, discussed marketing of USA Swimming from the National level thru the local level and shared ideas as to how to better run swim meets.

           

“COLLEGE DAY”; BILL TO DISCUSS THE COLLEGE HUNTING/SWIMMING RECRUITMENT PROCESS ON FRIDAY, NOV 26:

 

            All swimmers (particularly juniors and sophomores) and all parents are welcome to a seminar that Bill will conduct on Friday, Nov 26 (day after Thanksgiving) at Morristown-Beard School from 9:30 am to 10:30 am regarding the College Hunting/Swimming Recruitment process.

 

            Bill will provide his insight into 1) when to start the college hunting process 2) how to determine what colleges are right for the student 3) if your swimmer plans to swim in college, how to attack the recruiting process and 4) when and how often to engage conversation with college swim coaches.

 

            Swimmers should bring pens and several pieces of paper to take notes.

 

MARLIN PRACTICE SHORTENS BY 15 MINUTES STARTING NOVEMBER 15; NEWARK ACADEMY’S VARSITY SWIM TEAM TO USE POOL TO 5:15 PM, VARSITY MEETS AT NA AND MBS TO AFFECT PRACTICE SCHEDULE:

 

            Elite’s practice schedule will adjust on Monday, Nov 15 when Newark Academy’s Varsity Swim Team begins their Winter Sports Season. On Monday, Wednesday and Friday’s, practice will begin at 5:15 pm and run til 6:00 pm.

 

            The Varsity Swim Teams at both Newark Academy and Morristown-Beard will affect the schedule at both pools once high school dual meets start. Millburn High School also uses Newark Academy’s pool to train and compete (starting at 8:30 pm Monday thru Thursdays).

 

            Elite’s practice time at Newark Academy will occasionally be clipped either at the front end (NA’s meets usually end at 5:15 pm or 5:30 pm) or the back end (Millburn’s meets start at 8:00 pm). Morristown-Beard, Villa Walsh & Delbarton (both with occasionally host meets at MBS) meet schedule will occasionally clip the Senior practices at MBS.

3rd PARENT WORKSHOP WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 17 AT NA; TOPIC: LEARNED OPTIMISM:    

            Head Coach Bill Deatly will hold the season’s 3rd Parent Workshop on Wednesday, November 17 from 6:45 pm to 8:15 pm at Newark Academy. The main topic of discussion will be “Learned Optimism” or how we can train our swimmers to turn failure into hope (will work for all facets of life and for Adults, too!!).

            All Elite parents are welcome (and highly encouraged!) to attend.

TIMING COORDINATORS ASK FOR YOUR HELP IN RESPONDING TO EMAILS:

 

            Parents of Elite swimmers are asked to add the following four email addresses to your e-mail address book to ensure you receive important information regarding Elite Hosted Meets, Timing Information for all other meets and Parent Association Information.  Adding the e-mail addresses will insure that these important e-mails do not go to your junk/spam folder. 

 

Carolyn Balbo -                     cbalbo@comcast.net

Sanjeeta Mukherjee -        sanjumukhe@gmail.com         

Sue Duren -                            sueduren@aol.com

Antone Balbo -                      abalbo@comcast.net

 

NEXT UP: PEDDIE INVITE (QUALIFYING SENIORS & SENIOR PREPS ONLY) & FALL RALLY FRIDAY, NOV 12 THRU SUNDAY, NOV 8; GO ELITE!!!; MEET INFORMATION POSTED; PLEASE RESPOND TO TIMER COORDINATORS EMAILS:

 

            Elite’s next two competitions will be Peddie Invite (qualifying Seniors and Senior Preps only) and Fall Rally (Seniors, Senior Preps, Wave Golds, Wave Blacks, Wave Teals & Marlin Blacks). Information regarding this meet is posted on the team website at:

http://www.eliteswimclub.org/Meet%20Schedule/homepage.htm. Please have your swimmer get in the habit of checking this page on a regular basis (and report back to you about details such as warm-up times, entries, meet locations!

 

ELITE LEADING WAY WITH “SWIMMER/PARENT FRIENDLY MEETS”:

DISTANCE DERBY REFORMATTED INTO 2 HOUR SESSIONS!!!

PARENTS ARE REMINDED THEY ARE EXPECTED TO WORK THE SESSIONS THEIR SWIMMER IS COMPETING IN:

 

          The one unanimous complaint about year round swimming is the length of the meet sessions during competition. Between the need 1) to have enough swimmers/competition in the building to make the meet competitive & to pay for the pool rental 2) to have enough recovery time for the swimmers between events and 3) the USA Swimming rule discouraging sessions to last longer than 4 hours, most New Jersey Sanctioned swim meet sessions last the prescribed 4 hours.

 

            Elite is taking the lead in attempting to change these “needs” and the overall mentality within NJ Swimming. A “Swimmer/Parent Friendly Meet” is the goal of this year’s Distance Derby.

 

            Elite’s hosted meet Distance Derby (held Saturday, Nov 20 & Sunday, Nov 21) has been reformatted into more but much shorter sessions. In fact, Elite is attempting to halve the session times into 2 hour sessions (yes, you read that correct: two hour sessions!!). With any luck at all, a swimmer (and parent) will be in and out of the building in less than 3 hours (when you factor in the warm-up time). The exception will be those swimmers participating in one of the distance sessions (which have been limited to 1.5 hours). The sanctioned meet information is now posted on the team website (and more information will be posted shortly). The meet format is as follows: 

 

             Meet Schedule:

 

Saturday, November 20, 2010

Warm-up

Start

Session 1

10 & Under Day 1 Session

 12:00 p.m.

12:40 p.m.

Session 2

12 & Under 500 yd Free Session

2:40 p.m.

3:00 p.m.

Session 3

11 - 12 Day 1 Session

4:30 p.m.

5:10 p.m.

Sunday, November 21, 2010

Warm-up

Start

Session 4

13 & 14 Day 2 Session

  7:00 a.m.

    7:40 a.m.

Session 5

Open 1000 Free Session

  9:40 a.m.

  10:00 a.m.

Session 6

15 & Older Day 2 Session

11:30 a.m.

 12:10 p.m.

Session 7

10 & Under Day 2 Session

  2:10 p.m.

   2:50 p.m.

Session 8

11-12 Day 2 Session

  4:50 p.m.

   5:30 p.m.

 

          This goal is for all parents and swimmers to spend less time at the pool. In order to accomplish this, Elite put a 2 event limit per session on each swimmer’s entries.

 

          Carolyn Balbo, as team meet coordinator, will shortly be reaching out to each participating family as to meet job responsibilities. Swimmers in the Seniors, Senior Preps, Wavebuster Golds, Wavebuster Blacks, Wavebuster Teals and Marlin Blacks will participate. Please respond to Carolyn as soon as you are able.

 

POOLS WILL BREAK DOWN; CHECK EMAIL AND WEBSITE FOR INFORMATION:

 

The unfortunate fact of swimming pools is that they occasionally breakdown. And usually when it is most inconvenient (like the beginning of the season).

 

Thru the email chain, a blast will be sent to all swimmers if practice is unexpected cancelled. In addition, a note will be placed prominently on the website front page announcing the cancellation of the practice. This note serves as a reminder that swimmers (not parents) should regularly check the team website and emails in case there is a last minute pool disruption.

 

            If there is a pool disruption & practice is cancelled, all Elite members are requested to reach out to their friends (phone, text, email) to let them know of the situation. Cover your friend’s back!

 

WANT TO SAVE $? LET BILL KNOW PRIOR TO ENTRIES SUBMITTED

THAT YOUR SWIMMER WILL NOT ATTEND A MEET (OR A SPECIFIC DAY OF THE MEET):

EVENTS TO DOVE-TAILE TO UPDATE WIDEST VARIETY OF TIMES:

 

            Swimmers who know they are not available for all or part of Elite meets should email Bill early early as possible. These emails will actually result in the family saving 50% of the entry fee (credit to be posted on the swimmer’s next bill).

 

            All swimmers (and parents-with the exception of the Marlin Teals) are expected to participate and work Distance Derby (Nov 20 & Nov 21) during the sessions that their swimmers are participating).

 

            Any parent who knows their child is NOT available for one or more of these meets (and if they are not available for 1 day of a 2 day meet) should email Bill NOW!!!

 

            Swimmers and parents should note that Elite’s philosophy is to dove-tail entries for several meets. This gives the swimmer the opportunity to update the widest variety of events and distances. 

 

OFFICIALS & COMPUTER VOLUNTEERS NEEDED TO RUN MEETS:

 

          To effectively run meets, Elite needs a variety of parents to volunteer their time and efforts during these meets. This season, Elite will again be strongly encouraging those parents who have an interest to become New Jersey certified officials.

 

            To run New Jersey sanctioned meets, certified officials are a necessity. Currently within New Jersey Swimming, there is a shortage of officials certified. Elite, while having more officials than most NJ Swim Club is still understaffed and thus, under represented officiating meets. In addition, Elite likes to have officials present even when we run our dual meets/intraclub meets, as the officials provide significant feed back as to areas the coaches need to focus upon.

 

            In addition, this year Elite continue to build up its volunteers with regards to the electronic running of the meets (touch pads, timing console & processing the data coming thru both into Elite’s computer). If you are computer savvy or have an interest, please let Bill know!!

 

We are always in need of developing our Parental Talent as well!!! 

 

Anyone with interest in either volunteer position should contact Bill as soon as possible.

           

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!!!