ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               5-2-11

 

    “Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”

 

ATTENDANCE STATS OFF A BIT IN APRIL (VACATIONS A FACTOR);

2 OF 7 TRAINING GROUPS AVERAGING OVER 80% OR HIGHER

SENIORS LEAD WAY WITH 89%!!! ATHLETES RECOGNIZED:

 

          Practice attendance is the foundation of improvement. Starting the season with good attendance (and thus, great work habits and a great aerobic base) is the way to faster swimming. Thru April, the Elite Swimmers showed their diligent work ethic by attending practice at an astonishing rate of over 80% as team!!! The Senior training group leads the outstanding Elite attendance race by averaging, as a training group, 89% attendance!!! The Seniors are followed by the Senior Preps (80%), Wave Blacks (75.60%), Marlin Teals (72.92%), the Marlin Blacks (68.26%), the Wavebuster Golds (66.63%), and the Wave Teals (62.23%).

           Swimmers and Parents are reminded that only swimmers with 75% attendance records will be considered for promotion into the next higher training group this spring (Wave Golds need 85% attendance to be considered for promotion into the Senior Prep training group).

            51 swimmers have an 85% or higher attendance record (* designates perfect attendance!):

 

            Marlin Teals:  Katharina Dowlin, Carolyn Kao*, Jonathan Kao*, Kat Slover, Alan Wu   

 

            Marlin Blacks:  Benjamin Campbell*, Gracey Levey, Delaney Smith* & Doris Xia 

 

Wavebuster Teals: Abby Hartwig*, Monica Iizuka, Sandeepan Mukherjee

 

Wavebuster Blacks: Megan Balbo*, Brielle Barba, Angharad Healey, Erica Iizuka, Karen Iizuka, Patrick Lai, Brandon Li, Sarah Lowe, Matthew Migliozzi, Evan Ng*, Niki Rizzo, Sydney Slepian*, Abir Thakur, Vivian Xia* & Claire Xu.

 

Wavebuster Golds: Abbie Bigham, Elizabeth D’Altrui, Charlotte Morrissey, Eugene Ng, Nicholas Pachiolo, Danielle Peterson* & Jason Steinberg*

 

Senior Preps:  Jenni Allocco, Chris Balbo, Lindsay Behar, Caitlin Brown, Isabel LaRaia, Greg Macchia, Katie McGrath, Ryan Miller, Anthony Rizzo* & Cullen Walsh*

 

            Seniors:  Matthew Ahlmeyer*, Jess Gorham, Michael Li, Ryan Sebastian*, Andrea Shepard, Sarah Slepian* & Caroline Watt

 

SENIORS HEADED TO TUCSON, AZ THIS COMING WINTER!!

 

            The Elite Seniors annual rite of going on a training trip will be to Tucson, Az this coming December.

 

            While Elite has traveled to Arizona 6 times before, this will be the 1st time in Tucson, the college town for the University of Arizona. The Elite Seniors will practice 12 times in 6 days, and expect to train at least 6 times long course.

 

            The Elite Seniors will fly out on December 26 and return on January 2, 2012.        

 

TIGER CHALLENGE ON THE HORIZON: ELITE CO-HOSTS MEET TO GAIN ACCESS TO LCM COMPETITION; PARENTS NEEDED TO RUN MEET:

 

            In order to insure entry into a long course meet early in the season, Elite agreed to co-host the Tiger Challenge 2011 at Princeton University on Saturday, May 14 & Sunday, May 15. All swimmers in the Seniors, Senior Preps, Wavebuster Golds, Wavebuster Blacks & Wavebuster Teals are entered into the meet.

 

            NJ Swimming is a community. For our swimmers to get splash opportunities, a NJ Swimming club must host a meet (man all the tasks/jobs needed in order to run the meet). As a team, Elite will participate in about 10 separate meets this Spring and Summer; at each of these meets, a host team is providing the splash opportunities for Elite Swimmers. Co-hosting the Tiger Challenge is Elite’s way providing our share of the burden in providing splash opportunities for our swimmers.

 

            Also, by co-hosting a meet, Elite is guaranteed to participate in the meet. Non-hosting teams have no such guarantee. Although the summer lcm competition has not yet started, almost all the meets already sanctioned and posted have been closed due to the tremendous demand. 

 

            The lead co-host team, Princeton Tigers Aquatic Club will man more than 50% of the tasks needed to run the Tiger Challenge.

 

            Parents are reminded that upon committing their swimmers to Elite, they agreed to the Elite Parental Obligation, which obligation was provided to each swimmer at the start of the Fall/Winter Session or the Spring Session (if the swimmer joined Elite this spring).

 

            Parents should be prepared to provide timing assistance as requested by the Timing Coordinators for the Tiger Challenge. Elite’s timing and other jobs will be posted on the team website under the meet schedule table.

 

DEADLINES PASS FOR NEW SUMMER PROCEDURES FOR LCM MEETS;

ELITE ABLE TO MODIFY ENTRIES –ALL WAVES AND SENIORS ARE NOW ENTERED INTO PRINCETON TIGER AND SUMMER SOLSTICE:

 

          As previously reported, this summer New Jersey Swimming created a meet entry restriction procedure for two day, no qualifying time meets in an attempt to provide splash opportunities for more swimmers. Two meets this directly affected were meets Elite has traditionally attended: Tiger Challenge at Princeton University and Summer Solstice at Rutgers University. This new procedure was only in affect immediately after the meet announcements were posted.

 

            Time has elapsed, entries were made, room was still available in the meets and the new procedure has now elapsed. Thus, Elite has successfully been able to revise its entries in both meets so that all Seniors and all Wavebusters are now entered in both meets. Elite’s revised entries are now posted on the team website.

 

            One change from the past; Elite will be attending only 1 day at Summer Solstice (as opposed to 2 days).

 

ELITE EXPLORING SCY MEET FOR WAVEBUSTER TEALS, MARLINS; 

 

            In past years, Elite has sent the Wavebuster Teals and both Marlins training groups to a meet in the spring: Tidal Wave in Union, NJ. For a slew of reasons, one being the meet is being held this weekend, Elite will not be attending.

 

            This spring, there are three meets on the NJ Swimming website that are yards meets. For various reasons, none of these meets really work for Elite; one is already partially closed, one is a new team running it (Bill is  suspect of the way the meet would run plus it is a 50 minutes away) and the last meet is a pentathlon format requiring all 5 events being swum (Marlin Blacks and Marlin Teals might find that format rather challenging).

 

“NEW” PARENTS MEETING: WEDNESDAY, MAY 11;

 

            There will be a “New” Parents meeting on Wednesday, May 11 at 5 pm at Newark Academy. The meeting will review the structure of Elite for New Parents and provide time for new parents to ask Head Coach Bill Deatly questions. All parents new to Elite are highly encouraged to attend.

 

STEARNS ANNOUNCES 9th ANNUAL ELITE-A-THON TO BE SATURDAY, MAY 21: BILL TO SWIM FOR JAPAN RELIEF:

 

The 9th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser will be held Saturday, May 21st at Morristown-Beard from 3:30 pm to 5:30 pm.

 

Like all past “Elite-a-thons,” this year’s event will be structured so each individual participating will be raising money for the “charity of their choice.” A suggestion list of charities and accompaning information is to be provided by Seniors Lindsay Stearns, the fundraiser head who is coordinating this year’s efforts. Lindsay will provide information directly to swimmers at a Sunday practice in May. Last year’s charity list is posted on the website.

 

In a tradition begun 7 years ago, Bill will swim approximately 2000 yards to raise money for his yearly charity. This year, Bill will raise money to support the American Red Cross’s relief efforts in Japan, following the devastating earthquake and tsumani suffered this past winter.

 

            All Elite swimmers and parents are encouraged to participate thru swimming or donating. Anyone can donate to a swimmer’s cause or to Bill’s cause. 

 

Information will be posted on the website under “Elite-a-thon” later shortly. Please follow the directions (do not go out soliciting for money alone!!!) and keep track of your pledge totals!!! 

 

PARKING AN ISSUE AT NEWARK ACADEMY:

 

            As we head into the Spring 2011 Session, parents are reminded that there is a distinct shortage of parking spaces at Newark Academy, especially on weekdays between 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm. Parents are welcome to “drop off” or “pick-up” their swimmers by the field house entrance during this time period if the driver remains in the car. If a parent is coming into the building, they are requested to park in the “upper” lot and walk thru the school to reach the pool.  Newark Academy is also now requesting the cars do not idle. Obviously, if the lot is not crowded, parking in the lower lot is acceptable.

 

            Please remember to drive slowly thru the parking lots and do not park in the fire lanes, as the Livingston Police will ticket improperly parked cars.

 

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.

 

            Elite is prompt about ending practice on time. Please help out the coaches by being prompt to pick up your child.

 

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

 

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!!!