ELITE NEWS BULLETIN               5-23-11

 

    “Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming”

 

38 SWIMMERS MAKE A DIFFERENCE AT 10th ANNUAL ELITE-A-THON!!

STEARNS COORDINATES FOR 2ND YEAR IN A ROW!!

 

The 10th Annual Elite-a-thon fundraiser equaled last year’s Elite-a-thon, which was the largest in recent memory!! 38 Swimmers spent 2 hours Saturday afternoon swimming to raise money for their own charities!!

 

The back-to-back successes are a result of Elite swimmers who care about giving back to the community.

 

The following were the Elite swimmers who participated:

 

Chris Balbo: Celiac Sprue Association, Lindsay Behar: Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer, Caitlin Brown: Arthritis Foundation, Hannah Brownstein: Pulmunary Foundation, Cordelia Burn: Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer, Eloise Burn: Susan B. Komen Breast Cancer, Sarah Burn: Make a Wish Foundation, Ben Campbell: World Vision (A Water Well),   Juliet Felsen: Dystonia Research, Summer Felsen: Dystonia Research, Emily Fu: Japan Relief, Ariel Gelman: Red Cross Disaster Relief, Emily Gorham: St. Judes, Jess Gorham: St. Judes, Abby Hartwig: Camp Boggy Creek, Angharad Healey: St. Huberts Animal Shelter, Erica Iizuka: St Huberts Animal Shelter, Monica Iizuka: American Cancer Society, CLoe Lawrence: Anti-Hunger Coalition, Sophie Lawrence: Jersey Animal Coalition, Grace Levey: Make Some Noise, Alyssa Levy: Valerie Fund, Ben Litvin: Emet College Outreach, Greg Macchia: tba, Isabelle Malinowski: Autism, Daniel Mangabat: American Cancer Society, Alex Mango: Mt. Pleasant Animal Hospital, Katie McGrath: Make A Wish, Darragh O’Gorman: Red Cross Disaster Relief, Sadie Ordower: American Liver Foundation, Andrea Shepard: Down the Block, Inc, Delaney Smith: Juvenile Diabetes, Kaitlin Stearns: Bridges, Lindsay Stearns: Susan G. Komen Breast Cancer, Will Stearns: Cora Hartshorn Arboretum, Sachi Tanwar: Make a Wish, Cullen Walsh: Wildlife Conservation Society, Ryan Wyer: Red Cross Disaster Relief

 

14 year old Lindsay Stearns, who has participated in the Elite-a-thon for each of her 8 years on the team, took over coordinating the event last year and has mustered a tremendous amount of enthusiasm each year. If each of the participants raises just $150 each, the total raised will exceed $5,000. This shows what the power of enthusiasm can accomplish!!

 

The swimmers swam laps for 1 to 2 hours. Some swimmers swam laps, then swam competition relays.

 

This event, suggested by Elite Swimmer Will Peters 10 years ago, helps develop the “character” portion of Elite’s Mission Statement: Cultivating Excellence in Academics, Character and Swimming.

 

FRIDAY NIGHT & XCEL MEET ON DOCKET;

 

            Elite has completed its entries for summer competition (minus championship meets), adding entries to Friday Night Swim in Bayonne and Meet of XCellence at Princeton University.

 

            All Wave Golds, Wave Blacks and Wave Teals are now entered in the Friday Night Swim meet (Friday, July 8th), at Bayonne’s outdoor municipal pool, with the exception of swimmers who are 10 & under. Friday Night Swim only has 11 & Older events.

 

            Those 10 & Unders not entered into Friday Night Swim will compete on Sunday morning, July 10 at the Meet of XCellence at Princeton University.

 

            Both sets of entries are now posted on the team website.

 

            This summer, all swimmers in the Wave Teals, Wave Blacks, Wave Golds, Senior Preps and Seniors will be entered in Silver & Bronze Competition. These entries will be done in early July (after the Friday Night and Meet of XCellence meets). Swimmers who qualify for Summer Junior Olympics will also be entered into this meet in mid-July.

 

ELITE’S NEXT MEET HOSTING CHALLENGE: OFF-SITE HOSTING;

CONSTRUCTION AT NA NEXT FALL/WINTER WILL CHANGE PLANS FOR DISTANCE DERBY & 9-10’S:

 

            Elite’s newest meet hosting challenge: hosting a meet off site from Newark Academy!

 

            Last week, Newark Academy informed Elite that there will be, starting in July, major construction on the building which will significantly reduce the size of the “upper” parking lot during construction. NA has confirmed that Elite’s practice schedule will not be affected by the construction.

 

            Elite has already begun exploring alternative sites to run both Distance Derby (in November) and the 2012 9-10 Silver/Bronze Championship Meet (in February).            

PUT IT ON YOUR CALENDAR!

ESCPO PLANNING 2ND ANNUAL TAILGATE PARTY AT SUMMER SOLSTICE MEET!

            ESCPO is planning a Tailgate/Potluck for Saturday June 18 at the Summer Solstice meet at Rutgers University. All ESC Swimmers and Parents are welcome and encouraged to stop by!!  

 

            ESCPO will have a table and canopy set up on the lawn near the Rutgers pool entrance from from 9:00 am - 4:00 pm.  ESCPO will provide Pulled Pork as the main course as well as buns and condiments. Families are asked to bring sides, snacks or desserts to share with the crowd. Details will be forthcoming in a flyer later this week.      

 

2010-11 SCHOLAR-ATHLETE INFORMATION NOW POSTED;

 

            The 2010-11 Scholar-Athlete Award winners have now been posted on the team website. Congratulations to the 72 swimmers who earned scholar-athlete awards!!

 

TOP 10 ALL-TIME SCY TIMES LIST UPDATED & POSTED;

 

            Elite’s Top 10 All-Time SCY Times List has been updated and posted on the team website. Congratulations to all those swimmers who earned top 10 times this year!!

 

SCY INTRA-CLUB MEET ADDED JUNE 4 AT NEWARK ACADEMY

FOR WAVE TEALS, MARLIN BLACKS AND MARLIN TEALS; 

 

            Elite will hold a SCY Intra-Club competition on Saturday, June 4 at Newark Academy for the Wavebuster Teals, the Marlin Blacks and the Marlin Teals training groups. The meet has been added to the meet schedule on the team website. Entries will be added shortly.

 

            In previous years, these training groups have attended a SCY meet during the spring session. This year, Elite was unable to find an appropriate meet in which to attend. The Elite Intra-Club meet will provide Elite swimmers in these training groups the opportunity to update their SCY times, which will help some swimmers to qualify for early season meets next fall.

 

            Coincidently, MBS will be closed the following day (Sunday, June 5); so this meet will also serve as a practice for the Marlins that weekend.

 

            Since this is an Intra-Club Meet, Elite will need to provide all the timers. Parents will be contacted by the timing coordinators to coordinate the timing assignments for the meet.

           

ELITE TO RENT MILLBURN MUNICIPAL POOL THIS SUMMER

FOR WAVE TEAL & WAVE BLACKS;

MARLIN BLACKS NOW PROVIDED OPPORTUNITY TO TRAIN AT MBS

THIS SUMMER:

 

            Millburn has tentatively agreed to rent Elite the Millburn Municipal Pool, located just off Parsonage Hill Road (near JFK Turnpike) during the summer mornings. Elite will be renting the Millburn pool Monday thru Thursday, from 7:15 am to 8:30 am.

 

            The Wavebuster Teals will train all 4 days at Millburn; the Wavebuster Blacks will train at Millburn on Mondays and Wednesdays (alongside the Wavebuster Teals). The Wavebuster Blacks will also train at Springfield Municipal on Tuesdays and Thursdays (as previously set).

 

            Having the Wavebuster Blacks train at Millburn will free up space at Morristown-Beard School on Mondays and Wednesdays which will allow Elite to offer an optional Marlin Black practice on those days. The optional Marlin Black practice will be held from 4 pm to 5 pm. Elite will charge a per practice charge for the Marlin Blacks.

 

            With all changes made at Elite, the ultimate goal is to make the program stronger. The decision to rent the Millburn pool was based upon the following:

 

1)      Last summer, Elite rented the Cromwell Pool in Morristown. While Cromwell provided the space for the Wavebuster Teals to train in during June & July, the pool lanes were not wide enough and the pool was just not large enough to properly accommodate Elite.

2)      The Millburn Pool is a recently (within the last 10 years) renovated, 6 lane pool with additional space for coaches to work on stroke technique “outside” the pool lanes.

3)      The Millburn Pool is significantly closer to the Springfield Municipal Pool, which will help those families who have swimmers training at each location

4)      Renting the Millburn Pool will provide a consistent practice schedule for both the Wavebuster Teals & Wavebuster Blacks as all practices for both these training groups will be held in the am (rather than the alternating am and pm practices the previous summer schedule provided). The one exception is that the Wavebuster Blacks will still be offered a Friday pm practice at MBS

5)      The larger Millburn pool allows for Elite to offer two practices a week for the Marlin Blacks at Morristown Beard School, which training group previously had no summer practice time with Elite. This allows more swimmers training with Elite this summer.

 

            The updated Master Schedule for June 20th thru July 27th is now posted on the team website.

           

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

 

NEXT UP: MEMORIAL DAY INVITATIONAL: THIS WEEKEND

GO ELITE!!!; MEET INFORMATION POSTED; PLEASE RESPOND TO TIMER COORDINATORS EMAILS:

 

            Elite’s next competition will be the Memorial Day Invitational Meet for all qualifying swimmers on Saturday, May 28 & Sunday, May 29 at Rutgers University. Please have your swimmer get in the habit of checking the team website on a regular basis (and report back to you about details such as warm-up times, entries, meet locations!).

 

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!!!