From the Coach

A few things for the next few weeks. There will be no practice Wednesday-Monday (April 9-15) of next week. Lisa and I will be at JO’s. Tuesday April 15th will be the Swim-A-Thon party. We will have a free day and hand out the awards for the Swim-A-Thon.
After JO’s there is one more meet in Ketchikan. This is the Olympic Athlete Meet. This year’s Olympic Athlete is Tom Jager. He is a former world record holder in the 50 meter freestyle, and is the current head coach at University of Idaho. This is a great meet for the whole team. It is a great for developmental swimmers and advanced swimmers alike. Sign-ups and travel info will be available soon.
Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks
Colin

I guess it’s been a while since I posted anything on the blog. A few things coming up. We have a time trial this Saturday. Warm-ups will start at 9:30 with the meet starting at 10:15. Please show up on time. We will be entering kids in events on the deck once we see who shows up. This is the last chance to get JO times.

JO sign-ups will be Monday night at 6:00 pm in the Elementary School Library. If you have any questions about travelling to this meet please let me know.

Thanks, Colin

It’s almost time to leave. Hopefully everyone is 100% recovered from their various illnesses (me and Lisa included). Just a few reminders, there will be no practice Thursday, Friday, or Monday. We will have a relaxed practice on Tuesday, maybe hand out ribbons, have a free day. All groups will start at three, and go for an hour. We will be done at four.

A few parents have asked me to remind them how to properly write the events on kids hands.

When you are looking at a heat sheet, you look at the event, heat and lane. Then there is a heat. There could be only one heat, or several. The number right next to the swimmers name is what lane they are in.

So when you are writting on a hand please make sure that the event, heat and lane are clearly written. It is also helpful to write what the event is, i.e. 25 free=Event 1

Another hint is that girls events are always odd numbered events and boys are even numbered events.

More snow! No practice today. Have fun in the snow, be safe. There will be practice Friday and Saturday at 9:30am for B and C groups.

Sorry about the late cancellation notice today. I was working at the school, and didn’t really realize how bad it was outside. Once the MS cancelled their after school activities, I decided to cancel VSC practice.
As of today, there will be practice tomorrow. However, if the school declares a Snow Day, then VSC will follow their lead and have a snow day as well. Although, it is looking pretty nice out at the moment, naturally.

Thanks again.

Colin

Thanks again to all the swimmers, parents and family who counted for the swimmers doing the swim-a-thon. We had some pretty high earners including at least two swimmers who earned more than $1,200!

We leave for SE Champs in 10 days! The next nine days of practice will be used to get relays together, practice starts, turns and just fine tuning everything before the meet starts. Please make sure that your swimmer is at practice as much as possible. (please remember that VSC has an attendence policy preceding swim meets.)

There are few things that will help the meet go as smoothly as possible. While we have 2 chaperones going to the meet to help supervise and coordinate, there will be 30 parents going out of 41 kids going. So if you will be there as a parent/spectator please try to help out with writing on hands, double checking hands to make sure that swimmers have the right events written on thier hands, and cheer as loud as possible. Please remember you are there to be a cheerleader, and not to coach. Let Lisa and I do that. Also, if you take your swimmer from the pool for lunch etc., please remeber to check out with the chaperone!!

Don’t forget!!
-X-tra towels
-Goggles
-TEAM SUIT (if you have one)
-TEAM CAP
-TEAM WARM-UP (if you have one)
-Healthy snacks for the pool (oranges, granola, pasta, power bars etc. no pop, candy anything with a lot of sugar)
-Gatorade, water.
-Deck clothes to keep warm between events.

SE Champs is a long meet, that really takes a toll on kids, parents and coaches. The best way to make sure that your swimmer will be able to make it through the weekend is make sure that they are rested, hydrated and have had enough healthy food to eat before, during and after the meet.

I have ordered t-shirts for the swimmers. We will hand them out once we get to Juneau. I ordered a few extra shirts for parents. They are $15 and are first come first serve. I have 2 small, 6 medium, 7 large and 2 xl extra. If you want one please email me. You can pay the $15 at the meet.

Thanks, Colin

I posted a couple of flyers up on the bulletin board today at the pool for swim camps this summer. Swim camps are a great oppurtunity for swimmers to gain valuable swimming experience outside of Alaska. Most of the camps are in the Mid-West, or East Coast. I know of a few here on the West Coast that aren’t on the board.
I think that most of the swim camps have an age minimum, usually 9 years old. However, there usually isn’t a requirement for ability, which means that most VSC swimmers would qualify.

Please let me know if you have any questions.

Thanks to all of the parents and swimmers who showed up to sign-ups tonight. We did it! There are EXACTLY 40 swimmers signed up! The next few weeks are going to be exciting getting ready for the meet. Attendence at practice is important to make sure that we are ready to swim fast.

Also… the guy that makes the underwater sound system called me today, letting me know that he is finally ready to ship the unit. So hopefully it will be here VERY soon!

Please don’t forget that the Swim-A-Thon is this weekend.

Thanks again!

Please check your boxes at the pool. They are located on the right just inside the door to the lobby. We will periodically put flyers regarding upcoming events with VSC.

Thanks!

We are a couple of weeks away from the Swim A Thon. Let’s try to get every swimmer above the minimum of $125. Good Luck!

Colin