Bronze Breakout Meet

Bronze Breakout at Solon HS - Sunday, Oct.21

Morning Session (10 & Unders)

• Warm-ups begin at 7:30 a.m.
• Meet will begin at 8:35 a.m.

Afternoon Session (11 & Overs)

• Warm-ups will NOT begin before 11:15 a.m.
• Meet will begin 50 minutes after the start of warm-ups

Please be at the pool 10 minutes before the start of warm-ups.

Middle School Swim Team Meeting

There will be an informational meeting for all those interested in swimming on the Shaker Middle School swim team on Wednesday, Oct. 24 during conference time.  The meeting will be at the Middle School pool bleachers.  The conference bus will be available to take the students home.

Question of the Week

Question of the Week:

Name one of the swimmers of the week from October 8, 2007.

Look for the answer, write it down or tell your coach the answer and you will receive a Shaker Shark pencil.

Thank You!

Thanks to those parents who attended Tuesday’s Parent Meeting!

If you have any other questions about swim meets, please ask a coach at an appropriate time. Good times to ask questions are: before the 5:20 practice, between practice sessions, after the 6:40 - 7:20 practice, via e-mail, and at scheduled parent meetings!

Parent Meeting and Article

Reminder: the coaches will give a brief presentation about swim meets in the bleachers at the Middle School Pool on Tuesday from 6:45 p.m. to 7:15 p.m. We hope to see you there!

Here is an article about swim parenting written by a swim parent. The article was originally published at usaswimming.org.

Paul Peavy: My Half Minute Career as a Swim Coach (10/12/2007)

My coaching resume includes a few years of coaching youth basketball, including a couple of back-to-back, undefeated seasons.

Mostly, I’m proud of the laughs we had at practice and the lifelong relationships I built, and the fact that a few of those kids went on to coach youth league basketball themselves because of what it meant to them.

My career as a swim coach entails all of about thirty seconds at Junior Olympics. The week before, I had seen my daughter working on a different technique on her breaststroke. She was really popping up out of the water and just flying. So all week I reminded her of that technique and then just before she went down to the starting blocks, I reminded her of how she had really popped up and down so quickly and how much faster that made her.

Boy was my swim coaching career shining bright as she kept up with the leaders from lane 1. Then after the turn, everything just fell apart and she didn’t even make her best time. When she came back up she explained that she can hold that technique for about twenty five yards. A real shame it was a fifty yard race.

From the beginning I have known that swimming was a strange bird to me. God reminds me of this every time I participate in a triathlon. So I read my Splash magazine, the family watches every televised swim meet together, I have read Natalie Coughlin’s and Jenny Thompson’s biographies, and generally try to educate myself enough so that when my daughter asks me a question I reply with, “Well, what does coach Bob say?”

If she or I am confused about something, one of us will go to him with the question. I have seen kids in swimming and other sports get different advice from different “experts” (including parents), and it generally leads to confusion and poorer performance. Kids are told to listen to adults and do what they are told. Well imagine a kid being told by one adult to shorten his stroke and another to lengthen it. My guess is you will end up with a kid with a long right arm and short left arm stroke.

If your child has a question about technique or strategy, make sure he talks to his coach about it. A big part of youth sports is about kids learning to take their questions and concerns to adult authorities and expressing themselves.

If you have a problem or a question or concern as a parent, you need to be able to do the same. Now, as a parent you have to respect the coach’s time as he or she supervises practices and is trying to focus on 20 backstroke techniques at a time. Perhaps before or after practice or by e-mail.

Now, repeat after me. “I am the parent,” followed by, “The swim coach is the swim coach.” Now, please, step away from the swimmer.

100 Second Club Online

The first edition of the 100 Second Club has been posted. Navigate to “Top Times” and click on 100 Second Club to download the file. The file is in Microsoft Excel format. Enjoy!

Swimmers of the Week

Shark Swimmers of the Week:

• Emeline Armitage
• Meredith Modlin
• Ava Gerami
• Linda Fan
• Ian Watson

Select Youth Swimmers of the Week

• Annmarie Smerdel
• Seth Beal

Senior/High School Swimmers of the Week

• David Kloos
• Lizzie Sords

Swim-a-Thon Information

The Shaker Shark Swim-a-Thon is Saturday, October 20 at the Middle School.  Click here for more information.

Question of the Week

Question of the Week:

Bring or draw a picture of a healthy snack you eat.

Swimmers do the activity and take it to practice.  Show your coach and you will receive a Shaker Shark pencil.

Parent Meeting 10/16 at 6:45 p.m.

On Tuesday, October 16, from 6:45 to 7:15 p.m. at the Shaker Middle School Pool, the coaches will give a brief presentation about swim meets. Topics covered will include: the importance of warmups and being early, the coach’s job at a swim meet, the parent’s job at a swim meet, swimming on relays, the Shaker Shark philosophy of competition, what to bring to swim meets, and all about “heat sheets”.

This meeting will be a great opportunity to learn more about swim meets and to ask questions. If you are interested in attending, please RSVP by emailing Sarah at shakerswimming@msn.com or by telling a coach at practice.

If you’d like to learn more about swim meets but cannot attend (or cannot wait), consult the Shark Youth Handbook. Section 2 of the handbook is filled with suggestions for swimming parents and Section 3 contains information about swim meets.

Hope to see you there!

New Swimmer Tryouts

New swimmer tryouts will be held Tuesday, October 9 and Thursday, October 11 at 7:20 p.m. at the Middle School pool.  If you need to arrange an alternate time, please contact us.

Swimmer of the Week

Shark Swimmers of the Week:

• Darby Grant
• Se-Hwan Park
• Alice Fletcher
• Zach Steckel
• Danielle Nealon

Select Youth Swimmers of the Week

• Lauren Vavruska
• Tad Resch

High School/SR. Swimmers of the Week

• Matt Glassman
• Lauren Poll

Time Trials Photos 10/06/07

Congratulations to all Shaker Sharks who participated in today’s Time Trials at Woodbury Pool! Also, thank you to all the Shark parents and Senior Shark swimmers who made the year’s first swim meet a success!

Here are some photos of today’s swim meet fun! Click on each thumbnail image to see the full size image.

Question of the Week

Question of the Week:

Finish this sentence:  “I love swimming because….”

Swimmers, tell your coach why you love swimming and you will receive a Shaker Shark pencil.

Time Trials

The Shaker Shark Time Trials are tomorrow, Saturday, October 6.  The meet is held at Woodbury pool, and the schedule is as follows:         

10 years and under:  8:00 a.m. warm-ups, 8:30 a.m. meet starts.         

11 years and over:  10:30 a.m. warm-ups, 11:00 a.m. meet starts.

Please be on time for warm-ups.  Apparel orders will be taken at this time.  We will have order forms available or you can dowload it.  Items will be available to try on.  Apparel orders will not be taken after Monday, October 8.   

There will be NO SHSH morning practices on October 6.

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