STARplex Swim Club Wet Ink

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1 STARplex Swim Club Wet Ink V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 3 M A Y D A T E S T O R E M E M B E R : 8 May: Committee nominations due 23 May: AGM and Presentation Day 6-7 June: STARplex two day carnival I N S I D E T H I S I S S U E : Nominations 2 please! Coach s Corner 2 Ins & Outs of 3 Being an Official STARplex shines during April April was Nationals month with STARplex being represented in four different events. At the Australian National Open Championships, James swum the 50m, 100m and 200m breaststroke, finishing 5th, 13th and 10th respectively against the best swimmers in the country. In the 50m breaststroke he took a combined 0.32 seconds off his PB. Awesome effort James! At the 40th Masters National Championships held in Hobart, Lyn swam in the 50m butterfly, 50m backstroke, 100m medley, 100m butterfly and 100m backstroke. Word is she had a great time and swam close to her PB s. Well done Lyn! Emmabeth travelled overseas to compete in the New Zealand Swimming Championships, coming 4th in the 100m freestyle, 6th in the 50m butterfly and 7th in the 50m freestyle. Congrats Emmabeth! And in the last national level meet for April, Clarise, Josh and Hayden travelled to Sydney for the Australian National Age Championships. Clarise had a tough challenge, swimming the 200m, 400m and 800m freestyle and 400m medley. Josh R achieved PB s in both the 100m and 200m breaststroke and Hayden PB d his 50m freestyle. A huge effort by all 3 of these swimmers! April also saw the last Club Championship meet for the 2014/15 year. There was a huge turnout, including over 20 come and try swimmers. The highlight of the night had to be the dress up relay, which saw swimmers from each team swimming while wearing ever increasing amount of clothing and items including wristbands, toys, socks, shirts, shorts and hats. It was great to see the club spirit come through on the night, with everyone pitching in and helping out. We look forward to seeing our Club Champions in each age group crowned at the Presentation night on May 23. AGM & Club Presentations 3 swimswam article 4 Carnival closing dates 5 Achievements & Bunnings BBQ 5 Photos from Club Championships 6 Would you like a large print version of this newsletter? It is available upon request to communications@starplexswimclub.org.au. Online version also available at starplex.swimming.org.au

2 P A G E 2 Nominations please! May Birthdays You may have seen two notices in your club pocket recently. The first was about changes to the process for selecting Club Captains. From April 2015, eligible swimmers will need to nominate to stand for Junior Captain (11-13 years) or Senior Captain (14-18 years). Club swimmers will then vote from the pool of nominees, with the successful Captains announced at the AGM. The second notice was calling for people interested in nominating for the Club committee. We are always on the lookout for helpers, with meetings generally held once a month on Saturday mornings while the kids are in the pool. If you are interested in knowing more about how the committee works, please speak to any of the current members listed on the back page. 9th Gabrielle C 9th Kayla 31st Luke HAPPY BIRTHDAY!! The reason a lot of people do not recognize opportunity is because it usually goes around wearing overalls looking like hard work. Thomas Edison Coach s Corner This is a motivational speech about goal setting one of my first coaches gave to me, hope you enjoy. Goal setting Written by John Naber In 1972 Mark Spitz won seven gold medals, breaking seven world records. I was at home watching him on my living room floor. I said to myself at the time, "wouldn't it be nice to be able to win a gold medal, to be a world champion in Olympic competition." So right then I had this dream of being an Olympic champion. Right about then it became a goal. That dream to goal transition is the biggest thing I learned prior to Olympic competition- how important it is to set a goal. Certainly motivation is important. A lot of kids have motivation, "Gee, I'd love to be great " My personal best in the 100 back was Roland Matthes, winning the same event for the second consecutive Olympics (1972), went I extrapolated his three Olympic performances and I figured in 1976, 55.5 would be the order of the day. That s what I figured I would have to do. So I'm four seconds off the shortest backstroke event on the Olympic program. It s a substantial chunk, but because it s a goal, now I can decisively figure out how I can attack that. I have four years to do it in. I've got four years to train. So it's only one second a year. That s still a substantial chunk. Swimmers train ten or eleven months a year so it's about a tenth of a second a month, giving time off for missed workouts. You figure we train six days a week so it's only 1/300th of a second a day. We train from 6-8 in the morning to 4-6 at night so it's really only about 1/1200th of a second every hour. Do you know how short a 1200th of a second is? Look at my hand and blink when I snap. From the time you started closing your eyelids to the time they touched, five 1200ths of a second elapsed. For me to stand on pool deck and say, "During the next 60 minutes I'm going to improve that much, " that s a believable dream. I can believe in myself. I can't believe that I am going to drop four seconds by the next Olympics. But I can believe I can get that much faster. Couldn't you? Sure. So all of a sudden I'm moving. John went on to win the 1976 Olympic 100m backstroke Gold Medal in a World Record time of Coach Alex S T A R P L E X S W I M C L U B

3 V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 3 P A G E 3 The Ins and Outs of Being an Official Last month we discussed the different officiating positions available and what each of them do. This article will answer some questions about the training opportunities available to learn and practice these roles. I have not done any training and I don t know most of the rules... The STARplex Swim Club provides basic training at certain club events where the rules are explained and the role of the official is taught. This is very informal and an excellent way of getting to know the rules of competitive swimming. These basic officials courses are advertised throughout the year. What about more advanced training? STARplex holds more advanced training courses from time to time with Swimming SA referees/trainers. These are advertised on the club Facebook page and in the pockets on pool deck prior to the course. Is there a book or DVD available that explains the rules? Mark Branson has a FINA DVD on officiating the rules of competitive swimming which is a useful resource. How do I get to practice the role? You can volunteer to official at Div 1, Div 2 and JX meets, as well as some country and club meets. When you do a session of officiating, you should get a green card from the official s room and get it signed by the referee after the session has finished. This card is used to determine how much officiating you have done on pool deck and can be used towards your formal qualifications. What is the formal training pathway? You will need to register with the Australian Sports Commission and undertake the Introductory Level Officiating General Principles online course, which is free of charge. This can be found at When you become familiar with your Officiating job, there is a theory paper to do and a practical assessment. You will also need to obtain a police clearance before you can receive your accreditation for that job. A pathways flowchart is available at visageimages/3. Accreditation Pathway.pdf Who should I talk to for further information? The training coordinator is Mark Branson, who can be contacted at mark@bransonfarms.com.au Next month: How do I register and what do I do on the day of the meet? The STARplex Swim Club AGM and Presentation night is being held on 23 May, at 5.30pm for a 6.00pm start. Come along and join us in celebrating the achievements of our club and our swimmers this year. As well as the election of the new committee for the 2015/16 year, the night will also see the announcement of the new Club Captains, and the presentation of State Badges and Club Record certificates. AGM and Club Presentation Night The night will culminate in the presentation of the following major awards: Roto Oil Trophy for most improved male senior swimmer Lillecrapp Trophy for most improve female senior swimmer Howarth Trophy for most improved female junior swimmer Lane Trophy for most improved male junior swimmer James McKechnie Trophy for most improved breaststroke swimmer Female Open Carnival Trophy for most club points scored at open carnivals during the long course season Male Open Carnival Trophy for most club points scored at open carnivals during the long course season Presidents Trophy for most outstanding individual performance during the long course season STARplex Trophy Female for most club points scored at open carnivals during the long course season STARplex Trophy Male for most club points scored at open carnivals during the long course season

4 P A G E 4 Frustrations of the Up & Coming Swimmer From SwimSwam.com Its that time of year again! Orders are being taken for named club caps, as well as for the 2015/16 Swim Handbook. Order forms have been placed in the club pockets. If you missed yours, please enquiries@starplexswim club.org.au Is there anything more frustrating, more disheartening, than giving it your all day in and day out, and being unable to escape the feeling that you aren t making the deserved gains in the pool? After all, it s been 5 months of training and you are still putting down the same intervals in practice as you were at the beginning of the season. The times you have been swimming in meets have been a couple hundredths of a second off your best times from last summer. And it seems like the harder you try in practice, the more you are just spinning your wheels, getting nowhere exceptionally fast. It makes you feel like you a truck buried in the mud, foot stomping the pedal through the floor, burning all your fuel and red-lining and barely inching along. But just like that truck stuck in the mud (apparently I have been listening to some country today), at some point it is going to gain traction, and when that moment happens, byyyyyyee! But until that moment, here are some reasons that you are feeling a little more stuck than usual: You underestimated how much work was needed. Sure, working hard for three whole weeks at the pool is great, but does that mean you are going to drop 5 seconds in your 50 in that span? Unless you are just starting out, the answer is almost always an overwhelming no. The way you are practicing sucks. All practices are not created equal. Focused, concentrated practice, where you bear all your attention on maintaining killer technique and swimming as close as possible to your top-end speed is good practice. Swimming through your workouts with sloppy technique, streamlining like you are holding a beach ball over your head, and at a constant, mediocre pace, on the other hand, is not good practice. You aren t thinking about getting better daily. Each day you should be going to practice and doing it just a tiny bit better. You don t need to hit a home run every day at practice, and you shouldn t expect to drop a huge chunk of time overnight, and you shouldn t have to wait until a few weeks or months have passed to see improvement, no matter how small. Steadily build up the little wins, and you will achieve a stunning amount of improvement over the long term without ever really noticing, while also riding the mini-bumps of confidence and pride along the way like a magical unicorn. You are spending too much time complaining vs. taking action. For some swimmers, arguing is their favorite stroke. When the main set goes up they try to S T A R P L E X S W I M C L U B

5 V O L U M E 1, I S S U E 3 P A G E 5 negotiate the intervals and distances. And when they don t swim fast enough they find fault with the training circumstances, the set, and the weather (even though its an indoor pool). Complaining is easy, taking the initiative to take action isn t. You are giving up far too quickly. Mastering anything requires time and patience. And with anything worthwhile, there comes a time during your little quest to awesomeness where nothing seems to be getting you to move forward. This rough patch is what separates those who go on to excel, and those who are merely taking a casual swing at greatness. Push on, stop searching for the shortcuts and easy routes, and remember that it s only a matter of time before you get unstuck and hurtle forwards. Carnival Closing Dates Event Date Event Venue Organiser Closing Date Method 23 May Marion (SC) SAALC Marion SC 1 May Online 31 May Fleurieu (SC) Westminster Fleurieu SC 13 May Online 6-7 June STARplex (SC) STARplex STARplex SC 23 May Online 14 June South Coast (SC) Noarlunga South Coast SC 25 May Online Member Achievements Congratulations to Will, Josh R and the Trinity Senior Band on their recent performance at the National Band Championships held in Sydney, coming 2nd overall in the Open C Grade. Will also went on to win the solo Bass Clarinet section on Easter Monday, and is now a National Champion for that instrument. Bunnings BBQ The club held a BBQ at Bunnings Munno Para on Easter Monday. Even with the very ordinary weather (at one stage, John, Alex and Lee were holding the shade down to stop it from blowing away!), it was still a worthwhile event, with around $900 profit made. Thanks to Lyn Lillecrapp and the Barker, Jackson, Gorman, Melnik, McKechnie, Hayford, Zilm, Stone and Peters families for helping out on the day. Best of luck to Jessi who is swimming as part of the SA team at the National Christian School Games from May. This is a biannual event being held in Runaway Bay, Qld. Awesome effort by Declan competing at the School Sport Australia National Triathlon Championships, coming 17th in the individual event (13-15 years) and 4th in the team event. Congratulations to Mark Branson who has become the first person in the STARplex Swim Club to be invited to become a Trainee Referee. Look out for Mark on pool deck over the next couple of months controlling the second Div 1 meet and the first Playford Meet.

6 STARplex Swim Club Committee STARplex Swim Club STARplex Health & Fitness Centre Alexander Ave Evanston Park SA 5116 PO Box 1634 Gawler SA 5118 mail: web: facebook: STARplex Swim Club President: Paul Zilm Vice President: Nicki Jackson Secretary: Kelly Dunbar Treasurer: Lee Hayford Member Liaison: Deb Duell Committee: Mark Branson Tracy Jordan Lyn Lillecrapp Andrew Martin Brook McKechnie April Club Championships