Electric Eels News. Stretching. Editor: Enma Plank. Contributors: Gabby Scwartz Anna Plank Mikayla Fleeger Robin Plank Coach O Toole

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1 Electric Eels News January 2017 Editor: Enma Plank Contributors: Gabby Scwartz Anna Plank Mikayla Fleeger Robin Plank Coach O Toole In this Issue Page 1: Stretching Page 2: Eels vs. SRU Meet, Food Drive Page 3: Letter from the Board Page 4: Sw im mer of the Month Page 5: Sw im mers of the Meet Page 6: Practice Attendance Page 7: USA Sw imming Update, Photo Gallery Page 7: Upcoming events, Corporate Sponsorship Thank You! Stretching Mikayla Fleeger It is very important to stretch before you swim or do any other exercise. If you do not stretch, you could injure yourself and also not have as much power and speed. The best time to stretch is before or after exercising. Fun fact: you are not actually stretching unless you hold the pose for a few seconds to several minutes. Stretching will help you become more flexible and stronger too! Some important muscles to stretch are: biceps, triceps, hamstring, and many more. You should stretch every day to help yourself become more flexible and strong. Remember to stretch every day!

2 Eels vs. SRU Meet Anna Plank On December 3rd, we had a fun meet against the collage SRU aquatic club. It was so much fun and very laid back. There were only about 7 kids from our team and 10 kids from SRU. Thank you to Coach Caleb and Coach Renee for helping us do this! Next time lets see more Eels out there! Food Drive Anna Plank Last month we did a food drive for the local food pantry. We asked families to bring in non perishable food items, and we had a great turn out. We collected lots of food for the food pantry! I am sure the workers were very happy to get this donation. Thanks to every one who donated, and if you did not get the chance to donate, please do so next time.

3 Letter from the Board SRST parents and swimmers, Happy New Year! It is hard to believe that we are already half way into our season. It is exciting to see so much improvement in 3 short months! We have added 30 new swimmers to our roster. Exciting things are happening both in and out of the water. Our swimmers have consistently dropped times in competition, new SRST records are being set, and our swimmers are actively engaged in helping their community with service oriented projects like our annual food drive. For the second half of our season, we will be collecting loose change during our home meets to donate to The Slippery Rock Community Library s Capital Campaign Fund. The SRCL plans to break ground this spring with a brand new building on North Main Street. Please consider encouraging your swimmer to contribute to this cause by earning money at home through completion of small chores. Our generous corporate sponsorship and home meet concession profit have enabled us to purchase some much needed equipment: kickboards, electronic timing system cables, construction cones for home meet pickle timer holders, and hardware for our 25+ year old lane lines. Our parents, grandparents, and friend of the Eels never cease to amaze me when asked to help out. From home meet participation to restringing lane lines, we have the most eager workers in our league! We are in the process of circulating parent/swimmer surveys to provide feedback to our coaching staff. If you have not already filled one out, please see me to do so. I am at practice most nights of the week (in some capacity!). We plan to start group swim lessons in January. More information will be forwarded to the team soon. Our hope is that this will serve as a fundraiser for our team, while continuing to build our roster. Please spread the word to friends and family. Slippery Rock Area Elementary students will also be bringing home fliers after the holiday recess. The importance of practice attendance for this second half of the season cannot be stressed enough. As with any sport, for athletes to consistently improve, they have to attend practice. As working parents, we all understand the dedication required to get our swimmers to the pool. We are thankful for the many grandparents that we see in the spectator area during practice as well. Let s finish this season strong! Robin Plank and the SRST Parent Board

4 Swimmer of the Month Gabby Schwartz This month s Swimmer of the Month is Virginia Recchia. Virginia is new to our swim team. She swims in the red group. Virginia has been interested in swimming since the first grade. Another first grader had a pool, and Virginia really wanted one. Eventually she got a pool. Virginia swims in it all the time during the summer. The pool sparked her interest in competitive swimming. Virginia s favorite stroke is backstroke. It is her favorite because you are able to breathe without difficulty. Virginia s favorite thing about swimming is that she gets to do it with her friends. Her least favorite parts of swimming are dry land, and getting up early on Saturday morning for practice. Here are a few fun facts about Virginia. First, Virginia believes that her best quality is her ability to work hard. Next, I asked Virginia what three items she would want if stranded on a desert island. Her answers were, My (Virginia s) house, my bed, and a million dollars so I could get off the island. The last question I asked Virginia was about what she wanted to be when she grew up. Virginia said that she wanted to be a sports announcer, because she loves sports. Thanks for reading this month s Swimmer of the Month column!

5 Swimmers of the Meet-Riverside Christian Brunsgaard and Mollie Massella Christian was chosen by the SRST coaches for outstanding improvements in all three individual events. Christian dropped seconds in his 200 free, 8.2 seconds in his 100 backstroke, and 2.52 seconds in his 100 freestyle. Mollie was part of the winning 9-10 girls 200 freestyle relay. She also dropped 1.86 seconds in her 50 backstroke. Good job swimmers! Keep working hard for continued success throughout the season!

6 Practice Attendance Contributed by Coach O Toole, Written by John Leonard One of the hallmarks of a quality swimming team program is a planned program of physical development. (Other hallmarks include an emphasis on teaching, intelligent approaches to competition, and racing with a purpose, as well as individual attention to those who are "earning it" through their attention to the instructions of the coach.) The planned program of physical development includes programmed physical stress and recovery times. Progress can only be made by the athlete by imposing a previously unexperienced stress on the body system. The body will then adapt to this stress, if provided the appropriate degree and timing of recovery. (Total rest is NOT appropriate recovery...it does not provide the lower level stimulation necessary for compensatory chemical reactions to develop.) The stresses applied can be in the form of speed, distance swum, or "density" of workout. (yards per time period.) Stress can also be specifically applied in accordance with energy systems. A quality swimming program will mix the stresses in appropriate quantities and types for the group of athletes, and thus the individuals, being trained. The "mix" will be different for different groups and individuals, based on their previous training. Thus, attendance at workout is a CRITICAL feature in making physical progress in the program. When an athlete misses a workout, they upset the delicate balance of "how much of what" stresses they apply to their body. In worst cases, athletes attend the recovery workouts, and miss the stressful workouts and thus never apply increasing stress to their systems. In the next worst scenario, athletes miss a series of recovery workouts, and attend only the stressful workouts and thus never get the appropriate recovery stimulation, and go from "sore" to "more sore." Finally, missing a "cycle" of stressful and recovery workouts means that the athlete takes "one step forward and one step back" and worse, comes back to a stress/ recovery cycle that is now two steps up from their last practice... a very stressful adaptation. This ignores, of course, the fact that the athlete has let his teammates down by not attending, and has lost the opportunity to learn what is being taught that day. With 13 and ups, we want to press for good attendance. For 12 and unders, we want to educate parents and swimmers as to its importance, while not stopping them from playing other sports as well. But make sure they know we consider swimming to be just as valid and exciting and involving as football, volleyball, etc. And remind them subtly that in swimming, "everybody plays all the time." "TO ACHIEVE GREAT THINGS, FIRST SHOW UP EVERY DAY.

7 USA Swimming Update Robin Plank SRST had three swimmers who qualified for the 55 th Annual Christmas Meet held at the University of Pittsburgh. This is a very competitive meet with approximately 1,250 swimmers in attendance. Emma Plank, Natalie Carlantonio, and Ashton Huff all competed and represented SRST very well. Of 17 individual events, they had 15 personal best times! Emma s highest place was 16 th out of 158 swimmers in the 50 free with a personal best time of 26.0 seconds and a new Eels record. She also broke Eel s records in the 100 fly, 100 free, and 500 free. Natalie Carlantonio achieved all personal best times in her 9 individual events. Her highest place was 17th in the 200 back. Way to go SRST! Thanks girls for representing our team so well in this VERY COMPETITIVE meet! Photo Gallery Coach Logan s Christmas Sock Dryland! Leah and Maddie celebrate their 100 free relay win!

8 Corporate Sponsorship Thank You! January Birthdays! Season Grant Blade Quast Alyssa Rea Grace Robinson Ashley Shea Upcoming Events Jan. 7:Home meet vs. Keystone Oaks and Northgate Jan 29:14 & U Swim- Your-Age Gold Sponsors: Farneth, Tomosovich, LLC Slippery Rock Veterinary Hospital Foot and Ankle Wellness Center of Western PA Silver Sponsors: Faull Fabricating Coffaros Pizza Gene Cooper Farms NexTier Bank PACE Trophies Hooks & Toy s Auto Repair Slippery Rock Hardware Cashdollar & Associates, LLC David Gordley, D.D.S Harrisville Memorials Trimpey Consulting Services Bronze Sponsor: Slippery Rock Family Medicine Paul and Rosalie Plank Slippery Rock Pharmacy Friends of the Eels: Lloyd and Carol Green Room to Grow Montessori Sheetz Muddy Creek Animal Clinic Sculpture Studio SRU Credit Union TMS Physical Therapy Hanlon Psychological Services Turner Insurance Would you like to contribute to the Electric Eels newsletter? If so, contact Emma Plank at emmaplank03@yahoo.com for more information!