Swimmers Lane. Coaches Corner: Long Course Fact & Fiction. KATY Aquatics. Volume 3, Issue 8. Newsletter Date: April Upcoming Dates to Remember:

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1 KATY Aquatics Swimmers Lane Volume 3, Issue 8 Newsletter Date: April 2013 Upcoming Dates to Remember: April 6-7: KATY Short Course IMX Meet April 11-13: Grand Prix Meet in Mesa Arizona April 13: Swim-A-Thon (Willowfork / Falcon Point / Seven Lakes High School) April 19: KISD Early Dismissal April 20: 2013 KA Spring Banquet from 6-8pm at Cinco Ranch High School April 27-28: TAQ Meet in Baton Rouge, Louisiana May 4: FREE Make A Splash Water Safety Event Important Information Looking to suspend your KA Account? Please billing@katyaquatics.org by the 20th of the previous month. This is so we can suspend your account for the weeks you will not be attending practice. Do you have Service Hour questions? Please send an to: sevicehrs@katyaquatics.org Please all swimmer recognition information and pictures to: beth@katyaquatics.org by the first Monday of the Month. Coaches Corner: Long Course Fact & Fiction KATY Every summer KATY Aquatics converts from the standard Short Course (SC) practice schedule to our summer Long Course Schedule (LC) which runs from the beginning of May to the conclusion of our Championship Meets at the end of July into early August. Not surprisingly, many of our current swimmers have never experienced swimming in a Long Course pool or Long Course meet format. For the most part many of the questions asked by new parents and swimmers are valid, however there are statements made by inexperienced swimmers, parents, and coaches that are wrong and based upon a poor personal experience, that has translated into biased / uninformed advise which is typically not in the best interest of the swimmer. The rest of this article will deal with some of the basic long course issues and questions that arise. What is Long Course? Long Course simply refers to the format or size of the pool. A Long Course pool is 50 meters long as opposed to a Short Course pool which is either 25 yards or 25 meters in length. The 50 meter Long Course IS longer than a 25 yard SC pool, but does it matter that much? Let s start with a riddle. Which weighs more a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers? The answer is obvious, they both weigh the same but look a lot different. So then, what practice set is longer? 10 x 50 free in a Long Course pool or 10 x 50 free in a Short Course pool? You will realize they are the same. The difference is psychological for those swimmers new to LC. It just looks long. You did the same set yesterday SC. Long Course vs. Sprint training: One of the most amusing comments we hear is Long Course swimming is not good for sprinters. Long Course swimming ruins sprinting. Why train Long Course if I am a sprinter. The simple answer is if you are a sprinter in Short Course, you are a sprinter Long Course. LC training does not make a sprinter any slower than a sprinter training for SC. What is the purpose of Long Course Training? Training with your USA team throughout the summer continues to build on your training base established over the previous 9 months. LC training maintains and increases your cardiovascular conditioning level throughout the summer and puts you months ahead of those who do not train until Short Course season begins again in the fall. LC training also provides valuable experience for higher levels of competition. LC training provides less time to rest on the wall, therefore increases cardiovascular training and increases aerobic base. Finally, continued association with the Coach you have worked with for the previous nine months is an advantage. You will continue to hear the same advice and tips therefore maintaining a clear direction with the personal goals one has set for themselves.

2 KATY Aquatics Receives a Bronze in National Club Level Excellence Program from USA Swimming Congratulations and Thank you to ALL Swimmers, Coaches and Parents of KATY Aquatics! We are having our best year EVER! The Virtual Club Championships (VCC) automatically ranks all USA Swimming member clubs based on swimmer performance. This is where we can see how our club stacks up against others in our LSC, Zone and even Nationally. The VCC recognizes and highlights clubs that are developing athletes and achieving success at multiple levels emphasizing the team element in club swimming. This program serves as a key part of the Athlete Development & Performance component of the Club Recognition Program. KATY Aquatics has never been ranked higher than 4th place in the Virtual Club Championships. This year we are ranked 2nd in the Gulf! This ranking reflects the achievements of a broad range of our swimmers. It requires over 300 quality swims from both female and male swimmers ages This shows the balance and power of our swimmers in all age groups and every event. We have also exceeded many other prior accomplishments this year over any other year. Here are some highlights that we have seen over the past few months: 24 swimmers at Senior Sectionals this year, 20 last year. 1st place at Short Course Champs I 150 points over First Colony. (This is the first time we have won a meet over First Colony.) 2nd place at Short Course Champs III just 55 points out of first. 4th place at Short Course Champs II highest finish ever! 12 swimmers qualified for NCSA Junior Nationals in Orlando, FL - last year we had just 5 qualify. I sincerely thank all of our Swimmers, Coaches and Parents for all of the hard work you have done in making this KATY Aquatics best year ever! It shows that we are on the right track to achieving our goals! Sincerely, Coach Troy Volume 3, Issue 8 Page 2

3 Did you know that KATY Aquatics is Participating in a National Swim-A-Thon Contest? The Swim-A-Thon season is in high gear, and the USA Swimming Foundation is helping to make this year's fundraising event fun and successful by promoting an all new 2013 Swim-A-Thon contest! This contest is designed to create some mind-blowing team spirit and extreme levels of competitive action among other Swim-a-Thon events across the country with chances to win awesome prizes. The Grand Prize is a personal club visit from Olympic gold medalist Ricky Berens! What do Gold Medal winners get? Pretty epic prizes! Including an entry into the Grand Prize drawing, a customized Deck Pass Patch for our club or team, a feature article in USA Swimming's Splash magazine, $200 in Visa gift cards AND a gift certificate to a pizza joint to host a really sweet team party! As of today, we have raised 28% ($19,465) of our $70,000 Club Goal! Remember, we will be collecting donations for Swim-A-Thon through April 26 th, so we have several weeks left to reach our $70,000 Fundraising GOAL! Team Angela, Troy & Mike are still in the lead with $4,005, and Team Clay has now moved into second place with $3,215! The date of our event is Saturday, April 13th. All of our KATY Aquatics athletes will be getting in to swim 200 laps in 2 hours to support our club goal of raising $70,000. Below is the schedule for April 13th. Your athlete will need to swim with their fundraising team at their assigned location and time. We will have food and fun at all locations to make this a fantastic event for everyone! 2013 Swim-A-Thon Swim Schedule Team Location Time Team Angela, Troy & Mike Falcon Point 7-9am Team Val, Mandy & Mike Falcon Point 9:15-11:15am Team Ashleigh Falcon Point 11:30am-1:30pm Team Jack, Bill & Liz Willow Fork 7-9am Team Peter Willow Fork 9:15-11:15am Team Kevin Willow Fork 11:30am-1:30pm Team Clay Seven Lakes HS 12-2pm Team Steph Seven Lakes HS 2:15-4:15pm Team Beau & Blaire Seven Lakes HS 4:30-6:30pm The KATY Aquatics Coaches and Staff are extremely proud of the Team s commitment to the sport of swimming and are super excited to see what the club will be able to achieve through the 2013 Swim-A-Thon! This is a great opportunity for families to work together, have fun, and earn those much needed service hours. Let s Get in and Swim to make this the best Fundraiser our Club has ever had! Should you have any questions regarding fundraising for Swim-A-Thon or about the Active Giving website, please swimathon@katyaquatics.org. Volume 3, Issue 8 Page 3

4 KATY Aquatics finishes 4 th at SC Champs II Meet! 36 KATY athletes competed in the annual SC Champs II meet on March 1-3 in the Woodlands, Tx. This is a great meet for 13 &Over swimmers to earn new cuts for TAGS and Sectionals, earn 2 nd swims for a prelims/finals experience, and swim a quality meet to finish the Short-Course season. Swimmers earning new TAGS times: Jake Libby, Karrigan Stanley, Missy Watters (1 each). Swimmers earning new Sectional times: Coby Alanis Athletes finishing in the top 16 in their events include: Austin Ables 200 breast (12 th ) Bella Alanis 1000 free (13 th ) Coby Alanis 200 fly (4 th ), 1000 free (9 th ), 100 fly (11 th ), 400 IM (11 th ) Sebastian Andrade 100 breast (6 th ) Glen Cowand 200 IM (3 rd ),100 free (9 th ), 100 fly (9 th ), 200 free (10 th ) Matt Gaas 1000 free (2 nd ), 1650 free (2 nd ), 200 back (14 th ) Andy Hobbs 100 fly (4 th ), 50 free (5 th ), 100 back (11 th ) Kelsey Hu 200 breast (8 th ), 100 fly (15 th ), 200 IM (16 th ) Brandon Kanyo 1000 free (8 th ) Jake Libby 200 fly (2 nd ), 400 IM (4 th ), 100 free (5 th ), 500 free (7 th ), 200 free (9 th ), 200 IM (9 th ) Sam Riggan 100 free (13 th ) Jenna Rodriguez 200 fly (15 th ) Haylei Scoggins 200 IM (7 th ), 100 breast (9 th ), 500 free (15 th ), 100 back (15 th ), 200 back (15 th ) Abby Sherman 1000 free (10 th ) Kerrigan Stanley 200 IM (1 st ), 200 fly (3 rd ), 100 fly (4 th ), 400 IM (4 th ), 500 free (6 th ), 100 breast (13 th ), 100 back (14 th ) Sarah Steffes 200 breast (13 th ) Max Tumanov 100 back (3 rd ), 200 back (9 th ), 100 fly (14 th ), 400 IM (14 th ), 50 free (15 th ) Jennifer Turlington 1650 free (9 th ), 1000 free (14 th ) Missy Watters 200 breast (1 st ), 400 IM (1 st ), 100 breast (2 nd ), 1000 free (3 rd ), 200 IM (4 th ) A special recognition goes out to Missy Watters and Karigan Stanley for finishing 1 st and 3 rd respectively in the Girls High Point Totals. As always, we would like to thank all the parents and families for spending their weekend to help each of our athletes showcase the commitment and dedication they ve invested over this season. Without your constant support, our athletes would not be able to accomplish their goals. Coach Ashleigh and Coach Stephanie did some Moonlighting at the Neon Splash Dash on March 23 rd! Runners were sprayed with different colors of Super Intense U.V. Glow Water as they went through 4 different Glow Zones in the 5k Run. The finish line topped the event with a HUGE After Glow Party filled with Jammin Music, tons of BlackLlight, Performers and lots of dancing in the street! That s True Neon Spirit! Volume 3, Issue 8 Page 4

5 KATY Aquatics Places 32 nd at Annual TAGS Championship Meet 22 KATY Aquatics athletes competed in the Short Course TAGS Championship meet, held March 7-10 in The Woodlands, Tx. This is a meet involving age-group swimmers from each of the 5 local swimming committees in the state of Texas (Gulf, North Texas, South Texas, West Texas, and Border), where time standards are close to meeting or exceeding AAA on the National Age Group motivational times. Each calendar year, there is a short course TAGS meet in March, and a long course TAGS meet held at the end of July. This meet is one of the fastest age group meets in the nation and a great goal for the age group swimmer to work towards. The TAGS Team: Ethan Autry, Aria Bernal, Sofia Bernal, Coco Bratanov, Glen Cowand, Aubrey Cui, Matt Gaas, Kealan Kennedy, Keith Liang, Jake Libby, Alice Liu, Jake Mitchell, Ellen Pack, Sam Riggan, Abby Sherman, Karigan Stanley, Sarah Steffes, Cole Thumann, Cade Thumann, Trinity Tran, Haley Watters, and Missy Watters. Meet finalists included: Ethan Autry 200 free (12 th ), 100 fly (16 th ) Aria Bernal 100 back (8 th ), 200 back (12 th ), 50 back (13 th ), 100 IM (16 th ) Glen Cowand 100 back (16 th ) Ellen Pack 50 breast (7 th ), 50 fly (13 th ), 100 breast (16 th ) Haley Watters 200 breast (8 th ),100 breast (14 th ) Girls 200 Med. Relay S.Bernal, E.Pack, A.Bernal, A.Liu 15 th Boys 200 Free Relay E.Autry, K.Kennedy, Co.Thumann, Ca.Thumann 12 th Boys 200 Med. Relay Co.Thumann, K.Liang, E.Autry, Ca.Thumann 15 th Boys 400 Free Relay Co.Thumann, Ca.Thumann, K.Bratanov, E.Autry 12 th Boys 400 Med. Relay J.Mitchell, K.Liang, Co.Thumann, E.Autry 9 th Boys 800 Free Relay S.Riggan, M.Gaas, G.Cowand, J.Libby 15 th All of our KATY swimmers should be congratulated for the team spirit and sportsmanship displayed at TAGS. It s through swim meets like these where friendships and special bonds are formed among athletes from other teams who share the same passion for the sport of swimming. Pictured: Haley and Missy Watters with Ale and Arianna Shimel, twins from BTA

6 KATY Aquatics Competes at NSCA Junior Nationals! 9 KATY senior athletes competed in the annual NCSA Junior National swim meet, March 12-16, in Orlando, FL. This is an annual meet attracting over 1,800 elite level athletes who have earned an opportunity to finish their short course season with a national level competition. KATY traveled to Orlando with 9 individuals and entered the meet with 43 Individual swims along with 5 relay swims. Team members included: Kate Arceneaux, Gavin Erdmann, Rachel Grooms, Hanna Huston, Tori Kroon, Cameron McHugh, Lindsay Morrow, Kyle Nash, and Delia Weber. Swimmers earning lifetime best times included: Kate Arceneaux 200 free; 50, 100, & 200 butterfly Hannah Huston 100, 1000, & 1650 free; 50, 100, & 200 butterfly Cameron McHugh 1000 free; 50 backstroke Kyle Nash 200 butterfly Delia Weber 200 backstroke Swims finishing in the top 40 included: Hanna Huston 1000 Free (31 st ), 1650 Free (39 th ) Cameron McHugh 200 Free (18 th ), 500 free (30 th ), 1000 free (24 th ), 200 back (20 th ) Women s 200 Free Relay (18 th Grooms, Weber, Morrow, McHugh) Women s 400 Free Relay (18 th Huston, Weber, Grooms, McHugh) Women s 800 Free Relay (18 th Huston, McHugh, Weber, Arceneaux) Congratulations to these KATY Swimmers on their Outstanding Performances at Junior Nationals! Emma Allen, an Age Group II swimmer, sang the National Anthem with the Katy Children s Choir at a Rocket s Game on March 15th. KATY Aquatics is very proud to have multi-talented athletes who demonstrate team spirit in more than one way!

7 2013 KATY Aquatics Spring Banquet Date: Saturday, April 20, 2013 Time: 6:00-8:00 pm Location: Cinco Ranch High School The Cafeteria Rotunda & Stage Cinco Ranch Blvd., Katy TX, Cost is $11.00 per person and includes: Italian Dinner Catered by Hasta la Pasta Swimmer Awards & Special Recognitions Senior Ceremony DJ Tommy Blaze Everyone is invited! Please register for your tickets by Wednesday, April 10th. Payments for the Banquet must be paid in advance. Tickets will not be sold at the door. Come for a night of KATY Spirit There will be great food, music, dancing and fun! We will be handing out awards for TAGS, Sectionals, Jr. Nationals, IMX, Team Record Holders and every swimmer will receive a Best Times certificate at the Banquet. We will also be showing a slide show of our Seniors who are Graduating this year. Register online at katyaquatics.org today. (Tickets will not be available for sale at the Banquet.) Volume 3, Issue 8 Page 7

8 Spring is in Bloom with Group Socials! The Texas Bluebonnets are Blooming and so are KA Socials! The practice groups below have a social planned for April So don t miss out! Sunday, April 7 th Novice Katy & Novice A Seven Lakes Friday, April 12 th Age Group I Katy / Age Group II Taylor / Age Group IIA Seven Lakes Saturday, April 20 th Advanced Age Group for Cinco & Seven Lakes Saturday, April 20 th Age Group II Cinco & Age Group IIB Seven Lakes Sunday, April 21 st Intro to Age Group B, C & D from Seven Lakes Group Socials help build team spirit and make the KA experience a memorable one! Click here to view the Team Calendar and see what's been planned for your swimmer's practice group! Pictured: Intro to Age Group A KHS & Intro to Age Group B SLHS Pictured Below: Senior II & High Performance Volume 3, Issue 8 Page 8

9 The KATY Aquatics members of the 12 and & Under Elite group gave their coaches a silly string good-bye at their last practice before spring break since some of the members were leaving to soon start at the 14 & Under Elite practice group. Below are pictures of swimmers with silly string attacking Coach Mandy and Coach Valerie as they left practice. They also decorated their cars with good-bye notes in purple & white paint. This was the weekend before TAGS, so the energy was very high among all the swimmers. The Coaches would like to Congratulate all the athletes who moved up in our latest round of Group Moves. Way to Go KATY!

10 Texas Children s Hospital West Campus & KATY Aquatics to Host FREE Make A Splash Water Safety Event Texas Children s Hospital West Campus & KATY Aquatics is hosting a water safety educational event for families in the community in an effort to reduce youth drowning. W.A. Meyers, Fort Bend County Commissioner of Pct. 3, will say opening remarks about the importance of being safe around water and how drowning can be prevented. All Katy-area families are invited to attend a FREE Make A Splash water safety event on: Saturday, May 4 th, am Noon Cinco Ranch High School Natatorium Cinco Ranch Blvd., Katy, Texas A number of interactive displays will be available for children of all ages. This event will also give children an opportunity to get in the water and learn from certified swim instructors in the pool at Cinco Ranch High School. This event will feature national & local vendors such as U.S. Army Corps, American Red Cross, Willowfork Fire & Rescue and many others that will hold demonstrations and show various types of water safety equipment. The Make A Splash event will consist of: - FREE Swim Lessons / Stroke School* - Meet the Skeeter s Baseball Mascot & See the - Learn how to properly wear a Lifejacket Chick-fil-A Cow - Water Rescue Demonstrations - Willowfork Fire & Rescue Department - CPR Station - Ft. Bend Sherriff s Depart. & State Highway Patrol - Health Fair - Goody Bags for the first 400 Participants - Kayak Rides for Children - FREE Food & Raffle Prizes KATY Aquatics is proud to offer the Swim America learn-to-swim program that currently serves over 500 students per month. As a swim club we have a vision of promoting water safety skills to the community as a whole, not to just those that can afford our services. Make A Splash is a yearly event we host for the public to show the importance of being safe around water all the time, not just for the summer months. We would not be able to host this annual event without the help of our parent volunteers. So please be on the look-out for many opportunities to earn those last few service hours while doing something great for the community!

11 The KATY Coaches would like to send Birthday Wishes to these special Swimmers who are celebrating their BIG day this month! May this YEAR be your best EVER! Kolby Allen Sebastian Andrade William Booth Abril Caridad Raymond Cheng Ashley Coalson Taylor Conaway Gavin Erdmann Cassandra Farestvedt Mina Finnoeen Matthew Gaas Enrique Garcia Alaukik Gupta Christopher Haier David Hammel Ella Harrigal Julian Huen Wednesday Hunter Bradley Husack Muskaan Khanna Ahren Kubiak Harsh Kumar Jerry Kurinsky Carson Kuzawa Cole Kuzawa Michael Liang Ewan Mackie Cole Mason Lilliana McElroy Jake Mitchell Prakruti Pawar Melanie Regis Mizelle Rojas-Salas Aditya Shah Adam Sherman Andrew Spencer Caleb Stevenson Karen Tai Adam Tate Nicolas Valencia Samuel Vivien Delia Weber Ethan Wright Lauren Yao Andrea Yusta Kristina Zheng

12 KATY Aquatics st Street Katy, Texas Phone: Fax: Visit our Website! KatyAquatics.org Still Need Service Hours? Then come help us at: Make A Splash A FREE Water Safety Event for the Whole Family! Saturday, May 4, 2013 Cinco Ranch High School 10am 12pm We will be posting many Volunteer Hours about 2 weeks before the event. Watch your for updates! KATY Aquatics Thanks Our Sponsors for their Contributions! Platinum Speedo Gold FMC Technologies, Inc. Hargrove Design Group Lane Four Swim Shop Multi Phase Meters, Inc. Spark Energy The Word Family Watch Me Grow Portrait Studio Silver The Club at Falcon Point Willow Fork Country Club Lane Mabray, RE/MAX Westside Realtors Bronze Ables Insurance Agency Paragon Pools Friends of Katy Aquatics Candalaris Double Dave s Pizzeria Fuddruckers Katy Orthodontics Katy Printers Mid-Way BBQ Mission Burrito Mooyah Burgers Whitsett Vision Group 2013 Swim-A-Thon Sponsors Bay Area Schwinn Coban Technologies, Inc. URS Corporation