SHARKS NEWS

10/09/06 

NEW!  Swim Team newsletters and other materials will be available via the internet.  Log on to www.saginawymca.org  for all Swim Team information.  We hope that most families will check the site for their weekly newsletters and other pertinent information.  We will only be making a limited number of paper copies.

HEALTH FORMS AND TEAM FEES 

            PLEASE TURN IN ALL HEALTH FORMS TO CHET ASAP.  If you do not have a health form, please ask Chet for a form.  A completed health form on file is required to be on the team. Also, for those swimmers who have been coming to practice and have not yet registered, your TEAM FEES ARE DUE BY MONDAY, OCTOBER 23rd.  Please pay at the YMCA front desk.   

            If your swimmer is registered under Group 1, they can ONLY attend on T/TH/F.  Their practices are only 1½ hour time slots, and the coaches are prepared for the younger swimmers.  The Group 2 swimmers practice for 2 hours and meet every day for a more intense training.  If you have any concerns or questions regarding the different groups, please talk to Chet concerning different arrangements.  These groups are set up for the number of coaches that we have at practice.  Also, when the girls high school season is over we will be getting 15 or more girls returning to swim sharks. 

SWIM SUITS AND CAPS 

             Please place your suit and swim cap order, along with a t-shirt size.  We will have suits to try on next week.  If you wish to purchase other gear (fins, pull buoy, kick board), our team dealer will be at the Flint meet at the end of the month, or you can purchase online at www.differentstrokes.com.  We are a Speedo sponsored team which gives all of our team members a team discount on their team suit.  Chet has practice swim caps for sale for $5.00.  Please see Chet. 

PRACTICE SCHEDULE  

 Any practice changes or cancellations will be posted in the newsletter.  Newsletters and qualifying times, along with the meet schedule will also be posted on the Shark bulletin boards at the YMCA and Heritage.  

SNOW DAYS:  If Heritage has a snow day, practice will be cancelled.  If the YMCA is open, we will have practice on Tues. & Thurs. (Please remember that you are a YMCA member and you could decide to go down to the YMCA and do a workout on your own) during these snow days.  Chet will have a workout posted at the YMCA on the bulletin board by the window.

PRACTICE CANCELLATION           

*          THERE WILL BE NO PRACTICE ON WEDNESDAY 10/11/06.  There is a swim meet at Heritage.

*          Practice on Friday 10/13/06 will be at the YMCA from 6:30 – 8:00pm.  This is due to the Heritage Homecoming.

FLINT FALCONS MEET OCT. 28 & 29 

            ENTRIES FOR THIS MEET ARE DUE TO CHET BY WEDNESDAY, OCT. 18 AT THE BEGINNING OF PRACTICE.  Remember, this is an invitational meet; it is your choice to participate in one day, two days, or not at all.  If you do attend this meet, please read your entry packet.  It will tell you how many events each swimmer is allowed to swim, how much each event costs, and where and when the meet will take place (At this meet, each swimmer is allowed to swim four individual events and one relay per day).  Parents will be sitting in the stands and swimmers will be sitting in a designated team area.  Relays will be put together after Chet sees all entries for the meet.  If your son or daughter does not end up swimming on a relay, your money for relays will be refunded.  This refund will be given back to you at practice.  Please include your relay money with your entries so that we are not out monies, or have to spend time trying to track you down later for relay money.  

            If you need help filling out your meet entry forms, please see Chet before or after practice.   I will be happy to help your son or daughter pick their events. 

CHET’S LANE 

            If you have talked to your son or daughter about practice, probably one thing always comes up which is STREAMLINE.  You should see your children pushing off the wall and block in a streamline position.  This is with one hand on top of the other with our arms tight against our head, try and make sure your arms are behind your ears.  Then we want to see all Sharks pushing off the walls on turns and the block on starts, in the streamline position.  Also, you should see all Sharks streamline kicking underwater off the block or walls.  Be careful not to arch your back.  We want to have a nice straight streamline body underwater to decrease drag. We also want to make sure that each Shark swimmer attempts to make it past the backstroke flags underwater in the streamline position.  This will make a big difference later in your career.

 Jacquie, Beno, and I have been working on valuable stroke techniques.  Listen in practice and do the sets, and you will improve.  I can already see vast improvement in many of our newer Sharks.  Parents and swimmers, please watch entry deadlines.  Some meets will fill fast and require us to turn our entries in early to ensure that we will be able to swim in these invitationals.  If you do not know what to sign your Shark up for in a meet, please ask one of our coaches.  Most of the time your son or daughter will know what they want to swim.  The coaches will be working diligently to make sure everyone is legal in all four strokes and can do flip turns & starts.   Chet’s group will be working on the new breaststroke rule:  You are now allowed to take a butterfly downward kick during your underwater pullout.  If you would like to see this rule change, I will have one of are veteran swimmers show you, it does increase the distance of your pullout.  Chet!