SHARKS Excellent Summer

Adventure WOW! What a summer it has

been and the fall is shaping up to be even faster. Faster by both chronological means, on the calendar and the stop watch! The proof was this summer!

The performances by our SHARKS at the championship meets in July were just incredi-ble! Just read the results pages to see just how great we swam! Not only have our competitive swimmers improved but, all of our swimmers have had tremen-dous improvement. From our youngest CE swimmers to our SHARKS Competitive Swim-mers, and even the MASTERS (that’s our 5:00 AM adults), all have made great strides this summer. And being a program with so many young swimmers (most of our swimmer are still age 10 and younger), the future is very bright! Our success this summer is proof that our phi-losophy of developing swim-mers is right on target. Our swimmers’ greatest achieve-ments lay ahead of them and they are being developed at the proper rate! Only if we had a larger pool!

A larger pool and aquatic fa-cility is just a dream right now! But, I am working on making the dream a reality. A new aquatic complex similar to one of the many in Broward County is des-perately needed in this area. Information on this project will

A Publication

of the AquaKids Swimming Programs

August 1, 2003 Volume 6, Issue 8

Please Digest

all Your Bites!

Practice, Weather or Not!

Weather looking t h r e a t e n i n g ? Cal l Coach Lou’s W CS voicemail for status.

305.233. 2030 x431

no sooner than 30 minutes prior to your practice time! If the Voicemail is not f u n c t i o n i n g , we’ll attempt to change the message at the AquaKids office.

Silver & Gold

always practice!

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NEXT IN THE SERIES

Written by some of competi-tive swimming most influen-tial, knowledgeable and suc-cessful people are inside SHARK BITES. This month:

Moving to year round swimming!

FALL PRACTICE & CE LESSON SCHED-

ULE STARTS ON Monday, 8/18!

Please return the enclosed practice time request by

Friday, 8/8!

FAMILY SHARK RACES

Friday, August 15th Don’t miss ‘em!

Upcoming SHARK RACES!

Fridays, August 1st & August 15th: Warm-up @ 4:45PM!

be coming your way soon! The fall brings us into the high school swimming season. For us, that means a practice schedule change. The West-minster Christian School Swim Team uses the pool during the season from 3:00-5:00 PM for practice, so we must adjust our practice schedule. Since you have been already notified of this change, please fill out your request for a new time on the form inside and return it to us ASAP (August 8th at the lat-est). Thank you for your under-standing and cooperation.

The fall season is short. For high school swimmers it is only 13 weeks until the State Championships. That’s 3 weeks shorter than the already short previous HS season. It will be here and gone before we know it and then the Winter Championships will be here again. The season is short, but, we will build on the train-ing from this summer to help us race to even faster times!

Please look for our fall events to be announced (the web site first). They will include our annual banquet, lap-a-thon (for a timing system), Hallow-een Costume practice, Turkey Shoot practice, and a fall travel meet! And, the fall will be over!

To finish our excellent sum-mer adventure, this month we have the Islamorada and Key West Meets and our Famous FAMILY RELAY RACES!

As always, Thank You for being a part of our program!

See you at the pool! Coach Lou

Attention: The monthly dues

early payment discount due date is

the 10th of each Month! Full monthly dues are required for every swimmer regardless of when your monthly statement arrives or the number of days swam in a month! Thank you for understanding and your cooperation!

Lightning Policy

Our policy regarding lightning is: As a storm approaches and any coach no-tices the threat of lightning. A coach will be posted to watch and gage the dis-tance. When it becomes hazardous, the swimmers will be called out of the pool. If you as a parent feel uncomfortable, at any time, please just speak to your swimmer’s coach and he or she will take your swimmer out.

PRACTICES & LESSONS START TIMES!

Practice starts at a specific time. Swim-mers arriving late are a disruption. Please have your swimmers at the pool, “good to go” at the scheduled start time!!!!!!

Questions? Please speak to your child’s

coach between practices!

AquaKids Goal Achiever Program An explanation of our exclusive program for recognizing each individual swimmer’s improvement. The “GOAL” is improvement. Besides stroke improvement, the other measurement for improvement is improved times in racing. Every time a swimmer betters his/her time by .01 OR (legally) tries a new event; he/she is a GOAL ACHIEVER! Once he/she has 5 PB’s, then a GOAL ACHIEVER Medal is awarded. On the 5th medal (25 PB’s), he/she returns the previous 4 and is awarded a GOAL ACHIEVER Trophy (to keep)! After 4 Trophies (100 PB’s) a SPECIAL CENTURY Goal Achiever Trophy is awarded!!! We try to give out the GOAL ACHIEVER awards following each RACES!

AquaKids’ Make-up Policy

Continuing Education Groups

Make-ups are provided only for classes we cancel! Make-ups are usually scheduled the Friday of the week of the cancelled lesson. There are a maximum of 4 make-up days per month. Make-ups are NOT carried over to any other month for any reason!

AK SHARKS Groups

Green & White Groups, Bronze, Silver, Prep, FOCUS & Masters: NO MAKE-UPS!

Competitive Swim Camp August 4th and 11th!

SHARK RACES The purpose of our SHARK RACES is to encourage the competitive devel-opment of our swimmers! They are informal competitions designed to give every swimmer the opportunity to Race and “taste” the thrill of competition. Advance sign-up at the pool is required during the week prior to the RACES. Swimmers are grouped by age and ability in “heats”. They will race in that same “heat” for all 4 races (one for each stroke). Final times are recorded and ribbons awarded to every swimmer at the end of each heat. Any swim-mer who breaks a rule is “disqualified” but, is awarded a “Participation” Rib-bon. No swimmer leaves a race empty handed. All swimmers who receive a participation ribbon will also receive a “SHARK WARNING” with the infrac-tion indicated so they and their parents may learn from the mistake. Al-though, all ribbons do have a place indicated, we stress stroke development and time improvement. Through our “GOAL ACHIEVER” program, time im-provement is rewarded with medals and trophies (as described below). After the RACES, we host an “AquaKids Family” dinner (or lunch) with “free swim” time. All SHARK RACES participants (families) are REQUIRED, as admit-tance to the RACES, to bring a 2 liter drink AND a side dish OR dessert. Coach Lou provides “Big Cheese” Pizza (or other main course) for all swim-mers and their families. The tradition of RACES have been a part of Coach Lou’s programs for 22 years! They have been a great start for many swim-mers’ successful competitive swimming careers!!!! We’ll see you at the RACES!!!!!!!!!

Blue Caps are for practices and Shark Races! Red Caps are for USA Swimming sanctioned

swimming meets only!

August Shark Races Schedule

Friday, August 1st! Friday, August 15th!

8/15 is also our “End of summer” Shark Family Relay Races!

Equipment Shop (Available at the pool office, between practices)

New AK SHARKS Collared Shirts Navy Color: $23 White w/Jacquard Collar: $28 ***Shark Team Suits (New prices when current stock runs out) Female: $40 Male (Briefs): $28 Male (Jammers): $35 Shark Bathing Caps: $4 Silicone Shark Caps: $13 AquaKids / Shark Team T-Shirts AK Sharks Swim Team: $10 AquaKids Swim School: $8 Shark Parkas: $105 Goggles Assorted styles & colors: $8 Swedish metallic: $15 Practice Fins: $25 ⇒ “NEW” Mesh Equip. Bag $12 ⇒ “NEW” Bungee Goggle Straps $8 ⇒ “NEW” ‘Fraid Not Stretching Rope $11 ⇒ “NEW” Strokemaker Paddles $TBA

2003 FGC Meet Schedule* *See your Coach for appropriate meets! We are also

planning a fall team travel meet to be added!

July 30-Aug 2 US Southern Zone All Stars @ Ft Lauderdale August 5-9 US National Championships @ College Park, MD August 9 Dade County ABC Meet @ Islamorada Swim Team August 30 Dade/Monroe Sprint Meet @ Key West Sept. 20-21 Dade County Sub JO Meet @ Miami Swim / Ransom Sept. 26-28 FGC “A” Meet @ Comets / Cooper City Oct 11-12 Dade County Sub JO Meet @ Flying Fish / MDCC Oct 17-19 FGC “A” Meet @ Sunrise Swim Team Oct 24 High School District Meets Oct 30-Nov 1 High School State Meets Nov 8-9 Dade County ABC Meet @ Miami Springs Dec. 6 8&U Santa Claus @ Metro / Tamiami Park Dec 11-14 FGC Winter Champs @ Plantation Swim Team

NEW aquakidsswim.com IS HERE!

Our “newly-redesigned” website is up and running; although a long way from being completed! Thank you for your continued patience during this huge endeavor! Please give us your com-ments and input!

NEW TEAM T-SHIRT ARE HERE!

They’re here!!!! If you haven’t received yours yet, please see your coach before or after practice! Every swimmer in the CE and Sharks programs receives one along with one parent from each family. Additional shirts my be purchased.

Fall Masters Practice Schedule

MWF 5:00-6:30 AM & 8:30-10:00 AM M-Th 7:30-8:30 PM Sat 7:00-8:00 AM

Starts on Monday, August 18th!

Moving From Summer League

to Year Round Swimming

“I Have A Nine Year Old Who Has Been Swimming In A Summer League For The Past Three Years. As He Begins Swim-ming With A Year Round Program, What Things Should Be Emphasized?”

Answered by: Rick Curl, Head Coach of the Curl-Burke Swim Club (USA National Swimming Championship Team)

I have coached in the summer leagues in the Washington D.C metropolitan area for 18 years. In addition, I worked with the Solotar Swim Club for six years and founded the Curl Swim Club eight years ago.

Each summer many parents get involved in their child’s primary activity, such as summer league swimming. Sum-mer leagues are very popular in the Washington, DC area. There are more than 300 teams that are divided into several leagues. When the season ends in August, the local United States Swimming teams will conduct tryouts and give presen-tations for individuals interested in continuing in a swimming program.

The summer league program is such a short season and each swimmer strives to improve from the past summer. Their main goal is to improve their performances and have a successful season each summer. Also, most parents want children to participate in a healthy activity with intangible benefits offered by a team sport and goal setting.

I feel that it is very important to present a well-rounded program for each age group swimmer. They must enjoy themselves certainly, we all learn more effectively in a pleasant environment. Stroke development is of utmost importance to the young swimmer. They should not be allowed to focus on any one stroke. Long distance training is not necessary in the developing years. Poor stroke habits develop and the boredom of long distance training will most likely have a negative effect on them. A young swimmer must learn proper starts, turns and stroke mechanics so that he or she will develop in many other areas as he progresses and gets older. They will also specialize in a certain area and stroke as they mature.

Parents should encourage their children to be involved in a number of activities. When a youngster devotes too many hours to training each week, he or she will be unable to experience other sports and activities such as music, dance etcetera. I believe that we should give each child the opportunity to be well rounded. Often times, a swimmer will drop out of the sport and not have another activity to fall back on.

Swimmers should be taught and trained in a progressive manner. Each step should include continued stroke de-velopment. Other important areas of competitive swimming should be introduced as the swim progresses. If a youngster is having fun while he learns, he will show the greatest amount of improvement.

Parents, throughout the competitive swimming experience hold a vital role in the success of the swimmer. They must continually reinforce the swimmer and support the program and coaching philosophies that they have chosen.

Communication between the parent and coaching staff is important so that a child does not experience conflict and become confused.

Fifth in the Series!

Kling and Hugh lead the SHARKS at the 2003 FGC Long Course Junior Olympic Swimming Championships

Hannah Kling (age 12) and Simon Hugh (13) lead the 11 Sharks who raced in the 2003 Long Course edition of the Florida Gold Coast Junior Olympics. Hannah placed 2nd and 3rd in the 50 and 100 Backstrokes, while Simon placed 5th and 7th in the 100 and 200 Breaststrokes at the meet last weekend (July 24-27), against 880 of the best swimmers in South Florida. We decided, with so many of our swimmers out of town and/or not able to participate, that we would not enter any relays this JO’s, and concentrate on individual performances! Due to the size of the meet (880 swimmers swimming over 3500 individual and 440 relay races) and championship meet format (prelims and finals), it was held at two different locations. The preliminaries for the 13 and older swimmers were held at the City of Plantation Aquatic Center and prelims for the 12 and younger plus the finals for all age groups were conducted at the City of Coral Springs Aquatic Complex. Two of the most beautiful and “fastest” pools in South Florida. Swimming (and aquatic sport) Facilities like these are unheard of in Dade County! Plantation has 2, yes TWO, 50 meter Olympic size pools side by side! And, Coral Springs has an Olympic size competition pool with a separate diving well, a 25 yard warm-up pool and a 25 yard teaching pool. There are many more Olympic size pool complexes in the other small cities within Broward County plus the International Swimming Hall of Fame Aquatic Complex on Fort Lauderdale Beach. Oh, if we could only be so fortunate in Dade. But, were working on that. You’ll be hearing more about this in the near future! Back to the Outstanding, Tremendous, Incredible, and FAST swimming our SHARKS! Hannah and Simon not only placed and swam extremely well, but Simon also qualified to race at the United States Sectional Championships in his 200 Breast. And, Hannah missed making her sectional cut in the 100 back-stroke by .10 (one tenth of a second). These are great accomplishments for 12 and 13 year olds who have not yet started the training of a senior level swimmer. Hannah and Simon and the rest of the “JO” team are just a few of the potentially great swimmers we have coming up through the program! Some of whom are just now getting to the point of dedicating themselves and starting to do the training required to excel and achieve the highest level in the sport of competitive swimming. Down the road in our development as a program, we will have many swimmers striving and training to the level of their full potential! We are looking forward to it!

2003 AK SHARKS JUNIOR OLYMPIC TEAM Derek Chait (8) Ashley Chavez (15) Kaci Christman (13) Jessica Harris (14) Simon Hugh (13) Jordan Kealy (10) Hannah Kling (12) Ali McDowell (12) Michael Tandlich (10) Michele Tanke-Juska (10) Skye Weaver (11)

Overall, we achieved 83% PB’s at the high level and high anxiety championship meet. It was THE Championship meet for our swimmers for the summer, which we started training for way back in April! 5 of our 11 swimmer had 100% time improvement and we set 17 new long course team records!

100% TIME IMPROVEMENT CLUB Simon Hugh (13) Jordan Kealy (10) Hannah Kling (12) Ali McDowell (12) Skye Weaver (11)

HIGHLIGHT SWIMS Ashley Chavez (15) crushed her 1500 Freestyle with a 33.48 time improvement!

Ali McDowell (12) showed no mercy, taking 14.15 off her 400 Freestyle! Skye Weaver (11) blasted past her 100 Backstroke time by 8.77!

Kaci Christman (13) shed 5.01 seconds off her 100 Backstroke time! Jessica Harris (14) dropped 4.59 in her 100 Backstroke!

Michael Tandlich (10) knocked 4.76 seconds off his 100 Backstroke! And of course, Hannah and Simon’s scoring performances!

24 NEW LONG COURSE TEAM RECORDS Derek Chait (8) 8 & Under Boys 200 IM (3:28.01)! Jordan Kealy (10) 10 & Under Girls 100 Backstroke (1:33.25)! Hannah Kling (12) 11-12 Girls 50 Free (30.99), 50 Back (34.83),100 Back (1.15.59), & 200 IM (2:52.22)! Ali McDowell (12) 11-12 Girls 200 Free (2:32.32) & 400 Free (5:17.09)! Skye Weaver (11) 11-12 Girls 100 Free (1:09.03), 50 Fly (34.39) & 100 Fly (1:18.71)! Kaci Christman (13) 13-14 Girls 100 Free (1:06.51), 100 Back (1:17.34) & 200 Back (2:50.23)! Jessica Harris (14) 13-14 & Open Girls 100 Breast (1:31.45)! Simon Hugh (13) 13-14 & Open Boys 100 Breast (1:17.81) & 200 Breast (2:48.69)! Ashley Chavez (15) 15-16 & Open Girls 800 Free (10:33.50) & 1500 Free (20:02.11)!

CONGRATULATIONS SHARKS!!!!!!

FGC Division II South Swimming Championships

23 Sharks raced at this summer’s Florida Gold Coast Division II South Swimming Championships. The meet was held on the weekend of July 18-20th at the Florida International University (North Campus) pool and was hosted by the North Miami Swim Team. The meet is designed to accomplish two goals; 1) an opportunity for swimmers to have a last chance to qualify for this summer’s Junior Olympic Championships, and 2) an opportunity for swimmers who do not normally have the chance to race in the finals of a championship meet format. In championship meet there are preliminaries in the morning and the top 8 in every event return in the evening for the finals to race and determine the final places for the event. This Championship meet had an additional twist; the morning prelims were held short course (25 yards) and before the evening finals the pool was switched to long course (50 meters), so the finals could be raced in the Olympic size course (and just as Junior Olympics the next weekend)! And race we did! We achieved 71% PB’s (personal bests / goal achievers) in the meet! A great accomplishment for our swimmers considering some swimmers swam their events twice in one day (prelim & finals)! Along with the great PB performances, we had 8 more Junior Olympics qualifying times achieved! Not only that; we had 3 swimmers had 100% PB’s for the meet and 4 new team record breaking performances!

100% TIME IMPROVEMENT CLUB Samantha Doucette (age 13)

Simon Hugh (13) Victoria Rossinsky (10)

HIGHLIGHT SWIMS

Ashley Abraham (9) crushed 100 meter Butterfly time with 29.08 improvement. Ashley Chavez (15) dropped 13.38 in her 200 meter Butterfly.

Kristen Khoury (12) took off 18.00 in her 400 meter Free and 11.90 in her 200 meter Individual Medley! Brittany Knight (13) blasted past her 100 yard Butterfly by 12.14.

Juliana Matos (10) shed 14.40 seconds off her 100 yard Freestyle time. Carden Shaw (14) dropped 7.59 in her 100 yard Backstroke.

Jessica Tandlich (8) improved 7.54 in her 50 yard Breaststroke and 8.06 seconds in the 50 yard Butterfly. Michael Tandlich (10) crushed his 100 yard Breaststroke, improving 20.14 seconds.

Michele Tanke-Juska (10) dropped 6.94 in her 50 meter Backstroke. Shannon Van Gundy (11) took off 9.21 in her 400 meter Free!

Plus:

2 NEW SHORT COURSE and 2 LONG COURSE TEAM RECORDS!

Simon Hugh (13) 200 Yard Individual Medley (2:24.87) in 13-14 Boys! Ashley Chavez (15) 100 Yard Butterfly (1:08.83) in 15-16 Girls! Ashley Chavez (15) 100 Meter Butterfly (1:16.89) in 15-16 Girls! Derek Chait (18) 50 Meter Backstroke (:44.98) in 8 & Under Boys!

CONGRATULATIONS SHARKS!!!!!!

Monday, August 18th through November 1st!

On August 18th, all lessons & practices between 3:00 & 5:00 pm move to after 5:00 PM until November 1st. This is due to the high school swimming season when the Westminster Christian School Swim Team uses the pool. There will also be some practice and lesson cancellations and postponements due to “HOME” swim meets for the high school team! You will be informed about these conflicts in each month’s newsletter and announcements on the bulletin board! CE swimmers who chose not to swim during these months (8/18-10/31) may opt to pay for 1/2 of a month for August and only swim through August 15th! Prior notice must be received if you wish to take advantage of this offer. This schedule lasts for only 11 short weeks and then we return to our regular after school schedule. Thank you for your understanding and cooperation! Swimmers who participate on a year round basis see the greatest im-provement and success. We want to get our practice groups organized ASAP, so please complete this page and re-turn it with your monthly payment to the payment box in the pool office by Friday, August 8th!!!!!!! SWIMMER(s): Age(s): . These are the scheduled fall practice and lesson times, but some groups may not operate during the fall schedule. We require a minimum number of swimmers in each group! Additional group times may also be added if there is a demand!

Continuing Education Lessons

Full & Half Length Groups Off the Wall Groups 45 minute lessons 30 minute lessons M/W 5:00 - 5:45 PM M/W 5:00 - 5:30 PM T/Th 9:30 - 10:00 AM M/W 5:45 - 6:30 PM M/W 5:30 - 6:00 PM T/Th 10:00 - 10:30 AM M/W 6:30 - 7:15 PM M/W 6:00 - 6:30 PM T/Th 12:15 - 12:45 PM T/Th 2:15 - 3:00 PM M/W 6:30 - 7:00 PM T/Th 12:45 - 1:15 PM T/Th 5:00 - 5:45 PM T/Th 5:00 - 5:30 PM T/Th 5:45 - 6:30 PM T/Th 5:30 - 6:00 PM T/Th 6:30 - 7:15 PM T/Th 6:00 - 6:30 PM T/Th 6:30 - 7:00 PM

Green & White Groups: 1 hour practices; 3 times per week. M/W/F or T/Th/F at 5:00 & 6:00 PM!

Bronze Groups I & II:

Group I = 1 hour Practice, 3 times per week, MWF or TThF, 5:00-6:00 PM! Group II = 1.5 hour Practices, 3 times per week, MWF or TThF, 6:00-7:30 PM!

Silver Group:

2 hour practices, # of days dependent on age, M-F 5:30-7:30 PM and Saturday 7:45-10:00 AM!

Focus Group: M-F 5:30-8:00 PM; M&F 5:00-6:45 AM plus Saturday 7:45-10:00 AM!

Current Group: Days: Time: .

REQUEST change to: Days: Time: .

I / We’re not swimming during the fall! . We’ll be back in_____________________.

We do have a minimum and maximum number of swimmers allowed in each group! Please return this completed form to Coach Lou by Friday, August 8th!

New groupings will be available on Wednesday, August 13th!

THANK YOU!