|
When people ask
what Dynamo is about, I always answer ‘5 stroke
swimming’. I know there are only 4 actual strokes, but I
think of underwater swimming as the 5th stroke. It
is important to be fast underwater in all strokes, and it is good
to think of it as its’ own entity.
5-stroke swimming
is a real commitment, from coaches, athletes and parents. The
reason we value this above all is simple; it works. The most
successful athletes we know were brought along in a program that
valued swimming all strokes and events. Many National level
swimmers considered themselves one thing in high school, maybe a
flyer, but ended up being something totally different in college,
maybe a backstroker or freestyler. That doesn’t
happen unless the club Teams are doing their jobs. Events
chose people, not the other way around. It is our job to give
a number of events the chance to choose you for
greatness!
The numbers are
irrefutable. As you breakdown the Olympic Teams, those
athletes have had success in a number of events for a number of
years.
USA Swimming has a
program, IMX extreme, that will help us become that Team, and
provide real value to our members.
In conjunction
with Hy-tek (Athletics Enterprise Software Co) USA swimming has set
up the IMX program. Devised was a power points system (we used
this for our January Meet selection) that awards points for each
swim according to time, within single year age groups. You
need to swim all 5 required events in a single season for 9 through
12 year-olds. 13 through 18 year-olds must swim 6 events each
season. All the particulars can be found on the USA
Swimming
website. USA Swimming will publish top 100 IMS scoring lists to
compare. Lists for Zones and LSC’s are formed as
well.
Dynamo
needs to be the leader in the country at placing people in
the IMX program. If a swimmer misses one required event, you
don’t get an IMX rating. That is where we are at right
now. We should score pretty well nationally, but many of our
athletes aren’t rated due to missing one event from their
age-groups
list.
One of the values
we hope to get out of the program is to make event choices less
emotional for our athletes and parents. The importance of
swimming a wide range of events is clear, this is a tool to help us
feel better about choosing a wider event list and give those
choices value. No more swimming the same events at all the
meets. I see it far too much on our Team.
I encourage you to
look at the program in the USA Swimming website. This is a
program that Dynamo values.
Dynamo’s
goal is to have the most swimmers in the top 100 nationally of any
club for the year 2009. That will relate to success at all
levels, and for a long time in swimming. This will soon be
displayed prominently on our website!
Several of our
dynamo coaches have had the experience of coaching year-round at
outdoor pools. In these environments being properly dressed in
warm clothing is the only option; at these meets – often
times - the warmth of the swimmers determines the results of the
close races.
As we know, warmth
escapes from the head, hands, and feet. By staying warm,
energy is conserved for use during competition instead of used up
trying heat the body. Warm muscles are also better at
converting energy into
motion.
Small, thin, wet
bodies easily get cold. The following things help keep swimmers
warm and dry:
· Towels
(two are a minimum; one for after each event at a maximum –
not practical for travel trips).
·
Sweatshirt and Sweatpants – good for keeping warm between
events.
·
Socks
· Parka
and Gloves (YES, even at indoor meets)
· Team
Warm-Up Suit
·
Sneakers or Sandals (preferably an old pair of sneakers since they
will get wet): Every time we walk our
body absorbs the shock of each step. Without shoes we have to
absorb more of that impact. Athletes should stay off
their feet as much as possible at a meet. It’s
the golden rule.
· Extra
T-Shirts
· Dry
Swimsuit: If the sessions are lengthy and the athlete has a long
time between events (over an hour) they should consider packing a
dry suit to change into between events.
Picture of Erik Vendt (indoors) at Missouri Grand
Prix
[swam
fastest time ever in the mile on U.S. soil]
Picture of Michael Phelps indoors at the same
meet…
For best performance and comfort swimmers need
to stay warm.
|
Winter Attendance
Winners
|
|
GREEN
Auerbach,
Cade
Blake,
Alex
Bowen,
Mackenzie
Bray,
Isabelle
Caples,
Sammie
Cross,
Michael
ElGomayel,
Allie
Frierson,
Bayley
Gurin,
Stella
Horvath,
Hansen
Jan,
Richard
Kase,
George
Klustner,
Jordan
Laegen,
Lizzie
Long,
Sean
Long,
Dean
Mavris,
Phia
McMahon,
Karsen
Panther,
Eric
Smy,
Izzy
Smy,
Ryan
Thorpe,
Chelsea
Vater,
Jonathan
Wan,
Martin
Wang,
James
Yang,
Jason
Yang,
Tigerwin
Zhang,
Andrew
SR3
Angle,
Caroline
Bias,
Lindsey
Bychovoy,
Kirill
Habib,
Ashly
Habib,
Drew
Hallenberg,
Christy
Linderman,
Carly
Mitry,
Katherine
Parkey,
Brittany
Psarev,
Kirill
Swanson,
Meggie
Wan,
Richard
Yang,
Alice
SR2
Brokelbank,
Elliott
Burke,
Hannah
Funnell,
John
Kase,
Dylan
Koski,
Mattias
Prince,
Ryan
Rohal,
Jaclyn
Swanson,
Sam
White,
Megan
SR1
McCarthy,
Kara
Vater,
David
|
GOLD
Bray,
Sam
Caples,
Ridge
Claffey,
Charlie
Claffey,
James
Craver,
Addie
Chu,
Justin
Clough,
Gracie
Durrence,
Olivia
Easwaran,
Akshay
Frierson,
Kenna
Gordon,
Rayna
Hubler,
Maddie
Lewis,
Averi
Liu,
Sarah
Marshall,
Clay
Messawer,
Isabelle
Nickens.
Lexi
Norman,
Caroline
Schantz,
Sarah
Taylor,
Michael
Tzeng,
Jessica
Venizoles,
Conrad
Wellman,
Jay
Williamson,
Kota
AGD
Allen,
Hanna
Ash,
Reed
Blackstone,
Rachael
Gao,
Allan
Hollowell,
Emma
Hutchinson,
Aaron
Kostov,
Valya
Lung,
Nadia
Oakes,
Kelsey
Petrina,
Erik
Robertson,
Stephen
Stacy,
Katie
Thomas,
Kaylyn
Thompson, Laura
Ann
Wan,
Mark
Zink,
Amanda
AG2
Durrence,
Aaron
ElGomayel,
Sydney
Faucher,
Elizabeth
Kenny,
Matthew
O’Connor,
Cailin
Stiles,
Julia
Tieu,
Kelly
AG1
Blair,
Connor
Cassidy,
Nick
Dong,
Lisa
Ho,
Tiffany
Hogan,
Lindsay
Howell,
Marshall
Kase,
Samantha
Lyons,
Morgan
Prince,
Kelsey
Ranzau,
Emily
|
AG3
Anderson,
Katie
Angell,
Sydney
Auerbach,
Knoz
Bennison,
Haley
Bordes,
Danielle
Bordes,
Natalie
Christian,
Carlise
Cooney,
Danny
Cooney,
Kevin
Crupie,
Christina
Damon,
Hannah
Durham,
John
Durham,
Rebecca
Fahey,
Lexy
Fahey,
Tory
Fish,
Emma
Fisher,
Klaire
Funnell,
Emelia
Ho,
Alex
Hogan,
Kelly
Hubler,
Maddie
Kelson,
Lexi
King,
Mandy
Koski,
Joonas
Laegen,
Sam
Liebenow,
Hayley
Lusby,
Trent
Maheras,
Niko
Mallon,
Ashley
Moss,
Shelby
Mulia,
Audy
O’Connor,
Meagan
Rizzo,
Ellie
Rubanowice,
Ashlyn
Russell,
Caroline
Schreiber,
Lauren
Schrock,
Courtney
Strausberger,
Andy
Stuebler,
Vivian
Swanson,
Trey
Wan,
Eric
Weidner,
Elise
Whitridge,
Tess
Williams,
Tori
Williamson,
Colt
Wu,
Derek
Zhang,
Clare
|
|
GREEN
Andrews,
Winston
Arail,
Izzi
Belkin,
Llya
Bent,
Nadia
Brechbuhl,
Hans
Brechbuhl,
Jacob
Cetron,
Rachel
Dillard,
Matt
Fadjariza,
Brian
Gantt,
Courtney
Johnson,
Megan
Lang,
Benjamin
McGrady,
Kaleigh
Morris, Mary
Kate
Rathbun,
Grace
Sherman,
Grace
Sinclair,
Rachel
Swett,
Matthew
Thames,
Christopher
Valdez,
Catalina
Yoon,
Caroline
Young,
Crystal
GOLD
Bettin,
Foster
Cardot,
Charles
Cohe,
Rebecca
Collins,
Erin
Cruz,
Jordy
Dave,
Pooja
Dillard,
Jack
Gershon,
Danielle
Glover,
Zoe
Johnson,
Ivan
Kleider,
Emerson
Lu,
Joanna
Ng,
Tiffany
Oh,
Nicholas
Pfleger,
Erin
Pfleger,
Will
Rogers,
Stephanie
Solomon,
Rachel
Stearns,
Cailee
Williams,
Margaret
Yoon,
Chris
|
AG3
Andrews,
Rose
Angle,
Sam
Bills,
Alina
Buxton,
Margaret
Cheung,
Wesley
Durmer,
Jeffrey
Eriksen,
Christopher
Hu,
Rachel
Johnson,
Louis
Lin,
Alex
Locker,
Anne
Lonial,
Hallie
McGuire,
James
Mosley,
Hannah
Reynolds,
Rob
White,
Lizzy
Wilson,
Camila
AGD
Acosta,
Cesar
Alvarado,
Rachel
Bruce,
Travis
Caldaella,
Lindsay
Greenstien,
Ryan
Stroud-Williams,
Bree
Sturken,
Craig
AG2
Cetron,
Bryce
Dillard,
Joe
Durmer,
Julia
Koch,
Rachel
Lockwood,
Peyton
Longo,
Haley
Taylor,
Tristan
Williams,
Matthew
|
AG1
Astles,
Rachel
Cassan,
Cameron
Cetron,
Josh
Durmer,
haley
Eriksen,
Michael
Fallon,
Miranda
Kelly,
Annie
Kelly,
Ryan
Kowalski,
Rishi
Mosley,
Erin
Osment,
Erin
Peaden,
John
Sater,
Stan
Seifried,
Erica
Zhang,
CiCi
SR3
Alvis,
Mark
Cambria,
Zach
Jordan,
Nicole
McWhinnie,
Elizabeth
Reuning,
Tom
Senter,
Wally
Sr2
Fusco,
Emily
Hamilton,
Annie
Kelly,
Lizzie
McMahon,
Sara
Sater,
Sami
SR1
Balenger,
Cory
Griest,
Anna
Munger,
Graham
O’Neill,
Shelia
Stephens,
Jake
|
I hope you have
gotten the word…..the Swim-a-thon is coming
soon! Swim-a-thon is the only pledge per length swimming
fundraiser that is recognized by USA Swimming and its insurance
provider. The program is designed to permit local swim clubs
to raise funds under the auspices and with the support of the
larger organization.
Dynamo is a
non-profit organization, but that does not mean that we are a
charity…we in fact do have a budget and a business
plan. Fund-raising is part of our overall plan, and this year
our $70,000 Swim-a-thon goal will insure ongoing, effective, and
professionally delivered aquatic programs.
The event will be
held during regular practice times April 22nd -
23rd. Parents with younger swimmers may
think that 200 laps (5000 yards) in 2 hours is unattainable, but
think again! It is a remarkable feat that serves to recognize
and challenge our children. I challenge Dynamo family members
to work at least that hard. Recognize their effort by meeting
the $150 per swimmer pledge goal. Every stroke counts, every
dollar counts.
Our friendly
rivals: Mecklenberg Aquatic Club in Charlotte raised over $117,000
in 2005 and $103,000 in 2007. A Washington team with only 18
members was able to raise $22,000 – that is about $1200 per
swimmer! Swim-a-thon is a unique fundraiser that involves
every swimmer. The coaches will help the swimmers
achieve the swimming goal, but it is up to us to achieve the
fund-raising goal. We have 6 weeks to save up our contribution for
their efforts.
Kathy
Stephens
|
Scholastic All American
Team
|
Here’s what
you need to know to qualify for the 2007-2008 Scholastic
All-American Team:
1. Must have completed 10th,
11th, or 12th Grade.
2. Must be a USA Swimming member athlete.
(all current Dynamo swimmers are registered USA Swimming member
athletes).
3. Must have a minimum 3.5 grade point
average (GPA) on a 4.0 scale.
4. Must meet the following time standards
[****Note, this is new for the 2007-2008 Scholastic All-America
Team; in previous years you met the swimming criteria by
participating in certain meets]:
Scholastic
All American Time Standards
|
Men
|
|
Event
|
LCM
|
SCY
|
|
50
Fr
|
24.79
|
21.69
|
|
100
Fr
|
53.99
|
47.09
|
|
200
Fr
|
1:58.09
|
1:43.09
|
|
400
Fr
|
4:09.79
|
4:39.59
|
|
800
Fr
|
8:40.79
|
9:39.29
|
|
1500
Fr
|
16:41.69
|
16:13.69
|
|
100
Bk
|
1:01.39
|
53.09
|
|
200
Bk
|
2:12.39
|
1:54.79
|
|
100
Br
|
1:10.09
|
59.49
|
|
200
Br
|
2:29.79
|
2:09.79
|
|
100
Fl
|
58.89
|
51.89
|
|
200
Fl
|
2:10.59
|
1:54.89
|
|
200
IM
|
2:13.59
|
1:56.29
|
|
400
IM
|
4:43.89
|
4:08.09
|
|
Women
|
|
Event
|
LCM
|
SCY
|
|
50
Fr
|
27.79
|
24.59
|
|
100
Fr
|
1:00.19
|
52.89
|
|
200
Fr
|
2:09.09
|
1:54.19
|
|
400
Fr
|
4:30.69
|
5:03.29
|
|
800
Fr
|
9:15.99
|
10:21.29
|
|
1500
Fr
|
17:46.69
|
17:24.29
|
|
100
Bk
|
1:07.89
|
59.09
|
|
200
Bk
|
2:25.99
|
2:06.99
|
|
100
Br
|
1:16.79
|
1:06.89
|
|
200
Br
|
2:44.99
|
2:24.29
|
|
100
Fl
|
1:05.79
|
58.49
|
|
200
Fl
|
2:24.19
|
2:07.39
|
|
200
IM
|
2:27.59
|
2:09.49
|
|
400
IM
|
5:09.69
|
4:33.09
|
|
Times are the 2000
Junior National time standards, currently the bonus standards for
the 2008 Junior Nationals. These times may be
achieved at any approved, observed,or sanctioned meet by USA
Swimming for the Scholastic All America program
purposes.
|
Note: Last
year’s application deadline was August 1. Forms should
be accessible at usaswimming.org in the coming
months.
|
Should My Swimmer Stay with Dynamo During Summer
League
|
This is a commonly
asked question every year, and a good one. It is wise to stay with
Dynamo during the summer league season. Considering that your child
has been placed through progression training thus far, why stop in
the summer. We do not want to discourage summer league, but rather
encourage this participation. By now, most swimmers are in a
routine with their training at Dynamo, as well as a solid
relationship with their coach. Although summer league may not be as
structured as a year round program, it is enjoyed by all in a
relaxing and fun environment.
Dynamo coaches
want their swimmers to be able to enjoy outside activities, but we
also want to continue to train our swimmers in the most efficient
way possible. All this being said our billing system is set up so
that those who have been with us since the start of the short
course season swim for free in the summers! In short, we’d
love to have our swimmers have the enjoyment of summer league, and
we’d love to have them see us too this summer for detail
reminders…
|
Why volunteer and become certified as a Georgia
Swimming Official? ... From Dynamo
Parent
Florence
Bordes
|
"I
have really enjoyed my experience as a swimming official. One
of the main reasons I chose to become an official was to educate
myself in the sport. Let me share my story with
you.
“My
daughter was swimming on a summer swim team one year and we went to
Georgia Tech for the ASA Championship Meet. This was a big
deal for us. We were new to swimming and my daughter was
pretty fast. We were excited to see all the professional
looking officials. We thought this was the real thing.
We had never seen officials at a swim meet before. Our summer
team meets had only starters. My daughter did very well (so
we thought). She came in second in all her heats. It
wasn’t until we saw the heat sheets posted that we discovered
that she had been DQ`d in several of her events. I went
running around trying to find out things like….what did
"non-simultaneous arms on the butterfly" mean, and what was
"alternating kick on the breaststroke." These were things the
coach didn’t teach our neighborhood swim team. Having
had to explain to my crying daughter that I didn’t understand
the call was the hardest thing I had to do. I promised myself
that I was going to learn more about swimming.
I have done
that by becoming an official. Each time I am on deck, I see
and learn new things. I look forward to the meets and talking
with the more experienced officials. It is indeed the best
seat in the house."
Dynamo has
some of the best volunteers in USA Swimming, but more like
Florence are needed. There is still great need for people who
are willing to become certified as Georgia Swimming
Officials. For parents of younger swimmers, Clerk of Course,
is in need of help at our 10& under and 12 & under
swim meet sessions. You can help by becoming certified as an
Administrative Judge with Georgia Swimming.
Administrative Judges deal with swimmers` entries, timing equipment
and scoring at swim meets.
In
competitive swimming, the quality of officiating directly affects
the quality of performance. Consistency and professionalism in
officiating and hosting swim meets cannot be assured without
adequate staffing. Stroke and
Turn Judges evaluate swims. Stroke and Turn
officials have the best view of the pool at swim meets
and don`t have to find a place to sit in the crowded stands.
Both Stroke and Turn Judges as well as Administrative Judges, as
certified volunteers, are well-taken care of with free heat
sheets, free admission, free food/drinks, free parking, and
tax-deductibility of volunteer expenses including travel and hotel
expenses to meets such as the Georgia 14&Under Short
Course Championships in Savannah.
Dynamo is
hosting certification clinics for Administrative Judge and Stroke
and Turn Judge on Saturday, March 29 and Sunday, March
30. Don`t miss this last training opportunity before the
summer swim season. For more information, contact Julie Allen
(allen.julie@sbcglobal.net).
|
