I hope you enjoyed your holidays. I know that what I like best about them is the rejuvenation of my spirit and sense of gratitude. Beginning with Thanks-giving and continuing through New Year's, and spreading throughout the year. I am reminded of all that I have. A large portion of what I have, and what I am about, centers around this team and the people who make it such an enjoyable organization. I am grateful to have VJO as part of my daily routine. Thank you.

Also I must thank the many swimmers and parents who continue to make attending practice a part of their weekly schedule. Three times in December we had more than 70 swimmers in the water between 4:30 and 7:00 P.M. Already in January more than 30 swim-mers in my group came to a Tuesday evening practice. With busy holiday schedules and the cold weathe~ I'd say that our participation has been tremendous! Thank you!!

One other thing I wanted to address is about concentration and focus. I'm not referring to making sure that you compete against your teammates, or even that you must swim fast all the time (which would be nice). I refer to paying attention to how you swim: are you constantly applying the technique tips that your coach gives you for each of the strokes? Harness good stroke and turn techniques and you'll be on the way to swimming more efficiently and with less effort, allowing you to use more energy swimming fast. if you lack concentration and focus (and swim lazily) during any part of a workout, you'll find that you will not have made any improvement in any aspect of your swimming during that time. So beginning with your next workout warm-up: start with the basics... am I doing this right? How can I do this better? Make a checklist of all the various parts of each stroke and see how you are doing. That's what coaches do every time we see you swim. Ask what you are doing right... as well as what you can do to improve.

One more thing. Many of you know that we have Masters swiminers. There are a few of us who will compete in Masters swim meets: February 6 at USF; February 21 at Pacifica - relay meet; March27 at Contra Costa College; April 16-18 at Pacific Masters Championships at San Jose State; and May 13-16 at USMS National Championships at Santa Clara. What I mentioned above about coming to workouts and concentration and focus during practice also applies to the adults who complete the workouts I write on the board. (It also applies to me since I hope to do well in backstroke, fly, and IM events.)

Why Do Starters Sound Monotonous?

Boring, Boring. "50 yards freestyle .... take tour mark ..." bleep .... Droning all day long.

The main reason a starter is monotonous is to prevent false starts. All spoken directions are to be given in a clear, consistent, unemotional way. Changes in inflection cause swimmers to get jumpy and false start. If movement occurs immediately prior to the horn then the false start signal is given. If there is confirmation between the starter and the head referee that a swimmer jumped the gun then a disqualification is issued. Many times there is no confirmation, so the swimmers are asked to step up again for another start. Sometimes it is the starter who causes a swimmer to jump early due to voice inflection. If this is confirmed then no disqualification is issued.

There is skill involved in good starting. After saying "take your mark," the starter must be sure there is no movement before giving the signal.