
May 9, 2022 |
MAY 2022 - NEWSLETTER
Find us on Social Media
Facebook: University Place Aquatic Club
Instagram: upacswim
Coaches’ Corner
Out of State Competitions
UPAC recently sent two groups of athletes to swim meets outside of Washington. Out-of-state competition is a huge undertaking and we are so thankful for your trust!
Coach Ashley led Trinity Link, Alexa Proctor, and Takara Putt to the Western Zones Senior Championships in St. George, Utah. The athletes did a great job representing UPAC at a high-level meet. I hope this helps propel more of our Senior athletes to attend travel meets. There is nothing quite like the bonds that form on these trips!
Fellow UPAC Senior athlete, Tolu Young, got a head start on Long Course season by competing at the TYR Pro Swim Series meet in San Antonio, Texas. In a meet with the sport’s most elite athletes, Tolu did a great job - posting personal bests in all three entered events! He also put himself in great consideration for the Fiji Senior National Team as they finalize their roster for this Summer’s Commonwealth Games.
Looking forward to our own Summer competitions, Coach Trever and I would like to gather as large of a senior group as possible to attend the Summer Western Zone Senior Champs. We feel the qualifying times, as well as the relative proximity (Clovis, CA) make this a reasonable goal, but it is going to take athlete and family buy-in to make it a reality!
Updated Group Descriptions & Expectations
For those who missed my previous communication, please review updated group descriptions and expectations HERE .
The UPAC coaching staff takes our responsibility to provide a safe, healthy, and positive environment for our athletes, while also enabling them to reach their furthest potential, supremely seriously. We believe these changes to structure allow us to best serve the current membership and prepare us for the future.
To better present the specific changes and explain the focus of individual groups, Coaches will be scheduling group meetings over the next couple of weeks. These meetings will be open to all athletes and their support network (parents/guardians) and will take place in the Curtis Aquatic Center Classroom, during the group’s scheduled practice time. Meeting invitations will be sent out separately, through the UPAC website email portal.
Underwater Cameras and Video Analysis
You may have noticed the Pre-Senior group and some Seniors using GoPro cameras and iPads for underwater filming and video analysis. We are super excited to expand use of these tools to help refine the technique of all our athletes! The Pre-Seniors and Seniors are doing a great job of allowing us to learn the most effective way to use these tools in an organized and time-efficient manner. We look forward to expanding their use to other groups, soon!
All film is kept in a closed cloud storage, will only be used within our club for the use of analysis, and will not be posted or shared. If you would like to opt out of filming, please contact me and your group coach to express that.
Summer Meet Schedule
The full meet lineup for the summer has been posted to the UPAC website. After the uncertainty regarding meets this past year, we are fortunate to be able to plan this far ahead! Some meets still have pending information, but dates will not change. Please look the meets over and consider signing your athlete(s) up!
We understand that athletes and families have different views on the competitive nature of youth sports. It is not our goal to push performance. We do recognize, however, that participating in competition enhances the growth of an athlete, teaches valuable life lessons, and closes the training loop. If you have any questions on this, please feel free to contact me. I am happy to set up a phone call or meeting!
Upcoming Events
- June 4-5, 2022: VAST Summer Sprints/Distance Challenge (Long Course)
- June 11-12, 2022: MET SEAL Cannonball Classic (Long Course, no time standards)
- July 26-30, 2022: Western Zone Senior Championships
Find all planned events @ https://www.teamunify.com/EventsCurrent.jsp?_tabid_=91210&team=pnupac
Volunteering
As a reminder, each family is required to log 40 hours of volunteer time - either through in person volunteering or hospitality donations. Our next volunteer opportunity will be at our co-hosted meet with Metro Aquatics in July! Please keep your eyes peeled for information!
Fundraising Information
- Amazon Smile: Assign UPAC as your non-Profit of choice for rebates
- Fred Meyer: Assign UPAC as your non-profit of choice for community rewards
Safe Sport Updates
17 Households have completed the Safe Sport Parent Course
Only 8 of our 12-17 year old swimmers have completed the Minor Athlete Course
- Reminder to take your Safe Sport Parent Course and Minor Athlete course (athletes 12-17 years old)! We are striving to become a Safe Sport Recognized Program and need to have a large percentage of membership completing these courses! Please reach out to Kayla Keigley if you have additional questions. **We are awarding 2 hours of volunteer time to members who complete this training. Please forward your certificate to [email protected] to receive credit.
- For 11 and U swimmers please consider speaking to your swimmer about safesport concerns by discussing the topics covered in the USA swimming Safe Sport workbook:
- For Useful Safe Sport Links Click the “Safe Sport” Menu at upacsharks.org
Apparel
- All swimmers will receive a complimentary newly rebranded UPAC cap.
- Additional apparel with our new logo will be added to our online store ASAP. We are currently working with previous vendors to update these options for membership.
Board Updates
-
Board position voting took place
at our January Meeting. For 2022 the following individuals will
serve as Board Officers:
- John Cotter, President
- Mel Bellin, Vice President
- Dan Forrest, Treasurer
- Kayla Keigley, Secretary
- All Board Meetings are open to all members and we invite everyone to attend. Meetings are scheduled in the General Calendar at upacsharks.org
Stay Informed about Late Breaking Updates
- Setup SMS text.
-
Subscribe to Practice Group
Calendars
-
Login to upacsharks.org ->
Click on Group Calendars -> Click “Subscribe
Button”
- Copy URL link to Calendar into Google Calendar or other calendar
-
Login to upacsharks.org ->
Click on Group Calendars -> Click “Subscribe
Button”
General Membership Information