NOTEWORTHY NEWS XVIII
 By Coach Emeritus, Geoff Brown |
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| OUR ANNUAL TEAM T-SHIRT . . . is moving through the various complicated stages of development and NOVA families should soon be hearing details through the Swim Shop. Hate to be a teaser but that’s all you get right now! Stay tuned! |
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MORE NOVA SWIMMERS GOT IN THEIR FIRST SPLASHES OF THE NEW YEAR THIS WEEKEND . . . as more NOVA swimmers dove into 2021 waters. Here at NOVA, we replaced the Greensboro travel with the NOVA January Jubilee, a mostly 12 and under meet. The TYR Pro Series meet visited Richmond once again and seven NOVA swimmers partook of those long course waters. Each meet will be covered in detail below, but NN taps the red cap for Claire Dafoe who qualified for Olympic Trials in the 800 free with an 8:46 clocking on Thursday night. When I spoke to Norm on Sunday morning, I was curious about reactions all around to Claire’s effort. Typically, a cut is made and NOVA teammates rush to congratulate. I was gratified to learn that some aspect of this survived. The other meet attendees opted to warm-up again and stay to watch Claire and Sanna Peterson compete. When Claire made her cut, Norm said he heard screaming in the stands above him. Moments later, those teammates were zipping to the warm-up pool to congratulate Claire. Nice to hear that some traditions, albeit diluted persist! New NOVA Team Records 15-16 NOVA All Time Top Ten Open/Senior NOVA All Time Top Ten
HERE AT NOVA, . . . we hosted the first ever January Jubilee and the swimming was fast. Maybe our swimmers have warmed to the task of keeping that #1 status.
NOVA All Time Top Ten 8 & Under 11-12 |
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| NN TRADITIONALLY TAKES A LOOK AHEAD AT THE REST OF THE SWIMMING SEASON . . . once we pass the crest of the New Year so here is this year’s version. Some parts of our familiar passage through the championship season remain; others have been COVID-modified. As all readers can surmise, what is projected here is dependent on current conditions prevailing. Take pride and joy in the knowledge that NOVA continues to play a significant role in preserving the role our sport plays in your children’s lives. We thank you for your support and your understanding. . . . a great time for swimmers to embrace a more challenging practice schedule, train smarter and harder, explore new and challenging events. It is the phase of the season before the storm of February meets that begin the championship season. . . . are marked by strict meet entry deadlines for the championship series of meets(see later). Parents attempting to enter the meets after the deadlines will pay a hefty penalty mandated by Virginia Swimming. Even meets run here at NOVA must follow those guidelines. Meets hosted here and coach and swimmer departures to away meets may disrupt the schedule in small and large ways. . . . Ah, that Championship season business. . . that seems to consume these two months. For those of you new to NOVA, I’ll sketch out the championship season and then offer a quick glance on later spring into summer. The first “championship” meet is the 8 and Under District Champs on February 6-7th. This meet is open to all 8 & U swimmers regardless of time qualification. The next meet is the 9-12 Central District Championships, February 12th-14th and it is for all swimmers lacking Age Group Champs qualifying times (see the website for time standards links). This meet had been expanded this year to include Trials and Finals for 9-10 and 11-12 year olds, one heat of finals for the former, two heats for the latter, but COVID has taken its nasty bite and timed finals will be the rule here. Entry deadlines for these meets will be firm, without wiggle room. The coaching staff would like see all eligible swimmers entered into each meet with a maximum line-up of events. All 13-18 swimmers who haven’t qualified for AGC or Senior Champs will attend the 13 & O District Champs, held February 19- 21 at the Collegiate Pool. Once again, these will be timed finals only at this point. All those 14 and unders from these meets who make Age Group Champs (AGC) Qualifying times move on to join their previously qualified brethren at the State Age Group Champs March 11th-14th in Christiansburg. All 15 and over qualifiers will join previous qualifiers in the Virginia Senior Champs, March 4th-7th, hosted this year at NOVA and the Collegiate pool(prelims), then finals at the CAC. A compressed timetable: 2/6-2/7 8 and Under District Champs 3/16-3/20 NCSA Juniors, Orlando, FL So there it all is - a tidy summing up of what lies ahead including that previous surprise. Remarkable advances are often made by swimmers who immerse themselves in the championship season. The acts of qualifying for a meet, then participating in it often change the trajectories of swimming careers. You must be present to win these sometimes astonishing advances! |
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NOVA’S HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR SWIMMERS . . . continue to announce college choices. Our latest addition is Claire Rankin who will be attending Widener University (PA) in the fall. Claire will continue her swimming career there and I presume this means she will continue to be one of the earliest arrivals on deck! Way to go, Claire!! This list represents all that NN knows so don’t keep your choice a secret and expect it will appear here!! If it isn’t here, it’s because I wasn’t certain enough to take it to press. So let us know! |
JANUARY IS . . . often quite cold and sometimes brings that dreaded white stuff. Here at NOVA, we take snow in stride: we rarely cancel but we do respect the danger and inconvenience it presents. If bad weather is forecast, we will take a wait and see attitude so please do not expect any early calls on our schedule. Richmond is on the snow/ice line so long experience has taught us that the forecasters often miss. Snow invites respect; ice provokes healthy fear and concern. So we will make a go/no go call fairly close to practice. The worst weather situation involves a late afternoon/early evening storm. The coaching staff typically is already at NOVA as the storm begins so we will ask incoming traffic how the roads are doing, all the while consulting the various internet and TV weather reports. Daylight and overnight calls are easier because we have more information and can drive out to sample and survey the roads ourselves well in advance of practice. We will err on the side of caution - not HCPS caution, more like private school caution. As always, we remind all NOVA parents to make their own decision and proceed with caution. Then there is that reminder to dress for the weather. We still observe bare-footed or sandal-clad children arriving for practice. The coaching staff strongly advises dressing for success - warm sweats, socks and shoes. Slippers and sandals are comfortable but bad choices! Train like an athlete, dress like an athlete. Parents are specifically asked not to encourage the “run to the warm car” behavior. Convenient and easy - but not in an athlete’s best interest.
COLD WEATHER WILL BE HERE TO STAY FOR TWO PLUS MONTHS . . . so it is definitely time for warm coats, dry shoes and wool hats. Each year, NOVA swimmers continue to arrive at NOVA as if it was summer, dashing from or to a car in a bathing suit. The good habits of a swimmer’s career begin early and that means dressing warmly when cold winds blow. Shoes, socks, gloves, wool hats and warm parkas do much to blunt winter’s bite. An athlete emerging from a taxing practice needs to let his body and muscles recover inside some warm wrappings.
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| OUR BEST GUESS AT A TEAM MEET SCHEDULE HAS BEEN POSTED . . . on the website but we emphasize that changes may occur depending on what happens with COVID. We will cast our net of meets farther into the future as we gather new information. Sometimes the ability to run a meet doesn’t match up with the willingness to run a meet or vice versa. All that, as we learned last year, may change. This year, we remain optimistic that it will trend in a positive direction. |
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| DO YOU OWN A BUSINESS OR MAKE DECISIONS FOR YOUR COMPANY? Consider advertising your product or service or being a club sponsor. For more information, contact [email protected]. Visit the NOVA website under Parent/Fund raising to learn more about our programs. |
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PRE-COVID, WE HAD THE NOVA FLAT HAT BULLETIN BOARD . . . that traced, through pictures, the travels of NOVA families and their NOVA caps. I thought it would be fun to see NOVA’s international bloodlines. Here is the rule: only parents and children count. So parents or children have to be first generation here in the United States. Up to 46! Last addition, Romania. Don’t hold out on us regarding your point of origin if you’re not on this list! We might start asking questions around the decks if we suspect we have a country we could be adding to this list, so beware !! Come on, folks, don’t be bashful - let’s hit fifty!!! Forty six and counting!! Notable omission? France ! Here’s a thought: excepting the ocean deeps, could we draw an unbroken line from NOVA all the way around the world? I think we can (Yes, we have to go from England to Denmark), but let’s see if we can fill in more of the globe.
E-mail Coach Geoff with any additions. I suspect we will have an amazing NOVA tapestry when we are done - if we ever get done! |
NOVA COACHES ENDEAVOR TO ANSWER EVERY PARENT E-MAIL . . . in a timely manner: within 24 hours if possible. The same holds true for text messaging. Once we move on deck for practice, we are generally inaccessible. When we come off deck, we sometimes see e-mails that have been directed to us while we are on deck. So check your coach’s schedule before expecting a swift response. And please be mindful that expectations about e-mailing and texting responses differ. If you need an urgent answer, the active medium of making a phone call is best. The 24 hour guideline holds true for the work week, not the weekends, especially meet weekends. But kindly remember that the unexpected can enter a coaching life and please be patient. Hope that explanation helps.
VOLUNTEERING QUESTIONS? Answers right here. Every NOVA family contributes to the club’s operations by volunteering time and talent. 12 hours is the tariff for new families and 16 for those with returning Novice only swimmers; returning families not meeting that Novice only criteria must volunteer 24 hours per year. Swim meets offer opportunities to volunteer; each family will be sent an e-mail indicating what meet job opportunities are available on-line. If meets aren’t your preference, NOVA has many additional opportunities to volunteer: committees, fund-raising events, special projects and parties and more. Please see the website for more information. Should NOVA be unable to offer sufficient volunteer opportunities at swim meets, we will re-assess parent volunteer hour requirements and let our membership know of any changes.
