NEWS
THE
The newsletter of QuickSilver Swimming
October 2012
This Month:
Coach's Corner
1
Q's Question
1
Reminders
1
QSS/SUNN DUAL 2
QSS Celebrates! 4
Give a Cheer!
5
Birthdays
5
Your First Meet
6
In the Spotlight 8
Here comes QuickSilver Swimming!
What does that mean to you? What do you want from the team?
What are you willing to give? What are you willing to sacrifice for QuickSilver Swimming?
Swimming is an individual sport that requires a team to succeed. It is not possible to succeed as an individual in this sport without the backing of a team and community.
I will not write much this month. . .I will ask you to think, to dream, to imagine. . .
what QSS can be????
None of those dreams will be possible without YOU!
What will you do to make those dreams a reality? Don’t feel you must do it all, just one
thing done and done well. . . .if we all did that it would be over 400 Things done well.
QuickSilver Swimming would be rocking!!!!
-Coach Janet
Dear Q,
I have lots of questions and I really don’t know who to ask or how to go about getting answers. Help!!
Let me elaborate a little. Some of my questions are easy I think, like “What time is work out?” or “Will we practice on Halloween?” or “What meet/events should I enter my swimmer in?” Some of my questions have to do with
billing or ordering gear or those pesky volunteer hours. Lastly, some are a little more personal and relate to my
child’s health, performance or social interaction. I worry that coaches will think I am a dork for even asking a
question, I worry they will be mad at a disruption or worse yet if I am critical of something they have done or said
that will affect their relationship with my child. Again I say, “Help!”
(Cont'd on page 3)
-A Befuddled Parent
October 14
October 20 - 21
October 20 - 21
October 25
October 26
November 3-4
November 16-18
Wine & Cheese Social
Santa Cruz CBA+ Meet
QSS Senior II Meet
Birthday Celebrations (All sites)
QSS Movie Night
QSS CBA+ at Gunderson
Race to JO's Morgan Hill
11
What better way to start the new season than with a
dual meet at home against Sunnyvale. We had 211 QSS swimmers in attendance garnering 167
new personal best times, including 30 new A times, 3 new JO's and 3 new Far Westerns. For the
new swimmers, it was a good introduction to an age group meet format. For everyone else, It was
a great warm up for the upcoming winter meet schedule.
New A Times
Carly Chan
Alyssa Chen
Ian Cho
Jamison Evans
Shawna Fattahi
Evan Gao
Scott Hetrick
Ella House
Chelsea Huffman
Annika Krishnamurthy
Christian Lee
Ashley MacDonald
Natasha Milutin
Dante Panella
Maxim Polovinkin
Ashley Ren
Juntao Ren
Nicole Rogy
Mario Ruiz
Sage Salles-Cunha
Sascha Scheidegger
Nicholas Thomas
Sabrina Tian
Garett Yuan
50 Back
50 Back
100 Back/200 IM
50 Fly
200 IM
50 Back
50 Free/50 Back
25 Back/25 Fly
50 Free
50 Free/50 Back
50 Back
25 Back
50 Back
100 Back
25 Free
200 IM
200 IM
50 Free
200 IM
50 Free
100 Free /100 Back
50 Free/50 Fly
50 Back
50 Back
New JO Times
Alyssa Chen
Steve Han
Elaine Wong
50 Free
200 IM
200 IM
New Far Western Times
Brandon Nguyen
Gemma Takahashi
Zixiao Zhang
12
200 IM
100 Back
200 IM
(Cont'd)
Event Winners
Alyssa Chen
Ella House
Anton Lengyel
Jillian Louvelle
Ryan McCombs
Brandon Nguyen
Maxim Polovinkin
Nikita Polovinkin
Kevin Sichak
Gemma Takahashi
Elaine Wong
Garrett Yuan
50 Free
25 Back
25 Fly
50 Fly
100 Back
200 IM
25 Back/25 Free
100 Free /200 IM
50 Back/50 Free
100 Back
50 Back/200 IM
100 IM
(Cont'd from page 1)
Dear Befuddled,
First off, you are not alone and while I am going to tell you not to worry . . . I am a parent and
realize that goes with the territory. I am going to answer your questions, but keep in mind you
may not like my answers here nor will you always like the Coaches' answers.
Steps to getting your questions answered:
-Check the QSS Web site
Calendar
Workouts
General Information/Forms
Events
-Office Administrator - Sarah Hernandez
-Your Child's Coach
Make an appointment to speak with the coach. You can do this at the beginning or end of
practice or through Sarah. Making an appointment allows you time without interruptions
to speak with the coach. Please remember this is about your child and not any other
child; you would not want the coach talking about your child to someone else.
-Head Age-Group Coach-Carrie Miller
If you are not satisfied you may take your questions/concerns to the Head Age Group
Coach for further discussion and clarification.
-Head Coaches
Andre Salles-Cunha
All Coaching Matters
Janet Gutierrez
Administrative Matters
-QSS Board of Directors
-Additional Sites for information that will help with your swimming knowledge:
Pacific Swimming www.pacswim.org
USA Swimming
www.usaswimming.org
Understanding the steps to follow will make it much easier for you to get the answers you are
seeking. Also, please understand that Coaches want to develop an open, honest relationship with
swimmers and their families; this is only possible with good communication.
Lastly, keep in mind that we are dealing with your most valuable possession, your child, and this is
true for every parent/family on the team. Do not plan to talk about another person’s child; the
coaches will not enter into that realm. Be respectful. If tension is high it may be better to make
an appointment that allows for some “cooling off time”. I know I am a parent and have had to do
this myself; the “24 Hour Rule” has saved me from saying and doing things in anger that I would
regret later on.
Befuddled, I hope this has helped and as always . . . if not ASK.
-Q
23
10 & Under
8 & Under
8 & Under
10 & Under
13 & Over
10 & Under
8 & Under
13 & Over
10 & Under
13 & Over
10 & Under
8 & Under
girls
girls
boys
girls
boys
boys
boys
boys
boys
girls
girls
boys
With great weather, tasty food, danceable music, and most importantly - bouncey houses, the QSS pool party had something for everyone. The coaching staff started off the day by talking about the
state of the team and our future goals. Then, we recognized IMX high point achievers with their very own
custom t-shirts. Highlights of the day included the mexican buffet, the roving dancing flash mobs and
inner tube water polo.
14
The coaching staff recently recognized QSS swimmers who have earned
2000 or more IMX points for the 2011/2012 season. IMX is a program
established by USA Swimming that awards points for swimming a certain
combination of events over the course of a season. Custom t-shirts were
awarded for each point level. Congratulations and great job swimmers!
2000 Club
Travis Kim
Lauren Jufiar
Matt McKim
J.P. Raimondi
Joseph Sandoval
Elizabeth Shen
3000 Club
Preston Gook
Ryan McCombs
Lauren Smith
3500 Club
Corey Gutierrez
Kiana Lee
Michelle Mikaelsson
Brandon Nguyen
2500 Club
Lauren Akin
Trey Guise
Courtney Markle
Matthew Sandoval
Elaine Wong
Leo Zhang
4000 Club
Lauren Green
Aidan Alvarez
Vardhaan Ambati
Nicholas Bail
Megan Cheng
Sammi Cheung
Rachel Cooney
Matt DeVaughn
Ellen Dong
Deirdre Gwin
Manny Hernandez
Kayla Huffman
Shraddha Kamat
Brighton Keslin
10th
25th
29th
15th
7th
21st
25th
2nd
28th
24th
5th
26th
9th
Jessica Lam
Kevin Le
Alexandra Lee
Hayley Macdonald
Lily Macdonald
Morganne McKennan
Makayla Moore
Maya Mowatt
Matthew Nachtigal
Brandon Nguyen
Ivy Nguyen
John Nuzum
Anvika Ramachandran
6th
9th
18th
5th
5th
2nd
7th
24th
3rd
3rd
24th
3rd
4th
Lynette Rondeau
Joseph Sandoval
Megan Schrader
Aaron Shih
Amie Sun
Sabrina Tian
Daniella Weber
Thomas Yang
Lillian Yee
Yicong Zhao
Leo Zhang
13th
28th
23rd
26th
17th
27th
5th
16th
27th
10th
7th
Amir Abu-Samaha
Clara Chardos
Alyssa Chen
Gabriel Chen
Tyler Chin
Jacob De Sousa
Evan Gao
Cindy Giang
Corey Gutierrez
Sara Hertick
Scott Hetrick
Chelsea Huffman
25th
13th
31st
20th
20th
28th
6th
2nd
30th
21st
21st
26th
Isabelle Huynh
Joyanna Jiang
Ishani Karmarkar
Daniel Kim
Eric Kim
Jenna Kliewer
Annika Krishnamurthy
Robert Moore
Niyati Nekkileru
Maxim Polovinkin
Dillon Punchihewa
Kylie Ramia
3rd
7th
26th
22nd
8th
24th
17th
26th
30th
6th
14th
1st
Chris Rue
Anna Saber
Jesse Sam
Hailey Thomas
Madison Vu
Bryan Wang
Taylor Watanabe
Elaine Wong
Kathy Xing
John Xu
Dellin Zhang
16th
3rd
13th
6th
28th
18th
29th
1st
4th
20th
3rd
25
5 STEPS TO SURVIVING
YOUR FIRST SWIM MEET
How do I sign up? What do I need to bring? How
long will it take? How does it all work? These
were all questions I had before our first meet,
and I’d like to share some of the things I’ve
learned.
First and foremost - If you’re on the fence about attending a meet, by all means just do
it. I think you’ll find it to be a really worthwhile experience for your child. They get to
hang out and bond with their teammates, watch a lot of other swimmers their age compete, and experience the adrenaline rush of standing on the blocks, anticipating the
starter’s signal.
Step 1: SIGNING UP
Head over to Swim Connection/Online Meet Entries (https://ome.swimconnection.com/).
You’ll need to register your swimmer by clicking on the Sign Up button and following the
instructions. Be sure to have a copy of your swimmer’s USA swimming registration information on hand.
Once you’ve registered, you can sign in and peruse the listing of available meets.
Remember to check the calendar on the QSS website for upcoming meets that will be attended by the team. Select the meet and the events for your swimmer. CBA+ meets
usually span the course of a Saturday and Sunday and sometimes Friday as well. You can
sign up for events for all the days, just one day or any combination. Pay your meet entry
fees and print your receipt and meet summary. It’s a good idea to bring a printout of the
receipt, meet summary along with a color copy of your child's USA Swimming registration
card with you the day of the meet.
STEP 2: ARRIVING AT THE MEET
If you really want a good parking space that’s near the pool venue, plan on getting there
early. The pool usually opens for warm ups at 7:30 am, so try to get there no later than
7:00am. If you’d rather sleep in, meets tend to start at 9:00, and you can usually drop
off equipment and swimmers at the front of the venue and go hunt for a parking space.
Once you get to the pool, go to the Check-In desk to sign in your swimmer for the meet.
Swimmer names are separated by gender and organized in lists by age group divisions.
Your swimmer will need to initial next to their name and circle all the event numbers they intend to swim that day. You’ll need to check-in each day that you attend the meet.
In general, it shouldn’t take more than four hours from your first event to the last and the time
may be shorter depending on how many events your child is signed up for.
Now that you’re checked in, it’s time to find a place to settle down for the day. In general, the
area immediately around the competition pool is reserved for coaches and officials, but there is
usually plenty of room in the surrounding areas for chairs and ez-ups.
By 7:30, the pool should be open for warm ups to allow your swimmer to get in a few laps. Not
long after that, officials will open up a lane for race starts (dive starts off the blocks). A QSS
coach must be present before your swimmer can practice race starts.
Heat and lane assignments for each event are posted on large “bulletin boards” that are duplicated on opposite ends of the facility. The boards are organized by gender and heat and lane
assignments are posted an event or two before the current race.
A snack bar is set up with reasonably priced food available throughout the day.
There’s usually a warm up/warm down pool nearby where swimmers can stretch their muscles
and get in some laps before and after each event.
Results of each event are usually posted on a wall or window by the administration office.
16
STEP 3: THE LAUNDRY LIST
Camping chairs or beach chairs: Seating is usually extremely limited if it exists at
all, so a portable folding chair of some sort is essential. If you want to shield yourself
from the sun, bring a beach umbrella or ez-up.
Snacks: We tend to bring snacks and have our kids graze all day versus preparing
larger meals. However you decide to go, try and stick to healthier snacks during the
meet and save any sugary, heavy or fried foods until after your swimmer’s last event.
Some good snacks for meets include bananas, apples, whole grain crackers like Wheat
Thins, Gogurts, pretzels, raisins and bagels. And don’t forget to stay hydrated with
water or juices.
Towels: I’ve found that you can never have enough clean, dry towels at a meet, especially during the winter.
Suits - have your swimmer wear their practice suit for initial warm ups before the
meet and then have them change into a dry suit before their first event.
Accessories: It’s a good idea to bring an extra swim cap, pair of goggles and some
sunscreen.
Amusements: books, magazines, coloring markers, games
STEP 4: LEARN THE LINGO
Event: each race (i.e., 50 freestyle, 100 backstroke, etc…) is called an event and
each event is given a number. Boys' events are even numbered and girls' events are
odd numbered.
Heat: within each event there are usually multiple heats or sets of races. For example in the girls’ 50 Free (8 & under) there could be 10 heats. There will usually be an
announcer at the meet calling out the current event and heat over the loudspeaker.
Scratch: when a swimmer decides to “cancel” an event that they were signed up for. This
usually occurs during check-in.
No-show: when a swimmer doesn’t show up for an event and did not scratch that event
beforehand. Be careful with these, because if your swimmer misses an event that hasn’t
been scratched, they could forfeit their next event (their time will not be recorded for
that next event).
DQ: Disqualification. The officials will monitor swimmers during each event for improper
stroke or turn patterns. Getting a DQ just means the race doesn’t count, and there won’t
be an official time recorded.
If in doubt, don’t be afraid to ask.
STEP 5: CHEER, CHEER, AND CHEER SOME MORE!
Don’t be afraid to cheer your brains out! One of the first things I remember from our first
meet was the distinctive lilt of Coach Janet’s voice echoing across the pool deck, “Go! Go!
Go!” It’s OK to cheer for your swimmer (as well as other QSS swimmers). They can hear
you (especially during the breaststroke and fly), and it can make a difference.
Once your swimmer finishes an event, have them talk to their coach so they can go over
any issues that might have come up during the race.
And that’s it.
So what are you waiting for?
See you at the next meet!
27
Name: Sara Hetrick
Age: 13
Group: Pre-National
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Stroke: Butterfly
Favorite Events: 100 Fly, 500
Free, 400 IM
Future Goal: To attend many
Far Western meets and be
one of the top swimmers
Hobbies: Swimming
Famous Person I'd like to meet: Missy Franklin,
Michael Phelps
Favorite Book: The Mysterious Benedict Society
Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games
When I grow up I want to be: Some sort of designer
Name: Alexandra Lee
Age: 14
Group: Black
Favorite Food: Pizza
Favorite Stroke: Backstroke
Favorite Events: 100 Back, 100
Free, 50 Free, 200 Free
Future Goal: To make JO times
Hobbies: Swimming,
INTERACT, ASB, painting, hanging out with my friends
Famous Person I'd like to meet: Natalie Coughlin, Missy
Franklin, Anne Hathaway
Favorite Book: The Hunger Games, Harry Potter, Water
for Elephants
Favorite Movie: Too many to choose from
When I grow up I want to be: Undecided
Q News is a
publication of
QuickSilver
Swimming.
Name: Christian Lee
Age: 12
Group: Pre-National
Favorite Food: Watermelon
Favorite Stroke: Breaststroke
Favorite Events: 200 Breast, 50 Fly, 100 IM
Future Goal: To make it to the Olympics
Hobbies: Fishing, camping, anything outside
Famous Person I'd like to meet: Michael Phelps
Favorite Book: Artemis Fowl
Favorite Movie: The Hunger Games
When I grow up I want to be: A marine biologist
Co-Presidents:
Nancy Hetrick
nhetrick1021 @gmail.com
Carole Keighley
[email protected]
Co-Head Coaches:
Janet Gutierrez
[email protected]
Andre Salles-Cunha
[email protected]
We need your pictures for a team slideshow at the upcoming QSS
Movie Night. If you have any pictures from meets or team events
from the 2011/2012 season, please send them to Larry at
[email protected] or drop off a cd/dvd at the office.
Thanks!
18
Editor: Larry Lee
[email protected]
Have a story idea,
pictures, news or feedback?
Please contact Larry at
[email protected]