Terrapin Tales
Volume 1, Issue 5
January 11, 2015
What’s in this issue?
Swimmer Count = 106!!
* Where are the Terrapins?
* Parent Meeting
* Big Meet Qualifiers
* Coach’s Corner
NEWS FLASH!!
Parent Meeting—January 20th
from 7:00 pm-8:00 pm at
Copperfield Church—RM C8
* Terrapins of the Month
* Swimmer Birthdays!
* Winter Wonderland Recap
Where are the
Terrapins
(8350
Hwy 6 N, Houston, TXthis
77095) Month?
* Go Swim Videos
* Technique info
(You may report 1 volunteer hour for
attending the meeting (1 per family)
WHERE ARE THE TERRAPINS THIS MONTH??
Jan 20 ……… Parent Meeting
(All parents)
Jan 23-25…… MAC Junior/Elite/Senior Meet
(All swimmers)
Feb 14 ………. 8&Under Champs
(All 8 &Under)
(reg. deadline Jan 24)
Feb 20-22 … 9-14 yr old Champs
(reg. deadline Jan 31)
Feb 27-Mar 1…. 13&up Gulf Champs
(All 9-12 swimmers)
(Select 13-14)
(Must have at least 3 A times)
(reg. deadline Feb 9)
Mar 5-8……… TAGs
Mar 17-21….. Junior Nationals
(Must have TAGS times)
ut on
Check us o
K!
FACEBOO
Congratulations to Madison Kinsey as she becomes our first Junior National swimmer. She
blasted her way to a 57.9
in the 100 fly. We had 3
swimmers make TAGs cuts
this past month. Sean
Calvert - 200 breast;
Tommy Stokes-100 fly,
50 free; Richard Nguyen
- 100 free. Beth
McNeese has already
qualified. There are several swimmers that are
knocking on the door.
IT's OPEN!! Come on
in.
Terrapins of the Month!
Blue: Chris Cooper
This month's swimmer of the month for Blue group is Chris Cooper. Chris has made great progress and has shown he can
handle the challenges of swimming under pressure. At the recent HSC 14 & Under meet, Chris swam 50 free and 50 back and
finished with his best times. During practice, his sense of humor and the ability to laugh at himself has encouraged and entertained his teammates (as well as his coach!) It's this same strength of character that enables Chris to handle the tougher swim
sets as well. He doesn't give up and he gives it his best effort. Congratulations to Chris, a gentleman and a great swimmer!
Green: Jacey Condo
Jacey has been working very hard in practice these last few weeks and her strokes are really improving. Jacey swam at the Corpus Christi meet and dropped time in her swims and won the high point award for her age group. Her bright personality is a joy
for her coaches and fellow swimmers.
Bronze: Ella George
The Bronze swimmer of the month is Ella George. Ella is a quiet swimmer of few words but the way Ella is swimming these
days who needs words. Ella works very hard in practice continuing to improve and impress her coaches with her dedication
and determination. Ella has attended every swim meet these last two months and her hard work is showing as she continues to
drop a considerable amount of time in all her swims.
Copper: Richard Nguyen
Richard has been on a hot streak the month of December. He has really stepped up his practice efforts and the results have
showed. He achieved his TAGs cut in the 100 free and is getting close in several other events. He was the 11-12 High Point
winner at the recent Corpus Christi Winter Wonderland Meet.
Silver: Jackson Dement
Jackson has always been a tough swimmer. He has a preference for longer races, swimming 500s,1000s and 200 fly events. He
sped to 3 best times at the Gulf Champ Meet and grabbed 5 more in Corpus Christi. He continues to work on his backstroke,
and underwater kicking - important techniques that will allow him to be successful as he gets older.
Gold: Beth McNeese
Beth has been very consistent and has worked hard in practice on a daily basis. She has qualified for the Open Water Championship in Florida, and has been preparing by swimming an extra 2000 meters 2 days per week. At the Recent Oklahoma Pro
Am, Beth sped to best times in the 100 back and 500 free. She continues to improve her back and breaststroke that will allow
her to excel in the IMs.
Congratulations Terrapins!!
Spotlight Swimmer:
Katie McLaughlin
Katie is a butterfly specialist that was
the high point winner at the recent
Oklahoma Pro/AM meet. She is 17
years old, and is vying for a spot on
the 2016 Olympic team in the 100 and
200 fly. She is very versatile and can
swim well in several events from the
50 free to the 400 IM. Talking with
her coach at the meet, he says she is a
crazy hard worker. Her repeats are
very close to her meet times. He is
working on getting her to kick farther
off the walls as he feels that is going to
be the difference from making and not
making the Olympic team. This is the
same technique we are working on
with all our swimmers. If the best get
better, we need to respond. Katie has
a lot of speed in fly, and works very
hard to hold her stroke together during the last 25. These are the strategies that will work for our swimmers
as well.
January:
18 Ivan Tolkov
25 Preston Arthur
1 Rajveer Kindra
29 David Misztal
1 Joey Hill
29 Madeline O’Brien
2 Skylar Wilson
30 Brooke Ramey
2 Tristan Calvert
3 Nicholas Wright
The Coaches would like to
thank the parents and swimmers for the Christmas gifts.
We sincerely appreciate
your kindness!
6 David Fogtman
10 Saisree Parab
12 Henry Hugele
15 Vivian Banh
16 Alexandra Neuberger
Thank you!
The Texas Terrapins continue to make great strides
not only as our individual’s performances get better,
but as our team performance improves. We grabbed
2nd place at the Corpus Christi Winter Wonderland
meet with several best times and outstanding high
scoring relays. Continue to work hard and the team
will continue to move to the top!
Thank you to the parents that timed at this meet!
And a BIG thank you to Mo Aly and Shannon Tinley
for covering the other team’s lane for several hours!!
And one last thank you to Stephanie Linblade for organizing our hotel accommodations for the trip.
Thank you Stephanie!
Thank you to the committee that worked on the
Holiday Party! We had a great time! Kathy Neundorfer was the Committee head and did an excellent
job of organizing the party. Cherish and David Whitfield for donating Chick-fil-a gift cards and making
the adorable goody bags for all of the children.
Marianne and Andy Kemsley for all of their great input and working at the party. Stefanie Gourgues who
created the list for the dinner and made the great
invitations, plus her family was sick and she still came
to work at the event! Joya Cooper who donated a
ton of goodies for the event, but was unable to make
it to the party. We would also like to thank all of the
wonderful parents who stepped up and worked to
make the party a huge success. Great job Terrapins!
Videos - Go Swim TV
Several swimmers have yet to sign up for the free video being sent each week. The following are the steps needed to receive your
video. Do not sign up for the monthly fee subscription. You must provide an email for your swimmer once you log into your account on our website.
1. You will receive an email from GSC or your group titled Invitation to join _____ training group at GoSwim.
2. Once you open the email click on the blue words that state Redeem Invitation.
3. When you click the words you will be taken to Go Swim's web page, and asked a few questions.
4. Those questions are: birthdate, full name, email address and password. You will create your password at this time.
5. When you have filled these items out, click the box to agree to the terms and conditions, then hit the green button just under the
terms and conditions.
6. Your account will be created and your home page will be opened to the current lesson.
Technique Eyes Down, Body Straight during breakouts
We sent a streamline video on how to get to the surface from starts and turns in all strokes after the underwater portion of the race. Most swimmer do a good job either dolphin kicking or taking a pull out, but it's how you get to the surface that matters the most. After making the correction,
gold swimmers were surfacing 10-20 feet further that normal, with less effort and greater speed. Their biggest problem was dealing with breath
control as they were holding their breath longer.
We usually see swimmers getting to the surface in this manor:
When you breakout with an arched back and lead with your head you lose speed.
The proper way is to maintain your straight body position and you will surface with your hips, back and head at the same time with a ton of speed.
The top swimmers are easily getting to the 15 meter mark with very little effort, but with a great deal of speed.
This gets you to the surface in the correct head and body position at race pace speeds. this will take a lot of practice, but will really shave off time in
every event.
Go for Your Dreams
When a BIG dream first shows up on your doorstep, knocking and begging to be “let in,” your rational, thinking brain says, “Don’t be so silly and
unrealistic! There’s no way that you could ever accomplish that! You’re not big, talented, strong or fast enough to ever do that! It’s way out of
your league!”
This kind of big, far off, scary goal, stretches your belief system to the breaking point! It makes you entertain the words, “IMPOSSIBLE!” and
“NEVER!” The hugeness of this type of dream leaves you feeling embarrassed by its boldness, and you think, “There’s no way I could EVER
do that!” Oftentimes you’re so embarrassed by the dream that you don’t even want to say it out loud, let alone share it with another human
being for fear of being laughed out of the room!
NEWSFLASH:
Your initial self-doubts, fears and negative thoughts about reaching your big goal are normal and let you know that you’re actually headed in the right direction.
Whenever you move out of our comfort zone in any way, you will always be greeted by “cant’s, “nevers” and “impossibles.” The very first time
that you take the risk to go into a faster lane, decide to move up to lead your lane, try an intimidating event that you've never swam before or
have to race against much faster swimmers, you will get flooded with self-doubts and feelings of inadequacy. This is what happens to almost every
swimmer when they first age up! They are left feeling intimidated by all the bigger, faster swimmers surrounding them.
It is critically important that you understand that these doubts and feelings of frustration or “I can't do this,” will always be there
whenever you start pushing your limits. They are absolutely NORMAL..
When you decide to really go for that BIG, SCARY dream, the self-doubts, negative thinking and feelings of inadequacy that arise will be your
constant traveling companion. Please know that these so-called negative feelings, with their accompanying doubts, are not your enemy. They
don’t mean that there is anything wrong with you or that you should abandon your quest. Instead, they mean that you’re on the right track and
that you need to keep on keeping on! Hear the doubts, feel the feelings of inadequacy and then KEEP MOVING FORWARD ANYWAY!
This is especially true when you run into setbacks and failures during your journey. No one reaches their BIG dream without first “collecting” a
lot of these disappointments. Failures will tend to fuel your negative thinking and doubts, and try to trick you into quitting. DON'T EVER BE
MISLED! Instead, remember that the negative thoughts and feelings that regularly come up as you chase your dreams should always be viewed
as the lamp posts that will light your way during your journey to those BIG goals.
6 Breakfast Ideas for the Young Swimmer—By Jill Castle, MS, RDN
To eat, or not to eat, breakfast? This is the question young swimmers may struggle with as they scurry out the door to make
morning practice or catch the bus and get to school on time.
For growing kids and teens, starting the day with breakfast has its benefits. Breakfast consumption has been linked to better
nutrient intake, mental function and academic performance. Skipping breakfast has its drawbacks. A 2010 National Health and
Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES 1999-2006) survey of children aged 9-18 looked at self-reported breakfast eating patterns and the types of breakfast foods eaten. Researchers found that 20% of children and 35% of teens skipped breakfast, 36%
children and 25% teens ate cereal, and the rest ate a variety of different breakfast foods. Interestingly, breakfast skippers had
higher body mass indices (BMIs) and a higher prevalence of obesity, while cereal eaters had the most favorable nutrient intakes
and weight scores.
We have less data for young athletes and their breakfast consumption patterns, particularly about what constitutes the perfect
breakfast amount, and composition. However, it is known that carbohydrate-based foods are needed as fuel for athletic performance, and protein sources help build and repair muscle tissue. So it makes sense that young athletes may benefit from the
healthy habit of a daily, balanced breakfast. To make getting breakfast on board for your young swimmer easier, check out these
breakfast ideas categorized by preparation method:
Refrigerate overnight
1. Peanut Butter and Chocolate Swirl Overnight Oats
2. Greek Yogurt Parfait: Layer vanilla Greek yogurt, fruit, and granola in a glass or Mason jar.
Grab-n-Go
3. Nut butter sandwich on whole grain bread: Make this the night before. Add jelly if you like.
4. Trail mix: Use a commercial trail mix or make your own with nuts and dried fruit.
5. Nut butter and fresh fruit: Can you say banana or apple and peanut butter? Vary your nut butters with almond, cashew and try sunflower seed
butter too. There are many small convenient packets of nut butter available.
6. Gorp: Mix dry cereal, nuts, raisins/other dried fruit, carob or chocolate chips together in a baggie.
7. String cheese and whole grain crackers
8. Hard-boiled eggs
Prep In 5 Minutes…
9. Smoothie: ½ cup 100% juice or nectar; ½ cup milk; 1 cup frozen fruit; ¼- ½ cup Greek yogurt
10. Bagel sandwich: Layer ham and cheese on a bagel. Zap in the microwave for 30 seconds to warm.
11. Egg and cheese on an English muffin: fry an egg; toast the muffin; assemble with a slice of cheese into a sandwich.
12. Breakfast burrito: Take a whole grain tortilla, fill it with scrambled egg or tofu, add cheese, avocado, leftover veggies and salsa, and roll it up.
13. Walking waffle: Toast two whole grain waffles, spread with nut butter or cream cheese, top with fresh fruit or jam, and assemble as a sandwich.
14. Instant oatmeal: Mix hot water and oats in a to-go coffee cup; top with walnuts and blueberries. Don't forget the spoon!
Freeze Ahead
15. Egg and veggie cups: Make these over the weekend and freeze them. Heat them in the microwave in the morning and grab a piece of fruit as a
side.
16. Breakfast cookies: Try these Pumpkin breakfast cookies or these dried fruit and peanut butter cookies. Toss in a milk box or 100% juice alongside.
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