Shooting STAR

November 2003                                   Volume 1, Issue 1

 STAR visits Wilmington and High Point

The STAR team traveled to Wilmington two weekend’s in  a row in October to participate in the first meet of the short course season.  STAR brought over 70 swimmers. Most importantly of all, the kids had lots of fun and made some new friends. Remember when you are at the meet to try and meet some new swimmers and parents. STAR is a big team, and our goal is for everyone to get to know each other.

STAR really had it’s first opportunity to be together as a team and cheer together for its swimmers. STAR Aquatics set a record for the number of speeding tickets written and issued at the Wilmington Meet. Approximately 300 speeding tickets were written and most kids finished with at least one best time. CONGRATULATIONS.

The next away meet was in High Point. STAR had the largest attendance of the meet with 103 swimmers swimming in almost 600 events.

Many parents have mentioned that they met new people by volunteering to be a ticket writer. Ticket writers play an important role in each and every meet. Consider volunteering for this position. It takes very little time and lets you be involved in the meet. To volunteer please contact

Jennifer Quigley at 6quiggs@msn.com

Please remember that the meets are set up to accommodate every level of swimmer, so you should never be discouraged from going. The objective of the meets is to swim for your fastest time and to have fun.

BOO….Kersey Valley

STAR swimmers and parents alike met for dinner at the Golden Coral and then went to the Kersey Valley Haunted Trail, the week before Halloween.

Kersey Valley scared kids young and old. I was told that coach Jay screams like a little girl. 75 swimmers and parents from almost all locations attended.

We encourage everyone to participate in as many social outings as possible. The kids have a lot of fun and it is another good time to meet other STAR parents.

 

The Shooting Star will be published once a month. Its objective is to continue to inform parents and swimmers.

Please consider writing a short article or contributing any information that you feel may be appropriate. You can submit all information to :

andy@staraquatics.net

Swimmer’s of the Month

 Each month, Star will announce a swimmer from each location as the swimmer of the month. The swimmer’s are chosen by all of the coaches.  Swimmers are selected based on their work ethic, sportsmanship and attitude. In addition to  the respect of their peers, swimmers will also receive a T-Shirt rewarding the honor and recognizing their efforts.  The swimmers for November are:

William Morris—Guilford College

Lauren Isley—Burlington

Chelsea Capps—Pyramids

Megan Massey—First Christian

Morgan Mock—Sports Center

CONGRATULATIONS!

 

Volunteer’s Needed

We are trying very hard to give our kids the best swim experience possible. To do this we need as many volunteers as possible. Volunteering can be as easy as writing an article for the newsletter or writing speeding tickets during a meet. Listed are some of the volunteers that are heading up projects. If you would like to help, please feel free to call them or email them.  

 

Calendar of Events

Nov. 24^th – No Practice at Guilford College due to HS swim meet

Nov. 28th/29th –BURLINGTON, regular schedule, + 7-9 a.m. 28th

Nov. 27^th, 28^th & 29^th – NO Practice; Thanksgiving Break

Dec. 2^nd – No Practice at Guilford College due to HS swim meet

Dec. 5^th – 7^th – New South Senior Circuit Meet in Charlotte (MCAC)

                MAC 12 & Under meet and Senior Dev. Meet (Latin)

Dec. 6^th – No STAR Practices due to meet

Dec. 8th– SWIM-A-THON

Dec. 9^th – SWIM-A-THON  (the letter will be going out this week; pump the kids up; lots     of prizes and benefits)

Dec. 10th– SWIM-A-THON

Dec. 12^th – 14^th – Fall States (Pullen)

Dec. 20^th – Total STAR Practice at First Christian (Kernersville)

               -  STAR Christmas Party @ Children’s Museum 5:30-8:30

Dec. 22^nd & 23^rd – Doubles at First Christian, Pyramids and Burlington (7-9am and regular afternoons)  GUILFORD COLLEGE kids can go to Pyramids or First Christian Church

Dec. 22nd / 29th Sports Center Closed,  Swimmers can attend any other practice location.

Dec. 24^th – 28^th – NO Practice (Christmas Break)

Dec. 29^th -30^th – Doubles at same sites with same times as above

Dec. 29th-31st. GUILFORD COLLEGE 8:45-9:45 (early) 9:30 –11:15 Late

Dec. 31^st – A.M. Practice only at Kernersville, Pyramids (7-9 ) and Burlington (7-10)

Jan. 1^st – No Practice

Jan. 2^nd – STAR All night Practice at Pyramids LOOK FOR SIGN UP SHEETS

Jan. 5^th – Regular practice schedule resumes

Jan. 16^th – Team trip to Knoxville

***NOTE*** Special social events will be scheduled from time to time and may not appear on the calendar. Please check your swimmer’s box and email for special announcements.

 

Fast “Best Times”

Has your swimmer ever asked you what his or her best time was in a particular event? Are you the one who enters your child in the STAR swim meets, and then has to sort through paper scraps and scribbles in order to fill in that last column with best times? If the answer to either of these questions is yes, then North Carolina Swimming has a database just for you.

Try the following steps and see how easy it can be to retrieve your swimmer’s personal bests. It eliminates the hassle of trying to keep track of this yourself. On the Wednesday following our age group meet in Wilmington, when the meet results were posted on the North Carolina Swimming website results page, any new personal best times achieved were automatically added to the database.      

Get on the internet and go to http://www.ncswim.org 1. Locate the side menu on the left titled “Main Menu.” Underneath that, locate the first title Team Manager Online, and click on it.

2. This will bring up a screen titled “Hy-Tek’s TEAM MANAGER Online for North Carolina Swimming.” Under that title, find the word “Athletes” on the left, and click on it. This will bring up a screen which begins a list of all North Carolina swimmers in alphabetical order by last name.

3. Find the blank rectangular box that has the words “Find Athlete” on the left, and a green “Go” box on the right. Inside the blank rectangle, type in your swimmer’s last name. Click on the green “Go” box.

4. Scroll down to find your swimmer. Most last names are on one screen, so your swimmer should be easy to find. Your swimmer will be listed along with his/her age, gender, team abbreviation, and full team name. If your swimmer was new to North Carolina swimming when he/she joined STAR, then STAR will be your swimmer’s team affiliation. However, if your child was on a different team when the database was set up, as my daughter was, then the previous club will be the team name. We hope this will change, but for now, it is not automatic. In the meantime, we know all our swimmers are STARS!

5. In the first column, to the left of the name, there is tiny print which says “Times.” Click on that. This will display all of your swimmer’s best times, including both yard and meter events. This will include all North Carolina Swimming (NCS) sanctioned meets held in North

Carolina since the database was set up. It also includes any out of state meets which may have sent the final times to NCS. For example, the Pilot Meet that STAR attended last year in Tennessee, sent final results to NCS. 

6. To simplify the list and get only yard events, find the blank rectangular box on the right side of the screen, which has the word “course” beside it and  a pull down menu designated by a downward arrow. Click on the arrow and you will see three choices to select from: yards, SCM, and LCM. Click on yards and after a moment, you will see all of your swimmer’s short course times. Print this out for your records. You can do the same thing for long course times by clicking on LCM.

7. Some events even provide you with split times, or the times for each 50 yards. (For new swimming parents, the reason the splits are in increments of 50 yards is because the electronic timing touch pad is touched by the swimmer at the end of each 50 yards.) On the far left for an event that is 100 yards or more, you will find in tiny print, the word “Splits.” Click on that and you will get a small screen which lists the splits. For new swimming parents, below is an example of split times. This is for a 100 yard freestyle event. The first row of shaded boxes shows the actual distances: 50 yards and 100 yards. The second row shows the cumulative time for the event and the bottom row shows the time for each 50. The swimmer completed the first 50 yards in 33.05. The time for the second fifty was 36.34, for a total time of 1:09.39.

50	100
33.05	1:09.39
33.05	36.34

 8. Click “Close” to eliminate the split box and return to the best times list. You can further specialize the list of times by using the “Stroke” pull down menu and selecting a specific stroke. You can also go to the “Fast” rectangle and replace the default “1” with a “2” which will give you the top two times for each event. After you change the number to a “2”, click on “yards” again to “refresh” your list.

9. Explore and enjoy!

Leigh Cox- Ashley’s mom (12, Pyramids)

 

Coaches Corner...
coach Doug Cornish Sports Center Triad

Parents, help the coaches convey to our swimmers the importance of good technique.  Read the following article and prepare the demonstration for your swimmers. 

Shining the Light on the Importance of technique

Arguably the most important factor in swimming speed is distance-per-stroke, the distance the body slides through the water with each repetition of the stroke cycle.  As coaches, we are constantly aware of and trying to improve our swimmers’ distances-per-stroke by improving technique. 

Upon hearing coaches talk about the importance of technique, you have probably found yourself wondering, “How much of a difference do technique improvements really make?”  Well, parents and swimmers, to answer this question, let’s do a demonstration.  

First, cut 30 index cards to four inches in length.  On each index card, write down the desired technique change.  An example is finishing the kick in breaststroke.  So, “finish my kick” will be the label on my index cards.  Now, line the cards up side-by-side according to the four-inch side.  Each card represents the possible amount of distance gained per stroke with the improved technique.  The ten-foot length of cards represents the possible improvement per event.  Let me explain this further. 

There are countless technique changes, improvements, that when successfully achieved, will give the swimmer at least four more inches per stroke.  Four inches.  No big deal, right? 

Wrong!  There are several events in which the swimmer takes approximately 30 strokes.  Our young swimmers take nearly 30 strokes in events lasting 50 yards, while our older swimmers take nearly 30 strokes in events that last 100 yards.  If a swimmer achieves a technique change that will enable them to move four more inches through the water per stroke (index card), in an event that lasts for 30 strokes, they will have gained the ability to move ten feet farther (total length of cards) in the same amount of time.  

When examining the ten-foot length of cards, explain to the swimmer that the distance represents the potential improvement if the desired technique change (finishing the kick in my case) is achieved.  Want to add some spice to the demonstration?  Ask them how many times they have lost a race by that same distance and were left thinking “man, that swimmer is so much faster than I am!” Then, advise them that if they would like to improve that much, they should be listening to instructions carefully. 

From this demonstration, the potential for improvement from one minor technique change is overwhelmingly obvious.  As our swimmers develop, they need to be aware of the importance of good technique.  Swimming is a sport in which one technique flaw can separate an average swimmer from a good swimmer.  However, swimming is not a sport in which one technique change can separate your current times from your potential.  That difference will be due to a swimmer improving on countless “minor” technique changes. 

 

In each edition of the STAR Aquatics Newsletter, our coaches will offer a “technique tip-of-the-month” that could represent four inches per stroke.  Look for the tips and have your swimmer apply the tips to his/her swimming. 

Meet Deadlines

STAR encourages every swimmer to participate in the meets. The deadlines are announced as soon as they are confirmed by the host facility, PLEASE register as soon as possible to avoid not being able to swim. Once the cutoff occurs it is impossible to sign up.

 

If you have an idea for a STAR outing, please let us know.

2nd Annual SWIM-A-THON

Please check your folders or talk to one of the coaches about the SWIM-A-THON on December 8th and 10th. This event is very important to the growth of STAR and we would like to see everyone participate. The deadlines for turning in your money are December 4th, 8th, 10th and 12th.  Please help STAR to become the premier swim club in the South East!

MEET THE COACH...Chris Compton