Marlins of Raleigh (MOR) Winter Swim League (WSL)

The 5th Annual MOR Winter Swim League (WSL) kicks off at Millbrook Pool and the St. Mary's School pool the week of January 9, 2012.  The 11-week swim clinic program offers great environments for participants to learn both entry-level and intermediate stroke techniques.  Our coaches use both in-water and deck-level instruction/coaching to highlight the specific kick, body position, breathing and arm actions needed for each of the competitive swim strokes.  The swim league coaches also offer instruction on starts and turns.  For these reasons and others, the MOR Winter Swim League is traditionally one of the strongest area programs for developing summer league swimmers.  The cost of the 22-class program is $200 per participant and information is available now on our website.  The deadline for registration is December 20, 2012 and the program will most likely fill before that date.  If you have any questions about the program, please give Jonathan Watson or Darryl Buda a call at the MOR Office -- (919) 851-3000.

Coaches Needed: MacGregor Downs

MacGregor Downs is looking for a Head Coach and 2 assistant coaches for summer 2012.

If interested or know anyone who is please contact Laurie Marston.

2011-2012 Wave Winter Swim League

2011-2012

WAVE WINTER SWIM LEAGUE

Introducing The Wave Winter Swim League! During two separate six-week sessions, WAVE Swimming will be conducting lessons that focus on stroke technique of the four competitive strokes, starts, turns and lots of fun! This program is geared towards summer league swimmers aged 7-14 that are elementary and middle schoolers. Swimmers must be able to swim 1 length of freestyle unassisted.

Swimmers will be coached by WAVE’s highly trained coaches through USA Swimming and The American Swim Coaches Association.

Duration: 6 weeks; Session I: November 2 – December 12, 2011 and Session II: January 9 – February 15, 2012

Days: Mondays and Wednesdays

Time: 7:00pm-8:00pm

Location: Triangle Aquatic Center

Cost: $125 per session

We look forward to helping your swimmer become a more confident and better swimmer.

For more information please visit our website.

Agenda for Fall Board of Directors Meeting

This is your friendly reminder that the Fall TSA Board of Directors meeting is coming up this Tuesday (October 18) at 7:00. We will be meeting at the NC State University Club, site of our May meeting. The meeting agenda is available here. The minutes of the May meeting are still being prepared, but I hope to send them out by tomorrow evening.

Bear in mind that the State Fair is underway, and traffic near the club will be heavier than usual, so it would be advisable to leave extra time for travel. My recommendation is to approach from the I-440 Beltline (Exit 3 to Hillsborough Street / NC 54) so that you can avoid Blue Ridge Road and the part of Hillsborough Street that passes next to the fairgrounds, even if you are coming from the west.

On another topic, I’m pleased to announce two enhancements to the TSA web site. Each team page now has two additional properties to describe its pool facility:

Lighting – set to one of:
“This pool has deck lighting and is licensed to operate at night”
“This pool is not licensed to operate past dusk”
“The lighting situation for this pool is unknown”

Starting Blocks – set to one of:
“This pool has starting blocks”
“This pool does NOT have starting blocks”
“The starting block situation for this pool is unknown”

Both properties have been initialized to the “unknown” state for every club, so I am asking you all to log in to your www.tsanc.org account and modify your club’s lighting and starting block properties to the correct values.

Fall Board meeting postponed to October 18th

I apologize for doing this, but we have decided to postpone the fall Board of Directors meeting by one week, to October 18th. It will be at the same time (7:00 PM) and the same location (University Club) as previously announced, just one week later. A number of key contributors had conflicts with the original date because it is an election day, so it made more sense to postpone our meeting.

2012 Board of Directors meetings

Next year’s Board meetings will be held on the traditional third Tuesday of every month at 7:00 PM.

For the first two (January 17th and February 21st), we will meet at University Club, located at 4200 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh (Exit 3 from the I-440 Beltline), which is the same venue we will use for our Fall meeting next month.

Our final three meetings (March 20th, April 17th and May 15th) will take place at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC), located at 275 Convention Drive in Cary (Exit 291 from I-40, then turn left into Cary Towne Center mall at first traffic signal).

Fall 2011 Board of Directors meeting [UPDATED]

Mark your calendars: our fall Board of Directors meeting will be held four weeks from now, on Tuesday, October 11th 18th at 7:00 PM. The venue will be University Club, located at 4200 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh (Exit 3 from the I-440 Beltline). More detailed agenda information will be available immediately before the meeting.

Winners of the 2011 Cecil L. Williamson TSA Educational Grants

In a quadruple-blind random drawing, the TSA Executive Committee (the four officers of the Association) today selected the following 25 grant winners from the 119 names submitted as qualified candidates for the $400 Cecil L. Williamson TSA Educational Grants. Congratulations to these swimmers, and to all the other recent high school graduates who participated on TSA teams this summer.

Tara Baitsholts (Springdale)
Lauren Ball (Summerfield North)
Jenna Beci (Shepherd's Vineyard)
Cara DeVries (Shepherd's Vineyard)
Stephanie DiBenedetto (Stonebridge)
Michael Dickey (Lochmere)
Jack Disney-Huss (Hasentree)
Lauren Frederick (Wendell)
Grace Harvey (Springdale)
Megan Hoerauf (Walden Creek)
Nicole Jackson (Heritage of Wake Forest)
Haley Lingle (Lake Park)
Alex Mills (Summerfield North)
Merritt Nettles (Brier Creek)
Tyler Owens (Oxxford Hunt)
Megan Przybyla (Greystone)
Meghan Radman (Lochmere)
Christine Schulze (Shepherd's Vineyard)
Alec Seigle (JCC)
Carolynn Spadafino (JCC)
Ryan Spalding (Lochmere)
Anne Thelen (Northbrook)
Curtis Thomas (MacGregor Downs)
Kelsey Tuttle (Cary Park)
Maria Wynn (Scotts Mill)

2011 Division Champions

[From Vice President Janine Huss:]

Congratulations to our Divisional Winners for 2011!

TSA Overall Champion: Prestonwood Piranhas

Northern League Division 1 Champions: Seven Oaks Marlins
Northern League Division 2 Champions: University Club Psychomen
Northern League Division 3 Champions: Heritage of Wake Forest Betas
Northern League Division 4 Champions: Stonebridge Stingrays
Northern League Division 5 Champions: Riverwood at Mingo Creek Rays
Northern League Division 6 Champions: Planters Walk Piranhas
Northern League Division 7 Champions: Brier Creek Barracudas
Northern League Division 8 Champions: Meredith Townes Mudpuppies
Northern League Division 9 Champions: Hasentree Hammerheads
Northern League Division 10 Champions: Banbury Woods Dolphins

Southern League Division 1 Champions: Prestonwood Piranhas
Southern League Division 2 Champions: Silverton Sharks
Southern League Division 3 Champions: Cary Park Sea Dragons
Southern League Division 4 Champions: Apex Breakers
Southern League Division 5 Champions: Devereaux Devil Rays
Southern League Division 6 Champions: The Reserve Stingrays
Southern League Division 7 Champions: Eagle Ridge Soaring Eagles
Southern League Division 8 Champions: Garner Dolphins
Southern League Division 9 Champions: Haddon Hall Hammerheads

Divisional winners all trophies can be picked up at Creative Images in Cary starting on Monday.

Educational Grant entry deadline extended until noon Sunday

Since we have seen at least one instance of a Rep's email not making it to Debra on the first try, we have extended the deadline for submitting entries for the Cecil Williamson TSA Educational Grants until noon tomorrow (Sunday, July 24). If your club's name appeared on the list of the 40 teams from whom Debra had not received an entry as of yesterday, please send it to her again by the new deadline. Remember to use the spreadsheet template she sent out with the original announcement. We will conduct the drawing itself later the same afternoon.

Effects of the smoky day on meets

Tuesday, June 21 was a day when most of the Triangle fell under a pall of smoke from wildfires in other parts of the state. This caused problems for some meets, and engendered controversy at many more. Here's a summary of how the 39 meets that week tackled the smoke issue:


Meets that started and finished (perhaps truncated due to thunder/lightning) on Tuesday, reporting their results by early Wednesday evening (27):

Banbury Woods 285, Hawthorne 208
Haddon Hall 207, Bentwinds 151
Brookstone 251, Garner 209
Meredith Townes 277, Carlyle & Chatsworth 186
North Raleigh 252, Coachman's Trail 173
Hasentree 287, Crabtree 197
Eagle Ridge 231, Crooked Creek 107
Greystone 261.5, Wood Valley 111.5
Harrington Grove 217.5, Falls River 156.5
Highcroft 192.5, Glenridge 181.5
Hollands Crossing 266.5, Wellington Park 143.5
Lake Park 272, Abbington 242
Manchester 253, TCC Brentwood 193
Northbrook 223, Quail Hollow 151
Planters Walk 242, Durant Trails 213
Scotts Mill 243.5, Dutchman Downs 130.5
Cary Park 285, Silverton 229
Wakefield Plantation 230, Southall 139
Stonebridge 200, Heritage of Wake Forest 173
Carpenter Village 296, TAC 116
The Reserve 211.5, Park Village 162.5
Sunset Ridge 224, Walden Creek 144
Weatherstone 219, Oxxford Hunt 180
Charleston Village 207.5, Weldon Ridge 157.5
Shepherds Vineyard 214, Wellsley 159
Black Horse Run 250, Wendell 140.9
Granite Falls 361, Zebulon & Zebulon Country Club 136


Meets that started on Tuesday but had to finish on Wednesday due to thunder/lightning (4):

Brier Creek 286, Hedingham 226
Cary 275.5, Kildaire Farms 229.5
Prestonwood 259, Seven Oaks 253
University Club 1, Springdale 0 (Springdale forfeited on Wednesday because they had already planned another team event for that day!)


Meets that never started on Tuesday because both TSA Reps had already agreed to postpone to another day due to smoke (5):

Apex 288.5, Devereaux 225.5
Jewish Community Center 259.5, Lakemont 252.5
Regency Park 253, Medfield 250
Summerfield North 265, North Hills 197
Lochmere 290.5, Scottish Hills 223.5


Meets that never started on Tuesday because the pool manager had already closed the pool due to smoke (2):

Riverwood at Mingo Creek 235, Bedford at Falls River 211
Olive Chapel 357, MacGregor Downs 157


Meets that were forfeited because one team was willing to swim on Tuesday but the other was unwilling due to the smoke (1):

Oak Park 1, North Ridge 0

Swim Awards from Crown Trophy of Cary

683D Cary Towne Blvd., Cary NC 27511

Below TJ Maxx, Next to CiCi's Pizza

919-462-9157

crowntrophy@earthlink.net

The sooner you get your orders in for medals and/or trophies the better! Even if you are not sure of the engraving, let's get the awards in house so they are available when you need them. Every year suppliers run out well before the season is coming to an end. And don't forget, if you purchased your swim ribbons from Crown Trophy of Cary, you'll get an additional 10% off our already best in town prices when you order your awards. If you purchased your ribbons somewhere else, come see us anyway, we PROMISE, we will save you money! Thanks for all your business and have a great Summer swim season!

MOR Year-Round Swim Team Applications Being Accepted

The Marlins of Raleigh Swim Team is now accepting athletes for the 2011-2012 swim year. Registration information is posted on our website at http://www.marlinsofraleigh.com/. MOR swims at several locations throughout Wake County including Pullen Aquatic Center, NCSU, Peace College, and St. Mary's School (Central Raleigh/Cary); Ravenscroft School, Millbrook, and Optimist Park (North Raleigh); and Riverwood Athletic Club (Clayton). For additional information, please email 01silversurfer@bellsouth.net or call our office at (919) 851-3000.

S.W.I.M. Invitational Meet Information Available; Meet Hosted July 10 at Lochmere

TSA Swimmers, below is the link for the South Wake Invitational Meet (S.W.I.M. MEET)  to be held at Lochmere Swim and Tennis Club on Sun. July 10.  New this year:

• Swimmers may swim 4 individual events (6&Unders may swim 3)
• $400 scholarship drawing open to all graduating high school swimmers competing in the SWIM and North Raleigh Championships.

For more information, go to (www.marlinsofraleigh.com)

Assistant Coaching Position Olive Chapel Otters

The Olive Chapel Otters swim team, associated with the neighborhoods of Dogwood Ridge and Pearson Farms in Apex, has an opening for a part time swimming coach. The growth of our team in age groups under 10 has led to the opening.

Candidate must be proficient in all 4 strokes and possess a firm understanding of TSA rules. Prior coaching experience is a plus, but not required.

Duties will include but will not be limited to:

• assist with practice and be expected to manage a group of 20-25 swimmers during each practice group


• instruct swimmers in proper stroke technique


• offer constructive feedback and provide encouragement to swimmers


• work primarily with 10 and under age groups, but will work with other age groups as required


• follow practice plan provided by Head Coach

If you are interested please forward your resume to Deb Conroy by 6/8/2011. We will schedule and conduct interviews immediately following the application deadline.

Start date will be 6/13. Hours will be 4:30 to 6:30 pm M,W, Thu.; and swim meets on 6/14, 6/21, 6/28, 7/5, 7/12, 7/19 and Cary City on 7/16.

Another Stroke & Turn Clinic

Lochmere will host a Stroke and Turn clinic on Tuesday, May 31 at 7:00 PM. Note that the location is the Lochmere Highlands Clubhouse.

S&T Judge certifications from USA Swimming, NCAA, NCHSAA or YMCA are still accepted by TSA; send name, team, certification body, certification number and certification expiration date to strokeandturn.tsanc.org@gmail.com

And if you can't make a clinic check out the new alternative method of certifying TSA Stroke & Turn Judges: www.StrokeAndTurn.com


Contact Tony McCullough if you have questions.

May Board of Directors meeting

Remember, our final in-person Board meeting of 2011 is coming up this Tuesday (May 17) at 7:00. We will be meeting at the NC State University Club, site of our January meeting. The meeting agenda is available here, and the minutes of the April meeting can be found here. As always, only a limited number of print-outs of these documents will be available at the meeting, so please bring your own copy with you if you need to refer to it during the meeting.

The Board meeting proper should be short, which will allow us to distribute meet management materials and then adjourn directly into our annual Meet Management Clinic. Everyone is welcome to stay for this clinic, but it will be most useful for new TSA reps and for new clubs (including exhibition teams). If you are unable to attend the clinic but have questions, be sure to read the meet organization document on the TSA website and to familiarize yourself with some of the other resources on the site.

If you find it difficult to attend Tuesday’s meeting, I strongly urge you to find some other team parent to send in your place. As mentioned above, the meeting itself will last only a few minutes, and arranging for someone attend will save you the inconvenience of having to track down your team’s bag of meet materials later. Also, there are a handful of clubs that have not yet fulfilled the requirement to attend at least three Board meetings a year, so they should make doubly sure they send someone to attend: Bedford at Falls River, Black Horse Run, Oak Park and Wellington Park.

In the meantime, please make sure that your coaches and parent volunteers know about the various clinics described on the TSA Blog. Each team must send at least one coach to a Coach’s clinic. The Starter’s clinic is optional, but highly recommended for new starters. Attendance at one of the Stroke & Turn Judge’s clinics is mandatory for every judge unless they already have a separate accreditation from USA Swimming, NCAA, NCHSAA or YMCA; officials with such credentials will need to send details of their certification to strokeandturn.tsanc.org@gmail.com in order to claim the clinic exemption. Judges can also get trained and certified online at www.StrokeAndTurn.com, though this option will cost the participant $12.95.

Most teams have already started registering members, so please be sure all your swimmers are in compliance with the TSA rules, specifically the eligibility requirements described in Article 304. Be especially careful to check the eligibility of any coaches or lifeguards that may wish to compete on the team, as they must still meet all club membership requirements in order to join the club’s swim team. In particular, if your club is a homeowner’s association in which pool membership is restricted solely to residents of a particular neighborhood, non-resident staff members may NOT compete for your swim team as they are, by definition, not eligible for club membership.

TSA Clinics update

Lochmere will host a clinic for Coaches on Tuesday, May 24 at 7:00 PM. Note that the location is the Lochmere Highlands Clubhouse. Each club is asked to send one of their coaches to one coaches clinic. Please make your coaches aware.

A Stroke & Turn Clinic will be held at Coachman’s Trail on Wednesday, June 1, at 7:00 PM.

Summary of Clinics scheduled

Coaches
Wednesday, May 18, 7:00 PM at Northbrook
Tuesday, May 24, 7:00 PM at Lochmere (Highlands Clubhouse)

Starter
Thursday, May 19, 7:00 PM at Hasentree
Saturday, May 28, 9:00 AM at Silverton (pool)

Stroke & Turn
Tuesday, May 3, 7:00 PM at Prestonwood (pool)
Tuesday, May 10, 7:00 PM at Hasentree
Wednesday, June 1, 7:00 PM at Coachman’s Trail
(See TSA Blog announcements from March 21 & April 8 for additional information).

S&T Judge certifications from USA Swimming, NCAA, NCHSAA or YMCA are still accepted by TSA; send name, team, certification body, certification number and certification expiration date to strokeandturn.tsanc.org@gmail.com

Contact Tony McCullough if you have questions.

Heritage Wake Forest Team Carly O'Day Relay Carnival

Carly O'Day is a senior in high school and an original member of the Heritage Betas swim team. Earlier this year she was diagnosed with cancer and is currently undergoing chemotherapy.

The Heritage Betas would like to invite other teams to participate in this fun event to benefit the family. It will be held on Tuesday, June 7th at 6 PM at the Heritage Wake Forest swim club. Cost is $10/swimmer and events include relays in freestyle, backstroke, breaststroke, butterfly and medley. Parents and coaches are invited to swim as well.

If you are interested please contact Heritage Betas TSA Rep Mike Long by May 1, 2011.

April Board of Directors meeting

This is your standard reminder that the April Board of Directors meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7:00 at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) in Cary. As always, I highly encourage everyone to print their own copy of the meeting agenda to bring with them, since only limited quantities of handouts will be available at the meeting. You should also review the meeting minutes from last month.

TSA Clinics update

The Clinics Committee has scheduled additional clinics:

Prestonwood will host a Stroke and Turn Clinic on Tuesday May 3 at 7:00 PM at their pool. Attending a Stroke and Turn Clinic is required each year for anyone in your club who will be serving as a stroke and turn judge unless they have USA Swimming, YMCA, NCHSAA or NCAA certification. Please note that additional Stroke and Turn Clinics are being planned for North and South League clubs.

Hasentree will host a Starter Clinic on May 19 (Thursday). This clinic begins at 7:00 PM and usually lasts less than an hour. Starter Clinics are not mandatory. Check the TSA Blog and your email for links with directions and additional clinic announcements.

Previously announced clinics:

Stroke and Turn Clinic at Hasentree, May 10 (7:00 PM)
Coaches Clinic at Northbrook clubhouse, May 18 (7:00 PM)
Starter Clinic at Silverton pool, May 28 (9:00 AM).

Dues

TSA Reps, just a reminder that your TSA dues are due April 30th. As of tonight (April 6th), I have 35 teams whose check I have not received. You can bring a check to the April 12th meeting or mail to me at the address listed at the bottom of your invoice. Please make check payable to Tarheel Swimming Association or TSA. If you have any questions or concerns, please e-mail me at clbrunk729@aol.com.

MOR Speedo Olympic Clinic

The Marlins Of Raleigh will hold a Speedo Olympic Clinic with 2000 US Olympic Silver Medalist Kristy Kowal on Saturday, April 9th from 9-11 am at the NC State Willis Casey Natatorium. The cost is just $20 to hear from one of the top breaststrokers in American history talk about how she swims fast. Kristy was an 8-time NCAA Champion in individual events and relays and helped lead her U. of Georgia team to 3 NCAA Women's team titles! For registration and info, go to http://www.marlinsofraleigh.com/ or email morsilver@bellsouth.net

TSA Clinics

The Clinics Committee has scheduled several clinics.

Hasentree will host a Stroke and Turn Clinic on Tuesday, May 10. This clinic starts at 7:00 PM and usually lasts just over an hour.

Attending a Stroke and Turn Clinic is required each year for anyone in your club who will be serving as a stroke and turn judge unless they have USA Swimming, YMCA, NCHSAA or NCAA certification. Additional stroke and turn clinics are planned to be held at North and South League clubs.

Northbrook is hosting a Coaches Clinic on Wednesday, May 18 in their clubhouse. The time is 7:00 PM. TSA rules state that each team must have at least one of its coaches attend a Coaches’ Clinic. Instructors are experienced year round coaches that provide excellent information as well as additional resources for your coaches.

Silverton in Cary will host a Starter Clinic on Saturday May 28 at their pool. The time is 9:00 AM. Remember that good starters run fast and efficient meets. This clinic can be very helpful. Starter Clinics are not mandatory.

Watch the TSA blog for additional clinic announcements.

April Board of Directors meeting has been rescheduled to April 12th

Not everyone was able to attend last night’s Board of Directors meeting, so I wanted to pass along an important schedule update: the Board voted to move the April meeting from the 19th to the 12th (exactly one week earlier). This change lets us avoid the Wake County Schools spring break week. The meeting will be held at the usual time (7:00) and at the originally-scheduled venue (TAC). There are two big items on the agenda for that meeting thus far: discussion and potential vote on the Leagues & Scheduling Committee’s proposed dual meet schedule; and a presentation from the Championship & Invitational Meets Committee on the feasibility of reinstituting official TSA championship meets.

The proposed dual meet schedule will be circulated to the entire Board via the mailing list when it becomes available, which is expected to be approximately one week from now. In accordance with the wishes expressed by the membership last night, we will wait until the April Board meeting to discuss and vote on the proposal.

Agenda for tomorrow's Board of Directors meeting

Don’t forget that the next Board of Directors meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7:00 at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) in Cary.

As always, I highly encourage everyone to print their own copy of the meeting agenda to bring with them. You should also review the meeting minutes from last month; if you spot any errors, we can amend the minutes before approving them.

Those of you who have looked at the agenda are probably wondering where the proposed dual meet schedule is. The Leagues & Scheduling committee does not quite have its final proposal ready yet, but expects to have it by Tuesday evening. Printed copies will be available at the meeting.

Coaches needed for Park Village

The Park Village swim team is looking for a head coach and an assistant coach for the upcoming summer season. We are a community pool located off of Davis Drive with approximately 100 swimmers. We offer practices in the morning and afternoon, Monday-Friday. If interested in applying please send your resume to Tracey Asbill.

TSA Dues 2011

TSA Reps,

TSA dues bills were e-mailed to each club's rep on 3/1/2011. If you have not received an e-mail please let me know. Dues checks are due by April 30th. Please make check payable to TSA or Tarheel Swimming Association, not to me, and mail to address listed at the bottom of the invoice.

My e-mail is clbrunk729@aol.com

Thank you

Cathy Brunk

Swim with Olympians!

The Fitter & Faster Tour is coming back to Raleigh, NC on April 10th, 2011! I really enjoyed the event last time around and I’m personally helping them promote the event.  In exchange, they are giving our team a great discount for everyone who registers early.  The spots will fill up quickly so please sign up right away.  See below for details and the promo code. More event information and registration can be done online at http://www.swimchampions.com/detail/raleigh-nc/.

Three great athletes will be hosting the event this year:
-Olympic Champion Misty Hyman (butterfly)
-World Record Holder Nick Thoman (backstroke)
-American Record Holder and 2010 NCAA Champion Josh Schneider (freestyle)

Register NOW by clicking here or call 786-837-6885 for information on group packages.

Details:
Where: Triangle Aquatic Center
When: April 10th, 2011
Event start: 12 PM
Multiple Registration Discount: Register more than one child and save up to $30 per child! (Offer available for a limited time only) See the web site for details.

Swim Team Coach Needed!

Bentwinds CC in Fuquay-Varina is looking for a head coach for the 2011 season. We should have around 65 swimmers, and practice times are weekday afternoons only (no weekend!). Come spend your summer with us and a great bunch of kids. Please direct questions to Tim Barlow at 919-413-7758 or via email.

Assistant Coach(es) sought for the Meredith Townes Mudpuppies

Meredith Townes is looking to add one or two assistant coaches to our roster. We are a team of 100+ swimmers located near Rex Hospital and Meredith College. We have a lot of heart and like to have fun during the summer season. Come help us swim fast and build team spirit this summer. Individuals must enjoy working with kids (4-18 years of age), enjoy being in the water and love having fun. Please send your resume or contact information to mudpuppyswimming@earthlink.net.

I look forward to having another great season!

Brian Goldman

Assistant Swim Coach Wanted

The Weldon Ridge Swim Team is looking for an assistant swim coach for the 2011 swim season. The Barracudas have 100 swimmers and are starting their third year in the TSA league. If interested, please send resume to Brian Sears.

Follow-up to survey comments

Much of the feedback to last year's post-season survey consists of suggestions on how to improve various aspects of TSA. This posting is an attempt to capture that feedback so that Reps' many good ideas won’t disappear into a vacuum. Where I can answer a question or offer an explanation directly, I’ve inserted parenthetical responses of my own that look like this:

{ Bob’s reply }


Proposed Rule Changes

The first category of suggestions consists of those that request a change to the TSA rules, either explicitly or implicitly (by proposing something that would be at odds with the current rules). All of these ideas will be passed on to the Rules Committee, but if you are serious about pushing for your suggested change, it will be up to you to contact the committee yourself and make your case in more detail. Remember that the full Board of Directors also has to vote to approve any proposed rule changes.

1) Just a suggestion: For 6 and under swimmers, we may want to establish a rule that if the swimmer is still in a diaper or pull up they are not permitted to swim in a meet.

2) One thing I would suggest is a standardized roster be printed for each meet. Sometimes swimmers are not listed on the roster and they are not off of the TSA website which I think should be required so that last minutes substitutions cannot be made.

3) Please require other teams to upload their roster [to the TSA web site]. It makes it much easier to enter results.

4) All pools must be required to have lights on the pool. It is not fair for a team to only swim main events due to a light problem, especially in a 4 lane pool

5) Great meets even though almost every one was affected by thunder/rain to some degree. Opposing TSA reps were wonderful to work with. Would like to see the "6U first" order of events officially sanctioned. Every team we swam this year preferred that order.

6) Heard a suggestion to remove birthdates and only include ages (as of 6/1) on rosters. Not sure all teams are providing rosters to their scorers.

7) We would prefer that meets be scored similar to year-round meets (based on all times), rather than main events only. This would give all swimmers a chance to win.

8) We would also like to see a change it what constitutes a completed meet when there are weather issues. We have a team of over 200 swimmers and many of the teams we face have only around 90 swimmers. When there were weather issues, the other teams often wanted to turn to main events only. This leaves out the majority of our swimmers. We would like to see the requirement for a completed meet be all heats through freestyle, then do main events only from backstroke on. If weather permitting, the teams should make an effort to backtrack after the "completed" meet requirements have been met to do all heats of backstroke, breaststroke and fly. We think this change will make all the kids truly feel like they are part of the team.

9) Our meets could have been shortened if clubs like [Team name redacted] and [Team name redacted] with over 240 swimmers filled their swimmers in to all lanes during a heat. It appears as though every swimmer swam every stroke. Is it possible to look into creating a rule around this? We never made it to Free Relay because of weather related issues later in the night. If we had not had to wait for [redacted] heat swimmers to finish in "their" lanes, we might have made it through all of the strokes.

{ There is already a rule (102.4.3) that allows a team to fill open lanes after the opposing team has run out of swimmers in an event, but it does not require a team to do so. }

10) When are we going to switch to timing being the judge for place and get away from the hand signals etc. It would lessen the volunteer load, be more specific and fair, cut down on the chaos with close races etc?

11) While most teams do not have main event swimmers participate in a non-main event heat in a 4th stroke, it would help to prohibit that practice.

12) Would like to revisit scheduling meets on Saturday mornings. Too many thunderstorms in the evening.



Rules Enforcement

Another group of comments can be categorized as pleas for better adherence to current TSA rules, so please look over the items below and see whether you are one of the clubs that is (probably inadvertently) breaking a rule and causing another team to complain:

13) Coaches need to be reminded of the TSA rules regarding swim-ups and assembling last-minute relays. I was never given a WRITTEN list of swim-ups before the meet, which I thought was a requirement. Coaches need to be reminded that swim-ups are not allowed in Main Events, and that one swimmer on a relay team MUST be of that TSA age group. Coaches need to be reminded of the rules regarding swimming a child up in relays.

14) Disappointed by the question of separating the 6 and unders. Our team does not swim 6 and unders first and has taken a great deal of harassment over this issue over the past several years.

15) We did have one team that wanted to run the meet in an alternate order (all 6 and under events first). When I told their TSA rep we would prefer not to do this, they said it was how their parents wanted it and they were going to do it anyway. I thought both TSA reps were supposed to agree, correct? Anyway, we let it go so as not to turn the meet into a confrontational meet.

16) Sportsmanship - I was under the impression that the home team TSA rep entered all the double and triple winners. We had two teams who only entered their swimmers. Also, I think it's tacky for the home team to announce only their double and triple winners after the meet. If they are going to announce the winners, they should announce both teams.



Pool Lane Usage

Finally, there were two comments on the use of pool lanes that seem to fall into gray areas of the current TSA rules:

17) [An issue is] teams that have pools with ten lanes. We swam two teams where this was the case and both put in 2 extra teams during the relay events. The handbook indicates “up to 3 lanes per team.” One team pulled the 2 extra relay teams they had placed. The second time it happened, they called them their “exhibition teams” and allowed them to swim. I think this is an inconvenience to the visitors. If nothing else, they should allow the visiting team to put in a team of their own “exhibition swimmers”.

{ The rules are already clear that only the innermost 6 lanes have any official recognition by Place Judges or Stroke & Turn Judges during main events. It’s actually quite common for large teams to form “D” and “E” relay teams as exhibition entrants in relay events and place them in the otherwise-unused outer lanes. With that said, it is only common courtesy that the visiting team should have the same opportunity and the exhibition lanes should be divided equally (using the usual odd/even assignment that applies to non-initial heats of individual events). It’s also a good idea for the Starter to make a public announcement along the lines of “Lanes 1 and 8 are exhibition swimmers”. }

18) Our meet at [Team name redacted] was fine but I would like to recommend that [redacted]'s pool be classified as a 4 lane pool. Should that come up in grievance committee? The two outside lanes are curved at both ends making it hard to flip. In addition, it is not clear to the swimmers or even the judges where you can legally touch to indicate the race is completed. Part of the wall curves in so the race course is actually shorter. That gives the outside swimmer an advantage.

{ This would not be a Grievance Committee item unless a team filed a protest in the time window specified in the rules. Issues about the idiosyncrasies of a particular pool facility are a good topic for the two TSA Reps to discuss with the judges prior to the meet, so that everyone is on the same page. If you’re willing to contact other teams that visited that pool in recent years, you can find out if others feel the same about designating the outer two lanes as unusable for main events. If so, you could then make a motion to that effect at a future Board meeting. }



Board Meetings

There were a number of comments about Board of Directors meetings. As always, the choice of meeting locations produced a varied set of responses. People naturally tend to prefer venues close to where they live, so there is no single perfect location. We are always looking for new possible venues, so please let me know of any specific suggestions you have for 2012. Bear in mind that the site must be able to hold 100 people with plenty of available parking. The rental rate also needs to be reasonable; we are paying on the order of $100 for each two-hour session at each of our current locations:

19) The meeting locations are far for those in North Raleigh. It would be nice if the meetings rotated between North Raleigh, Downtown Raleigh and Cary. Can you look into using a WebEx type platform where some meetings can be attended virtually?

{ Unfortunately, TSA does not have the fiscal resources to hold a true telepresence video conference, and cheaper on-line alternative such as Skype will not work well logistically in a large room with many audience speakers. }

20) Meetings were very helpful and informative. We could use less guest speakers and vendors though which tended to extend the length of the meetings.

21) Too many guest speakers.

22) Too much time is given to vendors to speak. Appreciate that we stick to the agenda.

{ I felt the same way myself sometimes, as vendors did not always stick to their allotted times. So henceforth, vendors will be allowed to distribute materials at meetings, but will not be given speaking slots. We will limit visitor presentations to the year-round swim programs and the occasional non-commercial guest that might have something important to share with TSA (e.g., safety issues such as the Greg Fishel lightning talk). }

23) TSA new rep training was good, but I think it should be a stand alone (earlier) meeting for reps with children. Greater training on how to enter double/ triple winners would be helpful.

{ Unfortunately, we cannot afford to book a separate meeting time and venue for the Meet Management clinic, so it will have to remain as an appendage to the May Board meeting. I don’t recommend bringing young children along. But you can always send email if you have any questions on how to enter meet results. }


Clinics

The following comments about Clinics have already been forwarded to the Clinics Committee, but if you are serious about pushing for your suggested change, it will be up to you to contact the committee yourself and make your case in more detail. (Note that one of these suggestions was also listed in the Rules Committee proposals above.):

24) Coaches need to be reminded of the TSA rules regarding swim-ups and assembling last-minute relays. I was never given a WRITTEN list of swim-ups before the meet, which I thought was a requirement. Coaches need to be reminded that swim-ups are not allowed in Main Events, and that one swimmer on a relay team MUST be of that TSA age group. Coaches need to be reminded of the rules regarding swimming a child up in relays.

25) I have not attended a coaches' clinic, but my daughter has. She said she would like more instruction on coaching techniques. Our swim team committee just met and decided that we would like to invest in more training for our coaches - we would love to know of good resources for that.

26) New coaches benefit greatly from the clinics but those who have been head coaches for a number of years find them not very useful.

27) Notification [of Coaches’ Clinic] was very poor. We needed more notice. There needs to be additional clinics for coaches, especially in the North Raleigh area.

28) Review coaches' placement during meets (at the side of the pool). Go over the rules for coaches talking with meet officials.

29) Make clear if [the Starters’] clinic is required.

{ It is recommended for new starters, but is purely optional, and is announced as such by the Clinics Committee }

30) Would like to see some shorter version (either web based or other alternative) [of the Stroke & Turn Clinic] for returning judges.

{ The web-based training would be a great idea, but the problem is that much of our training consists of copyrighted video footage that we do not have permission to distribute. }



Meet Materials

Comments about the Meet Materials (Note that one of these suggestions was also listed in the Rules Committee proposals above.):

31) I would like to have a standard form that Coaches provide to TSA Reps listing all SWIM UPS - this form would be given to the other team before the meet.

{ Sounds like a good idea. I’ll look into creating a new form for that. }

32) Any changes (new relays assembled on the fly) should be provided via a standard CHANGES / NEW RELAYS form as well.

{ I’m not sure if this is referring to changes to the list of “Swim-ups” during the meet. If so, rule 101.6.3.H already covers notification procedures. If not, no notification is required anyway. }

33) One thing I would suggest is a standardized roster be printed for each meet. Sometimes swimmers are not listed on the roster and they are not off of the TSA website which I think should be required so that last minutes substitutions cannot be made.

{ Note that the rules already require a printed roster to be presented by each team. There is no requirement that teams upload their roster to the web site. }

34) We prefer the pink and blue pads to the white ones. It is easy to get the sex listed on the pad confused in the dark.

{ I’m puzzled by this comment. White event pads were replaced by sex-specific pink and blue pads several years ago. Perhaps this club was burning off some old inventory, or had printed their own forms onto white paper instead of using the ones provided in their meet materials bag. }

35) The notion of who provides labels with ribbons was not clear.

{ The home team must provide ribbons, but is not required to provide labels for them, though that is certainly encouraged }

36) Needed more pink and blue sheets at end of season; other than that everything was fine.

37) Needed more slips.

{ If you ran out of pink or blue forms, you are doing something wrong. Unless they tell the Dual Meets Management Committee otherwise, each team will receive 6 pads of each color form. Each pad has 40 sheets, which covers all 33 main events for that sex in a meet, plus 7 spare sheets. Remember that you are only supposed to use event entry forms for main event heats (the first heat of every event), because those are the only ones that are judged and scored. If you do run out of forms for some reason, remember that you can always print more of your own using the PDF files on the TSA web site. }

38) It would be great to add documents for meets that run all 6 and unders first. I'm thinking of the starter and announcer documents.

{ If the TSA rules are ever changed to officially sanction that event order, we will provide forms to reflect that. }



Web Site, Blog, etc.

Comments about the Web Site, the Blog, the newsgroup and other resources (Note that one of these suggestions was also listed in the Rules Committee proposals above.):

39) Can you please add the "forget your password" feature when trying to log on to the TSA site?

40) I like the ability to post records. However we still cannot use the enhancement. Our TEAM records include not only TSA meets, but Cary City meets also. I could use the new enhancements, but the "TEAM" records would only be for TSA meets. Can we expand the TEAM records to include the ability to add Cary City results?

{ I’ll ask Fred to scope out what these enhancements would cost and we’ll see if they’re worthwhile. In the meantime, just send me email if you need your password reset. }

41) I did use the tool to distribute information to the local newspaper but had some trouble with it. First, there was a new contact at the newspaper but we resolved that issue quickly. Second, the tool did not always do what it said it would do in the directions and swimmer information needed to be re-entered because somehow it was lost in cyber space.

{ Please let me know what specific problems you saw. I’m actually surprised that your paper still prints results, since fewer and fewer of them have the space thise days. }

42) Site works well. Would like to see consistency in the various means of communication, ie google groups, email, tsanc blog.

43) Scattered information - would be nice if it was all in one place.

44) Information is scattered across many resources (TSA web site, TSA blog, Google Pages, etc.).

{ It is that way behind the scenes, but http://www.tsanc.org/ should be the single point of contact. Everything else, including the blog, can ultimately be reached by following links on that site. It should never be necessary to go to Google Pages directly; that’s just the location for certain documents whose links appear on the web site or the blog. }

45) It is nearly impossible to get into the website on Tuesday during the day or evening. It runs very slow.

{ Have others experienced this problem? I’ve never run into it. Please let me know if you see this too. }

46) Please require other teams to upload their roster. It makes it much easier to enter results.

{ As noted above, this would require a Rules change }

47) The blog section has lots of gems hidden amongst all of the other material. Is there a way to mark what you want to be able to find again in the future or can we organize it so that things are searchable?

{ Things are already searchable. Just enter the terms you seek in the white box with the magnifying glass logo in the upper left-hand corner of tsanc.blogspot.com. }

48) I like the blog but would like to get an email when new info is posted on the blog.

{To do that, become a “Follower” of the blog by logging into your blogger.com or Google account, and then clicking on the “Follow” link that will be visible in the upper left-hand corner of tsanc.blogspot.com. You can set up a Google account for any email address – it doesn’t have to be a Gmail account. }

49) Can we embargo companies that send more than a couple emails each season to the TSA rep email list?

{ We had one case last year of a TSA Rep sending an inappropriate commercial appeal to the mailing list, but he now knows better. Note that only members of the mailing list (TSA Reps, Alternates and league officers) are allowed to post or receive messages via the mailing list. As always, there is nothing really stopping outsiders from bypassing the mailing list and harvesting rep email addresses directly from the individual team pages on the TSA web site, though they would have to do this one team at a time. }

50) I like things better on the tsanc website. My office blocks blogspot so I can't check things before I leave the office for a meet or meeting. The board of directors google group was helpful as it was email based.

{ Note that important messages are sent out to the newsgroup as well as being posted to the Blog. We’d need a major enhancement to the website in order to bring the blog under its aegis. }

51) I was not overwhelmed by emails, but I do think it would be good if there were an obvious option to reply only to the person who sent the original email. Some of the dialog that went on came to me even though I was not involved. But, as I said, it was not overwhelming.

{ In fact, the newsgroup settings were changed to do exactly that last June. See here for details. }

February Board of Directors meeting

Don’t forget that the next Board of Directors meeting is tomorrow (Tuesday) night at 7:00 at the Triangle Aquatic Center (TAC) in Cary.

As always, I highly encourage everyone to print their own copy of the meeting agenda to bring with them. You should also review the meeting minutes from January, as well as the ones from May; if you spot any errors, we can amend the minutes before approving them.

See you all then.

Marlins of Raleigh MOR in MAY set for April 25-May 14

The Marlins of Raleigh year-round swim program is now registering swimmers for its annual pre-summer swim clinic, MOR IN MAY.  The 3-week, 9-class clinic reviews the competitive swimming basics for new swimmers as well as advanced swimmers who want to brush up on their skills.  The clinic, which starts April 25 and goes through May 14, is offered at Ravenscroft School (North Raleigh); St. Mary's School & Peace College (Central Raleigh/Cary accessible); and Riverwood Pool (Clayton).  The cost is $90 per swimmer for one hour of instruction, 3 days per week.  The clinic has launched the careers of many of the top Raleigh area swimmers.  Applications are available at http://www.marlinsofraleigh.com/.  Come learn skills that will help you prepare for the 2011 TSA season.  All sites are indoors and self-contained, eliminating outside noise and distractions while instruction occurs.  Mon-Wed-Fri and Tue-Thu-Sat sessions.  Each session is limited in number and clinic usually fills by late March.

Head Coach Wanted

The Kildaire Farms Racquet & Swim Club in Cary is seeking a qualified individual with previous coaching experience to be head coach of the Killer Whales summer swim team. If interested, please contact club manager Tommy Dixon via email or at 919-467-4313.

Triangle Aquatic Center hosts the AquaGala

The Triangle Aquatic Center hosts the AquaGala: Celebrating the benefits of aquatic programming around the Triangle

Cary, NC – January 28, 2011 The Triangle Aquatic Center celebrates the many benefits of aquatics programming for the community by hosting the first annual AquaGala on Saturday evening, February 26. The AquaGala is open to the public, with tickets available for sale at the Curran Aquatic Center or online at www.triangleaquatics.org. Guests include families involved in aquatic programs, representatives from many Triangle area businesses and government, aquatic programs and facilities, program participants including competitive, masters, fitness, novice and recreational swimmers and water safety professionals.

The AquaGala evening includes a pool side soiree with a wine reception and dinner presented by Biaggi's Ristorante Italiano in Cary, music, a silent auction and live auction. Featured auction items include a suite for a Carolina Hurricanes game, American Airlines tickets, Umstead Hotel accommodations, Josh Hamilton and Cullen Jones memorabilia, Cary Towne Center Gifts, Prestonwood Country Club Golf outing, and gifts from Total Wine to name just a few.

“I am looking forward to a really fun evening celebrating TAC”, said Steve Daniels, volunteer Triangle Aquatic Center Advisory Board member and celebrity auctioneer for the AquaGala. “TAC is an important part of the community that does not receive get any public funding. This is a chance for the community to give back and help TAC reach more people through its water safety and fitness programs.” Daniels, will lead not only a festive evening, but one with a clearly defined goal to raise awareness about the community benefits of quality aquatic programming and raise funds to support those much needed programs.

All proceeds benefit the Triangle Aquatic Center and its “Make A Splash” program, a national child-focused water safety initiative created by the USA Swimming Foundation to save lives and teach every child in America how to swim.

AquaGala, Saturday, February 26th, 2011 6:00 PM – 10:00 PM, Triangle Aquatic Center, Cary, NC The deadline to purchase tickets is Tuesday February 15. For more information, or for sponsorship opportunities contact Alisa Wright Colopy at (919) 673-4685 or alisawc@triangleaquatics.org.

The Triangle Aquatic Center is a nonprofit charitable organization with a mission to build and operate public aquatic facilities for the health, safety, recreation and competition needs of Triangle citizens and aquatic organizations. TAC was founded in 2002 to address the year-round public aquatic facility needs of the Triangle community and opened its first public aquatic facility, the Curran Aquatic Center, in Cary on October 28, 2007.

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Head Coach Wanted for Glenridge Gators

The Glenridge swim team is looking to hire a head swim coach for the 2011 summer swim season. We are looking to hire an enthusiastic individual with the following qualifications.

• Previous swim team coaching and competitive swimming experience.
• Knowledge and technical experience in teaching the proper competitive strokes.
• Strong ability to motivate and lead swimmers in a positive manner between the ages of 4-18.
• Excellent communication and interpersonal skills with coaches, parents, and swimmers.
• Knowledge and experience of TSA league rules is helpful but not mandatory.
• CPR Certification

The Glenridge subdivision is located in Cary off Kildaire Farm Road (http://www.tsanc.org/src/club.php?club_id=14). Last year Glenridge had 89 swimmers.

Duties include, but are not limited to:

• The supervision and development of swimmers at swim practices weekdays and Saturdays from mid-May through July.
• Design and conduct practices geared towards maximizing the swimmer’s potential.
• Management and preparation of swimmers for 6 swim meets on Tuesday evenings and one weekend invitational meet.
• Oversee and supervise assistant and junior coaches.

If interested, please send your resume here.

Ribbons and Trophies

Hey Swimmers!

Purchase your ribbons from Crown Trophy of Cary and commit to buying your 2011 Trophies and/or medals from us, and we'll give you:

10% off last years "wholesale" ribbon prices

AND

10% off your Trophies and/or medals!

This offer applies to teams that did not buy from us last year and purchases from other local award stores only. You must bring in your receipt(s) from 2010 purchases. Repeat customers, special deals for you too!

Call 919-462-9157

or email to crowntrophy@earthlink.net for more information!

"The Triangle's Original CROWN Store"

THANK YOU FOR YOUR PAST AND FUTURE BUSINESS!

Agenda for tomorrow's Board of Directors meeting

The agenda for tomorrow night’s TSA Board meeting can be found here. Please print a copy to bring with you if you can. Note that the voluminous background information on the Scotts Mill swimmer eligibility issue is not included in the agenda; it was distributed separately via email earlier this month.

Separately, the postseason survey results from last year are now available.

See you all at 7:00 tomorrow night at University Club, located at 4200 Hillsborough Street in Raleigh (Exit 3 from the I-440 Beltline).

Results of 2010 Post-Season Survey

At long last, the results of the 2010 post-season survey are ready. Thanks to everyone who took the time to complete the entire survey. As with the previous survey, I have broken the results up into separate thematic sections, each represented by one of the links below. As always, all results are anonymous, and a few comments have been redacted [denoted by square brackets like this] to remove specific identifying information. All financial information has been aggregated over large numbers of teams, so it will not be possible to deduce specific dollar amounts spent by any particular club.

Survey sections:

• Census and history of TSA growth
• Feedback on 2010 TSA operations
• Coaches' salaries
• Registration fees and benefits
• Team practice offerings
• Team events and operations
• Swim meet operations

I'll try to post a follow-up in the next couple of weeks answering some of the specific questions posed in the free-form comment responses.

Cary Park Sea Dragons Assistant Swim Coach Wanted

The Cary Park Sea Dragons are looking for an assistant coach for its summer swim league. The Sea Dragons are a 180 member, TSA Division 3 team of swimmers age 5 to 18 that is run by an enthusiastic and supportive group of parent volunteers. We are seeking an enthusiastic, organized individual with proficiency in stroke mechanics, the ability to motivate swimmers of all ages and skill levels, and strong communication skills with parents, swimmers, and other coaches.

Duties include, but are not limited to: day-to-day team operations, development and supervision of age group appropriate workouts, assisting in preparing and submitting meet entries, attending swim team planning/parent meetings.

The position is part time from mid-May through July. The assistannt coach must be available weekday mornings and evenings for practices, Saturday mornings for practices, Tuesday evenings for swim meets, and occasional weekend days for invitational swim meets.

The ideal candidate will have prior swim team coaching experience, competitive swim team experience, and be proficient with Hy-Tek Meet Manager software. Knowledge of TSA rules and regulations is helpful.

If interested, please send resume to caryparkswimteam@gmail.com.

Head Coach Wanted for TSA Summer Swim Team

The Carlyle Chatsworth Lakers swim team is looking to hire a Head Coach for the 2011 summer season. Our team, located in North Raleigh, has approximately 75 swimmers of all ages and abilities. We are entering our 3rd season with TSA and looking forward to a great season. We have assistant coaches from our neighborhoods, but we need to hire a Head Coach with previous experience and a positive attitude. Competitive salary offered and a great group of parents to support you! All interested candidates please contact me by email describing your background and availability. Thanks!
Kelly Vandermel
kvandermel@aol.com