DECEMBER 2015 Pisces Connect Monthly Newsletter of the Trumbull Pisces Save the Date! Coach’s Corner By: Coach Bill In this edition of the Coach’s Corner we will touch on the importance of taking a break during the meet season, as well as, what we will be working on at practice in the next few weeks. As we head into this time of the season when meets seem to be happening every weekend, we need to remember that our swimmers need a day off every once in a while. A day of rest is sometimes just what a swimmer needs to get his rhythm and strength back. I recommend taking at least one night off during the week after a weekend where the swimmer has swam both days. I urge parents to explain the importance of taking a night off to their kids. Everyone needs a break from the pool sometimes! With the Pisces hitting their stride at swim meets we are going to be doing the same at practices. This upcoming month the Pisces will be focusing on race endurance and stamina in the pool. While we continue to do drill work for stroke, turns and starts, we will also be starting to increase the endurance level during practice. Additionally, we will be instituting a new warm up routine for our swimmers to start doing on deck before they enter the pool each practice and meet. This makes it all the more important for the kids to be at practice 15 minutes prior to the start. We hope that these changes will better prepare our swimmers for the meets. Welcome to the maiden issue of Pisces Connect ! Black & Gold Meet Dec. 11th YL: Pisces vs Bristol Splash Dec. 19th Another home meet for the Pisces team. Warm up starts at 3:30pm. USA Swimming: Blue Devil Invite Dec. 20th Happening in New Britain. Check out our website for details. A Pisces team event happening at Hillcrest Middle School. Warm starts at 5pm. Ahoy Trumbull Pisces! Pisces Connect is our team’s monthly newsletter where we aim to provide the Trumbull Pisces family a slew of information on team activities, meet results, Swimmer of the Month winners, and many other things. We hope you enjoy our maiden issue and we welcome your feedback to make this useful for everyone! GO PISCES! A Message from Michael Redgate President of the Trumbull Pisces Team The Trumbull Pisces Team has made some very noticeable improvements since the beginning of the season. All the Pisces swimmers look fantastic in their new team suits. The Pisces and High School record boards along with our new timing system have been put up. The Trumbull Pisces Board would like to thank all the parents and our coaches for their support in helping us make these wonderful improvements. I am also pleased to announce that our 3 rd Annual Coat Drive was a success again this year. The Spirit of the Trumbull Pisces has once again moved outside the pool as many families and their friends donated over 100 coats that were delivered just before Thanksgiving to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. If anyone has any other ideas how we can give back to our community please let the Board know.
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Transcript
D E C E M B E R 2 0 1 5
Pisces Connect Monthly Newsletter of the Trumbull Pisces
Save the Date!
Coach’s Corner By: Coach Bill
In this edition of the Coach’s Corner we will touch on the importance of taking a break during the meet season, as well as, what we will be working on at practice in the next few weeks.
As we head into this time of the season when meets seem to be happening every weekend, we need to remember that our swimmers need a day off every once in a while. A day of rest is sometimes just what a swimmer needs to get his rhythm and strength back. I recommend taking at least one night off during the week after a weekend where the swimmer has swam both days. I urge parents to explain the importance of taking a night off to their kids. Everyone needs a break from the pool sometimes!
With the Pisces hitting their stride at swim meets we are going to be doing the same at practices. This upcoming month the Pisces will be focusing on race endurance and stamina in the pool. While we continue to do drill work for stroke, turns and starts, we will also be starting to increase the endurance level during practice. Additionally, we will be instituting a new warm up routine for our swimmers to start doing on deck before they enter the pool each practice and meet. This makes it all the more important for the kids to be at practice 15 minutes prior to the start. We hope that these changes will better prepare our swimmers for the meets.
Welcome to the maiden issue of Pisces Connect !
Black & Gold Meet Dec. 11th
YL: Pisces vs Bristol Splash Dec. 19th Another home meet for the Pisces team. Warm up starts at 3:30pm.
USA Swimming: Blue Devil Invite Dec. 20th Happening in New Britain. Check out our website for details.
A Pisces team event happening at Hillcrest Middle School. Warm starts at 5pm.
Ahoy Trumbull Pisces!
Pisces Connect is our team’s monthly newsletter where we aim to provide the Trumbull Pisces family a slew of information on team activities, meet results, Swimmer of the Month winners, and many other things. We hope you enjoy our maiden issue and we welcome your feedback to make this useful for everyone! GO PISCES!
A Message from Michael Redgate President of the Trumbull Pisces Team
The Trumbull Pisces Team has made some very noticeable improvements since the beginning of the season. All the Pisces swimmers look fantastic in their new team suits. The Pisces and High School record boards along with our new timing system have been put up. The Trumbull Pisces Board would like to thank all the parents and our coaches for their support in helping us make these wonderful improvements. I am also pleased to announce that our 3rd Annual Coat Drive was a success again this year. The Spirit of the Trumbull Pisces has once again moved outside the pool as many families and their friends donated over 100 coats that were delivered just before Thanksgiving to the Bridgeport Rescue Mission. If anyone has any other ideas how we can give back to our community please let the Board know.
SWIMMERS OF THE MONTH
Every member of the Pisces team is special and contributes to the success of the group. They work hard everyday to better their skill and, in doing so, achieve the admiration of their coaches. It is with this in mind that the coaches have decided to recognize the standouts at each level every month as our Swimm ers o f the Month.
In this section, we present the first group of awardees. Read on and learn some interesting facts about them.
CONG RATULATIONS !
CHASE RE YN OLD S Chase is 8 yrs. old and a 3rd grader at Jane Ryan. His favorite stroke is butterfly. He loves eating Chewy S’mores Granola Bar as a pre-‐race snack. Chase looks up to Michael Phelps as his role model and favorite athlete. He loves seeing Michael Phelps in the Individual Medley event. Chase’s other sport is soccer, and when he’s not being active on land or water, he enjoys reading.
ISABEL LA SAN TIL LI In her own words: “The backstroke is my favorite stroke to swim. I haven’t been to my first swim meet yet, but I’ll be there this Saturday [Dec. 5th against the Watertown Warriors]! I think I’ll have cucumber and carrots as my pre-‐race snack. :)” Isabella adds that her favorite athlete is “Misty Copeland. She’s the first African-‐American to be named principal ballerina at the American Ballet Theater.” Besides swimming, she loves “acting like a monkey on the playground at Jane Ryan by swinging on the bars.” And she loves writing stories! “Thank you coaches for picking me!!! I’m so happy to be a Trumbull Pisces!”
ALE XAND ER IVANO VICH Alexander is 10 yrs. old and a 5th grader at Booth Hill. He is a Pisces old-‐timer, this being his 4th year with the team. He loves breaststroke and noshes on healthy Nature’s Bakery fig bars during race days. His favorite athlete is Rob Gronkowski of the New England Patriots and enjoys football and running. This young dynamo in athletics is also a force to be reckoned with in class with Science being his favorite subject.
CHL OE-LY N Z ALE NSKI Chloe’s favorite stroke is freestyle. Her pre-‐race snack of choice is Gatorade Energy Chews. She adores swimmer Katie Ledecky. Outside of the pool, this young lady is a science and music enthusiast. She loves singing or simply listening to music.
Black & Yellow Age Group
Seniors
LACH EZ AR ALE KSAN DR OV
Lach’s favorite event is the 100-‐yard freestyle, and beef jerky keeps him in top form during race days. His favorite swimmer is one Trumbull Pisces’s own – Alex Jozwa. He also enjoys playing soccer. His favorite subject in school is Social Studies.
JACKI E D ALE Jackie’s favorite stroke is the butterfly and loves to snack on granola bars during race days. She looks up to the champion swimmer Missy Franklin. When she is not practicing at the pool, she loves hanging out with her friends. Her favorite subject in school is Language Arts.
P i s c e s C o n n e c t Dec. 2015 p.2
TRUMBULL PISCES AQUATHON Friday, Jan. 29, 2016
The Aquathon is the biggest fundraiser of the Trumbull Pisces team. It is a fun team-‐building event where our swimmers collect sponsors for each lap they can swim in a 60-‐minute session. In previous years we have used the funds raised at the Aquathon for various different items, such as new lane lines, pool time at the YMCA over the summer, lifeguards at practice and, most recently, the exciting new Trumbull Pisces record boards and Timing System! It is the expectation that each swimmer raises at least $100 towards the Aquathon fund. This year we have moved the Aquathon back until after the new year (Jan. 29th) to allow for more participation and so swimmers can gather sponsorship from family members over the Holidays. Prizes will be awarded to the swimmers who raise the most money as well as those who swim the most laps by age group. Sponsorship forms and details for this even will be provided to each swimmer at the Pisces Black and Gold meet on Dec. 11th.
Team Store Updates The team jackets and backpacks
have been ordered. We are hoping that they are delivered prior to
Christmas. Most of the team t-‐shirts and
team caps that swimmers receive as part of registration have been distributed. Marc Kosak will be at the Black and Yellow Meet on
Friday, Dec. 11th to complete the distribution of these items.
Personalized caps will be in this week and will also be distributed
at the Black and Yellow Meet. Team suits have also been completely distributed.
The Sports Authority is holding another promo event that will
benefit our team. Check out details on the attached flyer.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS Do you have a question about the Pisces, meets, or swimming in general? You can send your question to [email protected] and we will work with Coach Bill to answer it in the newsletter! Here are some questions we have received so far: How do I find out a swimmer’s best times? Depending on the type of meet, you can look up a swimmer’s best times in a couple of ways. For USA swim meets, you can query a swimmer’s best times using the FAST database. Go to www.ctswim.org and click on the link for “search FAST”. Then, select “Swimmer – Best Times” from the query selection list, and search on the swimmer name. This will generate a “Best Times Report” for the swimmer that details their fastest times for all events. For best times from Yankee League meets, see the Swim Meets/Events tab on the Pisces webpage: https://www.teamunify.com/SubTabGeneric.jsp?team=cttp&_stabid_=74620. Yankee League best times are updated periodically and at the end of the Yankee League season. What is a seed time and how are seed times used in swim meets? When Coach Bill registers a swimmer for an event at a swim meet, he needs to submit a “seed time”. The seed time is the fastest time the swimmer obtained in the past for that particular event. This time determines who the swimmer competes against, which heat he or she will compete in and which lane they are assigned. If the swimmer is swimming an event for the first time, he/she will be entered as a "no-‐time" or "NT". In most swim meets, "NT" swimmers usually swim in the first heat of the meet, followed by swimmers with the slowest seed times. The following heats have swimmers with gradually increasing seed times, and swimmers with the fastest seed times compete against each other in the final heat of the event. A swimmer with the fastest seed time in their specific heat are assigned to the center lane, and the swimmers with the next two best seed times are to the right and left. Swimmers with the heat's slowest seed times have the outside lanes.