NEWSLETTER 2018-19 ISSUE 26

 

COACHES REPORT​

This week, from Olivier Poirier Leroy of YourSwimBook: "TO THE WALL" Thinking

Got a perfectly reasonable email from a swimmer recently: “The pain of a challenging set sometimes intimidates me and I will give up before we even get started.”

I doubt there is a swimmer out there who hasn’t experienced the shock and “aww heck no” that happens when the coach writes up some preposterous main set on the board. The agony, the ouchies, the burn… all of it. Three rounds through. Butterfly. There are a few different reasons why that big grease-ball of a set intimidates you, but here’s one question that might help you put that anticipated pain into proper perspective: Can you take the set or practice one lap at a time?

When that smelly pile of a main set intimidates you, it’s typically because you are thinking about the sum total of the effort and pain required to complete the whole set or practice, and how long it’s going to take. Instead of looking at the set as a series of individual laps and reps, you are mentally tallying up the pain and effort of every rep stacked one on top of each other. It’s no surprise that when you think about sets and workouts this way you’re going to experience some heavy-duty reluctance and a deep feeling of being overwhelmed, with the end nowhere in sight.

The trick to this is simple, but not always easy. It’s using something called “to the wall” thinking. The key is taking it one step, one rep, one lap at a time. This concept isn’t new—you’ve likely been told to focus on one thing at a time before, right? Think about just this lap, this stroke cycle, this repetition. “To the wall” thinking requires you to take a much narrower point of view with your swimming and dial things down to the present lap or rep. Not the last one or even the next one. This one and this one only.

CONGRATULATIONS to LAC graduate Maggie MacNeil on her performances at the women's NCAA Championships, the championshipo meet for all Division I universities in the U.S. Maggie won silver in the 100 butterfly, as well as 2 silver and 1 bronze medal in relay events, helping her University of Michigan team to 3rd place in the final team standings. Way to go Maggie, we're all proud of you!

 

PRESENTATION on MENTAL HEALTH for PRE-TEENS

When: Sat.April 13 9-9:45am Where: CGAC ground level meeting room Who: any swimmers in our Age Group program and below (and their parents) What: a presentation by Tess Wishart, a 4th year Health Sciences student at Western University, under the supervision of Dr.Natascha Wesch, Natascha is a professor at Western University and runs Elite Mind Performance, a company that provides sports psychology services to athletes of all ages and abilities. Tess gave a presentation to our Senior swimmers last Friday and it was excellent. Topics to be discussed include "the blues", depression, perfectionism, managing athletics and academics, the pressure of high expectations, and bullying. The talk will be specifically geared to a pre-teen audience.

 

SWIM A THON

***We will be doing club pictures on Swim A Thon Day!  Sign up and get involved in this important CLUB event.

Swimmers Registered: 38                                  Money Raised: $3260

Last Season’s Total: $10,200 – Let’s surpass that this season!

THIS WEEK’S PRIZE: London bathing cap to the Look-Hong Family for being the top fundraisers last week.

ALL LAC swimmers are invited to participate in our Annual Swim-a-Thon. It will take place at CGAC on Friday,April 19.

Age Group Gold/Silver/Bronze/Blue 6:00 – 8: 00 am

Senior Gold/Silver/Bronze/Blue 8:00 – 10:00 am

Age Orange/Development 1 & 2/Introductory 10:00 – 12 noon

WHAT IS SWIM-A-THON: swimmers will see how long it takes them to do 200 lengths or how many lengths can they do in 2 hours. For our younger swimmers they will spend 2 hours in the pool participating in length swimming as well as some skills stations (starts, turns, etc)

Our fundraising efforts for swim-a-thon are done using Swim Canada's online fundraising program.

HOW TO REGISTER: to register your swimmer (or swim family if you have multiple swimmers and would prefer one family page) please follow this link www.ontarioswimathon.ca/lac to get started and begin collecting donations.  Our club goal this year is $15,000 and there will be fantastic prizes available to win! The top 3 fundraisers will receive LAC spirit wear, and the top 12 fundraisers will be invited to a bowling party with the coaches and will be able to pick a prize from the prize table.

Swimming Canada is no longer issuing any receipts in any circumstance.  You may find out more information here: https://swimming.ca/en/resources/swimming-canada-overview/swim-a-thon-online/

Remember the funds raised from swim-a-thon will go towards fundraising projects like a new video scoreboard, coaching educational opportunities as well as swimming and dryland equipment.

If you have any questions about Swim-a-thon please contact Donna at   [email protected]

 

SPIRITWEAR ORDERS

The backpacks have arrived you can pick them up from Donna, Liz, Emma T or Mel. Any questions email Donna at [email protected]).

 

SWIMMER ACCOUNTS

Any concerns contact Donna [email protected].

 

IT’S OFFICIAL!​

LAC Pentathlon - Senior Officials Needed - The LAC Pentathlon is coming up in April.  Please email Bonnie Marceau at [email protected] if interested.  Please include the session(s) and the position(s) that you would like to try.  This is a great opportunity to try out what you have learned in the clinics that you have taken.  Just let Bonnie know that you are new and she will provide a mentor if needed. Minor officials - expect to see the sign-ups posted shortly.

Officials Clinics:  I have scheduled 2 more clinics.  Sign-ups are posted.  Please sign up if you are coming, but ONLY if you are coming.  One line for each person attending.  There are no prerequisites for either clinic but having the Intro clinic and some experience as a timer prior to the Strokes and Turns clinic is a great idea.

Judge of Strokes and Turns – Friday, March 29, 2019 6:00 PM to 9:00 PM – Entry Level Meeting Room

Introduction to Swimming Officiating – Saturday, April 6, 2019 10:00 AM to Noon – Entry Level Meeting Room

Unless I missed an email I do not recall seeing anyone express an interest in any of the Senior Official clinics this spring.  I usually do a 3^rd set of clinics in March/April but they are often sparsely attended.  If there are clinics that you are particularly interested in, please email me so that I am aware.  I will do a make-up clinic for the Starter clinic that I cancelled.  I will do a Meet Manager clinic in the fall for any people who offer to be a new Meet Manager next year.  No need to tell me about those ones. 

Official Registration: As people take clinics AND work on the deck, they will need to be registered as an official with Swimming Canada.  We do the initial set up based on the clinic registration information.  When that is done an email will be sent to each newly registered official from [email protected].  In this email are instructions on how to validate and update your account.  Until you do this we cannot complete your registration as an official.  For the 4^th or 5^th time, we have tried to register a group of 20 or so officials but they do not respond to the email.  I will be emailing people directly to let them know if they have been missing the registration notes.  Please check your email and spam folders and follow the instructions in the registration email to update and validate your registration information.

If you have any officiating questions please contact me, Mark Lukings L.A.C. Co-Club Officials Chair at [email protected]

 

UPCOMING MEETS

 

WOSA CHAMPIONSHIPS MAY 31-JUNE 2

The meet is in Windsor, a block of rooms have been set aside for team travel at The Best Western Waterfront Plus Hotel. There are no more rooms remaining in the block booking, but you can contact the hotel to ask about individual room availability.     P: 519-973-4215 | F: 519-973-1600 | [email protected]

 

LAC SESSION CREDITS

Club hosted meets help to reduce membership fees by 20-25% as well as reducing travel costs by attending fewer out-of-town meets. To ensure the Club has sufficient resources to host meets, most LAC swim families are required to work a minimum of 22 sessions* during club hosted meets (please see below for exceptions). These sessions may be worked through officiating or working at the club’s food canteen, awards or other positions. Any unfulfilled session credits will be billed at a rate of $40.00 per session to the swim family’s Swimmer Account at the end of the season. If a swimmer leaves the club after March 1^st then the prorated unworked session credits will be billed to their final statement. Please note that this is not meant to be a “fundraiser” but rather an incentive to participate in the running of home meets. Swim families may receive up to 5 donated session credits from another club family to complete their credits, however any more than the 5 donated session credits must be approved by the board. Session commitments are waived for first year swim families with no prior competitive swim club affiliation, as well as for introductory and post-secondary students training full time with the club and for varsity swimmers, although assistance during swim meets from these groups is greatly appreciated.  First year families ARE required to fulfill the LAC orientation program. This includes participating in an Introductory to Swimming clinic during the swim season and a follow up “on-deck” mentoring session.

*** Families of Development swimmers who are not in their first year of competitive swimming who do not have a swimmer in another level are required to fulfill only 11 of the assigned session credits.***

*The number of session credits will be reviewed by the board in the fall upon club enrollment and may be subject to change.

The Session Credit Policies are posted under the “Parent Info" tab On the LAC website.

 

LAC EQUIPMENT

Instructions for ordering swim equipment can be found on the LAC website under “Swimmer Equipment” tab. Also found on the website is the TAS shark card, you will need this card when purchasing Team Aquatic Supplies merchandise at swim meets or in their stores. Equipment requirements for each group are also listed.

If you have any equipment questions please contact [email protected]

 

SWIM EQUIPMENT SHARK CARD

The 2018-2019 Shark Card is now available on the LAC website under the “swim equipment” tab. This offers a 15% discount off all regular priced goods. You MUST have this card with you at the time of purchase. Either as a pdf saved on your phone or a printed hard copy. The new online coupon code is listed on the cards as well this year. This code will be valid on the new website/webstore which is in the process of being launched. It offers a 15% discount on all regular priced goods listed on the site/store.

 

NEWSLETTER

Information for the newsletter should be emailed to [email protected]  by 10 am Monday mornings.