February 20, 2024 NEWSLETTER 21
WORKOUT CHANGES
Wed Feb 21 Fundamentals 1 5:45 - 6:45 pm CGAC
Thur Feb 22 Senior Gold/Silver NO PM workout
Thur Feb 22 Age Group Gold NO AM workout
Thur Feb 22 NO Skills workout
Thur Feb 22 Senior Bronze 4:00 – 5:00 pm CGAC
Thur Feb 22 Age Group Gold/Silver 5:00 – 6:00 pm CGAC
Thur Feb 22 Age Group Blue/Bronze 6:00 – 7:00 pm CGAC
Fri Feb 23 Senior Gold/Silver 5:30 – 7:00 am CGAC
Fri Feb 23 Age Group Gold/Silver 5:00 – 6:00 pm WSRC
Fri Feb 23 NO workouts at CGAC
Sat Feb 24 NO workouts at CGAC
NO Workouts Mar 10 to 17 for Senior Bronze, Age Group, Development and Introductory Programs - ENJOY YOUR MARCH BREAK!
THE COACHES REPORT
As we progress into championship season, the coaches want to remind the swimmers to start each day by focusing on the things they can control. For example, we can be on time for warm-up, know when we race, and engage ourselves in proper pre-race preparation. We want our focus to stay on the controllables. We can not control what our competition does. We will make sure we have done everything in our power to produce our best result.
We also want to remind our athletes and parents that our attention stays on our own personal progression. Our younger athletes need to focus on their improvement, not placing. It’s easy to get lost in the mindset of placing, but if a swim if our best effort, then we should be nothing but proud of our effort.
Ontario Youth Junior Championships
19 LAC swimmers raced this past weekend in Markham at the Ontario Youth Junior Championships! For 9 of those athletes, this was their first ever competition at this level. As a team 15 of our LAC athletes moved forward to finals in at least one event! The athletes demonstrated grit and determination in the prelims to secure their place in the finals! The improvement percentage for the competition was 70%! Swimmers at this competition maintained a minimum of 80% attendance in the 12 weeks leading up to the competition. The results of this competition displayed the desired results of this policy.
Congratulations to those who fought hard and raced intelligently to step onto the podium this weekend: Nolan Biliski (3rd 200 FL), Thomas Krause (1st 200 BR), Xavier Look-Hong (3rd 200 FR), David Maar (2nd 100 BR), Nicole Maar (3rd 200 IM), Belle Patterson (3rd 200BK), Rowan Wick (1st 200BK, 2nd 100 BK, 3rd 200 FR), Karen Xian (1st 100 BK).
A special THANK YOU to our LAC families who supported our team through some incredible relay opportunities. In the 15&Over Male Relays LAC placed 1st in 3 of 4 relay events!
Ontario Festival Championships
17 LAC athletes competed in Etobicoke this past weekend at the Ontario Festival Championship. This Short Course provincial championship is targeted towards athletes 12&Under. 10 LAC athletes competed at this competition for this very first time!The sessions were long and the racing was tough, but the experience gained at the competition was valuable for each and every one of our athletes. The improvement percentage for the competition was 73%, well-done athletes!
Again, a special THANK YOU, to our LAC families for their support in the team events. Relays are an important part of the sport of competitive swimming. As a team LAC highly values the development of relays as athletes progress through to national level competitions.
Upoming Competitions:
February Free Time Trial: 109 LAC atheltes will participate in this time trial. Our competition goal is to gain experience in the Freestyle events in multiple distances.
Western Region SC Championships:99 LAC athletes are scheduled to compete this weekend here in London, Ontario. We will welcome all 28 teams in South Western Ontario for 3 days of exciting competition. Thank you in advance to those who have already signed up to volunteer. Without our incredible volunteer system, we would not be able to host these amazing opportunities for our athletes!
Championship season is here, and LAC is ready to RACE!
GO LAC GO!
BOARD of DIRECTORS POSITIONS
If you are interested in joining the LAC Board for the 2024-25 swim year please contact the nomination committee by emailing Donna at [email protected] before March 31st.
SWIM-A-THON APRIL
On behalf of the board and coaching staff we are excited to announce that our annual Swim-A-Thon campaign for the 2023-24 Swim Season has begun!
What is Swim-A-Thon: Swim-A-Thon is a national fundraiser for our sport. The fundraiser is a great team building event for swimmers at all stages of competitive swimming. At the end of the fundraising campaign, swimmers will be given the opportunity to complete as many lengths as they can (up to 200 lengths or 5KM). Development swimmers will have the opportunity to swim for one hour while our Age Group and Senior programs will swim for one and a half or two hours. Those who participate will celebrate the completion of Swim-A-Thon with snacks and the opportunity for LAC prizes. Let’s get fundraising!
When is Swim-A-Thon: It will take place Saturday April 6th and Sunday April 7th
Sat Apr 6 Age Group Gold 5:30 – 7:30 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Age Group Silver 5:30 – 7:30 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Age Group Blue 5:30 – 7:30 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Age Group Bronze 5:30 – 7:30 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Age Group White 7:30 – 9:00 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Age Group Orange 7:30 – 9:00 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Fundamentals 1 7:30 – 8:30 am CGAC
Sat Apr 6 Skills 7:00 – 8:00 am CHOCC
Sun Apr 6 Fundamental 2 8:00 – 9:00 am CHOCC
Sat Apr 6 Senior Gold 9:30 - 11:30 am WSRC
Sat Apr 6 Senior Silver 9:30 – 11:30 am WSRC
Sun Apr 7 Senior Bronze 1 & 2 9:30 – 11:30 am WSRC
How to Participate: Our club once again will be fundraising using Swim Canada’s online fundraising program. Please click this link to set up your own Swim a thon page donate.swimming.ca.
WESTERN - LAC SWIMMING COURSES
Western has teamed up with LAC to provide some advanced swimming courses.
Here are the first courses being offered.
Bronze Medallion and Emergency First Aid/CPR B at WSRC
Dates: March 14-17
Thursday/Friday 5-9pm
Saturday/Sunday 9:30am-5:30pm
Registration for both courses can be found here:
Bronze Medallion and Emergency First Aid/CPR B - Western Sports & Recreation (westernmustangs.ca)
Western also has a NL course if anyone is interested https://shop.westernmustangs.ca/program/GetProgramDetails?courseId=82a1b374-d91e-464c-af87-5179b9f70262
ALL TIDES SPIRITWEAR – Is now closed.
Items are expected in early March, please watch the newsletter for pick up times.
IT’S OFFICIAL!
Senior Officials: I sent out the assignment grid last night. There have been a couple of small changes but nothing to worry about. I will send out another copy and post it on the meet web page once I set that up. Things are looking good here! Thank you, senior officials!
Minor Officials - We Have a Problem:
By now you should have received a call for officials from me
13 and Over Sessions – Across 6 sessions there is 1 Inspector of Turns and 1 Timer slot that are unfilled. This is great but we really need those two filled. Very close! Thank you everyone who has signed up for these sessions! 2 to go! Wow! We can do this!
12 and Under Sessions – A totally different situation with the 12 & Under sessions. I don’t remember it ever being this bad this close to a meet. Across 3 days of double ended sessions, we have 60 out of 96 timer positions still EMPTY and 28 of 48 Inspector of Turns positions empty. This dismal to say the least. Even if we could have 5.5-hour single ended sessions, we still do not have enough officials for that. We cannot proceed like this. If the time arrives and we do not have enough officials we will not start until people step up. That is very embarrassing. Let’s avoid that. Please sign up today.
All Volunteers – Require an official account to work at a meet. Please see the call for minor officials email on how to get an account if you or one of your volunteers do not have an account..
Inspectors of Turns - Requires that you have the clinic. We have plenty of people with this training.
Timers - Of all the officials, these are the most important to our swimmers. We cannot run the meet without the other officials, but timers are there to ensure that your swimmer gets an accurate time. ANYONE 12 and UP, with an official account, can time, even without the clinic.
If you have been unable to commit, but find yourself available and are a registered official, show up as noted below, and let the person checking officials in know that you are available, and wait to see if you are needed. Your help would be much appreciated.
Meet FAQs:
When do I arrive? - Please arrive at least 45 minutes before the session starts (not the warm-up, 45 minutes before the actual racing). Go to the meeting room on the entry level and check in and then wait there to hear the briefing that will begin 30 minutes before racing starts.
What do I wear? - There is a dress code. Timers and Chief Timers wear white shirts. All other officials wear red shirts. Black pants are ideal, but we generally let minor officials wear dark shorts, unless it is a provincial or higher championship meet. Footwear should be CLEAN and something that can get wet and will not slip on a wet surface. Bring water in a non-breakable container.
If you have any officiating questions please contact me, Mark Lukings, L.A.C. Co-Club Officials Chair at [email protected] Note: This is volunteer work for me, so I may not get back to you immediately but, if urgent, I can handle a reminder.
SWIM MEET VOLUNTEER SESSION CREDITS
Please note that high school students can get their volunteer credits for school as well as session credits for your swim family by helping out at our meets.
To check your session credit balance - log on to your LAC account on the website, go to "my account" and click the "service hours" tab to view your account summary. Any questions contact Donna at [email protected]
Our club has a long-standing policy regarding volunteer participation in our hosted swim meets, which includes the earning of mandatory session credits through working at our hosted swim meets. The session credit policy can be found on the LAC website under the "parent info" tab under "LAC policy #2 - Club Hosted Meets and Session Credits".
Families of swimmers in Age Group and Senior are required to earn 22 session credits.
Families of returning Development swimmers are required to earn 11 session credits.
New families are not required to earn session credits but can transfer up to 5 session credits if they should decide to volunteer (which of course is encouraged and applauded).
Families with swimmers that have transferred from another team are considered returning swimmers and are subject to the session credit policy.
Any unworked session credits will be billed to your swimmer account at $40 per session at the end of the season.
The Session Credit Policy is under the constant scrutiny of the Board of Directors.
