February 6, 2024 NEWSLETTER 19
WORKOUT CHANGES
Wed Feb 7 Fundamentals 1 5:45 – 6:45 pm CGAC
Fri Feb 9 NO EVENING WORKOUTS CGAC
Sat Feb 10 NO WORKOUTS Age Group Blue/Bronze CGAC
Sat Feb 10 NO WORKOUTS Age Group White/Orange at CGAC
Sat Feb 10 Age Group Gold/Silver 5:30 – 7:30 am CGAC NO DRYLAND
Sat Feb 10 Senior Bronze 5:30 - 7:00 am CGAC NO DRYLAND
Wed Feb 14 Age Group Gold/Silver 5:30 – 7:00 am CGAC
Wed Feb 14 Age Group Blue/Bronze 5:30 – 6:15 am CGAC
Wed Feb 14 Age Group White/Orange 6:15 – 7:00 am CGAC
Mon Feb 19 Senior Gold/ Silver 5:30 - 7:30 am CGAC - NO PM
Mon Feb 19 Senior Bronze 3:00 - 4:00 pm CGAC
Mon Feb 19 Age Group Gold/Silver 4:00 - 5:00 pm CGAC
Mon Feb 19 Age Group Blue/Bronze 5:00 - 6:00 pm CGAC
Mon Feb 19 Regular schedule for Fundamental 1, Age Group White and Age Group Orange
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
Food for Thought:
As a coaching staff, our primary focus in both training and competition is to praise the effort of the swimmer; effort in trying to achieve a technical change (stroke correction) or perceived level of exertion (energy output).
As parents supporting your competitive swimmer we encourage you to do the same – focus on the effort (process) and not the outcome (time). It’s easy to get drawn toward chasing time standards and comparing your swimmer to another swimmer.
Time Standards are a tool generated to control the size of a competition. While they provide an entry pathway into a competition, they certainly do not define your swimmer’s swim career or progression in the sport. They are not the goal, but a biproduct of a swimmer’s effort and progression.
One of Senior athletes shared his favourite quote from Theodore Roosevelt with the LAC coaching staff: “Comparison is the thief of joy”. This quote offers great food for thought. Consider the state of mind for an athlete diving in when they know they will only be compared to their previous best effort and not of the effort of a teammate or competitor. The fear of disappointment can create a negative experience for our athlete’s best effort.
Each swimmer will develop at their own pace. Effort is the key factor. As a support staff, parents and coaches, we can simply support by praising effort and engagement.
BAC Long Course Challenge – Some Important Takeaways:
The BAC LC Challenge brought a taste of LC before our OYJC and OSC qualifiers embark on their championship meets in the big pool (Long Course Meters). The 12 & under LAC athletes had an opportunity to gain valuable experience competing out of town, managing a new environment, travel and water with a “different feel”. The competition was an excellent experience for our LAC athletes of all ages.
The LAC coaches have two important areas for improvement for our athletes moving forward through the rest of the competitive swim season:
- You are a representative of your team, your actions need to be reflective of the team we represent. Behaving respectfully and appropriately allows us the privilege of competing at other venues.
- Your LAC spirit wear is your uniform. If you are on deck competing for LAC, you will ensure you are wearing your LAC team shirt or spirit wear.
Congratulations to Taylor Dahiroc for being a first time provincial qualifier on the weekend; and a congratulations to Grier Stokley for cracking into the All-Time Top 10 for 13-14 Girls in the 200 BK.
Congratulations to every LAC athlete who put their best effort forward!
LAC SWIMMERS SOCIAL EVENT
Tubing on Sunday, February 11th from 10:00 - 11:30 am at River Valley Golf and Tubing.
Sign up is now closed.
The cost is $25 per swimmer – billed to your LAC swimmer account.
Important Information regarding this event:
Swimmers 12 years and younger must wear a helmet to participate. You may bring your own helmet or rent one from River Valley for $5. It is strongly recommended that Swimmers 13 years old and older wear a helmet, but it is at the discretion of each family.
Also, please print off the waiver for tubing, fill it out and bring it with you on Sunday, February 11. Please see further information on the LAC website under the “events” tab. The waiver is able in the event information.
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: Course 1: Feb 15-18 Course 2: 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!
Western Region Short Course Championships (WOSA) - February 23 - 25, 2024
WOSA Senior Officials - We need YOUR help:
Please do not wait any longer. I need to get the Senior Officials (the positions other than Timers and Inspectors of Turns) planned this weekend. I realize that this is a Championship meet and not everyone’s swimmer was able to qualify to attend, however LAC, the entire club, is hosting this meet for the region. To do this will require some help from those whose swimmer(s) are not attending. Please email me at [email protected] with the sessions you can attend and if you have any job preferences let me know that too and I will try to accommodate.
WOSA Minor Officials: Sign-ups will be posted NEXT week.
NEW! LAC – February Freestyle Development Time Trial – February 22, 2024
Tentative: Warm-Up 5:00 PM – Start 6:00 PM – Senior officials needed. Please email me at [email protected] . Minor official sign-ups to be posted NEXT week.
Other Upcoming 2023/24 LAC-Hosted Meets:
April 14, 2024 - LAC - Long Course Pentathlon
May 10 - 12, 2024 - LAC - Hollandia Spring Invitational
July 13 - 14, 2024 - LAC - Dr. Paul Hauch Invitational
Meet Set-up: I need 1 to 3 people to learn how to set up the timing system and offices, to share that work, and also so there is back-up in case I am unavailable for some reason. Please email me if interested. You need to have some comfort with technology and MS Windows (VS Apple and others).
Clinics: I am nearing the end of another round of clinics. We have one clinic left, another Zoom Inspector of Turns Clinic. Sign-ups are posted on the LAC web site.
- Wednesday, February 7 - Meet Manager 7:30 to 10:00 PM – Cancelled, no one signed up.
- Wednesday, February 14 – Inspector of Turns 7:30 to 10:00 PM – lots of jobs available for those with this training.
A few clinics are also available to take online as e-modules which allows you to take them whenever it suits you. If you go to Swim Ontario - Clinics there are instructions on how to take the online clinics. The Zoom clinic presentations can be found online as well. Great for review but, reading those does not count as taking the clinic.
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.
