OCTOBER 31 2023 NEWSLETTER 7
WORKOUT CHANGES
NO Development Skills workout on Tues October 31
THE COACHES REPORT
This coming weekend the more experienced LAC athletes will take part in the second time trial of the season. The swimmers will race in the 100 and 200 meter distances, to gain a better understanding of their current racing fitness level.
For the LAC swimmers, this time trial will be a “training competition” which means we will swim in the morning, rest, and then come back to compete in the afternoon. This is a great opportunity to duplicate the feeling of prelims and finals in a very low pressure environment.
Our coaches would like to remind our 12 and under families that we have a competition suit policy and that our LAC 12 and under swimmers will not compete in a high tech racing suit. We ask that your swimmers compete proudly in their LAC training suit.
City of London Facility rule for phones and photographic devices: “In order to protect your personal privacy, The City of London prohibits the use of cellular phones and other photographic devices in recreation facility changerooms.”
Now that we are in the heart of cold and flu season, we ask you to please stay home if your swimmer is feeling unwell. If your swimmer tests positive for COVID-19, we ask that you read through the MLHU recommendations to determine the safest course of action for our entire LAC family: https://www.healthunit.com/self-isolation
And few words this week on ... "THE SWEET SPOT". The notion of the sweet spot is talked about by author Daniel Coyle (The Talent Code) and by swimming psychologist Oliver Poirier-Leroy (Conquer The Pool). Coyle talks about the importance of training in the sweet spot, where you are being challenged, the challenge can be frustrating and uncomfortable, you really need to concentrate and persist to succeed, but you do succeed...anywhere from 50-80% of the time. The sweet spot in training is about really having to reach, about really having to apply yourself with 100% effort and 100% determination and 100% focus, in order to achieve the objective. The sweet spot is most often NOT a comfortable place. The "Comfort Zone", where things come easily without any real effort, and the "Survival Zone", where success is rare (<50%) and even then only through luck, are not conducive to skill attainment and technical mastery. Olivier Poirier-Leroy talks about the "SWEET SPOT" in terms of goal-setting: goals in the sweet spot (just like above) are those that stretch your abilities to their maximum, and force you to be focussed and determined and persistent in their pursuit, but create a steady trickle of improvement and confidence. Easy goals are boring, they don't challenge you out of your comfort zone, and they result in very little meaningful improvement. Goals that are too ambitious or unrealistic can be de-motivating - they are too far away from your current reality and will only lead you to question your abilities and your continued pursuit of the objective. Make sure your swimming goals are in the "SWEET SPOT", and then make sure you're training in the "SWEET SPOT" and you'll have a very rewarding experience.
Nutrition Information Sessions:
This year the LAC Coaches have arranged for a sports nutritionist/dietitian to come and speak to some of our LAC athletes. Better understanding Nutrition and learning how to fuel our bodies is important for athletes of all ages and we are looking forward to learning something new at these sessions. Each swimmer is required to have at least one parent attend with them, as parents are usually the ones who purchase the groceries and do most of the food prep. Age Group Gold/Silver: Friday November 17th 6:30-7:30pm @ CGAC meeting room
ALL TIDES
The All Tides website will be open November 1st to 8th for anyone wanting to purchase our most poplar LAC spiritwear, delivery should be in time for the Holidays.
The website can be found at https://alltidesteam.com/
9TH ANNUAL JANSEN CHRISTMAS TOY DRIVE
There will be a Donation Box at CGAC once again this year from Nov 1 to Dec 3 for LAC families to dropoff their gifts. Further information can be found here.
IT’S OFFICIAL!
A Word about Signing Up For Clinics and Meet Jobs: When you sign up on the LAC site for a clinic or a meet job, a pop-up box titled: Please Supply Your Volunteer’s Information, will appear. Please type in the full name of the person who will be coming to the clinic or doing the job, EVEN if it is the same name as the person on the LAC account. We need this information to ensure that the person is qualified for the job or who to expect at the clinic. For Official jobs, if you are new to the job you can put (New) beside the name and that will tell us to either give the official a mentor or to put them with experienced officials. If you forget, then you can still add or correct it. Simply select the row again and click on sign-up and the box will appear again for you to update. Also, you can only sign up one person per sign-up line.
LAC – November Time Trial – Nov 4
When to Arrive: Please arrive at least 45 minutes before the session starts (not the warm-up, 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 to 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 officials wear dark shorts, unless it is a championship meet. Footwear should be CLEAN and something that can get wet and will not slip on a wet surface.
LAC - Nothers Fall Invitational Senior Officials PLEASE ASK FOR JOBS NOW!: Senior Officials please email me the sessions and jobs that you would like to work. For those who are wondering about the sessions and the meet format please use this link https://registration.swimming.ca/GetMeetFile.aspx?sanctionid=39703 to the Meet Package and check the last 5 pages.
Clinics: Please see below for the clinic schedule. Most of the clinics will be done via Zoom. Camera-on is mandatory for Zoom clinics. Inspector of Turns is the only one that I am planning on doing in person. If you are unable to use Zoom and require a live clinic, please let me know that. A few clinics are also available to take online 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.
- Administrative Desk (Clerk of the Course) – Zoom (O/L) – Thu, Nov 2 – 7:00 to 9:00 PM
- Inspector of Turns – LIVE at GCAC – Fri, Nov 3 – 7:00 to 10:00 PM
- Chief Timekeeper – Zoom (O/L) – Mon, Nov 6 – 7:00 to 9:00 PM
- Chief Finish Judge/Chief Judge Electronics – Zoom – Wed, Nov 8 – 7:00 to 9:00 PM
- Meet Manager – Zoom – Thu, Nov 9 – 7:00 to 9:30 PM
- Starter (Starts the Races) – Zoom – Thu, Nov 16 – 7:00 to 9:00PM
- Stroke Judge – Live at CGAC – Fri, Nov 17 – 7:00 to 10:00 PM
- Introduction (Timer)/Safety Marshal – Zoom (O/L) – Tue, Nov 21 – 7:00 to 9:30 PM
There will be more clinics spread out between Nothers and WOSA SC Champs.
If you have any officiating questions please contact Mark Lukings, L.A.C. Co-Club Officials Chair at [email protected]
SWIM MEET VOLUNTEER SESSION CREDITS
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.
