Michiana Marlins Swim Club Weekly Announcements for Week of 10/27-11/2

John VanDriessche

Dear Marlin Families.

We have a lot of updates this week, so please take the time to review this email.

With the girls' high school season starting tomorrow, our Elite boys (and girls not swimming high school) will be joining the Fins and Splash evening workouts. The pool will be lively and full, but that’s a good thing! We’re designing these sessions to bring everyone together thoughtfully, with workouts structured to make the most of the added energy. The boy’s high school season begins in two weeks from Monday, November 11.

Wednesday is our Spooktacular Swim Sendoff practice at Penn. Complete details are below - so check those out so you don’t miss out on this exciting event.

This weekend is the Skypoint invitational - one of our favorite meets of the season. Complete details about meet times are below, and as a reminder please review our swim meet protocol for our meet expectations for the swimmers. For families new to meets, check out our Swim Meet 101 informational document.

An update on our team suits is included below as well.

Practice Schedule

Penn High School

Splash 1 & 2: Monday 6:00-7:15 & Wednesday 6:00-7:30

Splash 3: Monday 6:00-7:15, Tuesday 5:30-7:15, Wednesday 6:00-7:30, & Thursday 5:30-7:15

Fins Flex: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 5:30-7:15

Fins Compete: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday, 5:30-7:15

Elite AM: Wednesday & Friday 5:30-7:30

Elite PM: Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday 5:15-7:30

New Prairie High School

Splash: Tuesday 5:00-6:15 CST

Fins: Monday & Tuesday 5:00-6:45 CST

Elite: Monday & Tuesday 5:00-7:15 CST

Knollwood CC

Splash 1 and 2:

Monday 4:30-5:30 or 5:30-6:30

Tuesday & Thursday 3:30-4:30 or 4:30-5:30

Practice Notes:

Monday is fall break for PHM students but we will still have our regular scheduled practices. No practice at Penn on Friday due to the Skypoint Invitational.

No practice at NP on Thursday due to expected low numbers due to Halloween.

New Prairie families continue to use door N18 to enter the building. Penn families use door D. If you arrive at Penn and the gallery door is locked, please feel free to get my attention on deck to let me know. Here is the link for this week’s practices. Please share these with your athletes

Suit Update

We have been in communication with TYR about our team suits. We are receiving daily updates and we are stressing the importance of having our team suits for this weekend. Our conversation has reached the desk of their national team manager and this person is making every effort to expedite our order. We were offered the suits without the logo but we declined. We feel it is important to have a TEAM suit with our logo. If they arrive at any time prior to the meet we will make sure our athletes have them.

ALL TEAM Practice 10/30 Penn High School

We originally planned to have all 3 Splash Groups locations at Penn this Wednesday and we still are. But, we have also decided to invite ALL of our practice groups to Wednesday’s practice. Hopefully it will make it easier on our families who have children in multiple groups to make the trip to Penn.

Splash groups from all 3 sites will have a combined practice at Penn High School on 10/30 from 6:00-7:30. Among other things this practice will include some of our officials giving our athletes a tutorial on meet procedures. We will also be working on specific racing skills to help our athletes be their best at the Skypoint Invite.

We'll be handing out treats after practice to celebrate our Splash & Fins swimmers prior to the CON Skypoint Invite. Our "Spooktacular Swim Send-Off" will be a trick-or-treat-style exit down the Penn hallway for our swimmers following practice from approximately 7-7:30pm.

Parent volunteers are welcomed to dress in family-friendly costumes and will be asked to provide candy/snacks/treats for up to 100 swimmers. If you're unable to stay for the handout, you're also welcome to donate treats! You can sign up to donate treats by clicking on this link, Spooktakular Swim Send-Off.

CON Skypoint Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Nov. 1-3

You can view our entry by clicking here. Coach Kelly B (574-514-6593) will be the primary coach on deck on Friday and Saturday morning. I (574-276-6057) will be the primary coach for the 12 and under session, finals on Saturday and all day Sunday. If you are running late or will be unable to make it please text the appropriate coach.

Here are the pertinent times for this weekend's meet. Some of these times have been updated by CON and are slightly different from those listed in the meet letter.

Friday

Session 1 (1650 Free)

Warm-ups 2:15-2:55

Meet Starts at 3:00

Session 2 (Events #3-#14)

Warm-ups 4:15-5:15 – our athletes should be on deck by 4:00

Meet Starts 5:30

Saturday

Session 3 (Prelims for 13/14 and 15 & Overs)

Warm-ups 7:00-7:50 – our athletes should be on deck by 6:45

Meet Starts at 8:00

Session 4 (Prelims 11/12, Timed finals 10 & Under)

Warm-ups 10:45-11:30 – our athletes should be on deck by 10:30

Meet Starts 11:40

Session 5 (Finals 11/12, 13/14 and 15 & Overs)

Warm-ups 3:30-4:20– our athletes need to be on deck by 3:30

Meet Starts 4:30

Sunday

Session 6 (Prelims for 13/14 and 15 & Overs)

Warm-ups 7:00-7:50 – our athletes should be on deck by 6:45

Meet Starts at 8:00

Session 7 (Prelims 11/12, Timed finals 10 & Under)

Warm-ups 10:45-11:30 – our athletes should be on deck by 10:30

Meet Starts 11:40

Session 8 (Finals 11/12, 13/14 and 15 & Overs)

Warm-ups 3:30-4:20– our athletes need to be on deck by 3:30

Meet Starts 4:30

GSI Goshen Rays Veterans Day Meet/Goshen Aquatic Center/Nov 9

Here is our entry as of this morning. All pertinent times and coach coverage will be listed in next Sunday's email.

6 Week Pulse Check Survey

Thank you to the families who have been able to find time to complete our survey. If you have not done so, we’d very much appreciate taking a few minutes out of your day to complete. Here is the link.

Here are a few more questions/concerns listed that I can answer now.

Coaches could provide assistance to high school juniors and seniors that want to swim in college. 100% agree! If your athlete wants to swim in college, ask them to initiate a conversation with me. If they have not done so already, have them set-up an account on Swimcloud.com. This is the primary location college coaches look for prospective athletes.
Do we participate in Jr National and National meets if we have qualifiers? Yes! If you have an athlete that has a Junior National cut and I have not spoken to them about Winter Juniors please let me know.
I wish I knew a little more about my swimmer’s progress and how she’s doing so far. This is a valid concern. The obvious way to measure success is by times at meets. But, we want to be able to offer more than a meet report that shows improvement. We are in the process of coming up with an evaluation form that can be shared with families about their swimmer’s progress. Also, if you ever have questions please reach out to your swimmer’s coach and ask for a short meeting to have that discussion.

Coaches Corner

A topic that was brought up in the survey was asking about intensity levels of practice. I think that could be summed up with an explanation of my general training philosophy for each group. This week I will cover the Splash Group

Splash Group

My view is 10 and under swimmers need instruction. In this group we could have a 10 year old with multiple state cuts or a 6 year old who just finished swim lessons. What I have learned from coaching this group over the years is nothing can replace quality instruction at this age, regardless of ability or early accomplishments. So many variables will determine future success but a lack of solid stroke mechanics can put a ceiling on it very quickly. This group should be 75-90% instruction. Remaining time will be filled with relays, short races, and games. Lots of intensity can be found in these activities.

Athletes at this age are not always emotionally ready to handle the training similar to what our Fins group is doing. This is a generalization and of course there are athletes in this group that could handle more rigorous practices. We are currently brainstorming solutions for that small group of swimmers. Try to keep in mind these athletes are just starting their swimming career. As hard as this may be to fathom, especially if your oldest child is in this age group, what is viewed as so important today will just become one of the many steps along their journey. It is also important to note not a single 10 year old made the national team this year or earned a full ride scholarship.

USA Memberships

We will need all of our athletes that have not done so already, to renew their USA Swimming memberships. Here is the link. From my experience with my own athletes just purchasing the membership will initiate the transfer process.

If you qualify for the Outreach Program email me and I will send you the link you will need to use for registrations.

If you have any questions about any registration issues you can reach out to me or our team/business manager Kelly Laneman ([email protected])

Fall and Winter Meet Schedule/Dates of Meet/Location/Deadline to commit

This is our tentative meet schedule for the fall and winter. We may add meets if we find ones that fit our club’s needs. There will be two different dates listed with each meet The first date listed is the day(s) of the meet and the second date is the deadline to commit.

Swimmers wanting to compete will need to commit to those meets. The deadlines will be based on deadlines that were set in previous years. They may change once the meet hosts posts the meet information. When committing to multiple day meets, if the option to select the days you want is not available, leave a message in the notes section stating the specific days you would like to attend.

Some meets will be marked with an * and those will require swimmers to meet minimum time standards. You can view all pool locations on our website under the "Pools" tab.

DUNE Sweater Weather Swim Spectacular/Our Results

CON Skypoint Transit Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Nov. 1-3/Our entry

GSI Goshen Rays Veterans Day Meet/Goshen Aquatic Center/Nov. 9/Our entry

ELK Rudolph Romp/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Dec. 6-8/Nov.10

IA Tim Welsh Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Jan. 3-5/Next Sunday Nov. 3

CON IMXtreme Invite/Concord High School/Jan. 24-26/Dec.15

IA Jr. Superstar Invitational/Rolfs Aquatic Center/Feb. 15&16/Jan.12

CON Leisure Pools Last Chance Showdown/Concord HS/Feb. 28-Mar. 2/Jan.19

*IN Swimming Divisional Championships/TBD/Mar. 7-9/Feb.23

*IN Swimming Senior State/TBD/Mar. 13-16/Feb.23

*IN Swimming Age Group State/TBD/Mar. 21-23/Feb. 23

*USA Swimming Speedo Sectionals/IU Natatorium Indy/Mar. 27-30/Feb.23