Michiana Marlins Weekly Announcements for Week of 12/08-12/14

John VanDriessche

Dear Marlin Families,

Practice Schedule

Penn High School

Splash 1 & 2: Wednesday & Thursday 6:00-7:30

Splash 3: Tuesday* 5:30-7:30, Wednesday, Thursday 6:00-7:30, & Friday 5:00-6:30

Fins Flex: Monday, Tuesday*, Wednesday, Thursday 5:30-7:30, & Friday 5:00-6:30

Fins Compete: Monday, Tuesday*, Wednesday, Thursday 5:30-7:30 & Friday 5:00-6:30

Fins Compete AM: Wednesday 5:30-7:30

Elite: Next scheduled practice after high school season.

New Prairie High School

Splash: Monday & Wednesday 5:00-6:30 CST

Fins: Monday & Wednesday 5:00-7:00 CST

Elite: Next scheduled practice after high school season.

Knollwood CC

Splash 1 and 2:

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

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

Practice Notes:

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.

No practice at NP on Tuesday or Thursday due to home high school meets.

The Penn Splash Groups will NOT have practice on Monday this week. Their practice will move to Thursday due to a diving meet on Monday. We will lose the diving well but will still have access to the main pool and that is why we will still have the Fins practice on that day.

No Friday AM at Penn this week due to coach availability.

*Tuesday practice at Penn is a question mark at this time. The Penn High School team has a scheduled meet at Adams on Tuesday. Adams is installing new starting blocks and they are unsure if the project will be completed in time for our meet. If they are unable to finish, the meet will be moved to Penn. I will update everyone as soon as I know.

Coaches Corner

Last week, I shared my philosophy on event selection and what my goals are for our swimmers. This week, I will explain how I make specific event choices for each meet.

My top priority when choosing events is to give our athletes the opportunity to swim every event in their age group, depending on their readiness. For example, if a swimmer has an illegal breaststroke kick, and it’s not close to being legal, they won’t be placed in a breaststroke or IM event. Additionally, if a swimmer is relatively new, I avoid the 200s of strokes until the coaching staff feels they are ready for them.

Once a swimmer is legal in all four strokes and able to swim longer events, we will attempt to place them in every event in their age group over the course of the season.

There are several other factors I consider when choosing events. As I mentioned last week, I want our swimmers to swim the maximum number of events at each meet. For our Splash and Fins swimmers, I also focus on balancing the number of swims across events. When entering a swimmer for a meet, I have all the previous meet entries for the current season in front of me and generally try to select events they have swum the least.

If a swimmer has already raced all the events in their age group multiple times, I will look for events where the time gap since their best time is the greatest. This approach helps give swimmers the best chance to post at least one new best time at each meet.

For meets with prelims and finals, such as Skypoint or Tim Welsh, I focus on selecting events that give our athletes the best chance to qualify for finals. This may not always be their “best” event. For example, if a swimmer is a state qualifier in the 500 Free, 100 Back, and 50 Free, they may have a good chance to qualify for finals in those events. However, if those events are back-to-back with no rest in between, I may adjust the schedule to provide more recovery time, even if it means changing one of those events.

For most meets, I consider the input of our athletes. If they request specific events, I try to accommodate those requests. However, I don’t always honor them if the request is made to avoid certain events. If there is a logical reason for their request, I will do my best to give them the opportunity to swim their desired events.

As the season progresses, particularly for the last two regular-season meets, the focus of event selection shifts. I refer to the time standards sheets to identify events where swimmers are closest to achieving a cut time. This is a time when I appreciate feedback from athletes and parents. Given the volume of entries, there is a possibility I might miss an event where a swimmer is close to making a qualifying time.

There are always other factors that can come into play when selecting events but this is the framework I operate from.

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

You can click here to see our entry. If you are running late or will not be able to attend today please send me a text (574-276-6057),

Sunday AM Sessions (11 and Over Swimmers)

Warmups 7:30-8:15 – our athletes should be on deck by 7:15

Meet Starts 8:20

Sunday PM Sessions (10 and Under Swimmers)

Warm-ups 12:00-12:50 – our athletes should be on deck by 11:45

Meet Starts 1:00

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

Here is our entry as of 12/05.

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 Results

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

ELK Rudolph Romp/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Dec. 6-8/Our Entry

IA Tim Welsh Invite/Elkhart Aquatic Center/Jan. 3-5/Our Entry

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