From the President… - Buffalo Area Aquatic Club

BAAC Talk
The Monthly Newsletter of the Buffalo Area Aquatic Club
February 2015
From the President…
Winter is half over! (unless that pesky groundhog says
otherwise!) The STAR Winter Challenge has just been completed and it was great to see so many BAAC swimmers on
the pool deck….nearly all of our swimmers participating in
this meet!
We are in the busy part of our season; we will have the
next weekend off from competition but then have 3 meets in
a row; the Victor Winter classic February 14, the LSC
Championship Qualifier February 20-22 and the Clarence
Swim Club “Dog Days” meet on the 28th of February.
February 15th has a fun event… the annual Bowling Party
at Transit Lanes and March starts off with a “Pot Luck”
Team Dinner on March 7th. Please see the events page on
our team website for details and to enter your response.
Plans for the Team Banquet continue, and details should
be finalized soon. Save the date — Sunday, April 26! One
of the highlights of the evening is a slideshow that is put together of pictures taken by friends and family. If anyone has
pictures that they would like to share, please email them to
me (mlawlerpt@gmail.com).
Elections for the board of directors will be held prior to
the Team Banquet in April. We have a number of positions
up for re-election and 2 positions that will be empty and
need to be filled. If interested please see one of the current
board members. The success of our team depends on the
help of parent volunteers.
With two busy months ahead of us all, in and out of the
pool, let’s do everything we can to keep our swimmers
healthy and attending every practice.
3rd annual
BAAC
Bowling Social
Fun for the whole family!
Sunday, Feb. 15
5-7 p.m.
Transit Lanes
Transit Road, Williamsville
Wear your favorite
TROPICAL ATTIRE!
$15 bowling, pizza, pop & brownies
$8 pizza, etc. only
Prizes for best attire & high scores
RSVP on Team Unify by Feb. 10
Payment due @ door
Sincerely,
Marty Lawler
BAAC President
FOLLOW
@buffaloswimming
on Twitter & Instagram
Comments from our Coaches
NOVICE
ADVANCED AGE GROUP
By Coach Brandi
By Coach Bryan
At Novice we have reached the point in our season
where we are able to practice every stroke every day! It
takes some time to understand all of the nuances of each
individual stroke. I am excited with the way the Novice
Swimmers come to practice on time, ready to work hard,
have fun and they always stay and help me clean up
whatever training tools we are using. We continue to
work on understanding all of the different DQ’s and
learning how to kick far in streamline position off of the
walls. This month especially our Novice Swimmers have
really been working on perfecting their dives as we head
into the championship season in March. We are looking
ahead to the Star Meet the first weekend in February and
to the Clarence Meet on the 28th of February. Congratulations to Lisa Wang and David Mertens for moving up to
Age Group this month!
AGE GROUP
By Coach Jake
I’d like to start off by welcoming David Mertens and
Lisa Wang to Age Group. Also, I’d like to congratulate
Julia Schiavoni, Julia Fulfaro, KJ Stevens and Tarin Rietz
on their move up to Advanced Age Group. It was a pleasure coaching them, and I look forward to watching them
progress and succeed!
This month we attended the Victor IMX Challenge and
I was happy to see swimmers catching on to the meet
format. They were finding their own heats and lanes and
heading up to the blocks all on their own. The smiles I
see on the pool deck at swim meets from my group are
blinding, and their positive attitudes paired with good
sportsmanship make me a happy coach!
Just a general reminder, please check to make sure
your swimmer has all of the required equipment for our
group (Fins, Snorkel, Kickboard, Jr. Pull Buoy), with their
name on each piece! If you have any questions feel free
to email me.
Advanced Age Group is currently closing in on the end of the
season, moving back into more sprint work in the coming
days along with a slight reduction in overall yardage and dryland sessions. The majority of athletes are already qualified
for the Championship Qualifier and/or LSC Championships,
and have also completed both their IMR and IMX circuit. The
group also welcomes Julia Fulfaro, Tarin Rietz, Julia Schiavoni
and KJ Stevens, who have all joined Advanced Age Group
after many months of hard work in the pool.
SENIOR
By Coach Rick
The Senior Group has made it through their December /
January transition in training quite well. Swimmers are logging-in with some hard-working yardage, but are doing so
with in convincing fashion. The group is not only swimming
some of their hardest workouts of their year, but the times
being swum, repetitively at practice, are quite solid for their
tired bodies. Fast “Tired” bodies equals to faster “Rested”
bodies.
Swimmers in the group are also training more towards
their Championship Seasons now. The introduction of more
of their better strokes has been included in their daily and
weekly routines. We have also been doing many sets as a
Team, which revolve on “Personal rest” and not a “Group
interval”. You cannot accomplish this type of work with
many athletes. It is the Group’s desire to improve and the
understanding of how these portions of their workouts can
positively affect their end-of-season outcome that allows me,
as their coach, to give these options.
The Senior Swimmers appear to enjoy these portions of
their workouts and I couldn’t be more impressed with the
maturity they are showing in keeping to their structured
Training Program.
Athletes who understand the daily
“Mission” can accomplish wonderful things. I’m looking forward to seeing the Group’s hard-work pay-off for them as
individuals.
Bring on March !!!!!
USA Swimming
Motivational Time Standards
During the 2014-15 short course season to date, these swimmers have achieved
the following level of the motivational time standards in at least one event.
AAA
AA
A
BB
Allie Bashor
Max Abrams
Lily Dimmig
Lauren Clark
Andrew Clough
Lauren Anderson
Matthew Lawler
Abby Halsdorfer
Lauren Belote
Madeline Lee
Shannon Belote
Brooke Pettis
Michael Clough
IMX Challenge Completers
These swimmers have completed USA Swimming’s
IM Xtreme & IM Ready Challenges during the 2014-15 season!
IMX
IMR
Erin Clough
Allie Bashor
Allie Bashor
Ivan Nietopski
Joe Cohen
Lauren Belote
Lauren Belote
Jenna Wagoner
Allie Dziama
Megan Jermak
Shannon Belote
Shannon Belote
Katherine Frustaci
Zoe Lawler
Elliott Borden
Jonas Borden
Ian Hewett
Elizabeth Panzica
Molly Hewett
Ari Revelas
Andrew Clough
Emily Chung
Claire
Mastrandrea
Lily Dimmig
Andrew Clough
Ryan Robinson
Abby Halsdorfer
Ian Hewett
Jessica Shine
Taylor Springborn
Ian Hewett
Molly Hewett
Molly Hewett
Matt Lawler
Megan Jermak
Zoe Lawler
Matt Lawler
Madeline Lee
Madeline Lee
Elizabeth Panzica
Claire Mastrandrea
Tarin Rietz
Ryan Robinson
Jessica Shine
Jessica Shine
KJ Stevens
Nathan Tucholski
Abby Wilkes
The times have been released…
Many BAAC swimmers have achieved standards
to compete at the Qualifier & Championship meets!
QUALIFIER MEET
February 21-23 @ Tonawanda
CHAMPIONSHIP MEET
March 12-15 @ Webster
Lauren Belote
Matt Lawler
Max Abrams
Molly Hewett
Lauren Clark
Zoe Lawler
Allie Bashor
Matt Lawler
Erin Clough
Madeline Lee
Lauren Belote
Madeline Lee
Michael Clough
Claire Mastrandrea
Shannon Belote
Claire Mastrandrea
Joe Cohen
Ivan Nietopski
Andrew Clough
Ivan Nietopski
Lily Dimmig
Ari Revelas
Michael Clough
Jessica Shine
Ally Dziama
Ryan Robinson
Lily Dimmig
Nathan Tucholski
Abby Halsdorfer
Dylan Sass
Abby Halsdorfer
Abby Wilkes
Ian Hewett
Jessica Shine
Ian Hewett
Molly Hewett
Taylor Springborn
Megan Jermak
Nathan Tucholski
Jillian Kneis
Abby Wilkes
(as of 1/25/2015)
KJ Stevens
For information on
team records, IMX/IMR scores
and motivational time standards,
visit our website —
Pull down the Swimmers tab —
click on Records & standards
Results from STAR Winter Challenge meet 1/30-2/1
are not reflected on this page.
7 Tips to Get Ready for the Big Meet
By Olivier Poirier-Leroy, www.SwimSwam.com, January 25, 2015
With championship season just around the corner swimmers from coast to coast are priming up for their big
meets of the year. After months of investing all of those early mornings and seemingly impossible main sets, the
opportunity to reap the benefits of all of your hard work is upon you. Here are 7 tips for making sure that you
maximize all of your invested efforts going into meet time–
1. Pack like a boss. An extra suit, goggles and cap are obvious ones. Then there is all the non-essential, yet essential stuff. For some it is music – make sure your iPod is charged before you head to the pool. Having had a few
meets under your belt this year you should already have a good idea of what ya need, and what ya don’t, as well
as what you will need for your pre-race routine.
2. Manage that extra energy. In the couple weeks leading up to the meet, training volume will go down, and with
it, you will experience a level of superhuman energy that you forgot you were capable of. Managing that sudden
influx of energy will be challenging, but be mindful of burning it off in ways that don’t interfere with your taper.
3. Keep your diet surprise-free. Although we like to think that we love variety in our diet, most of us have a surprisingly consistent set of meals. Will these be available to you at the meet? The last thing you want is your stomach doing a back-flip while you are standing behind the blocks moments before your big race. There are times to
try new things with your diet; in the days and hours leading up to your competition is not one of them.
4. Have your pre-race routine planned out. Your pre-race routine acts as a trigger, a cue telling your body that it’s
time to rock and roll. Have a plan for your warm-up, how long you are going to stretch, what you’re going to listen
to, and so on. Having a pre-race routine helps to keep things familiar and comfortable for you, even if you are at a
pool halfway across the globe. Don’t know how to build one? Think back to the last time that you swam completely out of your mind, and emulate those same circumstances.
5. Have goals for the meet. Duh, right? But you would be amazed how many swimmers don’t bother to plan this
out. No expectations, no chance of being disappointed, am I right? Wrong. Revisit your dream goals and see where
the upcoming meet fits in the long term plan. Go into the meet with a clear outline of what you hope to accomplish, whether it is time, stroke rate, splits, and so on.
6. Perfect practice. Repetition and volume are important, but fairly useless unless you are executing with proper
form. With lowered yardage heading into the big meet there will be a greater emphasis on developing speed and
power; sharpening the blade, so to speak. If you have been focused on maintaining excellent technique in practice
until now, this isn’t the moment to let that slip.
7. Envision yourself swimming successfully (especially in the face of adversity). Phelps was a monster at this; he
visualized his races up-and-down, imagining all sorts of scenarios, so that inevitably when something did go wrong
(his goggles filled up in the 200m butterfly at the Beijing Games), he was able to remain calm and collected.
In the months, weeks, and days leading up to the meet make a daily effort to visualize the perfect race, while also
including variations where things don’t go exactly as planned. Here are some sample scenarios to give you some
ideas:
 The warm-up pool is overflowing.
 You are late to the meet.
 You don’t have time for your usual stretch and warm up.
 And of course, your bathing suit either rips (a la Berkeley Dreamboat, aka Nathan Adrian), or worse.
When going through the negative scenarios your reaction should be calm and focused. If you catch your imagined
self getting all freaked out, take a breath and reset.
17 Do’s & Don’ts for Parents of Athletes
Grant Jenkins is a High Performance Coach with 15 years experience in preparing Developmental and Elite Athletes. Posted on
www.propelperform.com — December 29, 2014
10. Don’t get too excited about good abilities.
Every sport is littered with ‘talented’ athletes who drop
out, burn out and, in the end, lose out.
1. Do support the Coach, especially in public and in
front of your child. Regardless of the emotions, always
remember that the Coach has every one of their young
athlete’s best interests at heart. If there is a disagreement, settle it privately. It’ll benefit all parties.
11. Do get excited about good attitudes. Good,
healthy attitudes can be carried over into school, work
and relationships. They can ensure your child continues to succeed well after they hang up their boots.
2. Don’t let ‘Did you win?’ be the first question
you ask your child. Rather ask ‘How’d you compete?’
Or even better ‘Did you enjoy it?’ Not every kid is going
to become a champion, but every kid has the potential to
continue loving and growing the sport through coaching,
administrating or sponsoring it.
3. Do love your child for who they are. First and
foremost you are a parent. And your priority is to nurture
and love your children.
4. Don’t let your child’s results affect your mood.
If you find yourself grumpy or angry after a race where
results didn’t go the way of your child, it’s time to reflect
on why you feel the need for them to succeed.
5. Do give your child space to grow and mature.
Your aim should be to make yourself redundant, in sport
and in life. Remember, junior sport is about them, not
you.
6. Don’t focus on the outcomes.
It’s called
‘developmental’ sport for a reason – it helps kids develop.
7. Do focus on the processes. The best athletes realise they can’t always control the result, so they focus on
what they can control: their processes. What was their
pre-comp nutrition and preparation like? Did they follow
the coach’s instructions? Did they compete the entire
event?
8. Don’t tolerate bad sportsmanship from your
child nor their Coach. You’re not judged as a parent
on your child’s accomplishments. You are judged as a
parent on how they behave, treat other people and respond to good and bad situations.
9. Do model good sportsmanship. We learn more
seeing than hearing. And we learn the most from people
we care about. No matter the circumstance, be the person they can respect and admire.
12. Don’t discuss (read: gossip) other parents or
coaches. Every sporting community becomes highly
insular and that conversation will get back to the subject.
13. Do build good relationships with the other
parents. Hopefully you’ll be involved in these sports
for life so develop good, strong relationships for you
and your children.
14. Don’t compare your child’s journey to another child’s journey. Some children mature early, others late. Some are exposed early, others late. Some
peak early, others late. Some specialise early, others
late. Each child is on a different path.
15. Do let your child fail, make mistakes and experience the consequences of their actions. This
is how we learn and grow and develop. Help them become independent, resourceful and confident.
16. Don’t let your child’s results be your identity.
You’ve had your turn, this is theirs.
17. Do enjoy the journey. The reality is most kids
aren’t going to ‘make it’ in their chosen sport. But this
shouldn’t stop them from trying; rather relish the pathway they have chosen and embrace the struggle of
improvement. As a parent, that would be a fantastic
legacy.
ATTENTION all amateur
photographers & proud parents:
Do you have photos from BAAC team functions or
meets that you’re willing to share?
Our monthly newsletter needs more pictures…
And the slideshow at our Banquet is always a hit!
We want to feature EVERY swimmer…
so please send your pictures to Megan at
megldh@yahoo.com
Fundraising Committee
Fundraising Fee Raffle
to BAAC
in January!
_________
Olivia Collins
BAAC's Annual Fundraiser will begin the first
week of February. This year the Grand Prize is
$500! Plus three more chances to win $350, $250
or $100! At the team practice on Wednesday,
February 4, each family will receive a packet of raffle tickets, worth $5
each, to sell until the April Banquet. (A single swimmer family will receive 45 tickets, while a multiple swimmers family will receive 65 tickets). More information will be provided with your raffle tickets. Thank
you for supporting BAAC!!!
TEAM APPAREL
for swimmers and families
http://www.mylocker.net/my/shop/
buffalo-area-aquatic-club2811029/
index.html
Or click on the link
under SPONSORS on
the left side of our website
See Kara Lee for a $10 off coupon
TEAM SUITS,
WARM-UPS & BAGS
www.thedeependonline.com
click on TEAM
username BAAC
password BAAC77
TEAM CAPS
FEBRUARY
—————
Kaitlin Czamara
Eva Torrado
Elliott Borden
Taylor Springborn
Joe Cohen
Emily Chung
Celia Morey
Ally Dziama
Contact Kara Lee or
your swimmer’s coach
Hotel reserved for
Niagara Championships
All reservations include breakfast.
Taxes not reflected in room rates.
March 12-15 — Niagara LSC Championships
@ Webster Aquatic Center
Fairfield Inn East/Webster (585) 264-0530
$109 — 2 doubles or 1 king
Ask for Buffalo Area Aquatic Club room block
Team Dinner
Plan to join the BAAC team for our first annual team pot-luck dinner
on Saturday, March 7, 2015 from 5:00 - 7:00 PM at St. Paul's Evangelical Lutheran Church, 68 Eagle Street, Williamsville, NY 14221.
Please sign up and contribute a dish based on the following assignments:
Novice = appetizers
Age Group = dessert
Adv Age Group = sides & breads
Juniors & Seniors = entrees
We'll supply the drinks, paper supplies and cutlery. Looking forward
to seeing everyone!
BAAC
President:
Marty Lawler
mlawlerpt@gmail.com
(716) 536-5031
Vice President:
Megan Hewett
megldh@yahoo.com
(716) 440-0397
Treasurer:
John Shine
To sign up, please click HERE. Looking forward to seeing everyone!
jshine33924@roadrunner.com
--Hadar
Membership Chair:
Elizabeth Clough
(716) 479-9306
hborden@gmail.com
Order Championships Team T-shirts
To order a BAAC Niagara LSC Short Course Championship Team
shirt, contact Kara Lee at kcapuani@gmail.com. Available in adult
small through XL. The shirts are just $12 each and will have the
names of the qualifying swimmers on the back.
For those swimmers who aren't attending champs, you too can
order a custom team t-shirt for $12. The design will be similar to
the champs shirts but without the names on the back. Contact Kara
for more details.
cloughbw@verizon.net
BOD Members
Scott Belote
sjbelote@yahoo.com
Rick Boucher
mecoachrick@hotmail.com
Kara Lee
kcapuani@gmail.com
Kevin Stevens
kcstevens@mac.com
All orders will be available at the team dinner on March 7.
Committees
Fundraising:
Kim Dimmig
kcdimmig@aol.com
Social:
Hadar Borden
hborden@gmail.com
YOUR BUSINESS HERE!
Become a BAAC sponsor…Contact Kara Lee for sponsorship program info
BAAC
PO Box 425
Getzville, NY 14068