IOWA CITY EELS

 

Contact: 351-3336 or swimice@aol.com            website: www.iceels.org        January 2003

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Thanks to our corporate sponsors: Scheels All Sports, the Coral Fruit Market, Hawkeye State Bank, and Iowa State Bank & Trust- their generous support helps   keep our Club in the water!

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Coming up:

1/15:             ICE bills due

1/17:             CIA Mixer deadline (open)

1/17:             ANW deadline (Q-)

1/18-1/19:          ALL-STARS

1/19:             DASH Key City Invitational

1/24:             DASH Valentine deadline (Q+)

1/24-1/26:          BLAST Invitational

1/28:             Boys HS Meet- no practice at Coralville

2/2:               ANW Invitational

2/3:              ICE Board Meeting 6:30 PM Mercer

2/6:              Regionals deadline (Q-)

2/9:              CIA Mixer

2/15:             ICE bills due

2/15-2/16:          DASH Valentine Classic

2/20:             Cookies & cutouts: Pre-Regionals social

2/22-2/23:          East Regionals

2/25:             ISI Championships deadline (Q+)

2/26:             Pasta night: Pre-Championships social

2/28-3/2:          12 & Under Age Group Championships

3/7-3/9:          13-14 & Senior State Championships

 

 

 

Coaches Corner

 

 

New Year Brings Changes To Our LSC

 

This month I would like to highlight some of the changes that just recently were voted into action by our LSC at a special meeting on January 4th, 2003.  These changes will have a major effect on our LSC Championship level meets.  Being a coach for some time and a member of Iowa Swimming Inc. as both an athlete and coach I view these changes as a great leap forward for our LSC.  These changes go into effect immediately this season.

            The first change, and the most sweeping in my opinion, in the moving of 13-14 swimmers to the ISI Senior Championships.  This is the ball that got all the other changes rolling.  What this will do is allow the 13-14 age group to have a prelim/final championship meet during both the Long Course and Short Course season.  Not only does this offer consistency for our LSC but it will better prepare these swimmers for Senior level and collegiate competition.  It also helps reduce the amount of school missed by these athletes by not forcing them to go to two or three Championship level meets within three to four weeks (example:  the swimmer who went to Age-Group champs, Senior champs, and USA-S Sectionals or Nationals).  This also means that ISI Age-Group Swimming Championships will now be titled the ISI 12 & Under Championships.  It also means that the horrendously long Sunday session of that meet will now be significantly reduced – Yee Haw!  Actually – the whole meet will be more manageable for the meet workers, the meet management, officials, and coaches.  Since Senior Championships will now be a three-day meet (which was voted on last spring) the 13 –14 events will not add any significant amount to operation of that meet.

            Another big change is the addition of the 8 & Under age group into the ISI Age Group Championships.  Added to the State Championships are the 50 Fly, Free, Breast, Back, and both the 100 IM and 100 Free.  All formerly titled 10 & Under events will now be moved to the 9-10 level.  Relays will be added for the 8 & Unders with a 200 Medley and 200 Free Relay offered on opposite days.  8 & Under cut times will be set for this season at ISI “B” times.   With the movement of the 13-14 year olds out to the Senior Championships this will still keep the 12 & Under Champs as a manageable meet. All the 8 &Under events will be conducted over two days (Saturday and Sunday) so that families with only 8 & Unders will have a two day (weekend) commitment. I think it is good idea to get 8 year olds into this meet on a limited basis as to give them a preview on what fast swimming looks like before they find other more organized sports that draw them away.  It will help us hook more kids into swimming earlier while at the same time not having them swim a huge slate of events.

            These changes will also have a big effect on the Regional meet level.  ISI East and West Regionals will still offer the 25 events for 8 & Unders at both the C and A/B levels but all 50’s and 100 Free and 100 IM will be Q- events.  Swimmers with the new ISI Q+ times will not be allowed to compete in those races as they already have attained the championship cut time.  Regionals will be a more developmental and USA-S “C” level meet (which is what it was initially intended as it’s inception as AAU C-FINAL meets).

            I am happy as a coach to see the changes go through and to see our LSC progress to the level of other states in our area.  These changes will help our meets become faster which will help times become faster and that will lead to better swimmers coming out of our LSC.  Lets get ready to swim fast and get qualified for some new and faster meets!

 

See ya at the pool!

Donald P. Spellman

 

 

Swimmers of the Month:

Frost: Ha-Rim Park

Cubes: Sydney McMillin

Morays:  Grace Murray

Eels:  (Tie) Josh Schubert and Alex Modestou

 

Boys HS meet: The final Iowa City HS Boys home meet will be held on Jan. 28th at Coralville Rec. Center.  There will be no Frost or Cubes at Coralville that night.

 

Coach Donald and Coach Matt would like to thank everyone for the nice presents we received this Holiday season. 

 

Iowa All-Star team:  This years’ Iowa Swimming Inc. All-Star team will include the following ICE swimmers: 

Sarah Streigel, Beth Eyanson, Chelsea Hartman, Devin St. John, Jacqueline Astor, and Stacia Johns.  Justin Choi qualified for the team but will not be able to make the trip.  ICE Asst. Coach Brian O’Dowd will be on the Team Iowa coaching staff.  This will be Brian’s last meet for ICE as he is moving to the Chicago area to complete his student teaching requirement and find a job (besides coaching). Drop Brian a line at Odieswim@aol.com

 

Recommended meets:

 

Frost – ANW No Breather Invite - (Feb. 1&2), CIA Valentine Mixer (Feb.9), ISI East Regionals @ DMET (Feb. 22 & 23), ISI 12 & Under Championships @ Coe College (Feb. 28th to March 2) – Qualifiers Only.

 

Cubes – ANW No Breather Invite (non Q time events – Feb. 1&2), CIA Valentine Mixer (Feb. 9), DASH Valentine Classic (Q+ event – Feb. 15 &16), East Regionals (non Q time events – Feb. 22 & 23), ISI 12 & Under Championships @ Coe College  (Feb 28 to March 2) – Qualifiers Only

 

Morays – ANW No Breather Invite (non – Q time events Feb. 1& 2), CIA Valentine Mixer (Feb. 9), DASH Valentine Classic (Feb. 15 & 16), East Regionals (non Q time events – Feb. 22 & 23), ISI 12 & Under Championships @ Coe College (Feb. 28 to March 2)  - Qualifiers Only

 

Eels – CIA Valentine Mixer (Feb. 9), DASH Valentine Classic (Feb. 15 & 16), East Regionals @ DMET (non Q time events – Feb. 22&23), ISI 13-14 & Senior Championships @ Univ. of Iowa (March 7 to 9) – Qualifiers Only, and USA-S Sectionals @ Univ. of Minnesota (March 13-16) – Qualifiers Only. 

 

Championship level meets in bold

 

 

 

Practice schedule changes:

 

Following the ISI Regional Meet practice will change on Monday the 24th of Feb. to the following times for these groups at Mercer Park Pool only:

1.   Senior, Sectional, and 13-14 Championships Qualifiers – 5:45pm to 7:30pm. 

2.      ISI 12 & Under Championship Qualifiers – 6:30 to 7:30pm. 

3.      Non-Championship Swimmers – 7:30pm to 8:20pm. (Feb. 24th to 27th only).

 

*There will be no practice at Coralville following East Regionals until late April.

 

Congrats to Coach Steve Deyrup (ICE Masters and Age Group Asst. Coach) on his engagement to his girlfriend and fellow “lab rat”/ graduate student Jennifer!  Plans are still being worked out on the big day – more news later.

 

 

 

Vandalism issue: A reminder to everyone to please store all valuables in secure areas.  The lockers may be a bit of a hassle to use but it beats replacing damaged or stolen personal items. The pools and locker rooms are public spaces and unfortunately some people take advantage of this fact to conduct all manner of mischief.

 

Truman St. vs. U of Iowa:  At 1:00 PM on Saturday, February 1st    the University of Iowa will host a co-ed swim meet with Truman State. Several former ICE swimmers will be competing in this Meet- including Molly Gable and Katie Funk. This is a good chance to cheer on your old ICE buddies.  Everyone is encouraged to attend this swim meet.

 

Pre-Regionals Cookie night:  On Thursday February 20th there will be a social for swimmers participating in the Regionals.  Cookies, pop, and crafts will be available at both Mercer and Coralville sites. Beginning at 7:15 and running till practice is over.   

 

Pasta night: On Wednesday February 26th the annual pasta night at Mercer before the Short Course Championships will be held. Food will be available beginning at 7:30.

 

Volunteer coordinator:  The Eels are looking for someone to take on the role of volunteer coordinator with the club.  There are many slots to fill in order to keep our club running smoothly and the hope is that a volunteer coordinator will make this process much more efficient. The volunteer coordinator will assist with getting volunteers to work at swim meets and to help out at other functions and in other areas throughout the swimming season.  Interested persons can contact Kelly at 339-7579 or keleyn@inav.net.

 

March Meeting: The Swimmer Recognition/Annual Dinner will be held at the Robert A. Lee Recreation Center on Sunday, March 30 at 4:30 PM.  All short course swimmers will be recognized and elections for the new officers will take place. Pre-registration for the long course season will be possible and merchandise will be available for purchase.  Details will be announced soon but this promises to be a fun springtime event.

 

Billing update:  Please remember to keep your monthly dues up to date.  We will be altering our billing procedure and hope to get everything back on track as soon as possible.  Your continued understanding and patience in this matter is greatly appreciated. 

 

 

2002 Irving B. Weber wrap-up:  The swim meet we hosted December 14th & 15th went very well.  It was a busy weekend, especially Saturday, but we received nearly universal positive feedback from the coaches, parents, and swimmers who attended.   To a great extent this success is attributable to an exceptionally fine turnout of volunteers.  We had good coverage for nearly every post for most sessions.  Everyone involved deserves a hearty thank-you because without such support the meet would have been very difficult to conduct in such a positive manner. It would be impossible to single out all of the outstanding individual and group efforts that made this meet a success.  From the Rogers-Washington collaboration at the Clerk of Course to Team Gerard in concessions our ICE family pulled together to run a fine show.

 

ICE Board openings:  Elections for the ICE Board for the 2003-2004 seasons will take place at the Swimmer Recognition/Annual Meeting on Sunday, March 30.  There will be several openings with the new term beginning in August.  Being a member of the Board is a bit of extra work but if you would like to make an impact on the future of the club this is certainly a worthwhile way to go. Members of the nominating committee include Mary Kampling, Bruce MacKay, Jan Lawler and Don Spellman.  They will be putting together a slate of officers to be posted at the end of February and voted on in March for next year.  If you are interested in being on the Board or would just like additional information on the Board positions, contact Jan at BLawler251@aol.com or 354-9005 or talk with any of the current board members.  Board meetings are open to the entire ICE membership, so feel free to stop by and see first hand what goes on at our Board meetings.

 

Merchandise information:  Vicki McBreen will be at Mercer Tuesday January 14th but will not be available the 21st or 28th due to Boys High School swim meets. She plans on being at Mercer again on Tuesdays throughout February. If you need to reach Vicki her e-mail address is: kennedy-mcbreen.vick@iccsd.k12.ia.us .  Vicki isn’t planning on any additional orders at this time but she does have the following merchandise on hand:

ICE bags

ICE swim caps

Log books
Boys swim suits (racers) 
Boys multi-colored size 24 and size 34 &36 practice suits $12 each
Boys jammers (no logo)-limited sizes
Boys Nike reversible brief size 32
Girls swim suits no logo and with logo (limited sizes)
goggles
white & navy long & short sleeved t-shirts (limited sizes)
navy hooded zipped & pull over sweatshirts

 

Coach Evaluations: The board has appointed a committee to conduct a performance evaluation of Coaches Don Spellman and Matt Hamer.  The committee members are Brad Gilchrist, Vicki Siefers, Mary Kampling, Sara Hartman, and Jan Lawler.  Committee members will be taking input from any ICE member this month.  Members may call any committee member (check the ICE website for a complete listing of board phone numbers and e-mail addresses), e-mail Vicki Siefers at vsiefers@mchsi.com, Brad Gilchrist at 338-2001, or drop off a written comment at Mercer Park or Coralville.  Leave your written comments in the notebook at Coralville with the pocket labeled “Website” or put in the Website folder in the Mercer Park file cabinet.  You may leave anonymous comments but more weight will be given to those with names.  Let us know what you think about the coach’s strengths, areas needing improvement, or any concerns.  Input is due by February 15, 2003.

 

Farewell letter from Brian O’Dowd:

 

Dear Iowa City Eels Swim Club,

 

            I want to let everybody know that the All-Star meet in January will be my last time working for the Iowa City Eels Swim Club.  I will be student teaching in the spring back in my hometown, Naperville, Illinois, and I will be graduating in May 2003.  These past three years working for ICE have been great and it will be sad to leave the team. 

I want to thank the parent board and the parents for all the time and help you have done for the team and for your support of the coaches.  I also want to thank the coaching staff, especially Don P. Spellman, for teaching me and showing me how to be a better swim coach.  I have learned a lot over the three years and I will take everything I have learned back to Illinois where I will hopefully coach and teach too. 

Last, but not least, I want to thank the Iowa City swimmers for making practice fun to come to.  It has been nice to see many of you develop into great swimmers and great individuals. 

Good luck this season and in the future as well.

 

Thanks,

Brian O’Dowd

 

Note from communications: With the end of the Short Course season approaching the activity level of the swimming world increases.  Social events, altered practice schedules, etc. can make for a somewhat confusing time.  If you are having difficulty following along try visiting our website (www.iceels.org) or e-mail me at keleyn@inav.net .