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: A.W. Welt Ambrisco, the Coral Fruit Market, Hills Bank, Iowa State Bank & Trust, Scheels All Sports and Universal Climate Control- their generous support helps keep our Club in the water!

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Coming up:

 

 

1/9-11:          BETT Meet

1/15:             ICE bills due

1/16:             CIA Mixer sign-up deadline

1/17-18:          ALL-STARS

1/18:             DASH Pentathlon

1/20:             Boy’s HS meet- no evening practice at Mercer

1/23:             DASH Valentine’s Classic sign-up deadline

1/23-25:          BLAST meet

1/31:             Ottumwa meet

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

2/7:              Boy’s HS meet at Mercer- practice changes to be announced

2/8:              CIA meet

2/14-15:          DASH meet

2/15:             ICE bills due

2/19:             Fish & Cookies at both Coralville and Mercer

2/21-22:          Regionals at Bettendorf HS

2/21:             Boy’s HS State Championships at the Fieldhouse

2/25:             Pasta Night

2/27-29:          12 & Under State Championships at Coe College

         

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COACHES CORNER 

 

            For this month’s newsletter, I have decided to discuss the importance of showing up to practice 10-15 minutes early and what the athletes should be doing with that time. Obviously this puts more of a strain on any scheduling conflicts that might be going on within the team, but hopefully as you will see, this time is as important as time spent in the water.

            Getting to practice early is a good idea for several reasons, but the most important would be for the athletes to have time for stretching before practice. As a former swimmer, I know that sometimes in practice muscles cramp up and need to be stretched, but as a coach one of my biggest pet peeves is seeing swimmers get out of the water to stretch…this is where that time before practice comes in. Muscles stretched out before getting into the water will rarely need to be stretched during practice.

            There are other reasons to show up a little before having to get into the water, as well. As no doubt many of our athletes have probably told their parents, we do dryland work before practice. This includes doing crunches and pushups for the younger groups, and much more fun stuff for the older groups. This stuff, hard as it may be, is very important for strengthening the athlete’s bodies and therefore making them stronger and better swimmers.

            The final reason for showing up early is simply to keep the athletes from being late or getting into the water late. Probably more than getting out to stretch, the one thing that gets to me is seeing an athlete walk onto deck late. For whatever reason, and I’ve heard them all, this is something that needs to be brought to a minimum…and for the most part our club does a good job of avoiding it. If for no other reason, it is unfair to the athletes, who are in the water on time and have done all the work, to be able to get into the water and do less than everyone else.

            All these ideas can be carried over to the meets that we participate in as a team. When warm-ups are posted as starting at 7:30, it would be a good idea to show up a little early…for the reasons listed above, and for the sanity of the coach’s who are constantly looking around to make sure all of our athletes are present.

 

                                                                             Matt Hamer

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ICE ALL-STAR qualifiers: Justin Choi, Stephanie Choi, Shelby Doehrmann, Beth Eyanson, Sidney McMillin, Grace Murray, Kanoe Russell, Andrea Schubert, Brady St. John, Devin St. John, and Sarah Striegel will be swimming in the All-Stars meet in Lawrence, Kansas the weekend of January 17 & 18.  The All-Stars meet is designed for 14 and unders and to qualify one must be one of the Top 5 swimmers, by event entered, in their respective LSC.  This is a multi-state meet with competitors from Iowa, Arkansas, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Kansas and Colorado.

 

ICE Grand Prix swimmers: Ashley Lawler and Stacia Johns will be attending the Grand Prix meet in Minneapolis, Minnesota the weekend of January 17 & 18.  The Grand Prix is a very fast Senior level meet drawing on many of the best swimmers in the Midwest. 

 

Scoreboard update:  Bill Talman reports that the campaign to raise funds for new scoreboards at both Mercer and Coralville Recreation Centers is moving along well.  $55,000.00 is needed to purchase the scoreboards and have them installed.  Currently some $            36,577.00 has been raised with only $18,423.00 to go.  Any and all donations are accepted (they are tax deductible) and if you would like to help please mail your contribution to Bill Talman at 353 Lexington Ave., Iowa City, IA. 52246.  Simply make checks payable to the Iowa City Eels Swim Club and specify in the memo line that the payment be directed towards the scoreboard campaign.  You can always check out the continuing progress of this effort by checking out the bulletin board at Mercer or dropping by the team website (www.iceels.org) and visiting the scoreboard campaign links. 

 

Fish & cookies night: Not a bizarre twist on an old English specialty, Fish & Cookie night is held the week before Regionals and allows ICE swimmers the opportunity to express both their artistic talent and their ability to eat cookies.  The fish the swimmers decorate will be displayed at this year’s Regionals in Bettendorf.  Join in on this creative activity Thursday, February 19th at both Coralville and Mercer pool locations.  The fun begins after practice and parents willing to help out will be welcomed.

 

Pasta night: There will be pasta and drinks for all swimmers qualifying for this year’s 12 and under State Championships held at the end of February.  Immediately after practice on Wednesday, February 25th swimmers attending the State Championships at Coe are invited to drop by the P & G room for a spaghetti dinner.  The pasta will be catered but parents willing to provide cake or cookies and to assist with set-up/clean-up are encouraged to contact Kelly at keleyn@inav.net or 339-7579.

 

Boy’s High School swim meets: There will be no evening practice at Mercer on Tuesday, January 20th due to a Boy’s HS swim meet. Frost and Cubes are encouraged to swim at Coralville instead.  On Saturday, February 7th Mercer will host the Boy’s HS Freshman/Sophomore swim meet.  Morning practice will be altered- the exact details will be announced later.

 

Volunteers for Boy’s HS championships:  The Boy’s High School State Championship swim meet is set for Saturday February 21st at the Fieldhouse on the University of Iowa campus.  We have been approached about supplying people to help run this meet.  We still need individuals to serve as ticket takers and ticket sellers. Anyone working this meet can reduce his or her Fundraising requirement by $15.00 for each slot filled. If interested please contact Mary Kampling at 358-6377 or Kampling.Mary@iccsd.k12.ia.us. More information can be found at the club website (www.iceels.org)- simply go to the Fundraising link.

 

ICE Board openings: The Iowa City Eels are a parent run organization. Keeping the Club a strong presence on the swimming scene requires a lot of effort on the part of many persons. Besides coaching the athletes, parents are involved in every other aspect of managing the team. Key players in this effort are the members of the ICE Board of Directors who both oversee the operation of the Club and help to chart it’s future.  Elections for the ICE Board of Directors for the 2004-2005 seasons will take place at the Swimmer Recognition Dinner & Membership Meeting on Sunday, March 28.  There will be several openings with the new term beginning in August.  Being a member of the Board is extra work but if you would like to make an impact on the current and future workings of the Club then this is the way to go. A slate of candidates will be posted at the end of February so if you are interested in being on the Board or would just like additional information, contact Kelly Eyanson at keleyn@inav.net or 339-7579. In addition to these voting positions we are always looking for persons to help with the numerous duties involved with running a swim team.  If you have an interest in or experience with budgets, billing, contracts, communications, fundraising, safety, all manner of planning, or a flair for the technical the club can use your help.  Again, if you have questions or are interested in this sort of thing please feel free to contact Kelly.

 

Coach Evaluations: The board has appointed a committee to conduct a performance evaluation of Coaches Don Spellman and Matt Hamer.  The committee members are Vicki Siefers and Kelly Eyanson.  Committee members will be taking input from any ICE member this month.  Feel free to contact either Vicki at vsiefers@mchsi.com or Kelly at keleyn@inav.net, or drop off a written comment at Mercer Park or Coralville.  Leave any written comments in the notebook at Coralville with the pocket labeled “Website” or put your comments 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 other concerns.  Input is due by February 12, 2004.

 

Weber meet wrap-up:  Thank you to all who helped out during December’s Irving B. Weber Invitational.  Overall the meet went pretty well and we received mostly positive comments.  The numbers were a bit down this year- 414 vs. 459 from 2002- and this did affect our profits proportionately but the lower numbers did make for a more manageable event.  The blood drive numbers were OK and we even received donations for the new scoreboards from several out-of-town swimming families. We currently host three meets each year and these meets are a big source of revenue for our Club.  More importantly though, we do have an obligation to provide all of the swimmers in our state the opportunity to participate in an organized and competitive environment. Once again, our Club has risen to the challenge.  No matter what you did to help this meet be successful the athletes, their families and friends, as well as the coaches who attended the Weber B. Invitational appreciate your efforts.

 

USA Swimming Scholastic All-American Team: If you think you meet the criteria listed below, please talk to Coach Spellman in order to get the proper paperwork submitted for Scholastic All-American recognition for 2003-04.  If you’ve worked this hard both in and out of the water you owe it to yourself as well as your parents, teachers, coaches, and teammates to be recognized as a Scholastic All-American.

 

·        At least a 3.5 GPA as a high school sophomore, junior or senior

 

·        Compete in an individual event at one of the following meets:  2003 ConocoPhillips Summer Nationals; 2003 Summer Speedo Champions Series; 2003 U.S. Open, 2004 ConocoPhillips Spring Nationals; 2004 Spring Speedo Champions Series; 2003 National Disability Championships or 2003 Open Water National Championships. 

 

Meet entries:  You can now check on your favorite swimmer’s meet entries by visiting the “Meets” page at the ICE website (www.iceels.org). Just click on the big red “E” next to the swim meet in question for a list of the events for each swimmer.  We will continue to post these entries at Mercer and will begin posting the same information at Coralville as well.

 

March Meeting: The Annual Swimmer Recognition Dinner & Membership Meeting will be held on Sunday, March 28. The exact time and place is yet to be determined as our usual site- the downtown IC Recreation Center- is unavailable this year. In any event, all short course swimmers will be recognized as we review the latest swim season. More details will be announced soon but this promises to be a fun springtime event.

 

Note from Communications:  Keeping in touch with everyone in the Club is very important.  Please remember to check bulletin boards, folders, and e-mails for the latest updates on ICE activities, schedule changes, etc.  Especially significant is that e-mail addresses be kept up to date.  If you have switched service providers or otherwise been required to change your address just drop me a line so I can update the team database.  As the Short Course season comes to a close there will be more announcements pertaining to championship training schedules and other end of season activities so please do take the time to stay informed.