IOWA CITY EELS

 

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

 

 

5/15:             ICE bills due

5/15:             Sign-up deadline for DMSF Birdland Meet

5/20:             Sign-up deadline for Quincy (Firecracker Classic) meet

5/16:             Sign-up deadline for ANW Meet (Mercer)

5/17:             CRAA Pentathlon

5/23:             Sign-up deadline for CIA Meet (Des Moines)

5/26:             Memorial Day: NO PRACTICE

5/31-6/1:          ANW Spring Fling (at Mercer)

5/31:             Parade of Homes fundraiser begins

6/1:              Last day to pick-up flower baskets at Coral Fruit Market

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

6/7-6/8:          CIA Mystery Meet

6/9:              Summer practice schedule set to begin

6/13:             Sign-up deadline for Vinton meet

6/13:             Sign-up deadline for Mason City meet

6/14:             Tie-dye party at Mercer

6/16:             ICE bills due

6/20-6/22:          DMSF Birdland swim meet

6/20:             Sign-up deadline for ANW meet (Grinnell)

 

 

COACHES CORNER

 

Summer season has come around again, and with it comes everyone’s favorite pool size: 50 meters. Soon there will be 6 AM outside practices at City Park and weekends spent outdoors at meets. To be honest, I’ve always enjoyed short course much more than long course (I love my turns!), but at the same time I’ve always known that the longer pool would be good for training.

            When I swam in college at UNI, we would spend 10 days training in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida at the old Hall of Fame pools, which were long course. I can remember thinking that it was going to be so hard, but looking back I think it benefited my swimming a great deal. With the number of turns cut in half, it forces the swimmer to do just that: swim! And swim more. That’s more time to work on technique, more time to work on speed, and more time to sing all those songs that get stuck in your head at practice. After all, how many turns has each swimmer done in their lives? Countless.

            So when those bright and early mornings come around, don’t think of it as being so much harder…think of it as being so much more beneficial. And even though the wall never seems to get any closer while swimming breaststroke, fear not! It is. And even if you may hate long course swimming, remember that this training will only help your short course swimming. And lastly, remember that 50 meters is the distance that the greatest swimmers in the world compete in…and that the state meet in August will be the same.

 

 

Swimmers of the Month: Though it is only May we do have our first ICE Swimmers of the Month for the 2003 Long Course season.


Morays - Stephanie Choi
Eels - Keagan Recher

 

Practice time: The ICE coaches have had a problem lately with swimmers showing up late for practice.  Tardiness isn’t always avoidable- life does get in the way of swim practice sometimes- but here are some suggested guidelines:

 

Frost and Cubes: The coaches have noticed that some of the younger swimmers are getting to the buildings on time only to play games in the game room or socializing in the locker rooms so they end up being late for practice.  This is a problem at both pools in that late swimmers not only cheat themselves of time in the water they also disrupt the lane assignments the coaches have already made. The coaches make every effort to start the practices on time: 6:30 PM at Coralville and 5:45 PM at Mercer.  When possible the swimmers should show up 10-15 minutes early- this will allow them plenty of time to change into their gear and to get some of that socializing out of their system so they can be ready to hop into the pool at the start of practice.

Morays, Eels, and Masters:  Whenever possible, you need to notify the coaches in advance when you are going to be late. If you are late, you have to realize that you will not receive a full warm-up, only an amended version.

Swim-Fit: When possible you too should arrive 10-15 minutes before practice begins. This allows time for you to help with pool set-up and engage in some pre-practice stretching.

 

Meltdown wrap-up:  Thanks to all who helped out at the Spring Meltdown held the weekend of May 3rd and 4th. Though the number of swimmers was down we still had an exciting meet.  The weekend was made extra special by the appearance of Ashley Nashleanas an exceptional blind swimmer who set three American Paralympic Records: 50 meter backstroke, 200 meter backstroke, & 200 meter butterfly. Ashley has a goal of making the 2004 Paralympics team and must next swim well at a qualifying meet in Minneapolis, Minnesota. A fine article about Ashley can be found at the Sioux City Journal website (siouxcityjournal.com) just click on archives and type in Ashley’s name. Ashley’s mother reports that Sports Illustrated may also publish a story on this exceptional young woman. Everyone in the ICE family is pulling for Ashley to make it to Athens in 2004.

 

Equipment woes:  You may have heard that the ICE laptop suffered a major soaking the weekend of the Meltdown and as a result a section of the keyboard ceased to function.  Luckily this electrical short was covered by our computer’s warranty and our laptop will soon be working like new.  Another note- we are missing two stopwatches from the Sunday session.  If anyone simply walked off with a watch around their neck and has forgotten to turn it in please do so soon.  We have to replace watches due to wear and tear on a regular basis but we really don’t wish to buy new units to replace misplaced or “borrowed” stopwatches.

 

Memorial Day: There will be no practice for any groups on Monday May 26th.  Workouts for Morays, Eels, and Masters who wish to swim on their own will be posted.

 

Titan Firecracker Classic (Quincy, Illinois):  The sign-up deadline for the Firecracker has been moved to May 20th.  This was done to insure that we get our entries in to the hosting club at the earliest possible time.  A copy of the meet invitation is located in the ICE notebook at Mercer. We are also planning on this meet being our Senior Trip (13 and over) for the summer season.  Be advised the cost of this trip will be between $120.00 and $150.00 per person- based on the number of ICE athletes attending the meet. Questions about the Senior Trip can be addressed to Don at swimice@aol.com.

 

Birdland Meet: The DMSF Birdland swim meet is a very popular summer event.  As such Don and Matt are requesting that all interested swimmers submit entries by May 24th.  The invitation has not been posted online yet but a copy can be found in the ICE notebook at Mercer.

 

ANW Spring Fling:  ANW will be holding a meet at Mercer pool on May 31st and June 1st. This is an open meet- a chance for everyone in the club to swim in a 50-meter pool environment. The deadline for meet entry sign-up is Friday May 16th.  We are helping ANW with the operation of this meet.  They need assistance with lane timers, officials, and technical support.  We are treating this meet as a fundraiser so for every session you agree to work you can remove $15.00 from your ICE fundraising requirement.  We can provide up to six lane timers per session, any number of officials for any session, and Daktronics console operators - especially Saturday afternoon- is a critical need for ANW. If you have questions or would like to sign-up please contact Kelly via e-mail (keleyn@inav.net) or by phone 339-7579.

 

ICE Planner:  It’s a calendar, it’s a roadmap, it’s a portal to another world!  The new online ICE planner is up and running.  There are still modifications and additions to be made but the basic skeleton of this handy device is now in place.  The planner is optimized for viewing with Internet Explorer- Netscape and other browsers may not work as well. You can reach the planner by dropping by our homepage (www.iceels.org) and clicking on the ICE planner button.  The planner is part of an overhaul of the website which should, in theory, be finished this summer. The biggest section of this rebuild- an interactive swimming guide- is still in the early stages of development.  The planner itself is designed to replace the ICE calendar and to serve as sort of a “one-stop-shop” for most of your ICE related needs.

 

 

Summer swim practice schedule: Beginning Monday June 9th we will switch to our summer swim practice schedule.

 

Eels:           M-F at City Park*: 5:45 to 8:15AM
                   M,W,F at U of Iowa Fieldhouse Pool: 3:30 to 5:30PM
                   Sat. at Mercer Park: 7:50 to 10:30AM

Morays:      M-F at City Park*: 5:45 to 8:15AM
                   Sat. at Mercer Park: 7:50 to 10:30AM


*IF RAINED OUT PRIOR TO START OF PRACTICE WE WILL HOLD WORKOUTS AT MERCER PARK FROM 6:30 TO 8AM.  THERE WILL BE BLUE SIGN POSTED ON THE CITY PARK DOORS IF PRACTICE IS MOVED.

Cubes :       M-F at Coralville Outdoor Pool: 9:20 to 10:30AM
                   M-F at Mercer Park: 4:30 to 5:30PM
                   Sat. at Mercer Park: 8:00 to 9:30AM

Frost:          M-F at Coralville Outdoor Pool: 9:20 to 10:30AM
                   M-F at Mercer Park: 4:30 to 5:15PM
                   Sat. at Mercer Park: 9:30 to 10:20AM

SwimFit Group: M-TH at Mercer Park: 3:30 to 5:30PM
                                                             
Masters:   M,W,F at City Park**: 5:45 to 7:15AM
                  Sat. at Mercer Park: 7:50 to 9:30AM


**IF RAINED OUT AT CITY PARK WE WILL TRY TO MAKE UP THE WORKOUT THE NEXT MORNING.

 

Tie-dye party:  The Iowa City Eels are planning on having a tie-dye party on

Saturday June 14th.  We will be making red, white, and blue tie-dyed t-shirts to be emblazoned with the ICE team logo.  These t’s will make a great fashion statement and provide a special look to all participating in the July 4th parade in Coralville. Details are still being worked out but you will need to supply your own t-shirt- plain white, washed & pre-shrunk in the dryer. The actual dyeing will take place after practice on June 14th and anyone willing to help out will be welcomed.  More information will be coming soon.

 

July 4th:  The Iowa City Eels will once again be participating in the Coralville 4th of July parade.  We’ve had a good turnout for this activity the last couple of years and encourage everyone to join in on the fun this year. We’ve secured a slot in the parade and further details will be announced as they become known.  Anyone willing to provide some sort of transportation (large pick-up and/or trailer combination) that can be used as a “float” is encouraged to contact Sara at 626-6980 or hjesse02@aol.com.

 

Swimmer of the Month Awards:  We will soon be awarding Swimmer of the Month recognition pins to all who receive this honor.  The pins are on order and will be distributed to all Swimmer of the Month honorees beginning with the current Long Course season. Coming soon to the website: a special recognition page- a place to note all sorts of accomplishments by our ICE swimmers.

 

Merchandise: Vicki has started an ICE account at Kid's Stuff.  You will be given credit for what you donate for the club- but tracking this may prove difficult. Instead Vicki would like to invite anyone who wishes to donate items to call her and make arrangements to drop off their items at her house.  If Stuff does not accept your items, she will take them to Goodwill unless you state otherwise.  Vicki’s phone number and email: 339-9434 & kennedy-mcbreen.vick@iccsd.k12.ia.us.

 

Lost & Found: We have a lot of bowls, utensils, clothing, etc. in the ICE office at Mercer.  If you’ve lost something at the pool or forgot to pick-up a food container from the Meltdown, etc. please stop on by and have a look. We would like to clear as much of this material out as possible.

 

LCC meetings: It is only mid-May but already planning for the State Long Course Championships will soon begin. This meet is our biggest of the year- nine sessions spread out over three days (August 1st-3rd this year) and requires an incredible amount of work on everyone’s part.  Various committees will be coming together to discuss ways of making this event a success so if you wish to have a voice in any of these discussions please feel free to attend.  Announcements on dates, times, & locales will be forthcoming.

 

Final note from communications: The Long Course season is very hectic and every effort will be made to help swimmers and their families keep up with workings of the club. Check your swimmer’s folders, the bulletin boards, e-mails, website, and newsletters for changes and announcements.  If you have altered your e-mail address please contact me at keleyn@inav.net so I can update my club contact database. My Internet service provider (who will, for now at least, go unnamed) has been going through a service “upgrade” which has proven quite frustrating.  I will continue to send and receive e-mail as best I can but do be advised that at times my service is spotty and my responses may not be as timely as we would all like.