THE YORK Y RAMBLER
By Coach Michael
31 May 2007
CALIFORNIA HERE WE COME
We are busy making travel arrangements for our end-of-season Far Western Championships meet in the Bay area of California. Because we are trying to arrange the best deals and the airlines need advance notice and information, we are going to be doing our arrangements in waves:
those who have the qualifying times right now and will be attending, we will ticket now;
those who qualify at the Trident meet and will attend, we will ticket immediately after the meet;
and those who qualify at the LAC Cloister meet and will attend, we will ticket after that meet.
Each of these three groups of swimmers will travel together on the same flight with either a coach or chaperone, so that each group will be supervised by an adult or adults. It is likely that the three groups will not be flying on the same plane, but rather they will fly separately then reunite in California.
The Far Western meet is hosted by the Terrapin Swim Team of Concord, California (east of San Francisco). The meet runs from Wednesday to Sunday, 1 to 5 August.
We will be flying out early on Tuesday 31 July and returning late on Monday 6 August.
As of right now, according to my records, the following 14 & unders have the times to attend:
Emily Ilgenfritz
Ellie Eline
Courtney Schaefer
Noah Stewart
Sada Stewart
Caroline Bixler
Kelly Dvoryak
Shannon Mulcahy
Morgan Pfaff
Caleb Tuten
[Note that I will be speaking to senior swimmers individually.]
The cost of the trip will probably be approximately $800 total per swimmer. Families of these swimmers should let me know immediately whether or not they plan to attend the meet so that we can get our group ticketing under way. This is a very prestigious and important meet, and I am hopeful that all of our qualifiers will represent the York Y in California.
We also have a number of swimmers who are very close to making cuts and whom I expect will qualify when they race next. So train like madmen and get ready to race fast!
SUMMER LEAGUE DUALS
Very soon we are to begin our dual meet schedule for the Summer League component of our program. As outlined in a recent memo, swimmers will choose either the year-round training program and meets, or the seasonal league training program and meets. I need to put together very quickly a list of swimmers who are interested in participating in the dual meets. Likely candidates right off the bat are those swimmers who are not USA Swimming registered, those who are registered but who have not swum in any summer season meets yet and who are unlikely to, and our younger 8 & Unders. Please let me know immediately if you are interested in the dual meet league this summer!!!
SUMMER LEAGUE MEET HOSTING – IT TAKES A VILLAGE
Now that our overall team will be composed of two parts, a year round group and a seasonal group, the fact of our hosting the first three dual meets of the summer league season has become problematic (or, from another viewpoint, “challenging and exciting”).
We have three summer dual meets at our pool. And note, that “our pool” means the York Downtown branch pool, NOT Shrewsbury. We are hosting Spring Grove on June 16, West Shore on June 23, and the Aquatic Club of West Shore on June 30. They come thick and fast, and then they are done, as far as hosting is concerned.
We need everyone’s help – I need your help – even though not everyone is competing in these particular meets. If we put the entire burden of hosting these three meets on the currently small group of summer league families, the York Y program is going to fall on its face and look ridiculous. And since the revenues we earn from the meet go to the entire program, not strictly the summer league component (the reverse will be the case for the year-round meets we host – there will be one piggy bank, not two separate ones), it is in the best interests and best financial interests of everyone involved in the York Y swimming program to help out. These are not four-day long marathon prelims and finals meets, after all, but short and sweet duals that are over in a few hours.
The York YMCA competitive swimming program – as a whole – is hosting these dual meets, and that is exactly the way we should think about it. This is the usual situation for teams hosting meets, even if it has not been ours in the past. My last two clubs before I came here hosted a lot of meets; both enlisted everyone’s help to run them well, even though not every swimmer competed. Likewise this summer, you can bet that every Santa Clara family will be helping the Santa Clara Swim Club run its International Grand Prix, not just the families of the few swimmers who qualify. And if the Terrapins relied only on qualified swimmers’ families to run the Far Western meet, there would be no meet.
If every family chips in, no one family will need to be at all three meets (and if EVERY family helps, no one family will need to be even at two…). Over the course of this past short course season, we built a well-deserved reputation of hosting really good meets. I very much hope that we can keep that reputation. As both components of the overall program grow in strength and numbers, we can reasonably expect that the burden of hosting swimming meets is spread out more. But for now, WE NEED YOUR HELP!!!