Friday, October 7, 2011

On Decking at Swim Meets

Parents - If for some reason you miss the deadline for a meet sign up you can still have your child swim in the meet. You are able to sign up the day of the meet in what is called an on deck. Here are a couple notes:
  1. On Deck entries are taken at the clerk of course table at the pool. This is usually on the pool deck somewhere and sometimes is next to where heat sheets are sold and awards.
  2. Entries are double the cost and must be payed directly to the host team with Cash or Check.
  3. The host team has a form you will need to fill out with all of the important information. You will need your swimmers USA ID which is MMDDYYFFFMLLLL  Month/Day/Year/First/Middle/Last ( Example 010181JONPRYAN) If your swimmer has no middle initial or 3 letter last name an * goes in its place.
  4. There is a list of events at the table to make sure you choose the right numbers and events. If you have your swimmers best USA swim time you will need to enter them at this time. Make sure to mark yards or meters depending on the meet.
  5. Once entered they will be placed into these events at the meet. This is the same as circling them in for the events. If you enter them in Saturday and Sunday events they will not be on the circling sheets either day but will appear on the heat and lane assignments.
  6. Make sure you have discussed the on deck with a RICE Aquatics coach prior to on decking them. 
  7. Swimmers should not scratch events to on deck a different event unless they have coach approval. 
  8. All swim meets have a maximum event number per day that can not be exceeded. If exceeded by an on deck this fee will be passed down to the swimmers account.

Typically the parents working at the Clerk of Course are very helpful with the whole process.

See you guys at the pool,

Coach Jason

Wednesday, October 5, 2011

Catch the Spirit Camp

Good evening (or morning by the time you get this).  I am emailing as head coach for the USA Swimming Gulf hosted Catch the Spirit Clinic on SUN OCT 16 for novice swimmers.

The deadline has been extended to MON OCT 10. 

Currently we have about 15 swimmers in each session. While this is a great coach-swimmer ratio, I would like to have at least 20 in each session to have that critical mass of energy. Will still be a great coach-swimmer ratio.  The cost is $25.00 and the swimmers get the USA Swimming Catch the Spirit T-shirt and other stuff (e.g USA Swimming temporary tattoos, wrist bands, etc.).

We have a nutritionist, Sarah Seppa, presenting an interactive 30 min nutrition talk for the 10&Younger session and more 'prep-for-training and competition' talk for the 11-14 year-old session.  

Please consider forwarding this email and/or application to your novice swimmers.   Parents can mail application to Clinic Manager Nicole Rembach (address on the attached application) or email her atnrembach@earthlink.net  or me at jamescrampton@hotmail.com.  

Also, I will be taking applications at the HSC meet this OCT 8-9. Hillary Martinez(FCST) and Andre Smith(SPA) will be taking applications at the FCST meet OCT 8-9 and Dakota Phillips (SSS) will be taking application at the BTA meet on Sunday Oct 9.

Please let me know if you have any questions, comments, concerns, suggestion, etc.

Jim Crampton

Here is the link for the application.

Monday, October 3, 2011

Thought for the Week

Inspiration can come from all different places and I rescently had some via a You Tube video. RICE recently bought an underwater camera, part of the companies promotional department sends out weekly videos using their products. This weeks was a couple that is base jumpers. In the video the man said "The key to happiness is having dreams and the key to success is fulfilling those dreams." I think with swimming Dreams/Goals are what drives us. These dreams are often not spoken but internalized within the athlete. By doing so there is no risk of let down or disappointment because they are never spoken or written. Go ahead and write down your 5 biggest goals in swimming. "Swimming in the Olympics" should not be the default make them more attainable and personal. Then take these dreams and go out there and do what it takes to make them happen.