FCST - Friday Night Finals

Congrats goes out to Carlo G. and Kelly M. for making finals at Summer Champs. Carlo has 3 events for tonight and Kelley has her first ever final! Keep up the great work!

Virtual Tour of New Rec Center

Click here for a virtual tour of the new RICE rec center. Adobe Flash player is needed to view the tour.

FCST Summer Champs - Pool Change

I just got word that the First Colony Meet venue has been moved to the Fort Bend Nat. for all sessions of the meet. Friday, Saturday, and Sunday will be swam at the Fort Bend Nat. Disregard all previous emails/announcements about using the First Colony Aquatics Center.

Coach Jason

Timing, Warm Ups and Timeline Posted

The Timeline, Warm Ups and Timing Assignment are posted under the events page of our website (www.riceaquatics.com). RICE will be responsible for timing one lane through out the meet. We do not have many swimmers attending so please be prepared to time longer sessions and possibly not when your swimmer is swimming. Also big note that the meet starts at 8:30 not 9:00.

The Saturday and Sunday sessions will be outdoors so pack accordingly. The pool deck at the outdoor pool is limited to coaches, swimmers and volunteers. There is a good amount of lawn around the pool and lake for swimmers and parents to set up a tent. If you have a pop up tent and will be there through out the weekend please let me know so we can try and get our parents in a central location. As always pack towels, sunscreen, water, food and other goodies for the meet.

See you at the pool,

Jason

USMS LC Zones Swim Meet Results

Click here for real time meet results for this past weekends USMS LC Zones swim meet. RICE placed 2nd. A full report is coming shortly.

Fall 2009-2010 Returning Swimmer Registration

Parents - With two more championship meets left in the longcourse season the 2008-2009 seasons are wrapping up this month. I would first like to thank all of the families that participated with RICE through out the year. The team experienced great growth in numbers and families and new successes in and out of the pool this past year. RICE swimmers excelled at every level from Sectionals to local Summer League swim meets. We are excited to keep the momentum going for the 2009-2010 season.

A reminder that our last official practice day (group and swim meet dependent) will be July 31st. The rec center will be closed for part of August and swimmers and parents should use this time to recharge their batteries a bit. Listed below are the dates for our returning swimmer week of practice. This will be used to place swimmers in new groups and get everyone registered for the start of the fall session prior to having new swimmer registration.

Returning Swimmer Registration:

August 17th -20th. (Practice times TBA)

Swimmers will swim in the groups they were previously placed in and be evaluated and placed through out the week. These practices will not introduce new ideas or be used for training instead they will be offered to get swimmers back into the mix prior to the start of school. It is essential that if your swimmer is going to participate on the club they attend as many practices this week as possible. If you are unable to attend please send me an email. Practice times and dates will be posted on our website as well as the new blog and news features.

You will find an event sign up for Fall registration (available on Wednesday) under the events link. Please log in to the website and commit to this event if you attend on swimming in the fall. This will give us a rough estimate of numbers going into the returning swimmer week. We are not currently taking checks or money for the fall.

We are still confirming with the Rec Center our official start date but we are again looking at the week after Labor day. More info will be available as we get closer. Our groups, practice times and dates will also be emailed out and posted once available. We are trying to ensure the smoothest transition from the old Autry pool into the new facilities.

As always if you have any questions please send me an email.

See you guys at the pool,

Coach Jason and the RICE Aquatics Coaching Staff.

FCST - Two Pools Being Used

The Summer Champs meet this weekend will be held at two different locations. Please make sure you are going to the right pool based on the session you are swimming.

Friday morning session and Time Trial Location

Don Cook Natatorium

16255 Lexington Blvd

Sugar Land, Texas 77478

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Friday Finals, Saturday and Sunday Location

First Colony Aquatic Center

4350 Austin Parkway

Sugar Land, TX. 77479

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What is Up with the Owl?

What is up with the Owl? Read the following tidbit from an "official" owl fan-site. Seems the Owl has been a symbol for everything from predicting the weather to being a symbol of doom. No where was there info on an Aqua Owl ....

Compiled by Deane P. Lewis 1999-03-20, last updated 2005-05-13

Throughout history and across many cultures, people have regarded Owls with fascination and awe. Few other creatures have so many different and contradictory beliefs about them. Owls have been both feared and venerated, despised and admired, considered wise and foolish, and associated with witchcraft and medicine, the weather, birth and death. Speculation about Owls began in earliest folklore, too long ago to date, but passed down by word of mouthover generations.

In early Indian folklore, Owls represent wisdom and helpfulness, and have powers of prophecy. This theme recurs in Aesop's fables and in Greek myths and beliefs. By the Middle Ages in Europe, the Owl had become the associate of witches and the inhabitant of dark, lonely and profane places, a foolish but feared spectre. An Owl's appearance at night, when people are helpless and blind, linked them with the unknown, its eerie call filled people with foreboding and apprehension: a death was imminent or some evil was at hand. During the eighteenth century the zoological aspects of Owls were detailed through close observation, reducing the mystery surrounding these birds. With superstitions dying out in the twentieth century - in the West at least - the Owl has returned to its position as a symbol of wisdom.

Owls in Greek & Roman Mythology

In the mythology of ancient Greece, Athene, the Goddess of Wisdom, was so impressed by the great eyes and solemn appearance of the Owl that, having banished the mischievous crow, she honoured the night bird by making him her favorite among feathered creatures. Athene's bird was a Little Owl, (Athene noctua). This Owl was protected and inhabited the Acropolis in great numbers. It was believed that a magical "inner light" gave Owls night vision. As the symbol of Athene, the Owl was a protector, accompanying Greek armies to war, and providing ornamental inspiration for their daily lives. If an Owl flew over Greek Soldiers before a battle, they took it as a sign of victory. The Little Owl also kept a watchful eye on Athenian trade and commerce from the reverse side of their coins.

Athenian silver tetradrachm Classical style, 5th century BC.

Athenian silver tetradrachm Hellenistic style, 2nd century BC.

In early Rome a dead Owl nailed to the door of a house averted all evil that it supposedly had earlier caused. To hear the hoot of an Owl presaged imminent death. The deaths of Julius Caesar, Augustus, Commodus Aurelius, and Agrippa were apparently all predicted by an Owl.

"...yesterday, the bird of night did sit Even at noonday, upon the market place, Hooting and shrieking" (from Shakespeare's "Julius Caesar")

The Roman Army was warned of impending disaster by an Owl before its defeat at Charrhea, on the plains between the Euphrates and Tigris rivers.

According to Artemidorus, a second Century soothsayer, to dream of an Owl meant that a traveller would be shipwrecked or robbed.

Another Roman superstition was that witches transformed into Owls..

In Roman Mythology, Proserpine (Persephone) was transported to the underworld against her will by Pluto (Hades), god of the underworld, and was to be allowed to return to her mother Ceres (Demeter), goddess of agriculture, providing she ate nothing while in the underworld. Ascalpus, however, saw her picking a pomegranate, and told what he had seen. He was turned into an Owl for his trouble - "a sluggish Screech Owl, a loathsome bird." (Names in brackets indicate the Greek names for the same Gods)

Owls in English Folklore

Folklore surrounding the Barn Owl is better recorded than for most other Owls. In English literature the Barn Owl had a sinister reputation probably because it was a bird of darkness, and darkness was always associated with death. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, the poets Robert Blair and William Wordsworth used the Barn Owl as their favourite "bird of doom." During that same period many people believed that the screech or call of an Owl flying past the window of a sick person meant imminent death.

The Barn Owl has also been used to predict the weather by people in England. A screeching Owl meant cold weather or a storm was coming. If heard during foul weather a change in the weather was at hand.

The Custom of nailing an Owl to a barn door to ward off evil and lightning persisted into the 19th century.

Another traditional English belief was that if you walked around an Owl in a tree, it would turn and turn its head to watch you until it wrung its own neck.

Owls' eggs, cooked until they turned into ashes, were also used as a potion to improve eyesight.
Owl Broth was given to children suffering from Whooping-cough.

Odo of Cheriton, a Kentish preacher the 12th Century has this explanation of why the Owl is nocturnal: The Owl had stolen the rose, which was a prize awarded for beauty, and the other birds punished it by allowing it to come out only at night.

In parts of northern England it is good luck to see an Owl.

RICE Aquatics - Swimming Outside the Lane Lines

While the "new look" site is now going into its second year and the added features have been a huge hit there is one old site feature that has been missed. The Blog feature used on our old site was one of the most popular links once available. Because of the demand for a more direct link to all things RICE Aquatics, RICE Aquatics Masters, RICE Swimming and anything else water related we have brought back the blog. This feature will be used to fill in the substance often left out by the news feeds and event lists. Check back often!