BTA Junior Meet

Speedo Tip of the Week

AVOIDING THE FLU

This week's Speedo tip of the week comes from National Team physician, Dr. Jim Miller. He offers some advice for fighting the flu in the coming season.


The Tip:You have completed the dreaded intensive training of the holiday season and have two to four more months until your championship meet. Everything has been taken into account – your event schedule, your training and the best part – taper.

Is there anything that could mess all this up?  YOU BET! One to two weeks off with five pounds of muscle loss could surely derail this train. That is exactly what could happen with a bout of influenza, more commonly known as the Flu.

Open the window…and in flew enza
The flu is a viral infection that is spread through the air. Each year, the influenza virus mutates slightly so your immunity from the prior year will not completely protect you. The virus is a respiratory infection that can result in a debilitating viral pneumonia. It is very dangerous for those who have a weakened immune system, such as the elderly or someone with a disease that affects their immune system like diabetes.
However, if you are training doubles with long hours for studying for exams, your immune system could also be at risk. Since the air from a human sneeze has been clocked at hundreds of miles per hour, one sneeze from the wrong person at the wrong time will expose you quickly. You could be in trouble.

Prevention is key
So, what can you do to prevent the flu? The best prevention is to boost your immune system against this virus by getting a flu shot. This shot is ideally given one or two months before the virus reaches your part of the country. The shot will not offer you 100% immunity, but it decreases your likelihood of getting sick. If you do end up catching the virus, the course would be greatly abbreviated if you received the shot.
Still, there is a problem here. It is January and parts of the country are already reporting cases of the flu.  Does a shot help now? That is a great question to which experts will disagree. But, if your area has not had cases yet, even a flu shot given two weeks in advance should give you some partial protection. And don’t wait so long next year!  

C your way through the Flu
In addition to the shot, there are other steps you can take to avoid getting sick. In addition to proper hydration, nutrition and sleep, some experts believe that increased Vitamin C intake may enhance your immune system against viral infections. It is suggested you take between 1,000 and 3,000 IU of extra Vitamin C per day, unless you are on a medication that interacts with Vitamin C. As always, consult your doctor before you begin taking any supplements.

Back to Basics
When it comes to the flu, there are some basic steps you can take to help prevent getting and spreading the virus. Wash your hands routinely and cover your mouth when coughing and sneezing – and of course wash your hands when you do if you did not make it to a tissue.  The antibiotic gels that do not require water work just fine.

Take iT for the team

If you feel that you are coming down with a nasty respiratory infection whether it involves your lungs or not, get to your medical practitioner quickly. There are antiviral medications that make a big difference, if you start them quickly. Your medical expert also has a rapid test, which will help to determine whether this is influenza or not while you wait. By taking care of it quickly, you get better faster and your team and coaches will be more likely to stay healthy, too.  You do not want to take out your whole relay team with you!

9-14 Junior Meet

Great job to all those swimmers who swam this past weekend at the BTA meet. There were many impressive swims by RICE swimmers. A full report will be out once the host teams gets the results posted. Parents thank you for stepping up and timing as well as providing tents for all of our families to sit under. It was great to walk out side and see everyone sitting as a team and having a great time. If anyone took pictures at the meet send them to me on CD so I can get something together for our next team party.

BTA Junior Meet ( 9-10 Open Meet)

Parents - The Warm Ups, Timeline and Job Sign Ups have been posted online for the BTA meet this weekend. A couple quick notes on this meet:

• The location was changed from the original pool. Please make sure to read the invite for the new location.
• The seating has been moved to outdoors. If your family has pop up tents available we would like to get a "little city" of tents going for our swimmers and parents to sit together. At this point I do not know if it is covered seating or not. 
• Spectators will most likely be allowed to flow through the pool to watch their swimmers swims and then encouraged to sit outside between events.
• When signing up to time a spot please try to time near your swimmers last event of the meet. This will allow parents who have swimmers only in early events to sign up for these first spots. Ultimately we are responsible for timing all slots and will have to fill them prior to the meet.
• The coaching staff will set up on the pool deck so swimmers should talk to them pre and post swims.
• Reminder to have your swimmer circle in for their events. Any scratches need to be brought to the coaches attention by the swimmer prior to doing so.
• RICE will have relays and we will get these emailed out on Friday. They are eligible to change the day of the meet. 
• All swimmer MUST attend warm up with the team.
• Reminder we are having a parent meeting on Swim Meets this Thursday 6:00 - 7:00 if you have never attended a USA swim meet or just want a refresher.

See you guys at the pool,
Coach Jason

Open Water Swim

Great job to all the RICE Aquatics Members who took the plunge at Twin Lakes this past weekend.

Everything You Wanted to Know About USA Swim Meets - Meeting

There will be a parent meeting this Thursday night 6:00 - 7:00 covering USA swim meets and what to expect. This meeting should be attended by all new parents who intend on having their children swim in a USA meet. We will have another meeting prior to our 8 and Under meet in a couple weeks.