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MARLINS WEEKLY
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January 3, 2012
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Dear Marlins Family Member,
HAPPY NEW YEAR! Welcome to this edition of MARLINS Weekly. No meet this week – but there is a LOT of news, so please read carefully all the way through!
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PRACTICE CHANGES THIS WEEK
WEDNESDAY, 1/4: Bronze will practice from 5:30- 6:30 at the high school; Silver will practice from 6:30- 8, at the high school.
THURSDAY, 1/5: Bronze practice is cancelled.
These changes are due to a high school swim meet on Thursday.
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UPCOMING MEETS
Our next dual swim meet is SATURDAY, JANUARY 14. Girls will be HOME, against Pennridge; the boys will be AWAY, but we won’t know where until next week.
See note below on “The Rest of the Season” for more on this and our other January meets!
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COACHES CORNER
Divers, remember that the CB South Diving Invitational is this coming Sunday; parents need to turn in their $2 entry fee by WEDNESDAY or your child will not be entered in the meet. On Saturday, 11 and unders should be at CB South by 11:45 AM; 12 and overs should arrive by 2:15. Any questions – talk to Coach Laura.
FROM THE POOL DECK:
Swimmer Of The Week: Congratulations to Kayleigh Roseland, swimmer of the week from the week of December 20!
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IT’S OFFICIAL: WE’RE A USA SWIMMING CLUB!
The Marlins are proud to announce the details of our 2012 USA Swimming program. For those swimmers who would like to extend their competitive season through the end of March, we will be offering an 8 week USA swimming program. Swimmers who sign up will have the opportunity to participate in two USA meets (one in February and one in March); these are similar to the SAL Invitiationals, in that swimmers are matched against others with similar times from other USA teams around the area.
All Marlins swimmers are eligible for this program. Swimmers who are 8 and under as of the date of competition swim as “minis”; their meets are usually held separately and are typically shorter. Coach Sergey is heading the coaching staff of our USA swimming program, and will be joined by other Marlins coaches. If there is sufficient interest, we will look into a summer long course program as well.
COSTS: There are two costs involved in the program: a required USA swimming membership and UMAC fees. All swimmers must join USA swimming; the fee for this is $60 for a one-year membership. (Thus, swimmers who join now will be able to swim at USA meets through next fall.)
The Marlins fee is $100, which covers practices through the end of March.
TO SIGN UP: Download a USA registration form here. Fill it out and return, with payment (a total of $160, for both fees), EITHER to Katherine McClelland’s folder in the Marlins Family File cabinet, or by mail to the Marlins post office box: Upper Merion Marlins, PO Box 60280, King of Prussia, PA 19406.
QUESTIONS can be directed to Katherine McClelland at kemcclell@gmail.com , or you can check out the Middle Atlantic website (our regional USA swimming affiliate) at maswim.org for more information on meets and USA swimming in general.
Note: any swimmers who are currently registered with other USA teams will have the opportunity to switch to UMAC if they wish; contact Katherine for more information |
The Rest of The Season
We have a week off from meets this week, but our season resumes in earnest on January 14th. Here’a quick recap of the meets to come:
DUAL MEETS on 1/14 and 1/21:
We swim two dual meets in January, on the 14th and 21st. These meets are part of the league championship series, and our opponents will be teams from other divisions of SAL who have records very similar to ours; most likely, our boys and girls will have different opponents. The girls’ meet on 1/14 is set: it will be HOME, against Pennridge. The boys meet will be determined early next week, and it will be away. Details in next week’s news! The results of the first set of meets will determine who we swim for the 2nd set of meets.
LAST CHANCE MEET on 1/28:
The following Saturday, January 28, we will be hosting the league’s final Invitational of the season – our own Last Chance Meet. All swimmers are eligible for this meet, and we expect that all will be swimming, but because it is an invitational, you need to sign up! See details below, under Last Chance Meet. Note that all families will be working this meet, our one and only fundraiser; see below.
INDIVIDUAL CHAMPIONSHIPS:
SAL has two individual championship meets; swimmers attend one or the other:
*Divisional Champs will be held on the weekend of February 4 - 5; exact times, dates, and location TBA, but they will be close by. All swimmers are eligible for this meet unless they have qualified for League Champs.
*League Champs will be held the weekend of February 11 - 12. Swimmers qualify for this meet by being in the top 18 swimmers in an event across the entire league; additionally, they must have competed in 2 meets in November and December. Coaches will notify swimmers who qualify in the week after the Last Chance Meet.
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The Last Chance Meet: Saturday, January 28, 2012
The Last Chance Meet is our team’s one and only fundraiser – a successful LCM is the key to keeping our costs low and keeping us in touch pads and lane lines for another season. For those of you who are new: the Last Chance Meet is held each season at the end of January, and is the “last chance” for swimmers to make times for the end-of-season championships. It is an Invitational meet, so you need to sign your swimmer up to swim (see below). Hundreds of swimmers and their families from around the league come to our pool to swim in two sessions: Morning (8’s and 10’s) and Afternoon (12’s, 14’s, and Unlimiteds). It’s a lot of work, but also a lot of fun; the Marlins are proud of our reputation as running the best Invitational in the league!
To make this meet a success, all families are required to provide a worker for at least one session (usually, the one your child is swimming). Our meet directors Amy Vallette and Melissa Faw will shortly get to work assigning jobs; if you have any preferences, please email them ASAP. We need workers at all positions - runners, timers, officials, deck parents (LOTS of deck parents!), admissions, snack bar, table workers…. This year, we will be using an on-line sign up system so you can choose your job; we’ll send an email later this week with a link..
AND, since all of our parents will be working, be sure to sign your swimmer up to swim! See Invitationals, below.
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MINNOWS ARE COMING...
Our 2012 Minnows season is right around the corner! This popular program is for children ages 5 – 8 who LOVE to swim, but who are not yet ready to swim competitively.
(Please note: this is NOT a learn to swim program; swim lessons will be offered at our Spring clinic in April.) Instruction takes place in small groups and focuses on learning the strokes and building up endurance.
The program will run on Tuesday and Thursday nights this year, in two sessions: 5:30- 6:15, and 6:15 – 7 PM, both at the Middle School, starting on February 7 and running through April 19.
Sign up for Minnows is in-person only; swimmers should come prepared to get in the water and be evaluated. Registration will take place on Tuesday, January 31, from 5:30 – 7 PM at the Middle School pool.
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INVITATIONALS CORNER: LAST CHANCE MEET NOW POSTED!
Don’t forget to sign your child up for the best invitational of the season! All parents are working the LCM but you MUST sign up your child in order for him or her to swim – so don’t delay!
To sign up, download the meet information sheet and registration form HERE (link), fill it out, and return it with payment to the Invitationals Folder in the Marlins Family File Cabinet in the Marlins room at the high school by MONDAY, JANUARY 16. If you have any questions, contact Lida Bonner, our Invitationals coordinator, at lbonner1999@gmail.com .
UMAC LAST CHANCE MEET
SATURDAY, JANUARY 28 at the High School
ENTRIES DUE BY MONDAY, JANUARY 16
This meet is open to all of our swimmers! Here’s your chance to FINALLY try an invitational! Your swimmer can pick her/his events, and have a great time hanging with the team and dropping time! Don’t forget to sign up- you’ll be working anyway, so you might as well see your child swim.
INVITATIONALS UPDATE:
The Marlins had 20 swimmers representing our club at the Hawaiian Holiday Classic Invitational this past weekend. Our swimmers had numerous best times, and between them won 27 ribbons ( 7th to 18th place), 13 rosette ribbons ( 4th to 6th place) and 7 medals (1st to 3rd place).
The following swimmers participated: Abigail Bonner, Jack Bonner, Carter Besz, Justin Besz, James Condi, Jason Look, Benjamin Readman for the 8 and unders; CJ Besz, Mollie Bonner, Andrew Brownlie, Larissa Culbertson and Madison Readman for the 9 - 10's; and Eunice Ardamoy, Justin Ardamoy, Holly Culbert, William Culbertson, Meg Hall, Sarah Harlan, Ben Song and Michael Song represented our 11 and ups. Congratulations all on a successful meet!
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Reminder: Sign Up To Receive Marlins Texting Alerts
January is EXACTLY the time you want Marlins texting alerts! While we always hope to have a season free from weather complications, Mother Nature rarely obliges. We are now offering a text alert service to keep you abreast of last minute changes. Please note that these texts will NOT replace the emails; they will be used only for last minute issues and emergencies. In order to receive texts, you must sign up; instructions are on the website.
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Lost & Found
Items continue to accumulate in our lost and found column; click here for the most recent list. If you have lost an item or found an item you can submit it to the website by emailing us at lostandfound@uppermerionmarlins.org.
Lost & Found items are updated weekly on the website.
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