Cy Fair Swim Club “Home of the Fleet” Fleet Swimming and Fleet FIRST Swim School
January 2013
Cy Fair Swim Club
Upcoming Events: • New Year’s Classic (hosted by TXLA) Jan 4—6 • 13 & Over Meet (hosted by HCAP) Jan 5—6 • 12 & Under and 8 & under Meet (hosted by HSC) Jan 12—13 • Speedo Greater Southwest Jan 18—20 • Mardi Gras (hosted by Tiger Aquatics) Jan 18-20 • Swim-a-Thon letter party Jan 26 • 8 & Under Short Course Champs Feb 16
Inside this issue: Coach Jack
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Swim-a-Thon
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Coach Alex
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Toy Drive
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FLEET December Champs Wrap-up Fleet spent last December attending various levels of championship meets. From Junior Nationals in Knoxville, Tennessee to the 8 & Under Champs meet held at Cy-Ranch High School. One of the highlights was the prowess of the 11-12 girls relay quartet of Sydney Stanford, Mary Kate Williams, Daria Erzakov, and Mikayla Schnibben. Sweeping all of the relays at Gulf Champs, their 400 free relay earned the seventh best time in the country so far this season. Congratulations girls! FLEET swimmers had many outstanding performances at this year's Gulf Age Group Champs meet held at the Don Cook Natatorium. We were very proud of the swimmers and their accomplishments. There were many personal bests that were posted. FLEET had many swimmers who moved their way up in the prelim standings to make finals and move up even further when they got there. Some highlights from a few of the champs meets are as follows: Gulf Champs:
Matt’s New Baby
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Fleet placed 3rd overall. Carson Kaufmann was 2nd place overall high point for the 9-10 girls.
Coach Dustin
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Fall Champs:
Coach Ambar
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Fleet placed 1st overall. High Point Winners: Ally Duester- 9/10 girls
Shaving Down
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Tristan McKay- 9/10 boys Anthony Sancho-Spore- 13/14 boys 2nd place overall high point: 9/10 girls: Nabila Arueta (2nd) and Abby Kohl (3rd) 9/10 boys: Connor Gallagher (2nd) and Stone Davis (3rd) 11/12 girls: Kylie Bennett (2nd) 11/12 boys: Chase Gonzales (2nd) 13/14 girls: Brielle Adolph (3rd) 13/14 boys: Collin Joyce (3rd)
8 and under Champs: Fleet placed 1st overall. In the top eight in individual events were Nathan Bergeron, Daniel Bittner, Matthew Bittner, Anna Bream, Brenley Campbell, Kaylee Coffey, Justin Dao, Venus Dao, Ellie Devens, Aaron Ervin, Jasmine Hoang, Heath Luebsen,
John Meadows, Cristina Mercado, Corey Nguyen, Harrison Nguyen, Thomas Ryder, Grayson Schaefer, Benjamin Scholl, Bethany Selz, Connor Shen, Ella Smoker, Savannah Stanford, Levi Thome, Alyssa Tran, Hillary Tran, Roland Wang, Daniel Xu, and David Xu.
We are all proud of you for your efforts and making continual strides in always getting better. Hats off to the swimmers and coaches on a job well done and for your persistence in not giving up no matter what the situation. This turned out to be a great winter champs season and a thank you, also, to all the parents and board that have supported the FLEET program by donating your time, support of the entire staff, program, and positive comments. It is greatly appreciated.
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Cy Fair Swim Club “Home of the Fleet”
Coach Jack Maddan I want to first thank all the Fleet families that have made me feel so welcome over the last two weeks as I make my transition. It’s been hard being without my own family, but you have made me feel at home. Thank you and I look forward to the many years ahead.
“Holiday training can be a litmus test of what is to come over the next 8 weeks of the short course season.”
A tradition that I truly look forward to every year is holiday training. I hope that the staff here at Fleet will create a tradition that will be like no other in the country. I look forward to a great 2013. GO FLEET! During this time of year when school is coming to a stop and families settle down to celebrate the holidays, reflection often begins. Individuals start to reflect on what he or she
accomplished in the year prior and what goals he or she might have for the upcoming year. In many cases this involves change. To make a change or to adopt new resolution usually means an individual has to make sacrifices to make this happen. It’s during holiday training (December 26-January 8th) that we ask all of our athletes to make the sacrifice of commitment. All over the country, clubs like CFSC are asking their athletes to make that same kind of commitment. CFSC is in the midst of holiday training. This is a tremendous opportunity for athletes throughout the program to focus on their training, without having school hanging over their heads. We spend the
whole short course season (August-March) climbing the mountain. This next two weeks is the final ascent to the top of that mountain. As coaches we will ask you to do things that you might not think you are capable of accomplishing over this two-week period. It’s when an athlete truly becomes “comfortable” with being uncomfortable that an adaptation takes place. In my 17 years of experience, holiday training can be a litmus test of what is to come over the next 8 weeks of the short course season. Those willing to make sacrifices typically have given themselves the opportunity to be great in March. Those swimmers that chose to pick their own practice schedule over the break are simply rolling the dice. So let’s get to work and start chopping wood and hauling water, because the best never rest!
Every Drop Counts—2012 Swim-a-Thon Mark your calendars and bring your addresses of potential Swim-a-Thon sponsors (family, friends, establishments you do business with like doctor, dentist, etc.)! The 2013 FLEET Swim-a-Thon begins with the letter writing party on Saturday, January 26th from approximately 8-11am (based on practice schedules). The younger groups (gold and below) will write their sponsor request letters and eat a yummy pancake breakfast first while the older groups are at practice. Once the practice for the older kids is over, then the older kids will write their letters and eat www.FleetSwimming.com
the pancake breakfast. We will provide the sponsor letters, envelopes and stamps (only for those letters written at the letter writing party) as well as the pancake breakfast. There will be many raffle prizes available to win for those that attend the letter writing party and swimmers that turn in 20 or more sponsor request letters will receive a gift card!!! The coach of the group that writes the most sponsor request letters will also earn a prize. :o) So get ready to hang out with your friends, eat some great food, and help raise funds for
our great swim club because Every Drop Counts! Check out the latest in Swim-a-Thon news and information soon on the FLEET website: sponsor letter forms, prize list, lane sponsor forms, and general information. Thanks to all who donated gift cards for our Swim-a-Thon auction. Your donation is greatly appreciated! There are still some gift cards that are needed. See the updated list on the FLEET website under the Swima-Thon tab. Gretta Karker, Zorka Kaufmann, and Valerie Johnson
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Cy Fair Swim Club “Home of the Fleet”
Coach Alex: Fueling Our Bodies As we begin to approach some of the year’s most demanding training, it’s important to consider what we as athletes are fueling our bodies with. The human body is a high performance machine and it requires adequate nutrients, or fuel, to perform. Let’s think about it in a different way: You just purchased a brand new Aston Martin for the small ticket price of $200,000, and like all vehicles you are going to have to fill it with gas to keep it running. Are you going to fill it with the cheapest unleaded gas? No way! A car of that caliber needs the finest fuel known to man, and your body is no different. Yes, the Aston Martin will work with cheap unleaded gas, just as your body will work with subpar nutrition. However, as an athlete, your goal should be to fill your body with the best fuel available so that it can work to its full potential. Over the next few weeks, many of you will be asked to push
yourselves to a level beyond what you are accustomed to, and more often than not to a place outside of your comfort zone. Challenges such as these take a certain level of mental toughness, no doubt, but the importance of refueling and recovering cannot be underestimated. Throughout the Christmas training schedule, try using these three tips to help sustain performance. One, try hydrating with a mix of Gatorade and water. While water is an essential nutrient and crucial for sustaining performance, your body will reach a point where it needs more. Mixing your water bottle half and half will replenish your fluids more quickly while aiding your body with the extra carbs and protein needed to finish strong. Two, bring a sports bar or energy bar to snack on during practice
2nd Annual FLEET Christmas Toy and Food Drive Thank you to all who contributed food and toys for the 2nd Annual FLEET Christmas Toy and Food Drive. We had over 200 food items donated for the Houston Food Bank and over 30 toys donated to the Texas Children’s Hospital—Katy. Your donations make a difference!
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when you hit that point of fatigue. Remember that after two hours of intense exercise your body will have depleted its stored carbohydrate energy, and begin to use your stored fat energy as a reserve. Stay ahead of the game by keeping a healthy, quick to eat snack on deck. Three, jump start your bodies recovery process by eating or drinking something within 30 minutes of the end of your workout. An easy and tasty recovery drink is chocolate milk, which has an excellent carb-protein ratio that is ideal for recovery after a hard workout. Remember that the holiday training schedule contains some of the most de-
your goal should be to fill your body with the best fuel available so that it can work to its full potential.”
manding training of the year, so give yourself the extra benefit of adequate sleep, eating healthy and staying hydrated!
Coach Matt’s New Addition
For those that included their name for high school service hours, look for your service hour form in your family folders by January 10th. We look forward to coordinating this worthy donation drive again in December 2013.
“As an athlete,
Coach Matt Hone has a new addition to his family! Josie Elizabeth Hone was born on December 15, 2012. She weighed in at 8lbs 5oz.
Tori Karker and Hunder Gildart
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Cy Fair Swim Club “Home of the Fleet”
Coach Dustin: Making the Most of Practice In this newsletter, Head Coach Jack Maddan talks about the importance of the practices done over the holiday break. We are heading into the home stretch of the short course season, and before you know it we will be coming down and resting for our champs meets. With the number of practices left in our season dwindling, it is important that you make the most of them. Below are a few good tidbits of advice that will help you achieve that.
“Pay extra attention to those little things...we tend to forget about, to overlook….”
Work Hard – I know, you read this and say, “well duh coach”. But let’s look at this a little more closely. Working hard in practice covers more than just trying to go your fastest. And while that is extremely important, it is equally important that you work hard at doing things correctly. Maintaining stroke and turn techniques throughout practice (especially when you are tired!) will play a big role in how much you get out of that practice. Make the Little Things, Big Things – to follow along from
the previous paragraph; it is important to pay extra attention to those little things in practice. The things that we tend to forget about, or overlook, or simply say, this is too small of a thing to make a difference. How many times do you breathe into or out of your turns? How many times do you breathe inside the finish? How many times do you do a one-handed touch on your turns? How many times do you push off the wall with a loose streamline and weak underwater kicks? While these seem like small nuances, performing these and similar things wrong over hundreds of hours of swimming will start to add up. You have to remember that you race how you practice. You have to make the small, “unimportant” things, big, important things. Master the Clock – your best friend in practice is the pace clock. Forget Suzy or Johnny in the lane next to you, that block
of metal at the end of the pool flashing those red numbers is the most reliable thing out there during practice. He never lies, provides encouragement, helps you set goals during sets, and he always tells you when to leave into the next repeat. Paying attention to the clock – in other words, knowing how fast you are going – is something that all swimmers should excel at. Knowing your pace times will help you properly descend, build, negative split, etc, on your sets, allowing you to achieve the desired training effect. As mentioned earlier, it also helps you set goals. Knowing your time on one repeat allows you to try and beat it on the next repeat. These are just a few things, but making a point to do all these will help you make each practice count. We are nearing the end of the season so let’s make sure we are getting the most we can with what we have left!
Coach Ambar: New Year, New Goals Hi everybody I hope you all had a great holidays and enjoyed your days off. Well 2012 is over and it's time to start a New Year full of new goals and changes. I want to thank everybody for this year full good experiences and great times. 2012 was a great year form
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me , it was my second year Coaching and I learned a lot thanks to all my Swimmers and other Coaches who have been really patient with me when I ask so many questions. I had great experiences and I attended to really fun meets, I saw kids improving so much, reaching their goals and others getting really close. Seeing the kids doing a great job
during practices, meets and enjoying the sport makes me love my job more every day and really happy. This 2013 one of my goals is to keep on getting better and learn as much as possible. I can't wait for this New Year full of blessings and new experiences! Have a great 2013 everybody and let's keep the hard work!
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Cy Fair Swim Club “Home of the Fleet”
Reasons for Shaving Down Shave – The process of removing all arm, leg, and exposed torso hair, to decrease the "drag" or resistance of the body moving through the water. Used only by serious, competitive swimmers at very important (Championship) meets.
Why do swimmers remove their body hair? Actually, the reason is so that you shave off the dead skin cell layer. It has nothing to do with removal of hair on the body. Everyone is covered in a layer of dead skin cells. As new cells are created and old ones die, the old ones get pushed to the outside of your skin so they shed off. Unfortunately, the dead skin cells interfere with how sensitive your skin is and how well you can feel things. Thus, swimmers tend to shave down so that they remove as much dead skin as they can so they can feel the water better and can grab more water every stroke making them faster in the water. Swimmers often shave their palms for this reason. As for hair on the head, swim caps are generally used and so they don't have to shave their heads as they do not swim with their head. When one is swimming hair slows the swimmer down. It resists the water causing the swimmer to go slower. They shave it off to help the go faster. Simple hydrodynamics. Hair creates drag which in turn creates resistance which in turn slows the body's movement through the water. That being said, hair is removed to increase speed. Being a swimmer and a coach and paying attention in science class in
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the... 4th grade…its more hydrodynamic. Sharp RL, Hackney AC, Cain SM, and Ness RJ (1988): The effect of shaving body hair on the physiological cost of freestyle swimming. Journal of Swimming Research 4(1):9-13. The purpose of this study was to determine if shaving of body hair would have an effect on the physiological cost of standard swimming velocities. Physiological effort required to swim at a given velocity was assessed using determinations of blood lactate concentration 2 min after each of four 200 yard freestyle swims. Six subjects volunteered and were asked to swim four 200's with 15 min rest between each and reducing their time by roughly 10 sec on each consecutive swim. On the next day, subjects shaved their body hair from arms, legs and exposed torso and repeated this swimming protocol. Blood lactate accumulation at a submaximal speed of 1.08 m/ sec was significantly reduced by an average of 28% by shaving. Blood lactate accumulation at a maximal swimming speed of 1.30 m/sec was significantly reduced by an average of 23%. This much change in the physiological cost of submaximal and maximal swimming speeds is nearly as great as that resulting from a season of collegiate swimming training. It was concluded that there is indeed a physical benefit to shavingdown (most likely a reduction in body drag) and that the benefits are not solely due to a psychological response. In contrast, shaving significantly in-
creased distance per stroke (P < 0.05) by almost-equal-to 5%. These data indicate that reduced training specifically improves swim power; however, removing exposed body hair after taper may additionally enhance performance capabilities by increasing distance per stroke. Shaving Down: The effects on swimming of removing body hair The shaving of body hair for sprint swimmers has long been performed as a procedure that has been claimed to produce faster times in those shaved swimmers. A number of skeptics have claimed that the results were probably a psychological effect and "Any turkey who shaved his head was probably so scared of doing a bad time that his/her increased adrenaline levels would drive him/her on to a faster time!" The following scientific studies have shown that the removal of body hair does in fact reduce drag in the water so that shaven swimmers travel further per stroke than they did before shaving. shaving While identifying significant benefits for sprinters (i.e. up to 1,500 m), these findings have obvious beneficial implications for marathon swimmers i.e. so long as the reduced drag is not associated with an increased coefficient of heat transfer. Anyone who has shaved down for a Big Meet will know the wonderful feeling of doing fast sets with considerable ease during training sessions for at least 7 days after the meet.
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“Hair creates drag which in turn creates resistance which in turn slows the body's movement through the water.”
Cy Fair Swim Club Street Address 14654 Spring Cypress Rd. Cypress, TX 77429 Mailing Address 11659 Jones Rd., PMB #351 Houston, TX 77070 Phone: 281-376-2372 Fax: 281-251-6160
“Home of the Fleet”
Mission Statement To provide members and residents of the NW Houston area with the best quality swim programs that develop the physical, athle c and personal poten al for all ages and levels. This is accomplished through the following principles: • Provide an environment where swimmers of all ages can reach their desired poten al based on a philosophy of “longer range development”. • To teach all of our members the value, rewards and poten al that aqua c a vi es provide. • To provide a safe aqua c environment for members of the team and the community. • Provide coaches who are good role models for the purpose of goal se%ng, mo va on, a%tude, enthusiasm, morals and maturity. • Provide an environment where coaches and athletes may establish realis c goals and objec ves and measure their progress against established standards as benchmarks for improvement. • Provide a link to the local community that improves the value of both to their members. • Con nued growth of the membership and as well as facili es for training and development.
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Coaching Staff Jack Maddan, Head Coach coachjack@fleetswimming.com Andrew Korda, Gold, Junior, Senior, Elite Teams Coach coachandy@fleetswimming.com Matt Hone, Lead Developmental Coach coachmatt@fleetswimming.com Dustin Myers, Silver II, Junior and Elite Teams Coach coachdustin@fleetswimming.com Maryanne Svoboda, Bronze II and Silver Teams Coach coachmaryanne@fleetswimming.com Camilo Orellana, Bronze, HS Prep & Competitive Prep coachcamilo@fleetswimming.com Alex Rayner, Junior Team & Competitive Prep Team coachalex@fleetswimming.com Ambar Fernandez, Bronze Team Coach coachambar@fleetswimming.com Jeff Carder, Copper Team & Pre-Competitive Team coachjeff@fleetswimming.com
Swimmers at the Mountasia Fleet Holiday party Submit ar cles and photos by the 25th of the month to Fleet Communica ons Coordinator toddhdavis@gmail.com for considera on in the next month’s newsle0er.