1995 was the first year for this meet which we hope will become an Iowa City swimming tradition. Although the turnout was relatively small and only included the men, everyone had fun and many expressed regret that they had missed it.
1996 will be much bigger and better! We hope to add the women this year, in alternate events, giving everyone a bigger breather, and hopefully making the event twice as fun. We would also like to add a social either before or after the meet so everyone can catch up on old times. The graduating senior swimmers from this past season are already excited to come back and make an appearance.
Tentative date for the 1996 Green & Red meet is Saturday, December 28. Questions? Want to help organize the meet/social? Contact Phil Luebke.
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One of our more ambitious goals is to build a pool (or pools) for City and West at the high school(s). Even if it takes 100 years to raise the money necessary to fulfill this goal, it's a lot sooner than if we were to sit around and do nothing about it, so we've taken the first step to get us there.
The Iowa City Community School District Foundation is now accepting money for a swim pool fund. We are starting slow and passive in our fundraising efforts, but in two years we hope to begin a full-fledged private fundraising campaign. If you or anyone you know would like to give to this fund, please send a check made out to "ICCSD Foundation Swim Fund" to: Linda Alexander; Iowa City Community School District Foundation; 509 S. Dubuque St.; Iowa City, IA 52240. All donations are tax-deductible, and you will receive a receipt for your tax records. We will also be keeping track of donors to hopefully list on a plaque at the pool(s).
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There are certainly some former City High and West High swimmers who are deserving of recognition for their high school swimming accomplishments. In past years we have been negligent in nominating our stars for inclusion in the Iowa High School Swimming Hall of Fame. It is up to us to nominate representatives from our own schools. If we don't, they will never get in. If you know of a former City or West swimmer (or even U-High swimmer) who is not yet in the Hall of Fame, but you think should be, please e-mail me at chet@fyiowa.infi.net with his or her name, the years they swam and for which school, as well as why they are deserving of inclusion. I appreciate everyone's help in this effort. It's about time City and West's forgotten swimmers get the statewide recognition they deserve.
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Despite the short notice and ICSC-hosted swim meet the same weekend, our Amana Maifest fund-raiser went off without a hitch. We had just enough swimmer, parent, and coach volunteers to cover all of the shifts, and our anti-rain dance kept us dry all weekend, contrary to the forecasts and threatening skies.
After paying our expenses, the teams brought in $650 total. Half was put into each school's swim fund to be used as seen fit by the teams.
Since most of you already take the labels off of cans and jars and separate your garbage for recycling anyway, this next "fundraising" program should be fairly painless. As part of the well-known Campbell's Labels for Education program, we will be collecting labels from soup and other Campbell's products to earn equipment for the teams.
As some of you may be aware, there was some talk of making a swim team poster for next season. This has been placed on the back burner indefinitely, for a number of reasons, including cost and effort involved, other more pressing projects, and the fact that it's simply not a necessity.
Our System 5000 from Colorado Timing Systems, Inc. is up and running, and the backstrokers love our new AquaGrip anti-slip touchpads. We are in the process of purchasing a laptop computer, using money from the brat stand fundraiser, so that we can run our meets quicker and more efficiently using meet management software.
We will be holding some training sessions so that our parent volunteers will know how to run all of the equipment. Stay tuned for time and place.
We have two new Vasa Swim Trainers on the way. These are being worked into our regular dryland training and are extremely helpful for those occasions when a swimmer can't get in the water due to injury, illness, or whatever. We were supposed to be getting an underwater video camera for next year as well, but I've been told now that it is on hold, depending on how much is spent on the timing system. I am hopeful that we will be able to obtain this equipment for next year, as it will be invaluable in helping us to perfect stroke technique, and is an excellent means for providing quality feedback to the swimmers.
If you have aspirations of swimming in college, you may want to be listed in an on-line recruiting directory.
Interest in forming a water polo club continues, and I'm all for it. After all, water polo has been shown to be a great supplement to swimming. Pablo Morales was a varsity water polo player in high school and college, and Matt Biondi was a high school and NCAA All-American in water polo. The biggest problem will be finding pool time but I think the club would only need to get in about one practice a week for starters. Water Polo USA has sent me information on starting a club. If anyone is interested in helping to get the ball rolling on this, please contact me.
Well guys, have you found your three new recruits yet? Remember, for us to be successful, one thing that we need to do is increase our numbers, and it's up to you to talk it up and get some new faces out. So far, Tim Kresowik has given me the names and addresses of four potential swimmers, Mike Officer has submitted two, and Ben Mummey, one. Matt Lorson's been doing some recruiting work as well. If you know of anyone, be sure to contact me so that we can start talking with them and make sure they're getting mailings. Don't just start sending me names, though. I only want people who are genuinely interested in going out for the team.
While you've been improving yourself in the off-season (a-hem!), your coaches have as well. In May, Matt and I attended the 15th Annual Central States Swim Clinic in Chicago, where we attended talks and demonstrations by an impressive list of speakers including Bill Boomer, Dick Schoulberg, Jim Richardson, Ernie Maglisho, and Dr. Jackie Berning. No, it was not all fun and games (we didn't have time for it), but Matt and I came away with a lot of good ideas and information on the latest in training and stroke technique, and hopefully you'll see some of the changes as we implement our ideas next season.
And now for the information many of you guys have been anxiously awaiting... City High and West High will swim as a combined team next year. There was almost no resistance to the proposal at either the district or the conference level. There's still no word as to what the team will be called, or whether we will keep the same colors and mascots. If you have any input on this issue, I'm sure Marv (West A.D.) and Gary (City A.D.) wouldn't mind getting your input.
If anyone out there still has team warm-ups at home, turn them in NOW to either Derrick or me. They are not yours to keep!
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