Dixie Classic and Gwinnett Aquatics Meet Recaps

Lifetime Best Swims:

M Johnson, C Tappero, R Cetron, A Cook, L Sun, C Staley, M Swett, B Lonial, F Bettin, T Piper, R Cetron, A Cook, C Gantt, J Von Biberstein, B Curry, Y Smith, N Singh, I Ariail, K Yao, B Fadjariza-Dumais, I Velarde, N Gonzalez, J Hansen, N Bent, K Chen, S Humphrey, N Shields, L Cardot, P Johnson

USA Swimming "B" Times:

C Staley, R Cetron, I Ariail, B Fadjariza-Dumais, S Humphrey, L Cardot, P Johnson

USA Swimming "BB" Times:

M Johnson, R Cetron, A Cook, L Sun, M Swett, B Lonial, F Bettin, R Cetron, A Cook, C Staley, B Curry, C Tappero, Y Smith, T Piper, N Singh, B Fadjariza-Dumais, K Yao, N Gonzalez, N Bent, K Chen, L Cardot, N Shields

Georgia Age Group State Cuts:

Carmen Tappero: 100 Breast
Ben Lonial: 200 Free, 200 IM
Foster Bettin: 200 Free, 100 Back, 100 Fly, 200 IM
Alissa Cook: 50 Breast, 100 Back, 200 IM, 50 Back
Courtney Gantt: 50 Breast, 50 Fly
Julia Von Biberstein: 50 Breast, 100 Back, 50 Fly, 100 Breast, 100 Free
Chris Staley: 50 Breast
Brooks Curry: 100 Back, 50 Free, 200 IM, 50 Fly, 50 Back, 100 Free
Leesan Sun: 100 fly
Mark Rotolo: 100 Back, 200 IM, 50 Back
Yannick Smith: 50 Free, 200 IM, 50 Fly
Nora Singh: 200 IM, 50 Fly, 100 Free
Teo Piper: 200 IM, 50 Fly, 100 Free
Jackson Hansen: 50 Fly, 50 Back
Nicholas Gonzalez: 100 Breast

USA Swimming "A" Times:

J Von Biberstein, B Curry, T Piper, M Swett, J Hansen, N Gonzalez, T Piper, B Curry, C Gantt,

USA Swimming "AA" Times:

J Von Biberstein

Age Group Sectional Cut:

Julia Von Biberstein: 50 Fly

Meet Anxiety

I got this from the USA Swimming parent section. It is a Q&A on Meet Anxiety. I thought this would be an appropriate topic as a few of the swimmers in all 3 of my groups have shown signs of meet anxiety. Most of the parents have approached me about this, and I try to help that swimmer leading up to the meet and at the meet - but for those parents that still want to help their swimmer or may be feeling like they do not know what to do to help here are some tips:

Q: My child gets so nervous before a competition. Is this natural? What can I do to help her to reduce this competitive pressure/stress?

A: To a degree, nervousness is part of the competitive experience and can be used as an opportunity to teach the young athlete specific strategies or skills to help her manage this arousal or nervousness. A simple skill that young athletes can learn to help manage the “butterflies in their stomachs” is belly breathing. The athlete is taught to take slow, deep breaths into her belly, hold it briefly, and then exhale slowly. Words can be included to help the athlete focus her thoughts on something besides worry. This is a quick strategy that helps calm the body and mind and only takes a few seconds to do. Another skill to help the athlete deal with muscular tightness brought on by nervousness is progressive muscle relaxation. In this procedure, the athlete goes through the major muscles in her body and first tenses and then relaxes each muscle. This teaches athletes to learn the difference between a tense and relaxed muscle, to learn where different muscles are located, and to eventually be able to relax specific muscles as necessary. Remember that these skills must be taught and practiced before the athlete will be able to use them effectively.

We also know that excessive anxiety can be damaging to both performance and to the athlete's desire to enter such situations in the future. Two factors which have been found to play a role in the level of anxiety experienced are the importance of the event and the uncertainly of the outcome. Greater importance and greater uncertainty lead to increased anxiety. Parents, this suggests that you can play an active role in reducing competition anxiety by de-valuing the outcome of the event and by focusing on the individual performance over which the swimmers have control.

Symptoms of anxiety: increased heart rate,rapid breathing, sweating, negativity, jittery, frequent ‘pit stops’, excessive worry, doubts, talk of failure, low confidence.
Strategies to Manage: Deep belly breathing, positive self-talk, relaxation exercises, think of successes, stretching, visualize race, listen to music, focus on goals, light massage, distract by talking with friends, family.

Meet Recaps -Spring Splash & Dynamo Derby

A little behind, but here are the meet recaps for our 1st two long course meets!


Spring Splash

Lifetime Best Swims: C Gantt, C Tappero, R Cetron, M Johnson, A Cook, K Yao, N Gonzalez, J Hansen, B Lonial, Y Smith, M Young, L Sun, H Burdette-Sapp, M Speece, S Humphrey, M Rotolo, F Bettin, N Shields, N Singh, E Harrison, I Ariail, N Bent, C Horlock, T Piper, P Johnson, L Hutson, B Fadjariza-Dumais

USA Swimming "B" Times: M Young, M Johnson, R Cetron, H Burdette-Sapp, N Shields, B Lonial, L Sun, M Rotolo, Y Smith, M Speece, K Yao, N Bent, S Humphrey, I Ariail, L Hutson, B Fadjariza-Dumais, C Tappero

USA Swimming "BB" Times: C Tappero, R Cetron, M Johnson, A Cook, K Yao, J Hansen, B Lonial, Y Smith, L Sun, M Rotolo, F Bettin, N Shields N Singh, E Harrison, T Piper

Georgia Age Group State Cuts
Nicholas Gonzalez – 200 IM, 50 Fly, 50 Back, 100 Free
Jackson Hansen – 200 IM, 100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 Free, 50 Free, 100 Fly
Leesan Sun – 50 Fly
Mark Rotolo – 50 Fly, 100 Free, 200 Free, 100 Fly
Foster Bettin – 50 Fly, 50 Back
Alissa Cook – 100 Breast
Courtney Gantt – 100 Breast, 50 Back
Nora Singh – 200 Free, 50 Free, 100 Fly
Teo Piper – 200 Free, 100 Fly
Lauren Hutson – 50 Breast
Carmen Tappero – 50 Breast
Yannick Smith – 100 Fly

USA Swimming "A" Times: N Gonzalez, F Bettin, L Hutson, C Gantt

Age Group Sectional Time Cuts: (as a reminder there is no Sectional meet for 10 & Unders over the summer, but if they are 10 through the March sectionals next spring this cut counts!)
Foster Bettin – 100 Breast

USA Swimming "AA" Times: F Bettin

Dynamo Derby

Lifetime Best Swims: C Gantt, J Shuford, A Cook, R Cetron, C Tappero, L Sun, M Lee, S Humphrey, H Burdette-Sapp, N Gonzalez, M Rotolo, D Hall, L Cardot, C Staley, P Johnson, C Langer, A Reid-Martin, C O’Kelley, C Hughes, A Cartwright, B Reynolds, A Brawley, L Pencea, J Grobety, M Sketel, J Hull, J McGuire, N Reynolds, G Wheeler, W Wright, R Jatar, W Dillard, N Rotolo, K Cheng, A Tirrell

USA Swimming "B" Times: C Tappero, L Sun, M Lee, D Hall, L Cardot, C Staley, C Langer, A Reid-Martin, C O’Kelley, C Hughes, J Grobety, N Rotolo, K Cheng

USA Swimming "BB" Times: A Cook, R Cetron, M Rotolo

Georgia Age Group State Cuts:
Courtney Gantt – 400 Free
Julia Shuford – 400 Free
Nicholas Gonzalez – 400 Free

USA Swimming "A" Times: N Gonzalez

What's the scoop on cereal?

What's the Scoop on Cereal

So many options...how do you choose?

For swimmers, cereal is great just about any time of the day. Competitive athletes are encouraged to choose nutrient dense cereals, which contain more of the right kinds of nutrients (carbohydrate, protein, vitamins, minerals) per serving than their “candy cereal” counterparts. More bang for the buck, so to speak.

Generally speaking, the best cereals are high-carbohydrate (>25 grams/serving), moderate-protein (5-10 grams/serving), low-fat (<5 grams/serving), and moderate-fiber (2-4 grams/serving). Most cereals on the market today, including “candy cereal,” are fortified with vitamins and minerals, such that one serving usually provides 20-100% of a given vitamin or mineral. However, these values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, which is well below the energy requirements for most competitive swimmers in their teens and twenties.

Consider cereals in three categories: High Nutrient Density, Moderate Nutrient Density, and Low Density (aka “candy cereal”). Athletes looking for a good cereal but not a whole lot of calories, a Moderate Nutrient Density product is best. For those looking for density (i.e. lots more nutrients/calories in a smaller serving), then a High Nutrient Density cereal is the way to go. Swimmers looking for “candy cereal” should be encouraged to save this type of product for weekends and/or limited occasions. The following table offers a non-exhaustive list of cereals in each of the categories mentioned above:


High Nutrient Density Cereals
>30 grams carb
>4 grams protein
<40% of carbohydrate is sugar

• Quaker Toasted Oatmeal
• Raisin Bran
• Smart Start
• Blueberry Morning
• Basic Four
• Wheaties Energy Crunch
• Raisin Nut Bran
• Honey Nut Shredded Wheat

Moderate Nutrient Density Cereals
>20-30 grams carbohydrate
>2-4 grams protein
<40% of carbohydrate is sugar

• Cheerios
• Team Cheerios
• Rice Crispies
• Corn Flakes
• Special K
• Total

Low Nutrient Density (“candy”) Cereals
>40% of carbohydrate is sugar

• Fruit Loops
• Cinnamon Toast Crunch
• Captain Crunch
• Cocoa Puffs
• Fruitie Pebbles
• Frosted Flakes

And of course, hot oatmeal and granola are always excellent choices. And all dry cereals make a great snack to take on the road. Just toss 1 cup into a plastic storage bag or air-tight container, and off you go. The point is to find a cereal that tastes good and also meets your nutritional needs. With all the products on the market, no swimmer should have any problem doing just that.

Water - The Athlete's Most Important Nutrient

This week’s article is on the importance of hydration. Between training (which requires more hydration – you do sweat when you swim) and the weather warming up, I thought this would be appropriate. Your swimmer is encouraged to bring water to practice! Have a bottle sitting on the deck next to their lane is a great idea. I encourage my AG3 swimmers to drink their water when I am telling them their next set of the workout. This goes for swimmers AND parents. We both know that our swimmers cannot make it to practice if you were unable to bring them and they appreciate the work you do (as do I)! So please, have some water on hand throughout the day! And it does not have to be water specifically – one of the reasons why I love this hand out is how it breaks down some of our common foods and drinks with the percentage of water in them!

WATER: The Athlete’s Most Important Nutrient

Forget about every other question that you have about nutrition until you’ve figured out how to stay hydrated. Being smart about water intake can separate good performance from great performance. You are mostly water. In fact, if you took the water out of a 180-pound lean body, there would be about 55 pounds left. Because your muscles, your brain, your blood and sweat are mostly water, your body doesn’t work like it should when it doesn’t have enough water. You don’t think as clearly, your lose endurance and your heart works harder. When you’re severely dehydrated, sweating stops and your body overheats. The result-fatigue, weakness, dizziness, and collapse, or worse. In fact, every year, deaths in young healthy athletes are linked to severe dehydration.

Sweat It Out

Sometimes you don’t even see sweat, like when you swim. But you sweat whenever your body heats up from working out. Sweat is your body’s cooling system. Evaporation of sweat from your skin cools you down. When you sweat, you lose water from your body and that water must be replaced. Replacing the water takes a plan.

Don’t Rely on Thirst

You might be thinking, “What’s the big deal? Won’t drinking when I’m thirsty guarantee that I’m hydrated?” Surprisingly, no. During exercise, for reasons not totally understood, humans don’t drink enough to prevent dehydration. You need to drink before you’re thirsty and keep drinking after you no longer feel thirsty.

Drink It In

Forget about the old rule of drinking 8 glasses per day. You probably need more than that on most days. Counting how many glasses you drink is only one way of keeping track of what you need. A better way of making sure you’re hydrated is to check your body weight before and after practice. For accuracy, weigh in minimal clothing if there’s privacy, and afterwards, change out of the sweaty clothing before you weigh. The weight lost during practice or competition is not fat, it’s water loss. One pint of water weighs one pound. To replace the water, drink one pint of fluid for every pound you lost. (One pint = 16 ounces = 500 ml = ½ liter).

It is critical to replace the water loss as quickly as possible. Before your next workout, your weight should be back up to normal. If you can’t check your weight, pay attention to your body for signs of dehydration. Your mouth should not be dry. Your urine should be lemon-colored most of the time. More than one episode of dark yellow urine is a warning sign that you don’t have much reserve. (Exception: Vitamin supplements can turn your urine yellow-orange, even if you are hydrated.) Loss of appetite, stomachaches, and muscle cramps can be other warning signals of dehydration. When? Drink before, during and after working out. Drink a pint or so of fluid a few hours before exercise. This will help make sure you are hydrated and give you enough time to urinate if you need to beforehand.

Keep drinking during exercise. If you are sweating, your body needs a constant supply. Drinking fluids after workouts is extremely important. Even when drinking fluids during a workout, many athletes become dehydrated. Athletes working out in the heat for several hours can lose 10 pounds. That's more than a gallon of water.

What Should I Drink?

Your body needs water. But remember water comes in all sizes, shapes and colors. Milk is 90% water. Juice and most soft drinks are 89% water, sport drinks are 94% water, and even pizza is 50% water. And it all counts. Nearly everything that passes your lips provides water for your body, and in fact, research shows that most hydration happens at meals from the combination of food and beverages.

Research also shows that we tend to drink more if the fluid is flavored and if a variety of fluids are available.

Keys to Hydration When you have figured out how to stay hydrated, especially when you sweat heavily, you have accomplished the single most important performance-enhancing aspect of nutrition. Water is your most important nutrient.

Water Content of Common Foods and Drinks

Item…………………………………………………………………………Water content, approximate
Diet soft drinks, tea, coffee............................................................... 99%
Sport drinks....................................................................................... 94%Milk.................................................................................................... 90%Soup................................................................................................... 90%
Soft drinks, soda pop, juice............................................................... 89%Yogurt................................................................................................ 80%Corn................................................................................................... 76%
Baked potato..................................................................................... 74%
Cooked rice........................................................................................ 73%
Cooked pasta..................................................................................... 66%Taco................................................................................................... 59%Chicken.............................................................................................. 54%
Ground beef....................................................................................... 53%Pizza................................................................................................... 50%

Prepared by the U.S. Olympic Committee Sports Medicine Division and the International Center for Sports Nutrition.

©2006 U.S. Olympic Committee

Why Is Swimming A Year Round Sport?

News For SWIM PARENTS


Published by The American Club Swimming Association

2101 North Andrews Ave., Suite 107
Fort Lauderdale FL 33311
___________________________________________________________________


Why is Swimming a Year Around Sport?

First, at the competitive level a swimming athlete must train year around just to stay competitive with all the other athletes. Swimming is both conditioning intensive and skill intensive. Strength and endurance conditioning for swimming are not readily transferable from other sports or activities so they must be developed in the pool and in swimming specific dryland exercises. Swimming skills are constantly being developed and refined throughout the swimmer’s career.

Not all swimmers are at competitive levels so what is the point in training year around for them? The simple answer is that a good swimming program provides far more than swimming skill development and improvements in strength and endurance — it provides active development of life skills. By “active development” we mean planned — not by accident and not by coincidence. I regularly stop practice to take advantage of a teaching moments to demonstrate or discuss a life skill and we plan short 10 minute discussions on a variety of topics. Life skills that are actively promoted by this team include responsibility, self-discipline, work ethic, coping with peer pressure to use drugs, time management, team commitment and loyalty, lifetime fitness, nutrition, setting and meeting goals, learning to extend themselves, challenges, cooperation, and goal setting.

We know through research that sport in and of itself does not build character or life skills. These skills are developed by the influence of role models, the environment, and through a systematic, planned process. We do this at KJ SwimAmerica all year around and it is the most compelling reason to keep your child in the water all year around.

Now, having said that, is there room for other sports and other activities? As long as children aren’t being over scheduled we think YES! We encourage the children to be in other sports and other activities. My own 8 year old daughter swims two or three times a week all year around but she also plays in a basketball league and she plays with neighborhood friends after school.


The bottom line is that this swimming program is a healthy and wholesome activity available all year around for your children and we encourage you to take advantage of this opportunity.

Age Group Sectionals/Metro Divisionals Meet Recaps For All Groups

A lot of great swims over the course of two weekends. I saw a lot of swimmers rise to new challeges whether it was swimming an event for the first time, 4-5 events in a 2 hour time span, or being willing to try something new in technique with their strokes.

Age Group Sectionals

Lifetime Best Swims: A Reiter, J Shuford, H Robison, C Perry, E Martin, A Cook

USA Swimming Motivational AA Times: A Reiter

USA Swimming Motivational AAA Times: H Robison, C Perry

11& Over and 10 & Under Metro Divisionals

Lifetime Best Swims: T Lauterbach, A Brawley, M Johnson, R Cetron, I Ariail, A Cartwright, H Burdette-Sapp, A Altera, S Buckalew, S Bettin, L Cryor, J Zha, M Ariail, M Lee, K Hansen, I Taboada, A Reid-Martin, G Sherman, A Cook, E Harrison, M Fennelly, I Reynolds, C Hughes, J Von Biberstein, C Tappero, L Adams, N Singh, N Rotolo, H Price, V Zha, C Langer, H Cochran, I Velarde, L Beem, N Bent, K Cheng, M Speece, S Humphrey, B Lonial, J Purdy, H Kopelman, P Biondi, A Kohler, Q Ramirez, N Reynolds, T Piper, N Gonzalez, M Rotolo, M Li-Falcetta, D Hall, A ElHamahmy, J Hull, M Sketel, JR Hull, C Chernow, G Wheeler, A Voloschin, J McGuire, N Shields, C Staley, L Cardot, A Pascaner, W Wright, M Dillard, C Crumley, F Bettin, B Fadjariza-Dumais, P Johnson, W Dillard, A Kohler, Y Smith, M Young, L Cardot, J Purdy,

USA Swimming Motivational B Times: T Lauterbach, I Ariail, K Hansen, N Rotolo, H Burdette-Sapp, L Beem, C Langer, M Fennelly, M Lee, I Velarde, A ElHamahmy, J Hull, C Chernow, A Voloschin, L Cardot, M Rotolo, D Hall,

USA Swimming Motivational BB Times: E Harrison, L Adams, N Singh, I Ariail, R Cetron, G Sherman, C Tappero, B Lonial, JR Hull, N Shields, C Staley, Y Smith

Georgia Age Group State Cuts:
Julia Von Biberstein – 100 back, 100 Fly
Lilly Adams – 100 breast
Nora Singh – 50 fly
Alissa Cook – 200 IM
Chris Staley – 50 breast
Teo Piper – 100 breast, 50 fly, 100 IM
Nicholas Gonzalez – 50 free, 100 fly, 100 IM
Mark Rotolo – 200 IM

USA Swimming Motivational A Times: T Piper, N Gonzalez, F Bettin