Sea Swim and Picnic Sunday 5th February

Need something to do on a lazy Sunday evening? Why not combine exercise and food - coz they go together, right? My mother always told me to wait an hour after eating before doing exercise so because we are a sensible bunch, and I still do what my mother tells me, we will swim and then eat. Problem solved.

Meet down at Little Bucks at 6pm on 5th Feb for a swim (as long or as short as you like) and then we will eat at around 6.45pm. High tide for those who like knowing that kind of thing is 6.27pm. Bring as many non-swimmers as you like.

Bring a picnic or you will starve.

Cambridge Swim Meet
This has been cancelled. If you were going to this meet - don't.


Race Night
First one for the year is this coming Wednesday 1st Feb. It is 400 free. We will keep 2 or 3 lanes available for those who want to do general training.

Technical Posting
There is a new posting on the Technical Tips page. It's all about swimmer's shoulder, how to overcome it and how to avoid it. Everyone who swims should read this article.

Coaching With Gary Hollywood, First Race Night of 2012

The first race night of 2012 is on Wednesday 1st February at 7pm. We are holding the 400 Free so all you enduro swimmers who like swimming long will want to be there. If you have a nomination for either swimmer of the month or the wooden spoon please contact me. You can contact me from the home page by clicking on the 'view my complete profile link' then click on 'email'. Remember, in advance of race night Avy is holding coaching on basics and starts in place of relays (one lane only) on Sunday 29th.

Technical Coaching
Gary Hollywood starts his most excellent technical sessions on Saturday 4th Feb at 11am at the Pakuranga College pool. He is starting with a block course on the ever popular freestyle. If you don't know Gary he is Head Coach with HPK Swimming Club and is a rising star of NZ Swimming having been coaching assistant for NZ Swimming for several tours during 2011. He really knows how to turn a sow's ear into a silk purse and if you haven't been to his sessions yet it's about time you came for a look. $10 per session payable directly to Gary. This is NOT training, this is 1 whole hour of technique, people give their right arm for this. Full information below.

What Will You Pay? Nothing, Zero, Nada, Zip.

Before I get to the free stuff my Satellite Spy has sent in the following report from the Round the Mount Swim:

"Dave Walker, Angela Oliver, Tony Shacklock and Ross Faulkner (supported by Anne) traveled to Mt Maunganui for the annual Round the Mount swim. It was a first for Ross & Angela and they both swam well. Dave didn’t actually swim, however, due to some planning and execution difficulties ;-) ((is this a wooden spoon moment? - Ed)) As usual, the Mount Lifeguards turned on great organisation and support for the swimmers, including loads of spot prizes and barbecued bacon & egg rolls. It did seem that there were fewer entrants than last year (about 150) but the spirit was good. The swim offered something for everyone – cold water, jellyfish, sea weed, strong currents....((how is this for everyone? - Ed)). Although the air temperature had dropped, there was no rain and the water was flat, offering the chance of good times. The fastest time was just under 50 min and ours were in region of 1 hr 10 min plus.

Ron & Dawn Tomlinson showed up for the prize giving. I suspect Ron thought he’d wander up and claim a prize or two. ((and he probably did! - Ed))" Thanks Tony, er, I mean, Assistant Reporter.

Did Dave forget his togs? Great swimming team!

Now For The Free Stuff!

Our skills coach Tony The Professor Shacklock is available for intensive/video/one to one coaching on Monday nights; HPK Head Coach Gary Hollywood runs block courses on Saturdays but WAIT, there's now more.

Avy has offered to present short bursts of coaching for those interested during the Sunday 15 minute relay time, to be held in one lane set aside for that purpose. These 15 minute sessions are confidence building sessions rather than comprehensive ones.

We though that it would be most valuable to conduct these sessions on the Sunday morning before each Club Night, especially for starts and turns. So, below is the proposed schedule (also posted on the Coaching Corner page for later easy reference). If you wish to have more intensive coaching, please see Gary on Saturdays or Tony on Monday nights.  

Wait, what? Where's the breaststroke? Have we left it off because we don't like breaststroke? Not at all, we love breaststroke. Deryn (hang on, that's me) is planning to run an intensive in the winter on breaststroke for all those breaststroke lovers out there. Meantime, there is all this wonderful free, yes FREE coaching on offer from Tony and Avy. Get in there! 

 

Club Night Dates	Date of Sunday Coaching	Area to be Coached
1 Feb 2012	29 Jan 2012	Basics & Starts
7 Mar 2012	4 Mar 2012	All Turns  (as requested)
4 Apr 2012	1 Apr 2012	Free Body Positioning
2 May 2012	29 Apr 2012	Free kick
6 June 2012	27 May 2012	Free arms (& whole stroke)
4 July 2012	1 July 2012	All turns (tumble & open)
1 Aug 2012	29 July 2012	Back Body Positioning
5 Sep 2012	2 Sep 2012	Back kick
3 Oct 2012	30 Sep 2012	Back arms (& whole stroke)
7 Nov 2012	4 Nov 2012	Fly kick
5 Dec 2012	2 Dec 2012	Fly arms (& whole stroke)

January Birthdays, Better Late Than Never (I Hope!)

Well I have an apology to make don't I? I'm very, very sorry to be so late with the January birthday announcements, what with being too obsessed with my own holidays. So here we are halfway through the month already. I hope that doesn't mean these important people only get half a birthday. Of course not! Here are the special people celebrating the most important day of the year:
Tim Aitchison
Mick Norton
Stu Graham
and celebrating a milestone birthday is our very own Barry Davies

Big ups to these people.


Club Tee Shirts - Get Yours Now

Don't know what to wear to the ballet that you have tickets for? We have the perfect answer. To kick off the new year we have club tee shirts available for purchase so you can now proudly show off that you are a swimmer/supporter of South City Masters Swimmers. These tee shirts are high quality, are light blue in colour and have the club logo on the front and back. Forgotten what the club logo looks like? Scroll to the top of this page. There it is.

Tee shirts have the option of men's or ladies necklines for the discerning customer (that would be me). His and hers. Maybe you need something special for that someone special.

I nearly flipped my lid when I saw how cheaply we are selling these. Truly, we might as well give them away - $10!!! What are we thinking? That's a measly $10 for your first tee shirt and a still very reasonable $17 (cost) for any further tee shirts. I'm a messy eater so I will be buying at least 2 so I still have one to wear while the other is in the wash.

Mike W will have sample sizes at training over the next couple of weeks so you can try before ordering. Orders please before the end of January.

News on Coaching Corner Page

Tony has given us a schedule for Monday night coaching for the next few weeks and this is now posted on the Coaching Corner page. You need to check into this page yourself each week to see what is coming up as I won't always be posting on the home page (meaning no automatic notifications sent out) unless there is a special coaching event.

Gary Hollywood's Saturday sessions will start back on 28th January, 11am with freestyle. More on this as we get closer to it.