TNT Newsletter
The New Team on the Eastern Shore of Mobile Bay
February 2006
NEW KIDS ON THE BLOCKS
A warm welcome to swimmers who recently joined TNT: Payton Waters, age 8, level 2 and Savannah Ekelund, age 12, level 3. You are going to have a lot of fun, learn about sportsmanship, and swim really, really fast.
HAPPY BIRTHDAY
Of all the swimmers on TNT, not a single one celebrates a birthday during the month of February. That celebration, or perhaps reason for mourning is reserved for Coach Jan Mittemeyer, who will be rounding the corner toward old age as he turns 50 on the 14th. Ouch!
IT’S OFFICIAL
Congratulations to Mike Turnipseed, who recently completed his certification to become a USA Swimming Stroke and Turn Judge. Mike is the dad of Level 3 swimmer Boyd, and now the third parent from TNT to become a certified USA Swimming official.
PARTY TIME PRACTICE SCHEDULE
Practice during the Mardi Gras holiday is as follows: Monday, February 27, levels 4 & 5 from 8:00 – 10:00 AM. Level 3 from 10:00 – 11:30 AM. Tuesday, February 28, levels 4 & 5 from 8:00 – 10:00 AM. Levels 1 & 2 from 10 – 11 AM. There will be lots of beads and Moon Pies so don’t miss it!
YOU CAN DO IT
Dave Smith of Southeastern Swimming will be coming to the Bounds Family YMCA, Saturday, March 4 at 9:00 AM to give a stroke and turn official’s clinic to parents of TNT swimmers. Stroke and turn judging is not hard to learn, and will get you out of the spectator seating and onto the deck where you will be a valuable contributor. All families are encouraged to have at least one parent in attendance. So, come on and show your kids that you consider their sport important enough to get involved and help make TNT the best team that we can be.
FASCINATING FOOD FACTS
Mr. Ken Haney of Thomas Wellness Center will be hosting TNT’s Second Annual Interactive Nutrition Seminar, Saturday, March 4 from 12:30 – 2:00 PM, location TBA. The seminar will include an appetizer, main course, and dessert for all in attendance. During the meal, Mr. Haney will identify the main food groups and essential nutritional elements and will explain how they contribute to positive growth developmentally, as well as athletically. Finally, Mr. Haney will answer questions that parents and swimmers have about what, when, and how to eat. Last year’s program was fun and delicious so please don’t miss it.
EXTRA SPECIAL
8 & UNDER THUNDER
The SES South District and 8 & Under Championship Meet is scheduled for March 11 – 12 at a yet to be determined location. This is the final meet to qualify for the Southeastern Championship Meet, and is also the SES Championship meet for swimmers age 8 & under. All swimmers ages 8 & under from TNT are highly encouraged to attend this meet in order to generate our best team effort toward winning the meet. A pizza party, special web site feature, and meet tee shirts are planned for all 8 & under swimmers from TNT who participate in the meet, so don’t be left out!
ATTENTION ALL WINNERS
TNT’s Second Annual Short Course Awards Dinner will be held on Tuesday, March 14 from 6:00 – 7:30 PM at the Christ the King Catholic School Gymnasium. All parents and siblings are invited. The evening will begin with dinner followed by recognition and awards presentations to all registered TNT swimmers, as well as Southeastern Short Course Championship qualifiers. The entrée will be provided by TNT and families will be asked bring salads, garlic bread and desserts. Mark this important date on your calendar and please plan to attend.
WELCOME TO THE TEAM
TNT wishes to thank following businesses and welcome them to our family of TNT advertisers: Haley Dermatology, Gatlin Hudson Architects, Cotton’s Restaurant, A Little Touch of Country, Daphne Mazda, and Celebration United Methodist Church. Businesses that advertise through TNT support our program by helping our families meet their fundraising objectives and allowing TNT to keep program fees comparatively low.
THE GOOD GUYS
Fundraising is a normal function at most privately funded organizations, and supplements TNT’s comparatively low training fee structure. An effective and relatively painless way of fundraising available to our membership is advertising local businesses through TNT. Special thanks to those local businesses that support our program by advertising on our web site. Please visit our web site advertisers at http://www.swimtnt.com/advertisers_page.html
OFF TO MUSIC CITY
Nine swimmers from TNT have thus far qualified to participate in the annual 2006 SES Short Course Championship Meet, to be held March 16 – 19 in Nashville, TN. This meet features the fastest age group swimmers from throughout Southeastern Swimming, including the states of Alabama, Tennessee, and the panhandle of Florida. All TNT swimmers are encouraged to keep working hard and to make qualifying for this annual meet one of your swimming goals. Congratulations to current qualifiers from TNT: Will Anderson, Carly Davis, Daniel Doucet, Jordan Doucet, Adele Mantiply, Adrian Novak, J.D. Powell, Kyle Simpson, and Ashley Szydel.
POWER POINTS
TNT, in conjunction with USA Swimming Inc. is utilizing the Power Point system which compares quality of swimming performances across strokes, distances and events, as well as between age groups. The power point scale ranges between 1 and 1100 points with 800 points closely approximating the National Top 16 Reportable Time Standard. Power points can be used to assess strengths between distances in the same stroke, as well as relative strength of one stroke vs. another stroke. More than that, Power Points will facilitate fun intra-squad competitions between age groups, as well as provide recognition to individual swimmers from meet to meet based on point level achievements. You can find current TNT swimmer scores at: http://www.swimtnt.com/Power_Points.html
I.M. EXTREME
The IMX Challenge is a motivational program where swimmers are scored using the power point system and ranked nationally on their performance in a combination of five or six events. The purpose of the program is to promote versatility in age group swimming while advocating greater participation and development across a range of events that are integral to long term success in swimming. You can find current TNT swimmer scores at: http://www.swimtnt.com/IM_Xtreme.html
THE REAL OLYMPIC SIZE POOL
TNT’s short course swimming season ends with the championship meet in Nashville and we begin the long course swimming season in April. Don’t be fooled by the name. Long Course simply refers to the type of pool, or course that the swimmers compete in. That pool is 50 meters long, rather than the shorter 25 yard pools that we have been competing in since September. There are few differences though. First, there are less turns in long course, approximately half as many per race. For instance, a 50 meter event has no turns. A one hundred meter event has only one turn compared to a one hundred yard with three turns. A two hundred meter event has only three turns compared to seven turns for short course, etc. Everything else remains the same with monthly competitions held throughout the Southeastern LSC including a championship meet at the end of July. This summer’s championship meet will be held July 27 – 30 in Knoxville, TN. TNT’s long course competition schedule will be included in the March newsletter.
IT DOESN’T GROW ON TREES
TNT depends on all registered team members meeting their fundraising commitments in order to keep training costs low. With the 2005-2006 fundraising deadline approaching, there are still opportunities for team families with outstanding balances in this area to meet their obligations by participating in several ongoing projects. Please see Debbie Anderson for family account details.
