With State school champs on this week and next, there seems to be some confusion with training sessions. Firstly, everyone should be training tomorrow afternoon. You should always try and swim the day before you race. Secondly, If you’re not trying to qualify then come a few mornings/ afternoons this week, especially if you’re not racing on one of the days. This also includes Saturday. Thirdly, sore ears are not an excuse to not train – put something in them and kick! Those people racing at Nationals need to keep up their sessions this week I.e. this needs to be a hard week. Otherwise your taper isn’t going to work. Similarly, if you’re only training 4-6 sessions per week then you don’t need a taper.
Good luck for all those going for QT’s this week. Stay focused and race to plan!
Nick’s 3rd place in the 200m Bst is testament to the speed of the new caps! What a race – and what a close finish. It even had me yelling from the sidelines! This has been a great meet for Nick – the 200m was his first PB since August 2010. He has shown a lot of maturity and commitment since then and his performances this week are a result of all that he has done in that time.
Look out for Nick in the Semi of the 50 Bst and Lauren in the Semi of the 200 Bk. This is Lauren’s 3rd semi and I know she is planning on making a final. It will take a PB from both swimmers to make their finals… But with the new caps this should be just a formality.
Nick showing off his medal (and his new hairstyle).
Keep an eye out for the new RIVER CITY SILICONE CAPS tonight in the Men’s 200m Breast final. Go Schafer!!!!
Thanks to all the swimmers, families and helpers that came along to the Open Day today. The club certainly represented and gave a good demonstration of what is on offer at our club. Thanks to the ladies that provided a very informative stand and also managed to sell some club merchandise!
For the Open Day we had some video trailer made, you can check these out below. I think they are outstanding and a very special thanks goes to the Iopu and Taimana families for producing these great clips.
River City Trailer One
River City Trailer Two
River City Trailer Three
River City Trailer Four
Enjoy!
After two days of racing at the Olympic Trials it’s a case of The Good, The Bad and The Ugly (I’ve been watching a lot of Clint Eastwood while in Adelaide!). Poor Thorpe look devastated after his 200 Semifinal last night. We have watched Ian enter the pool complex for the last two finals and the media are all over him. It would have been very disappointing for him after such a promising heat swim. On the good side however, I thought Libby performed very well in the 100 Fly and should be confident in her bid for a spot in the 100 Fst. I think this will be one of the most competitive events, and anyone making the semi has a chance of making the team.
From River City we have four swimmers competing. This meet has been a year in the planning, with a lot of time and money invested by all of us here. It doesn’t get any more high-pressure than this for the swimmers. Nick handled that pressure extremely well in the final of the 100 Bst last night. The standard this year is amazing. What made finals last year won’t get you into semi’s this year. Third place in the 100m Bst last year went 1.02.4 – this year it took a 1.02.6 just to make the final.
However, only three of those eight finalists improved on their semi time – the first and second place- getters and Nick, who went from a 1.02.56 to 1.01.85. Nick ended up 4th missing 3rd by 0.03s. He managed to drop his time by slowing his stroke down in the second lap and improving his distance per stroke. It takes a lot of confidence and courage to try that in a final, so I’m very proud of Nick in that regards.
It was very similar to Mary Elphinstone’s swim at the Senior Mets last weekend. Mary went 1.10.5 (from memory) in the heats and dropped to a 1.09.6 in the final – making a National Age qualifying time in the process. She did this by slowing down her first lap (by half a second) and as a result was able to swim her second lap much faster. Also a very gutsy swim – it’s not easy to (deliberately) slow down in a final!
I think most swimmers have great swims in them but race poorly. It’s essential you have a race plan and stick to that plan. No matter if it’s an Olympic final or a club meet – its all the same – or it should be! I know we have a few swimmers trying to qualify at the school states next week. You all have race plans – stick to them and you may surprise yourself.
Dale told me how focused everyone was towards the end of this week (after a ‘not-so-focused’ first half of the week). At this stage of the season, if you’re not 100% focused and motivated then there is very little the coach can do. With only four weeks left of training AND racing, everyone should be doing all they can to make use of each and every lap. Good habits are created by doing the little things right every time. So take the last few weeks and create some good habits.
Back here in Adelaide we have some big swims to go. Lauren has made two Semi finals – the youngest for both of those events. Hannah has her best event in the 200 Bst in a few days and Jacob is out to make amends in his 200m after a disappointing 100 Bst. And Nick is aiming to move up 0.03s in his 200m! And the way to do all that…. Follow their race plans!
Hi Members
You are all invited to attend our club committee meeting at 8am in the classroom at the pool on the 24th March 2012.
Hope to see you there
Aaron
Hi Members
If you are wishing to use times from schools swim meets as Qualifying times for Age National, please read on.
Swimming Qld requires you to submit a form to enable results from school meets to be used as qualifying times. Information can be found on the Swimming Qld website by clicking HERE. If you plan on using these results, please follow this process ASAP.
Hi Everyone,
Somerville House is having it Open Day this coming Saturday 17 March from 10am till 1pm.
River City will have a stand at the pool to provide information to new members.
We will also be running fun activities in the pool.
The day will run as follows
10.00-11.00 Club Morning. There will be no Thursday club night this week, it will be on Saturday morning instead.
11.00-12.00 BSA Relay practice for 9-12 year olds.
12.00-1.00 BSA Relay practice for 12 and over.
Please see Dale if you are not sure which Practice Session to attend.
We are also looking for parent volunteers for the stand. If you able to help for 30 minutes or an hour please let me know.
Thanks
Adrienne Innes
The club is currently seeking interest from members wishing to attend the upcoming meet. Coach Dale is very keen to have as many teams from River City involved as possible.
A great part of this meet is the ‘March Past’ during the lunch break – great practise for those budding Olympians when you enter the arean on opening night!
Entry for this event will be covered by the club, along with some team gear for all attending.
If you are after more information check out the meet flyer HERE
Please register your interest by either seeing or via email to rivercityrapidsswimclub@gmail.com
Saturday (Day one) saw 13 out of our 16 River City’s compete at the Junior Mets held at Chandler on the weekend, with everyone doing a PB and seven making Finals Appearances. Ainslee Togia was the stand out performer of the day bagging a medal of every colour and breaking a Queensland AllComer’s record in the 50m Backstroke. Ainslee won female competitor of the meet, which is awarded by the judges &officials at Chandler….WELL DONE Ainslee!!!!!
Medals Won:
• Ainslie Togia: Gold 50m Back, Silver 50 Breastroke, Bronze 100 Back Stroke
• Daniel Ashcroft: Gold 200Brst
• Molly Atkinson: Bronze 200Brst
Other Results were: Wei-Zhang Chan( 1 Final, 2sec PB); Lachlan Pigdeon (2sec PB); Danilo Gigovic (3sec PB, 1 final); Christian Tedman (1sec PB); Lauren Tedman, Annalise Salm (1 final), David Galvin (0.2sec PB), Guy Bacon, Aleksis Gigovic (1 final), Charlotte Atkinson( 1sec PB).
Sunday (day 2) saw everyone return plus 3 more competitors, Callum Parbery, Connor Oslington – Elliot and young Toni Galvin. Also we saw a few more PB’s and three more medals being added to the tally. The first two medals went to Callum Parbery (gold) and Dan Ashcroft (silver) in the 200Brst both doing PB’s, and the third to Molly Atkinson (Bronze) in the 100Brst also obtaining a new 2sec PB at the same time. It was also GREAT to see FOUR 12yr River City boys in the final of the 100Brst, Danilo Gigovic and Christian Tedman both did 3sec PB’s to qualify for that final, WELL DONE BOYS!!.
Other Results were: Annalise Salm ( 0.1sec PB in 200fs, 3sec PB 200I.M); Lachlan Pgdeon (6sec PB in the 200fs, 18s PB!!! 400 Fst); Christian Tedman did a 20ecs PB!!! in the 200fs); Aleksis Gigovic (6sec PB 100fs, 6sec PB 50Brst); Charlotte Atkinson (1sec PB 50bck); Guy Bacon (1sec PB 50bck); Danilo Gigovic (1sec PB 200I.M); Lauren Tedman (2sec PB 50fly); Wei-Zhang Chan (4sec PB 100Brst).
It was a great weekend enjoyed by the coaches and the athletes, the nine medals were a fantastic achievement and the club and myself are very proud of all the athletes and how they raced. I hope all the PB’s and great results inspire you to keep training hard. Once again congratulations to Ainslee for breaking the 50Bck record and claiming Female swimmer of the meet!
Written by Super Coach Dale!
