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Black & Orange Intrasquad Meet
Date: October 5, 2019
Time: 8:45 a.m. warm-up - 9:30 a.m. start - 11:30 a.m. finish (approximately)
Registration Deadline: Saturday, September 28
Location: Ensworth Natatorium
Participants: Our ENTIRE team
Our annual Black & Orange meet will be one week from this Saturday at the Ensworth Natatorium. We currently have 221 member-athletes on our team and we would love for EVERYONE to be able to participate in the meet! While that may not be realistic due to natural conflicts, this is a fun team-building experience that we will spend all of next week getting excited for.
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- Senior and Senior 1 will practice at 7:00 a.m. (Dry-land and some swimming)
- Warm-up for everyone else will begin at 8:45 a.m.
- The meet will begin at 9:30 a.m.
- The meet will be over at approximately 11:30 a.m.
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The coaches are currently working on the event order for the meet. We will have that out very soon. Our plan is to have all swimmers in their age groups all swim the same events. Some of the events will be non-traditional and NONE of the events will count towards qualifying standards for swim meets in the future!
This meet is about being competitive, having fun, and strengthening the bonds within our team.
PLEASE BE SURE TO COMMIT YOUR CHILD TO PARTICIPATE IN THE MEET NO LATER THAN THIS SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 28! The coaches will split the committed athletes into Orange and Black once the registration deadline passes. Athletes will not necessarily be on the same team they have been on in years past (including Red Gables students who may already be assigned an Orange and Black team in school - that designation will not necessarily apply to our Intrasquad Meet).
We will not have the usual volunteer needs for this meet, but parents who want to assist by timing will be more than welcome to. Look for more information after this weekend and ways to help get your kids excited about being part of a wonderful Ensworth Aquatics tradition!
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Black and Orange Photo Share
We need your help to get your kids fired up for the Intrasquad meet! Leading up to the meet, we will designate one of our scoreboards for the Black Team and one for the Orange Team. We would like to be able to show pictures of your swimmers (whether swimming, at home, doing something else they love, etc.) during the week on their team scoreboard.
Please use this link to share photos and be sure to name the file the NAME OF YOUR child. That way we can ensure the right pictures get on the right scoreboard.
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Failure is Necessary to Learn, Improve, and Grow
We all know that success does not follow a linear path. There are always setbacks and obstacles. Don't disregard those setbacks because in those moments are opportunities for growth as an athlete and as a person.
Please use this link to read Will Jonathan's article, Failure is Necessary to Learn, Improve, and Grow, featured this week on USA Swimming News.
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The Biggest Key to Success:
Showing Up!
This is a reminder to all athletes in all groups to be at practice! While we understand and support that many of our swimmers have other interests, obligations, etc., there is no surer way to stagnate in this sport than not to get to practice often enough. Athletes who tend to be diligent with their attendance also tend to be the ones who show the most consistent improvement at meets.
Athletes who consistently do not meet the practice recommendations throughout the year will lose the ability to keep up with their peers in practice, which will also impact their ability to move up to the next group down the road. While we aim to be supportive of all of our swimmers, our staff is also invested in building a continually improving program, one that becomes increasingly competitive with better clubs around the country.
Please reference our Team Handbook for your child’s practice recommendations. And remember, while we do not have an attendance requirement policy, coaches do consider consistency and practice performance very heavily when moving athletes to the next group on the team.
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October Open
Date: October 19 to 20, 2019
Time: Check Meet Page
Registration Deadline: Wednesday, October 2.
Location: Ensworth Natatorium
Participants: Ensworth Aquatics plus some other smaller teams
Registration is open for the annual Ensworth Aquatics October Open. This past weekend, athletes from across all of our groups did a wonderful job of stepping up and racing hard in our September opening meet. It was a noticeable change for early in the year on our team, and a welcome one. While we have worked hard over the years to bring more teams to some of our meets, our October meet has not consistently attracted as many teams as we would like.
While our goal as a staff is always to create the best racing opportunities for our athletes, it is also up to the athletes and their parents to take advantage of every racing opportunity they are presented with. I have had parents tell me in the past that their kids won’t swim fast in a meet because the competition is not good enough, and it’s not preparing them for the next meet. When I hear that concern I like to think about the University of Texas Men’s Swimming and Diving program.
Texas is a perennial contender for the NCAA national title. When I was in college, we (SMU) competed with Texas at the Southwest Conference Championship meet, along with Rice, TCU, and Texas A&M. Texas now competes in the Big 12 Conference Meet against West Virginia, Kansas, and TCU. Texas isn’t just the best team at their current meet (and they were back when I swam), their B and C relays are often in the top 2 or 3 overall. Texas men finished in the top 6 in the 500 Freestyle, but those were only their top 6 that were allowed to score! Their two exhibition swimmers would have placed 7th and 8th.
This is a meet where Texas swimmers who have not qualified for the NCAA Championships have to make their cuts. And they have to do it by competing almost 100% against themselves. And somehow, one month later, Texas is always in contention of being the absolute best collegiate team in the United States.
Racing is not only about who is in the lane next to you, but also what you do with the water between your own lane lines. If we can build on the great success we have already seen in September then the October Open will be the most successful October meet we have ever had.
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Making GAINS
Last year, Ensworth Aquatics introduced a new dry-land program after Coaches Marli McIntire and Christian Bahr attended the GAIN Clinic in Carmel, Indiana. This year our club is building on what we learned. Erin Pryles, Joe Goeken, Victoria Bahr, and Marli McIntire returned to Carmel for the three-day, continuing education, swimming summit.
The clinic was presented by Vern Gambetta, the founder of the GAIN Swimming Network, along with other coaches from around the country. The GAIN method is utilized by many top Gold Medal clubs and university teams such as the University of Tennessee, University of Michigan, Purdue University, Kenyon College, Dynamo Swim Club, Singapore Swimming, and Team Elite San Diego.
The program focuses on functional training and foundations of athletic development. The course and modules are specific to swimming and build a complete athlete. Some of the main takeaways were as follows:
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- Dryland is more than just another workload we impose on our swimmers. It must be highly correlated with the objectives of the water workouts to achieve optimum results.
- Dryland must be swimming appropriate. If streamlining and efficiency in the water are the goal, then the dryland routine must reflect this.
- Dryland must be coached. It is all about linkage. For instance, we must reinforce the hip to shoulder relationship.
- Every swimmer should be assessed to determine any remedial needs in regard to posture or joint instabilities. Biological age and gender must receive strong consideration.
- All the work in the water is essential but if they are not strong and stable enough to hold a position, especially as they fatigue, all the yards in the world will not make them a better swimmer.
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The information they took away from the clinic not only inspired them to help our team get better, but it also allows all of us to build on our knowledge base formed after last year’s introduction to GAIN.
Our athletes will gain strength on land which will be applied to the water. You will notice right away all the groups practicing similar movements as we aim for a unified approach that readies each group for the next. The GAIN method approaches the swimmer with a full spectrum, multi-joint, total body movement ability in all planes with coordination, proper resistance and varying intensities based on the needs of each athlete.
We must emphasize that because much of the work we do will take place before practice, it is vital that all athletes are at practice not only on time, but 5 minutes early and ready to get started. We will continue to build on and introduce new elements of the GAIN program, but your athletes can only benefit if they are ready to begin on time.
We are excited to see our athletes learn the value of hard work, struggle, positivity and change out of the water and gain applied strength in the water.
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We Need Your Support
All swim teams need the support of parents, and Ensworth Aquatics is no exception. What makes us exceptional, however, is that we do not financially penalize families for not volunteering. This practice is industry standard, but it is one which our team has been able to avoid so far.
We need volunteers to run swim meets. It takes an average of 40 volunteers to run a single session at a meet. Some of the non-skilled roles that volunteers fill are: Timers, meet marshalls, concessions, and hospitality workers.
We also need volunteers to fill skilled roles at swim meets. The more parents we have in these roles, the fewer we have to rely on the small group we currently have to fill them. These skilled positions include: Being an official (starter, referee, stroke, and turn), meet director, AO, Hy-Tek computer operator, Colorado Time Systems computer operator.
Training is provided for all skilled positions and there is a lot of support. Most important, though, your involvement truly empowers our team to be able to offer your child the best competitive opportunities. Traveling to out-of-town meets costs a lot of money, and with the amazing pool we have, it is hard to justify traveling often. However, we cannot host meets if we do not get your support.
Please contact Naomi Kitahara kitaharan@ensworth.com if you are interested in learning a skilled position.
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Practice Information
View our team's Live Practice Schedule. Practice times generally stay the same, but there is always something on the horizon that might impact our practices and here is where we endeavor to communicate that information. We have created a live document to update parents about Ensworth campus events, swim meets, or other potential conflicts that might impact normal practice times.
We suggest families bookmark this page for quick and easy reference.
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Upcoming Meets
Visit the meet landing page on the website for additional information.
Splash & Dash Development Meet
at Ensworth Natatorium
September 28, 2019
Registration is Closed
Orange & Black Intrasquad Meet
at Ensworth Natatorium
October 5, 2019
Registration Deadline is September 29
October Open
at Ensworth Natatorium
October 19 - 20, 2019
Registration Deadline is October 2
Sprint or Treat Development Meet
at Ensworth Natatorium
October 26, 2019
Martha Bass Invitational
at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN
November 2- 3, 2019
Click Here to view the hotel information posted to the event landing page.
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Swim Meet Registration
Signing up for a meet is easy, especially with the OnDeck app. Please review this article for information on how to use OnDeck. You can also sign up directly through the team’s website. Information on how to do that can be found in the article as well.
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Happy Birthday Shout Outs!
Here are upcoming birthdays for athletes through October 12, 2019:
Asher McClung (Shark) turns 11 on Sept. 28
Miles Huneycutt (Shark) turns 13 on Oct. 2
Lucas Herring (Marlin) turns 14 on Oct. 2
Rob McCall (Senior) turns 17 on Oct. 3
Lizzie McWilliams (Junior) turns 13 on Oct. 5
Kiley O’Shaughnessy (Marlin) turns 14 on Oct. 5
Chloe Emerson (Shark) turns 13 on Oct. 7
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Ensworth Aquatics Gear
Swim Cap & T-Shirts
Swimmers can pick up their annual latex swim cap in the natatorium front office before or after swim practice. We will notify families when the team t-shirts and bag tags are ready to pick up later this month.
Speedo Merchandise & Equipment
Additional team gear, including warm-ups, swimsuits, backpacks, and equipment can be purchased directly at All American Swim. Visit the Team Gear page on our website for instructions on accessing our Ensworth Aquatics Online Store. To help our families who may have equipment/apparel they no longer need or have outgrown, we have a Swap Shop page (under the Competitive Team menu) where we will post any swim team-related items you want to sell, trade, or give away. This includes apparel, swimsuits, equipment, training aids, etc. Please email description/photo to Naomi Kitahara. Alternatively, you can also post on the Practice GroupMe.
Practice Group Equipments
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- Stingrays: Goggles, Cap, Athletic Shoes, and Speedo Trialon Fins
- Dolphins: Goggles, Cap, Athletic Shoes, Speedo Trialon Fins, and Snorkel
- Sharks: Goggles, Cap, Athletic Shoes, Speedo Trialon Fins, Pull Buoy, Snorkel, and Paddles
- Juniors: Goggles, Caps, Athletic Shoes, DMC Short Fins, Pull Buoy, Snorkel, and Paddles
- Marlins: Goggles, Caps, Athletic Shoes, DMC Short Fins, Pull Buoy, Snorkel, and Paddles
- Seniors: Goggles, Caps, Athletic Shoes, DMC Short Fins, Pull Buoy, Snorkel, and Paddles
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Senior Groups September Meet Recap
Our Senior group swam better this past weekend than we ever have in September. Not everyone was better than last September, but most were, and many by quite a bit. The coaches have talked with the athletes about why that is the case: We made a concerted effort to work harder at this time of the year than we ever have in the past.
While we continue to focus on underwater kicking, turns, and technical aspects of swimming, quite a few of those details should increasingly become the athletes’ responsibility. As coaches, we are looking to challenge them in many ways, some of which they like and others they may not be comfortable with. What we have seen this year is a bigger buy-in to those challenges, and it reflected directly in the athletes’ results.
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Juniors September Meet Recap
The Juniors had a great kick-off meet to start the season. We saw a tremendous amount of improvement from most swimmers. Our group has many new members continuing to adjust to the training. They are doing a wonderful job and adapting well.
We are working hard to enforce good habits early season such as streamlining and using the walls appropriately. Swimmers are also learning how to swim races intelligently and apply the techniques we are learning in practice each day.
Please encourage your swimmers to be prepared with equipment each and every day. Swimmers should ask coaches for a goal sheet to complete and review with coaches. We remain excited about the season!
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Dolphin September Meet Recap
Dolphins coaches had so much fun watching our pod compete in the meet this weekend. We swam lots of best times, and what's most impressive is how many swimmers tried new events for the very first time. We'd like to give a shoutout to Bryant Butts for competing in his first-ever 100 Butterfly and 200 Freestyle this weekend!
Please remind your swimmer to bring the following equipment to practice every day:
Water bottle, Goggles, Cap, Athletic Shoes, Fins, and a Snorkel. Please note Dolphins do NOT use pull buoys. This was an error in the last newsletter.
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Sharks September Meet Recap
The Sharks did a great job of racing well and incorporating practice habits into races. Nearly every day, we have focused on turns in a very specific way, and that specific work translated to very good open and flip turns for the Sharks. It is vital that these young athletes learn the value of competing on and around the walls if they want to be their best as they move through our program.
We also saw huge improvements in time for many swimmers. This week the coaches spoke to the Sharks about the realities of becoming an “older” swimmer. It is common for older swimmers to not swim best times early in a season. Some are even very far off of best times early on. As coaches, we often look at year over year results, i.e., how fast athletes went in September of last year. I encourage all Sharks to look at their times from a year ago to see how they have really improved, and then to use those times as benchmarks for improvement in the future.
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Stingrays September Meet Recap
What a fun way to start our season! The September Invitational was short and sweet and our Stingrays swam their hearts out. We had over 80% best times with almost half of those being first time swims… Way to go Stingrays!
During the meet, we had several swimmers ask how they placed in their race and although we love their drive to win, we want to help them learn to focus on personal improvement. Meet Mobile is a great app to use to keep track of their times and progress. I find it even more rewarding for the swimmer to keep a small notebook in which they take the time to write down their times from each meet and compare how they did to their previous swims.
We will continue to encourage our Stingrays to come talk to us before and after each event. It not only helps to develop a positive coach/swimmer relationship, but it’s also an important part of the learning process for an athlete. Before their race, we want to remind them of the things they have practiced that we want to see them remember in their race. After their race, we give them positive praise for things they did well and we help them connect the importance of listening and focusing in practice in order to perfect their skills. Personal improvement is not always about earning a best time… sometimes we see their growth in their ability to hold proper technique and race strategy and we want to have an opportunity to praise them for their hard work.
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USA Swimming - Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy
This past summer USA Swimming implemented the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy (MAAPP). This new policy is designed to safeguard athletes from potential sexual abuse by adults. All clubs are mandated to implement this new policy, which includes an Electronic Communications Policy that replaces the policy that has been in place since our club was founded. In order to finalize registrations, we ask that each family acknowledge the MAAPP. To access our full outline of the policy, follow this link to visit the information page on our website.
Use this link to complete the acknowledgment as soon as possible. This is a required step in USA Swimmings registration. Naomi Kitahara will be contacting all team members who need to comply.
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Ways to Stay Connected
GroupMe App
If you have not already joined your swimmers' GroupMe, please consider doing so. Parents, coaches, and staff use GroupMe to communicate last-minute updates, traffic issues, practice changes, lost and found, carpooling and much more. Each practice group has its own group text, and we believe if you ask any returning team members, they will confirm that GroupMe is an invaluable communication tool as it enables them to ask specific questions and plan activities particular to their practice group. Use this link to download the GroupMe app.
Click on the links below to connect with your swimmer's practice group and parent reps:
Parent Reps
Stingrays - Jessica Horne & Maureen Kolton
Dolphins - Lindsey Sanford
Sharks - Fran Spurrier
Juniors - Margaret Mason
Marlins - help needed
Senior1/Senior - help needed
Team Website & OnDeck
We are confident that everyone on our team has visited our team website by now, but beyond registration, it serves as the primary information tool for our team. Through our website, parents and athletes will commit to competitions, enter events, sign up to volunteer, access newsletters, review practice schedules, much more. Be sure to "Sign In" to the website to view all content. Go ahead and visit www.ensworthaquatics.com and bookmark it!
OnDeck is TeamUnify's supporting app that allows our staff to communicate through our website directly to team members' mobile devices. OnDeck also presents our website content to users with improved mobile device usability. What this means is you can enter into swim meets and signup to volunteer more easily on your mobile devices. Use this link to download OnDeck.
Social Media
Ensworth Aquatics is on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram. Click on the icons below to connect with us through social media.
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