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Ensworth Aquatics heads to Knoxville this weekend to compete in a large prelim/final invitational at the University of Tennessee. Here are a few things to know about the meet:
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- There will not be lanes for a Thursday evening warm-up
- The morning is 13 & Up sessions will be long. Preliminary timelines have the sessions running from 8:00 a.m. to 12:45 p.m. Athletes will need to bring snacks, drinks, etc. to the pool to stay hydrated. The warm down pool will be in the 25-yard diving well.
- Relays are only in the 12 & Under session. Relays are 12 & Under rather than 10 & Under and 11-12.
- The 11-12 and 10 & Under events are Timed Finals. The 13-14 and Open events will be Prelim/Final. For events 200 and shorter, there will be 2 heats of 13-14 in finals and 3 heats of Open. There will be 1 heat of 13-14 400 Free and 400 IM in finals, and two heats in the Open 400 events.
- Parking will cost $5 and will be available in the parking garage across from the pool. There is also metered parking on Volunteer Blvd.
- The Psych Sheet and Timeline can be found on both our Team website and TNAQ’s website.
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This invitational is a great opportunity for all of our competing swimmers to put up their best times so far this summer. After this meet, we will host a last chance meet in July followed by the SES Championship meet in Huntsville.
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Dollywood
For those planning to join us on Monday, June 17 at Dollywood, Coach Bahr plans to get to the park at 9:30 a.m. (the park opens at 10:00 a.m.). We will meet up at the Group Sales entrance. If people decide they would like to join the team at Dollywood, please purchase your tickets and meet at the Group Sales entrance.
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Ensworth Aquatics Masters Summer Soiree
The Ensworth Masters team is hosting its first ever Masters Meet on June 22. This will be the inaugural Summer Soiree, with plans for this event to evolve into a destination meet for Masters swimmers across the country.
We welcome anyone who wants to volunteer for the meet, especially those skilled in Hy-Tek or the Colorado system. Come support our Masters!
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USA Swimming - SafeSport Policy
USA Swimming, in accordance with its Safe Sport guidelines, is implementing the Minor Athlete Abuse Prevention Policy. All USA Swimming member clubs are required to abide by the policy, which must be reviewed and agreed to in writing each year by all coaches, athletes, parents, and non-athlete members (officials, meet directors, etc.).
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USA Swimming SafeSport Policy applies to the following:
- All non-athlete and adult athlete member
- Participating non-members (timers, computer operators, meet marshalls)
- Club adult staff
- Any other adult authorized to have regular contact with or authority over minor athletes
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USA Swimming SafeSport Policy will address these key areas:
- One-on-One Interactions
- Social Media and Electronic Communications
- Team Travel
- Locker Rooms and Changing Areas
- Massages / Rubdowns
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Some points that merit special attention have to do with social media. We are working to get clarity from USA Swimming, but it is our understanding that all "Applicable Adults" as indicated in the policy are prohibited from being “friends” with athletes on social media. This would include coaches, non-athlete members such as officials, meet directors, and AO's, and any meet volunteers such as timers, announcers, computer operators, meet marshalls, etc.
The policy also requires that coaches copy athletes’ parents on any electronic communication. This includes something as mundane as a response to an athlete who texts a coach to say she/he will be late to practice. It will likely be best if minor athletes copy their parents when initiating electronic communication with coaches.
This policy is designed to protect both athletes and applicable adults that it covers. While some of the provisions may take getting used to, we appreciate everyone’s willingness to adopt this policy in full.
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Scholastic All-American Applications
Athletes can now begin applying to be named a USA Swimming Scholastic All-American. Scholastic All-Americans must meet a time standard and a GPA Minimum. Applications are now open. The deadline to apply is August 15, 2019.
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| | A Rocky Start and a GREAT Finish
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| "When we see others as part of us, as connected, as interdependent, then there is no challenge we cannot face" - Archbishop Desmond Tutu from The Book of Joy.
I often think about Rocky III when coaching at our pool, how early in the movie Rocky had the best training environment money could buy, but money could not buy him motivation or a win.
We are privileged to coach, swim, and compete in what is arguably the nicest high school pool in the United States. Just how wonderful our situation is became apparent last week when Coach Goeken and I brought the majority of the Senior group to Pensacola for a training trip.
The pool we trained in at the University of West Florida (UWF) is an indoor, 50-meter pool. Two things happened in the week before our trip: The pool temperature at UWF popped up two degrees and the chlorine was raised because of a swim meet the weekend before we arrived.
We arrived to warm water and bad air quality, and the swimmers were NOT used to it. Neither were the coaches. Our first two practices on Monday were rough. The kids felt hot. We took breaks so they could step outside for fresh air. We made those first two workouts less demanding in the hope that the kids would acclimate. There was a lot of coughing and a lot of refilling water bottles. One thing there was not a lot of: Complaining.
Coach Goeken was very quick to point out to me how ideal this training situation really was for our athletes in particular. It was ideal because it was so far from ideal, so far from what we all take for granted on a daily basis, that it ripped all of us out of our comfort zone. Soon we were making the same point to the athletes: They could train great there. As the week went on the practices got more challenging and the athletes responded.
We did a speed set on Wednesday afternoon that was exceptional. One of the Senior swimmers went a best time in the 200-Meter Breaststroke on the fifth fast one of a very hard set. Kids were swimming better pace 50’s than they had the whole season. While not everyone was exceptional, everyone at least had exceptional moments. And the group, as a whole, was tough.
Unlike Rocky, they didn’t leave our pool to purposefully train in conditions that were not, in any sense, ideal. But they did experience what plenty of kids do at clubs and colleges around the country: Pools that are not built or maintained to the standard we come to expect at our facility. To their credit, our kids recognized that if other people can do it, so can they.
Training trips are about, well, training. They are also about fun activities like going to the beach, going to minor league baseball games, escape games, etc. But more than anything, training trips are about creating a collective consciousness of hard work, determination, personal accountability, and no excuses. The camaraderie we saw, as coaches, was inspiring. It would have been easy for the swimmers to rally behind what was not good but, instead, they rallied together because conditions were not good.
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An Evening of Baseball
Ensworth Aquatics made its presence known behind right field during a recent Nashville Sounds baseball game. Fran Spurrier conceived of a night out at the ballpark last year and, back then, only two kids showed up! So she tried it again, and this time we had more than a dozen swimmers from the Sharks, Stingrays, and Dolphins, plus all of their parents and two coaches! Not only that, but Fran and company got to the stadium early and claimed the comfy couches behind right field.
While I’m not sure who won the game, I do know they should probably hand out helmets as well as putters on the mini golf course in the fun zone. We had a few kids who looked like Tiger Woods swinging to set up an eagle at Augusta!
All in all, it was a beautiful, wonderful evening of fun with parents and kids getting a chance to enjoy each other not scented with chlorine. Thanks to Fran for the inspiration and everyone who attended for making it a wonderful evening.
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Summer Long Course Meets
NCSA Championships
August 6 - 10, 2019 - Indianapolis, IN - Qualifiers
See information below
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| Hotel and travel information can be accessed through the event landing pages, which are linked in the travel meets above.
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| NCSA Championships
Qualifying athletes will travel to Indianapolis as a team. We have secured a room block for athletes and coordinating a bus for team travel. Naomi Kitahara is working on a room block for parents. More information about this meet will be sent in the upcoming weeks.
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Practice Schedule Updates
Reminder: There is no practice on Friday, Saturday, or Monday due to the TNAQ swim meet.
Summer practice schedules through June 29, 2019, are posted on our Live Practice link. CLICK HERE to access the information. Live Practice Schedule can always be found on the team website.
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| Dolphins
Good luck to our dozen Dolphins competing this weekend in Knoxville!
A huge thank you to Fran Spurrier for organizing our outing to the Sounds game! It was such a fun event for parents, swimmers, and coaches. We're already looking forward to our next team activity.
Practice Schedule
We love seeing your swimmers at practice - especially when they bring their water bottles! Please refer to our live practice schedule for summer practice updates. We will offer a Dolphins practice on Tuesday, June 18 from 5:30 p.m. to 7:00 p.m.
Swimmers Ear
The largest cause of swimmer's ear is spending excessive time in the pool and swimming at different pools with different chemicals can accelerate this. Try making a homemade mixture of 1 part white vinegar to 1 part rubbing alcohol: Pour 1 teaspoon (about 5 milliliters) of the solution into each ear and let it drain out. CLICK HERE to learn more about how you can prevent swimmer's ear.
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Volunteering
Upcoming Meets
We run successful meets because of our amazing parent and swimmer volunteers. Please use the links below to commit to volunteering at our upcoming meets so we can offer an exceptional experience for our visiting teams and our own athletes.
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Ongoing Volunteer Needs
We always can use volunteers to staff the concessions stand on Saturdays during practice time. Please sign up HERE.
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GroupMe Parent Connection
Connect with the team through GroupMe Parent Connection! It's really not just one more app on your phone. Parents can communicate within their practice groups, ask questions, offer recommendations, update others on traffic situations, practices, meet warmups, and more. Send your name and mobile number to Naomi Kitahara at kitaharan@ensworth.com.
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Swim Gear Purchasing
Coaches encourage all swimmers from every group to come to practice with athletic shoes and water bottles. Equipment requirements for each group are noted below:
- Stingrays: Cap, Goggles, Fins
- Dolphins: Cap, Goggles, Fins, Snorkel, Mesh Bag.
- Sharks, Juniors, Seniors, & Power: Cap, Goggles, Fins, Snorkel, Paddles, and Pull Buoy, Mesh Bag.
Should you need to purchase equipment, visit our Team Gear page on our website to order items from All-American swim. Please label all equipment and clothing with Sharpie. Items get lost all the time, but retrieving them is made easier when names are clearly written on items.
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