Great announcements to share for many members of our team!
Great announcements to share for many members of our team!
    October 11, 2019
Oh the Places They'll Go
It hardly seems possible to be thinking about the next school year, but four of our Ensworth Aquatics seniors already know where they will continue to pursue their academic and athletic goals.  Please congratulate these tremendous teammates on their recent college commitments:  Reese Dismukes (Miami University),  Alex Massey (Yale University), Kas McIntire (University of Indianapolis), and Kallie Chelsvig (Notre Dame University).  
Ensworth Aquatics is incredibly proud of these student athletes for all they have accomplished in the water and in the classroom.  However, it's with a heavy heart that we start to realize it's time to say farewell to some wonderful young people, who all make our team great.  
University of Texas honors Claire McCall
Congratulations to Claire McCall for being one of six recipients of the prestigious Frank Erwin award this year at her Alma Mater, the University of Texas.

The Frank Erwin award signifies outstanding individual achievement to Longhorn Swimming and Diving.  Claire was presented the award last month in Austin.

Claire has been deeply invested, and successful, in the sport of swimming from an early age.  She held Southeastern records in every single age group; ranked in the top 10 in the country in every age group; was #1 in the country as a 13-14 and 15-16 in the 400 IM; and qualified for the Olympic Trials.  

At Texas, Claire was a multiple Southwest Conference Finalist and she was co-captain of the 1986 NCAA Championship Team.

Now she is a key cog in the Ensworth Aquatics wheel, serving as our Meet Director among other unofficial, yet very important, roles!  Congratulations to Claire for a much deserved award!

National Merit Recognition
Colin Murray & Alex Massey

Swimming is often the focus of our newsletter, but we want to celebrate two of our teammates that have been honored nationally for their acadeimc achievements.  Colin Murray was named a National Merit Semifinalist, and Alex Massey recieved a Letter of Commendation from the National Merit Scholarship Program.  
More than 1.6 million juniors in approximately 22,000 high schools entered the 2019 National Merit Scholarship Program by taking the 2017 Preliminary SAT/National Merit Scholarship Qualifying Test (PSAT/NMSQT®), which served as an initial screening of program entrants. The nationwide pool of Semifinalists, representing less than one percent of U.S. high school seniors, includes the highest-scoring entrants in each state.  
October Open 
Date: October 19 to 20, 2019

Time: Check Meet Page

Registration Closed

Location: Ensworth Natatorium

Participants: Ensworth Aquatics plus some other smaller teams


The coaches have finished approving events for the October Open.  Psych Sheets and Heat Sheets will be out next week.

Please be aware that due to the size of the meet we have eliminated the Saturday afternoon session of the meet for the Open events.  Those four events have now been moved, with the 200 Breaststroke and 100 Freestyle now on Saturday morning and the 500 Freestyle and 200 Butterfly on Sunday afternoon.

Like any home meet, we are always in need of engaged volunteers!   Use the button below to see our available Team Support Opportunities.   We cannot provide these opportunities for your children without your support at the meets.
Swim Across America

Ensworth Aquatics will host Swim Across America for the third year in a row on November 17. Swim Across America raises money to fund clinical trials and research in the fight against cancer.  So far more than $35,000 have been raised at Swim Across America events held at our Natatorium. This year, our goal is to raise another $25,000, and we invite all Ensworth Aquatics families to be involved!

Click here to read more information about the Swim Across America event at Ensworth.Be on the lookout for additional information and invitations for you to be a part of this very important event.  

Orange & Black Intrasquad Meet
Orange on Top! 

In the end, “There can be only one.”  The line made famous in the movie The Highlander is fitting when looking back on a colorful, exciting, and hard fought Orange vs. Black Intrasquad Meet.

As coaches, we do our best to evenly split up our groups.  Working individually, the coaches submitted their rosters and we put together teams.  We came up with events that were only a little bit off, like 75’s instead of 50’s or 100’s, any-order I.M.’s, and the 250-Yard Freestyle Relay.  We came up with a scoring system that isn’t necessarily conventional but seemed fair, scoring through 7 places with 10--6-5-4-3-2-1 being the scores available.  We put everyone in every event.

And somehow, with north of 800 points scored by each team, Orange and Black were separated by only 1 point going into the final relay.  We knew “there can be only one” winner, but we had no idea there would be only 1 point separating the teams heading into the last event!

Orange came out on top, sure, but the essence of what made this meet so successful this year was not the score or the victorious team, it was the spirit of competition; the camaraderie amongst the teams; the colorful costumes; the whimsical posters; the enthusiasm of athletes, coaches, and parents; and the desire to swim for something greater than oneself.

The Intrasquad meet was not sanctioned.  None of the times achieved can be used to enter major championship meets, like Southeasterns.  And that may seem sad, considering we had a slew of outstanding swims from our 12 & Under team members.  But that is okay.  The kids showed what they can do already at this point of the season.  If they can all continue to work hard together, compete enthusiastically with each other in practice, and challenge each other through their own honest commitment to hard work, then this meet will have created more winners than those athletes on the Orange Team!
Ensworth Aquatics is so grateful for the parents who volunteer at our meets.  We say it all the time, but these events could not happen without your hard work.  We extend a special thank you to Jim Massey, who served as our meet announcer giving everyone in the natatorium a non-stop account of everything happening in the pool.  Rowdy Gaines could not have done a better job! 
Do not miss seeing some of the great photographs from the meet, click here to access the photo album.

Sprint or Treat Development Meet


Date: October 26, 2019

Time: Check Meet Page

Registration Deadline is October 11 - Today!

Location: Ensworth Natatorium

Participants: Ensworth Aquatics 10 & Unders.
Ensworth Aquatics will host the 3rd Sprint or Treat Development meet in just a few weeks.  While this is just like the other meets in our Development Meet series, we encourage our 10 & under participants to come dressed in costume for this Halloween inspired day of racing. Warmups will begin at 12:15 p.m., and competition will start at 1:00 p.m.  
Click on the pumpkin icon to sign up for a team support role at the upcoming meet. 

Arriving Prepared

We have several new swim families with Ensworth Aquatics this season, and to help prepare parents and swimmers for swim meets, we have created instructional graphics to clarify some details that might not be apparent to those new to competitiive swimming. 
Upcoming Meets & Events
Visit the meet landing page on the website for additional information.
October Open 
at Ensworth Natatorium

October 19 - 20, 2019
Registration Closed

Sprint or Treat Development Meet
at Ensworth Natatorium
October 26, 2019

Registration Deadline is October 11. TODAY!


Baylor's Martha Bass Invitational
at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, TN
November 2- 3, 2019

Registration Deadline is October 11. TODAY!
Swim Across America
Ensworth Natatorium
November 17, 2019
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. 
Click Here to View Full Meet Schedule

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.  

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. 

Happy Birthday Shout Outs!
Here are upcoming birthdays for athletes through October 26, 2019:

Aylor Huneycutt (Senior) turns 17 on Oct. 18
Jackson Enoch (Junior) turns 14 on Oct. 19
Wyatt Horne (Dolphin) turns 10 on Oct. 19
Morgan Carteaux (Senior) turns 15 on Oct. 22
Knox Kneff (Shark) turns 11 on Oct. 22
Sadie Gill (Dolphin) turns 10 on Oct. 22
Audrey Powell (Marlin) turns 12 on Oct. 23

Addison Dismukes (Junior) turns 14 on Oct. 25

Maxwell Boylin (Marlin) turns 13 on Oct. 25

Ensworth Aquatics Gear
Swim Cap & T-Shirts
Swimmers can still 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 as well as the equipment requirements for each practice group. 
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. 
Nutrition Resources  
What you put in is directly related to what you get out of something, and nowhere is that more true than through nutrition.  Ensworth Aquatics is fortunate to have two different nutrition resources to help any athlete better feed their athletic engine in a one-on-one setting.

Dr. Aileen McAinsh, a former team mom, is a registered dietitian who specializes in childhood nutrition. Many families may remember the nutrition blogs she penned for us in previous newsletters. Click here to learn more about Aileen's private practice, RD4ME. 
Parents interested in contacting Aileen can reach her at aileenrdn@rd4me.net
In addition to Aileen, Coach Marli McIntire is a Certified Sports Nutritionist who has worked with several of our athletes already.  As we near Halloween, Coach Marli has a lot to say about sugar consumption.  Use this link to read Sugar Consumption and the Athlete.  Families can contact coach Marli with questions about nutrition at legalswim@gmail.com.
Lines of Communication

Ensworth Aquatics is working to literally open better lines of communication between coach and athlete.  Next week we will receive 40 units of “My Swim Ears” by a company called MOST Tech.  These devices allow coaches to communicate with athletes while they are swimming.  We have tried out a set for a few months and have found that they have been incredibly helpful.  Our plan is to make the most of this technology, providing athletes feedback mid-stroke instead of just using the short amount of time they have on the wall to make a correction.
Dolphins Goal Meetings 

Coach Skylar and Coach Erin want to encourage dolphins to schedule goal meetings.  Please use this link for swimmers to pick a time to sit down and chart their goals for the season.  
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. 
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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