Going To SCY Nationals?

If you register for USMS SCY Nationals in Austin by this Thursday March 20, you save $10 on the meet entry surcharge (only $40). After this date the surcharge goes up to $50. To enter the meet please visit...

http://www.usms.org/comp/scnats08/onlineentry.php

Last day to enter the meet is Thursday April 3, 2008

If you don't want to register online....all paper entries are due this Thursday too.

Visit the events page on WH2O.org for more meet info and links.

2008 Team Suit Tease

If you didn't get invited to LA's Fashion Week last week at Smashbox you missed the premiere of the 2008 WH2O Team Suit. For those fashionistas who were too busy swimming than to attend the gala event here is just a tease of what you'll be wearing this Spring and Summer at Nationals and IGLA.

Now that you know the color of the suit it's time to accessorize. And remember...

The only thing that separates us from the animals is our ability to accessorize. - Clairee Belcher in "Steel Magnolias".

Dues Reminder

This is a reminder that effective April 1st, all members paying by check will be charged $55 monthly dues for swimming or $30 monthly dues for polo.

As approved at the annual meeting in October 2007....

All team members need to login to WH2O.org and sign up for credit/debit card dues payment to avoid a $10.00 monthly surcharge for paying by check.



Starting in April 2008 monthly dues change if you want to pay by check:

pay swim dues by credit card - $45/month.

pay swim dues by check - $55/month

pay polo dues by credit card - $20/month

pay polo dues by check - $30/month.

Signing up for credit card payment is easy! Just login to WH2O.org and click the "pay by card" icon in the upper bar of the webpage.


Every team member will be invoiced on the 21st of the month for the next month’s dues and your card will be charged on the 1st of the month. Please notify the treasurer prior to the first of the month if you need to become an inactive member.

Thanks for helping the opperations of WH2O run more smoothly. See you in the pool.


Dan Adams
Treasurer
West Hollywood Aquatics Board of Directors

IGLA Countdown Time

It is time for everyone to get on top of planning for IGLA in Washington DC. The dates for competition are Thursday June 19 to Sunday June 22. Registration is now open and if you register by April 1, 2008 the fees are reduced, $10 per sport!! http://www.igla2008.org /registration.php

In addition, make sure you have your hotel http://www.igla2008.org /accomodations.php

Most WH2O members are staying at the Doubletree or the Beacon Hotel.

If you already have everything planned...GREAT. Now shoot Bryan our President so we know who is going to attend IGLA...that way the board and coaches can get planning. Please email president@wh2o.org if you are going to DC.

The weekend is going to be a lot of fun. If you have never attended an IGLA...DC is the perfect city to be your first IGLA experience. It is easy to get around, easy to get to, has great restaurants and bars, and the pools are really nice. DCAC is planning a great event with parties, hosted dinners, and of course the Pink Flamingo on the last day.

Lets get excited for IGLA 2008 in Washington, DC.

-Libit

Bryan Libit

President

CalTech Swim Results

Congrats to every one of you WH2O’ers who swam at last weekend’s Caltech Pentathlon. Here are the results:

Women 25-29
50 YARD FREESTYLE
4 Draper, Tamara M. 28.95

50 YARD BACKSTROKE
5 Draper, Tamara M. 35.45

50 YARD BREASTSTROKE
5 Draper, Tamara M. 40.18

50 YARD BUTTERFLY
6 Draper, Tamara M. 34.35

100 YARD IM
5 Draper, Tamara M 1:15.36

Men 18-24
50 YARD FREESTYLE
7 Shepard, William P. 26.82

50 YARD BACKSTROKE
5 Shepard, William P. 33.20

50 YARD BREASTSTROKE
4 Shepard, William P. 34.03

50 YARD BUTTERFLY
5 Shepard, William P. 28.53

100 YARD IM
5 Shepard, William P. 1:05.73

Men 25-29
50 YARD FREESTYLE
6 Benjamin, Stephen J. 25.54

50 YARD BACKSTROKE
6 Benjamin, Stephen J. 32.46

50 YARD BREASTSTROKE
8 Benjamin, Stephen J. 35.05

50 YARD BUTTERFLY
8 Benjamin, Stephen J. 30.66

100 YARD IM
8 Benjamin, Stephen J. 1:08.65


Men 30-34
50 YARD FREESTYLE
3 Davis, Adam J 24.83

50 YARD BACKSTROKE
4 Davis, Adam J. 30.37

50 YARD BREASTSTROKE
4 Davis, Adam J 33.68

50 YARD BUTTERFLY
3 Davis, Adam J. 27.54

100 YARD IM
3 Davis, Adam J. 1:02.93

Men 45-49
50 YARD FREESTYLE
20 Bahamon, Luis E. 31.96

50 YARD BACKSTROKE
17 Bahamon, Luis E. 38.40

50 YARD BREASTSTROKE
19 Bahamon, Luis E. 45.94

50 YARD BUTTERFLY
17 Bahamon, Luis E 31.74

100 YARD IM
17 Bahamon, Luis E. 1:24.22

CONGRATS TO LUIS, ADAM, STEPHEN, WILLIAM AND TAMARA!

Read all the results online at http://spma.net

Upcoming Swim Clinics: Breaststroke & Freestyle

The following two swim clinics have been scheduled:

- Saturday, April 5: Breaststroke (Coach Bernie) – West Hollywood Pool from 3 to 5pm

- Saturday, April 26: Freestyle (Coach JP) – West Hollywood Pool from 3 to 5pm

These clinics are a great way to make improvements to your technique, with the rare opportunity to have your stroke videotaped on-top of the water and underwater, and critiqued by our very own experts. Clinics are $20 and limited to 12 participants. Email Matt your swim rep at swim@wh2o.org to sign-up.

Water Polo Team Meeting This Sunday

I’m calling an “All Hands of Deck Meeting” for 12:00 PM Sunday, March 16, 2008 at Santa Monica High School Pool. That’s immediately following our normal practice. I would appreciate it if everyone could stick around for about 30 minutes so that we can discuss which direction we want to go in the run up to IGLA.

Thanks,
Fritz Hemker
Water Polo Representative

Backstroke Technique - A Tutorial

Hey all - Coach Brian Olver has some tips on how to improve your backstroke, including clips of 2008 World Championships' Ryan Lochte & Aaron Piersol. Happy stroking!

Aside from the sheer awesomeness of this race, and Ryan Lochte's undeniable sex appeal, you should note the following while watching this race:

First you will see Lochte's amazing underwater work. This is impossible for us amatuers, but take note of the rythym and pace of his dolphin kicks. Most people kick either too fast or too slow, and as a result, do not maximize their distance per kick. (Kick pace will be slightly different for everyone given numerous variables, but Lochte's is a good example.)

As they reach the surface, make note of their head position. Their heads and neck are back, pressing down and forward in order to put less weight on the hips, bringing them to the surface. As a result, the body is laying on the surface of the water, and is
better able to "hydroplane" through the water. If you can displace less water, you will travel faster; this is, in part, why sailboat travel the fastest when it is tacking (on a steep slant).

With backstroke, you can see how much of their bodies they are able to keep at the surface by noticing that their entire side is out of the water as the arm recovers, reaching high above the head.

There is a brief underwater shot on the 3rd length where you can see just how far forward and how deep they are trying to reach. This is only possible with sufficient body roll and adequate shoulder flexibility. With each pull you can see them digging
for every ounce of water to grab and pull back. Because of this effort, you'll notice a slight fishtail on both swimmers from the aerial view, shown on the 2nd length, and again after the race in slow motion. Although a strong pull would tend to cause a fishtail (like a row boat with only one paddle), the constant body rotation prevents it from reaching a point where it would slow forward progress; and that's really what it's all about - who can get to the wall the fastest.

To continue the row boat analogy, if you were only given one paddle, to minimize fishtailing, you would want to place the oar direclty along the side of the boat and pull as deep as possible. If you were to do the opposite - pull wide and shallow - hopefully you can see why the boat would fishtail (or turn). THIS is why it as important to roll the body in order to achieve a deeper pull that is closer to the body.

With all this in mind, please study the following video. I'd recommend watching it, and reading this over at least a couple times.

CalTech This Sunday

Here is a slide show from a few past years at the CalTech Swim Meet. Come on down Sunday to get in on all the fun. Even if you don't plan on swimming come down and cheer on your WH2O'ers.

10x100's Redux

Breakthrough Set: Rescheduled for Monday March 10 (Evening workout


Due to the cancellation of Monday evening’s workout – because of pool heater problems – the ‘Breakthrough Set’ (10 x 100s @ 3 minutes) has been re-scheduled for next Monday March 10, at the evening practice only. The morning practices will be regular workouts.

Are You Swimming?

Reminder that the Caltech Pentathlon is THIS Sunday.

Note From Our Swim Rep:

For planning purposes, please email swim@wh2o.org if you are planning to swim at the Caltech Pentathlon this Sunday, March 9th.

If you haven't signed up, but would still like to participate, deck entries will be allowed on the morning of the meet until 9:15am.

Check out the Caltech Pentathlon website HERE

F.A.S.T. WH2O'ers

On February 24th two WH2O’ers swam at the F.A.S.T. SCY at the Janet Evans Swim Complex in Fullerton. Both Stephen Benjamin and Doug Wilson faced off against mother nature and did some astonishing times.

Stephen did a 56.41 in the 100 SCY Freestyle, a 1:12.30 in the 100 SCY Backstroke, a 30.44 in the 50 SCY Butterfly and finishing up his busy swim day with a 1:09.44 in the 100 SCY IM. Four events in one day and he came to swim practice the next night.

Doug also had a busy day with swimming the 50 SCY Freestyle in 29.78, the 100 SCY Freestyle in 1:06.17, the 200 SCY Freestyle in 2:26.31 and if that wasn’t enough he did the 1650 SCY Freestyle in 24:01.10.

Congrats to both Stephen and Doug for putting in some great swims. Just think only a few more days to swim at Cal Tech. For more results of the F.A.S.T. swim meet and more information on local USMS swim meets visit http://spma.net.

UPDATE: West Hollywood Pool Alert

BREAKING UPDATE:

Tonight's practiced is cancelled.

They discovered the problem with the pool heater and a new part is being purchased for installation tomorrow morning. Tuesday night's practice will go on as regularly scheduled barring any unforseen circumstances.

Sorry for the inconvenience. I know you were all looking forward to my practice!!! (We may push the 10 x 100's Breakthrough Set to next Monday evening. I know some people did it this morning though. CHECK BACK HERE FOR UPDATES.)

--------------------

The heater at the West Hollywood Pool is currently broken. A technician is scheduled to repair it today. However, for practice to take place tonight, the heater will need to be up and running by about 2:00pm in order to raise the pool temperature from 73 degrees (currently) to at least 77 degrees.

Keep checking the blog and your email box as we will be updating as news warrants.

Water Polo Tourney

While we sort out whether we’re going to Central Valley or Tsunami de Mayo (or both) I think that it would be worth getting some feedback regarding interest in a more local tournament that is still 3 months out.

OMBAC is hosting their 2nd annual 20+ Open Tournament on May 23-25, 2008 in Coronado, CA.

Each team will get four to five games. Cost per player: ~$40.00.

Please RSVP so that we can gauge the level of interest before we send out our registration check. Log on to http://wh2o.org to RSVP or email polo@wh2o.org for more info.