RSVP for the Holiday Party

The Holiday Party has been scheduled for Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008 from 4:30-6:00pm at Murray's Ice Skating Rink 348 Tuckahoe Road, Yonkers NY 10710.

Please RSVP to coach Julie JUBA224@yahoo.com or Norman Fell nfell@transitcorp.com

Meet Change!!!

MEET CHANGE: Please change your calendar- the January 10th Meet (home) vs. Yonkers YMCA has been CHANGED TO Friday, January 16th (home) with a 6pm warm up.

Congratulations to the Tsunami Swim Team on their 280-200 win over Tarrytown on Saturday!

Thank you to all parent volunteers. The meet results are posted at the pool. An electronic copy will (hopefully) be attached later this week. Ribbons will also be distributed later this week as well.

Congratulations to the following Team Record Breakers!

Angelina Campanile, breaking a record from 2004, 8/u 25 free: 16.79
Jasmine Bennett, breaking her own record, 18/u 50 back:33.15
Leandro Faraon, 18/u, 100 IM: 1:08.54
Brian Heubel, breaking his record again this week (and breaking 40!), 12/u 50 Breast: 39.56
Adonis Fortunato, breaking his own record from last meet, 14/u 50 Fly 29.48

Congratulations to everyone who achieved PB's (personal bests), and we hope to see many more next meet!

The Next Swim Meet is at Home this Saturday, December 6th against Tarrytown

Please be advised that the meet for this Saturday, 12/6 at Mark Twain has been moved up to 8am warm ups, and 8:30am start.

Please notify Julie if you CANNOT be in attendance.

Other news:
-Team uniforms will be handed out this week during practice, as well as ribbons from the Rye meet.
-Only parent volunteers will be allowed on deck during the meet. Swimmers are to remain with the team for the duration of the meet.
-The meeting for moms/girls (info sent from Julie Paxman two weeks ago) that was scheduled for last Monday has been moved to 12/8 at 6pm at Mark Twain. Please contact Andrea at Parks if you have any questions.
-A practice schedule will be handed out for the December/January break (soon!).
-Payment for the team is due IN FULL by 12/15. Checks should be made out to "City of Yonkers."

Also remember that cell phones should not be brought on deck during practices or meets.

Any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Julie - email is best.

Our First Meet Is This Friday, November 21st, at Rye YMCA

Please arrive by 6pm for 6:15pm warm ups. (Directions can be found below.)

Here are a few reminders about our meets, please review them with your swimmers:

-Please let Julie know now if you can NOT attend the meet. If she does not hear from you, she will assume that you are coming. Those who do not notify her will not be permitted to swim in the following meet.
-Swimmers are to remain in uniform until the end of the meet (after team cheer).
-Bring an extra towel, water, and a snack.
-Swimmers are to clean up the area after the conclusion of the meet.
-Caps/suits will be given out this week.
-We will need parent volunteers to time, score, run, ribbons, and data entry.
-The space is limited for spectators. Families may want to limit the number of attendees.

Please let Julie know if you have any questions....email is best!

Directions to RYE YMCA (21 Locust Rye, NY 10580 ):
1. Cross County Parkway East to Hutch North
2. Take exit 26E toward I-287 E/Rye
3. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto Westchester Ave/CR-62E
4. Merge onto I-287 E/Cross West. Expy via the ramp on the LEFT toward RYE.
5. Take the US-1 exit -EXIT 11- toward Port Chester/Rye.
6. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto US-1 S/Boston Post Rd.
7. Turn SLIGHT RIGHT onto Purchase St/NY-120.
8. Turn LEFT onto LOCUST AVE
9. End at 21 Locust Ave

The Blog is Up and Running Again

Thanks to Frank P., the Tsunami blog is back up and running!

Updates on the team will be posted here for the remainder of the season.

Practice! Practice! Practice!

Practice starts tomorow. Wednesday, the 17th. 

Heres the Rundown:

This week only:
B/C teams: Wed, Thurs 6-7pm, Saturday 9-10am
A team:       Wed/Thurs 7-8:30pm, Saturday (To Be Determined)

Next week:

Same schedule as last year.

BUT adds "C" practice times (any new child ages 10 and under)
Tuesdays, Thursdays 6-7pm, Saturdays 10-11am* (subject to change)

Lastly:

Parents Meeting Saturday at 9:15am at Mark Twain 

Tsunami at Al Buncher Meet

Courtesy of the Journal News:
http://www.lohud.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008809110440
(Full story about the meet is here.)

Girls swimming

28th annual Al Buncher Relay Carnival

At White Plains High School

500-yard freestyle relay - Division C: 1. Yonkers (Deandra McQueen, Jasmine Bennett, Stephanie Burke, Eleanor Daugherty, Jackie Annette) 5:30.97.

200 backstroke relay - Division C: 1. Yonkers (Bennett, Daugherty, Annette, Burke) 2:21.09.

Looking back, as another year begins

Wow. Its already time for our swimmers to get back into the pool. How fast the time flies.

As swimmers, families and supporters gear up to improve on last years successes, here's just a little flashback:

At the end-of-year party in the spring, the team awarded the following swimmers:

• MVP, Male: Dean
  
• MVP, Female: Jasmine
  
• Team Spirit: Brian R.
  
• Coaches Award: Nick F.
  
• Newcomer, Male: Chris F.
  
• Newcomer, Female: Julia R.
  
• Most Improved, Male: Adonis
  
• Most Improved, Female: Aysha
  
• "B" Team - Lauren H.
  
• Honorable Mention: Joshua G.

Top swim-a-thon:

• Chris F.
  
• Aine Collum
  
• Dee Dee
  
• Brian R.
  
• Cashya
  

Special achievement

• James M.

We said goodbye to our college-bound Tsunami, Jennifer, and we wish her all the luck in the world.

Remember you can see many pictures of the Team, thanks to Donovan, here (email me if you do not know the password) .

OK -- goodbye to last year. Hello to Yonkers Tsunami Swimming 2008-2009! We've already got a mention on Westchester.com, and the season looks bright.

Coach Julie says:

Happy September! We're about to begin the 2008-2009 Tsunami Swim Season. With a great response from new families interested in joining our team (including 8 and unders...!!), we're confident that this will be the best year yet. Andrea has sent out a letter in the mail about returning swimmers. If you have not yet done so, please inform us as soon as possible of your swimmer's standing with the team. (email or call parks at 377-6439)

Coach Julie Competes at Master's Championships

Coach Julie Schoenlank joined 12 other members of the Yonkers Masters team at the Masters National Championships in Austin, Texas last May.

Here is a journal she kept during her trip, about the experience.

(Photo: Julie with Olympian Aaron Peirsol)

Immediately following last year’s performance at Nationals in Seattle, I decided on two things in preparation for Austin, 2008:

1. Train harder and sooner (stop making excuses)

2. Try some new distance events.

I knew that that Texas was known for extraordinary swimmers, and the competition would only be stronger in Austin. That was certainly the case. Over a dozen records were broken at The University of Texas at Austin during the Masters National Championships May 1-4, 2008. The Texas Swim Center (TSC) has one of the fastest pools in the world. The swim center is considered home to over 30 Olympic medalists. Eighteen NCAA Championship teams have come from their swim program. Numerous American and World Records have been set in this pool since it’s opening in 1977.

The 1,000 yd free was the very first event, and I was ready to go with my brand new fastskin, goggles, and Yonkers Masters cap. This was an event that I had never done in competition, and had only begun training about a month prior to the race. The event was seeded by time and I had an outside lane for my heat.

Originally I had entered 13:24, as that was my initial time in early April. Since then I had gone a 13:04, so I knew breaking the 13 minute mark would be possible. As I hit the wall on lap 40, I saw that not only did I break 13 but I recorded a 12:41 for the race! After four years of competing at Nationals, I finally earned an individual medal with a 7th place finish in my age group! It was certainly the year to do it since the medals were really cool with the Longhorn logo on them. Needless to say, I was quite pleased. (heres her results sheet for the 1000 yard freestyle.)

The next day, I continued my success in lane one with a 2:34 in the 200 back. The winner of each heat was to meet Aaron Piersol (2004 double gold medalist 100/200 backstroke) and receive a signed copy of his DVD. Although I did really well for an event I normally do not swim, I did not win my heat, but I decided that I was going to meet the Olympic Champion anyway. It was quite amazing meeting such an incredible athlete. I was so excited and was able to take a photo with him.

A few hours later, I did the 50 free, which is an event that I have struggled with since college. I had not hit a 26 since 2006. I was determined to give it my best and not hold back. I was excited to see a 26.85 next to my name on the scoreboard. This event was one of the reasons that I moved towards the distance events because it’s easy to make up time while you have 20 or 40 laps to do; the 50 is just a dive and a turn that has to be perfect.
Day three was my last day of competition, but was incredibly long.

I had the 500 at 8am, 200 at 3pm, and then two relays at 8pm. I survived all day on food in bar form: powerbars, cliff bars, nutragrain bars, chewy bars, and drinks ending in “ade”. I felt strong in the 500; for once I was in the middle of the pool other than my usual lane one. I went a 6:01.35, which was my fastest time as a master’s swimmer. I had some energy left over after, so I knew I could have pushed myself harder, but nonetheless, I was pleased with my time.

By the time I did the 200, my body was exhausted from doing 2,000 fast from the previous events. I went a 2:14, which I guess I had to be happy with since I was really tired.

We had two relays as well: 200 mixed medley and women’s 200 free. Twelve hours later, I was ready to see an environment other than the pool and eat “real” food!

Besides Piersol, I saw two other Olympic medalists swim that week: Josh Davis and Whitney Hedgepeth. Josh Davis was a gold medalist in the 200 freestyle and relay events in 2000. We saw him swim a 200 free with what seemed without any effort. It looked as if he took 7 strokes per lap. He broke the master’s record in that event by 2 seconds with a 1:36!! Whitney Hedgepeth was a gold/silver medalist in 1996 in the 100/200 backstroke events. She did a relay right next to us, which was pretty awesome. She is the master’s

coach for the Longhorn Aquatics Team.

(Photo: The Pool in Austin, with Andrea's Time in the 200 Fly)

Overall, this year was pretty exciting for me. I was glad that I found more time than last year to train, which is completely necessary for distance events. I was also glad that I tried some events out of the usual 50 and 100 free. It was exciting traveling to a state so huge on the sport, which is also a state that I had never been to before. Next year will be in Fresno, and you can be sure I’ll be back in the water for those 40 laps, or possibly move on to the 1650….

(From Frank: Here is a video of Andrea in the 100 fly - she is in lane 3.

There are a lot more videos here, but I couldn't find Julie!)

Tsunami Season -- Just weeks away!!! (CORRECTED)

Please call the Parks Dept. to confirm dates and times.

Click here to see the full Yonkers Parks Dept. Program guide.

Stay tuned to the Tsunami Blog for more info about the upcoming season.

Feel free to post questions (in the comments section below) if you have any, or email Julie or Andrea.

The Parks Dept. program says:

Please call Andrea Velazquez at 377-6439 for further information about swimming programs.

Summer Tsunami Swimmers

August 4-7, 2008 Westchester County Swimming Championships, Playland Park, Rye, NY.

From Julie:
Eleven Tsunami Swimmers competed with their summer clubs at the 2008 County Swim Championships at Playland. Congratulations to the following swimmers: Niamh Butler, Liam Butler, Thomas Heubel, Brian Heubel, Delia Kilduff, Dee Dee Hone (Ardsley Swim Club), Alec Nicaj, Rory Kennon (Lake Isle), Eleanor Daugherty, Marco Gobbato, Leonardo Gobbato (Amackassin). Congratulations on an exciting summer season!

The WCSA site is here and the results are here.

UPDATED (from Susan (Thanks!)):

Three swimmers from Tsunami swam at Westchester Country Club on August 14th in the Westchester Swim Conference Finals.

* MaryKate Melynk, who swam for Ardsley in the 8 and under 100 yrd freestyle relay, placed 14th;

* Angelina Campanile, who swam for Lake Isle, won 4th in Breaststroke and her 8 and under 100 yd freestlye relay team placed 9th;

* Rory Kennon, who swam for Lake Isle placed 14th in the 100 yrd Breaststroke.

Here is a Journal News story about the meet.

(Right: Picture of a familiar face, official Paul McClintock, at the meet. Picture is from The Journal News)

***

From Julie:

Also congrats to everyone who participated in the "Fun Meet" at Amackassin. We had a great time. Events included 50's of free, back, breast, fly, and also an always-exciting t-shirt relay. Prizes were handed out including medals for first place finishers. Congratulations to both teams!

Westchester Triathalon

Its time for the Westchester Triathlon , which  in September, for the kids.

http://www.westchestertriathlon.org/webforms/wp_menuDetail.aspx?pgid=13&pgrp=2

Good luck!

Julie

Olympics: Men's Free Relay video

I'm sure many of you have been watching the Olympic swimming events. I plan to post more about the races ASAP.

In the meantime, watch the last leg of this amazing relay -- the Men's 4x100 free relay, with Michael Phelps, Garrett Weber-Gale, Cullen Jones, Jason Lezak. Wow.

The full race is here (but you may have to download some software.)

Julie's pre-season swim meet

If anyone from the team is in town this week, Julie's got a challenge for you...


From Coach Julie:

Happy August! Team members are invited to a fun meet with my summer team at the Amackassin Club.

Who: Tsunami Swim team vs. Amackassin Club

When: Friday, Aug 8th 4:30 warm up, 5pm start.**

Where: Amackassin Club. 557 Palisade Ave, Yonkers, NY (Near Gorton HS)
(click here for a map)

Meet format: 8/u are 25's, ages 9-17 are all 50's.
Order of events: Free, Back, Breast, Fly, 200 Free relay, possible t-shirt relay-time permitting. Meet will last approx 1 1/2 hrs.

RSVP: Please let me know via email if you CAN attend and include your current age and 3 individual events you would like to swim.

Hope to see you Friday!

Julie