NOVA
SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING CLUB NEWSLETTER
December
2005
NEWS
FROM THE EXECUTIVE;
WOW!
We are already into December and things are progressing rather
smoothly. Each of the teams are working diligently on their
routines, and you will be able to see their progress at the
Christmas watershow, December 22 at 7:00pm.
Many
thanks to all the parents that volunteered at the Swim a thon, tier
testing, and Executive duties. We couldn’t do it
with out your support and hard work. Also a very big thank you to
Diane, Gwen, Gail, Laura, Caitlin, Amanda, & Heather, for all
your hard work and dedication to Nova.
One
last note, there will be a General meeting in February, and we will
send a notice out to all parents with the date, time and location in
the New Year.
Best
wishes for a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year.
Sharon
Thurston
Nova
Synchro Club - President
Nova's
annual Christmas Watershow is on Thursday, December 22nd,
2005 at the UofA west pool.
Swimmers
(pre-comp - Tier 5) are to be at the pool by 6:30pm to stretch and
warm-up.
All
parents, grandparents, friends and family are welcome free of charge
to enjoy the watershow between 7pm - 9pm.
Hope
to see you all on Thursday night!
Thank
you!
Caitlin
Whitehorse
MASY Update
The
club is booked on Air North to attend the MASY challenge in
Whitehorse as follows:
AIR
NORTH FLIGHTS
Edmonton
to Whitehorse: Wednesday, May 24th approx 8 :20 pm;
arrival Whitehorse, 10 pm
Depart
Whitehorse Sunday May 28th, 2:45 pm arrives Edmonton 7:45
pm via Calgary
Note:
The deposit is for a group booking. If your swimmer has an injury
and cannot attend, we may still be able to SELL the ticket to
someone else if you give us enough notice. Final full payment and
ticketing occurs on April 24th, 2006 (during the Wildrose
Classic Meet). No changes are allowed after this date.
We
have 5 teams of 24 swimmers going, 5 coaches, 5 chaperones and 5
extra parents. We have
a booking in the Westmark Klondike Inn hotel. The website is below.
The room charge with continental breakfast is about $44 per person
per night, which the club is subsidizing for all swimmers and
designated chaperones. Most teams are in connecting hotel rooms with
one chaperone depending on the number for the team. The meet is
supplying bus transportation to and from the pool and they are
locally organizing a sight seeing tour to run a half day on the
Thursday. Depending on the practice time, we will either sight see
in the morning or afternoon. Details on the food supplied at the
pool are still forthcoming.
The
swimmers are very excited to go on this trip and we think it will be
a rewarding experience for everyone. Please don’t forget that we
will need either picture id, although there are no more seats
available on the Wednesday flight, Air North also runs a Thursday
flight, and Air Canada runs daily flights to Whitehorse.
If
you have any questions about these details, please email me at scon2516@telus.net
Sherry
Connors
Head
Coach Report
It is hard to believe that it is Christmas
already!
Gail and Caitlin would first like to thank Laura, Amanda, Heather,
Gwen and Diane for all their hard work thus far this season. We
really appreciate everything you do for the swimmers - routines are
looking great and we look forward to seeing them at Northern Trials
in January.
Congratulations to all athletes who
participated in the annual Swim-a-thon this year - everyone did a
great job swimming for 2 consecutive hours! Also
congratulations to all the swimmers for a job well done raising
money for the club - all together you raised over $3500.00. Thank
you also to all the parents who took the time to help count laps -
we really appreciate your time.
Mike Vanden Ham, with the Edmonton Huma Swim
Club, coached several sessions for our NOVA swimmers. Our
athletes swim many laps of basic strokes to improve their endurance
and strength and using proper techniques helps prevent injuries.
Mike is knowledgeable, organized and very popular with the girls.
He taught swimming techniques and drills that coaches can continue
to use to help improve the efficiency of our
swimmers’ strokes. The girls enjoyed his sessions and have
improved their swimming techniques.
Kari Donahue has also provided several sessions to our
coaching staff. She has helped with yearly planning, figure
sessions and has reviewed our NOVA routines. Kari has provided
feedback and advice to the coaches. As an experienced coach,
head coach, swimmer and judge her opinions are invaluable and
appreciated. We look forward to additional sessions in the New
Year.
Just a few quick reminders before the holiday season kicks
off.
1. Updated December and January calendars have been sent home
with
the swimmers. Please note the start back date for Nova's regular
training
schedule is Tuesday, January 3rd, 2006. We apologize for the short
Christmas break this year but with Northerns scheduled for the
second
weekend in January we feel the swimmers will need a good refresher
before
they compete.
2. Northern Trials and Alberta Winter Games Trials will be
held in
Edmonton at the Kinsmen pool Friday, January 13th - Sunday, January
15th,
2006. Please see first draft of competition schedule below:
Friday, January 13th
12:00 -15:45 Practice & Music Time
15:45 – 16:00 Break
16:00 - 21:00 Duet/Solo & AB Winter Games Routines
Saturday January 14th:
7:00 – 11:00 Figures
11:00 – 14:00 Break
14:00 – 15:00 Figures
15:00 – 19:00 Team Routines
Sunday January 15th:
8:00 – 12:00 Solo, Combo
12:00 – 16:00 AB Winter Games Figures
From all the coaches at
Nova, we would like to wish all parents,
swimmers and executive a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year!
Thank you again to all the parents who continually support
and help
volunteer many hours to the club.
Happy Holidays
Caitlin & Gail
Coaches’
news
Caitlin Tier 3 Team Newsletter Submission:
With Northern Trials right around the corner the Tier 3's have been
working very hard to complete and perfect the routine. Everything is
looking great and last week marked the completion date for all the
counts
in the routine. Great job girls - you have some awesome Cirque de
Soleil
moves to show off at Northerns.
Congratulations to Beth, Xenia and Samara for the completion
of there
Tier 3 level at the Northern Test Date in November. You guys swam
well
and are definitely ready for the challenges at Tier 3.
Thank you to everyone on the team who participated and
fundraised for
Nova's annual swim-a-thon.
Have a safe and Merry
Christmas....and don't forget to landrill.
See you back at the
pool January 3rd.
Caitlin McElhone
Pre-competitive
team
The Nova Precomp team has been progressing
wonderfully. Shea, Courtney and
Haley are ready to test star one and will hopefully do so in
January, we
have also made a routine to Hilary Duff's "What Dreams are Made
of". The
girls have got a good grasp on basic sculling and figure elements,
and will
be learning more when they come back in after the Christmas break!
Danielle
has been doing wonderfully in solo, we have just finished in time
for the
Christmas Watershow. She works so hard on this routine and it
is easy to
see her enthusiasm when she swims it. Good work Danielle!
Merry Christmas
everyone!
Diane
Tier
5 team
Happy
Holidays Everyone!
Well, the 2005 portion of our season is nearly over
and I’m starting to see some significant improvements that I hope
to carry into the New Year. For one, the past two weeks has been the
best yet for our team’s overall attendance!!! Pleeeeease girls, do
not let this good habit disappear over Christmas break. I look
forward to having many full practices in 2006. Please note we still
have a giggling, gossiping and overall chattiness problem ensuing in
less work (go figure;). We have been fortunate in finishing our
routine quite early in the season this year and hope to show a
strong and highly synchronized runthrough at the Christmas Watershow.
True, we did make a few changes in the practices leading up to it
but the girls grasped them quickly and maintain a positive if
somewhat reluctant outlook in regards to them. Please remember
to landrill and stretch as much as possible over the holidays so
that we can be quick and efficient and spend minimal time reviewing
in our practices leading up to Northerns. See you in 2006.
Heather Bourassa
Tier 4 Team
WOW, Christmas already. 4 months of the
season have just flown by. It has
been whirl wind of events, but I think the team is starting to
settle down
now. With Northerns so soon, the girls have been working
exceptionally hard
swimming at least one to two full runthroughs each practice.
We have a lot
of figures to work on, but the girls have been handling all the work
very
well.
This team has bonded so well and I am so excited to see how these
girls
perform in front of an audience together. They have helped
each other out
so much and definitely feed off each other for positive feedback.
I'm proud
of the girls and glad they have accomplished so much in so little
time.
Tier testing of course is finally over and now we can definitely
concentrate
on the routine and figures for competition.
I wish all the families a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.
I hope
that you all get to share time with friends and family this holiday
season.
Enjoy the break.
SMILE :)
Amanda
Tier 2 Team
Hello All,
I would like to say how impressed I am with the girl's commitment and
improvement since September. We finished our
"Machine" themed routine 2 week ago and are now working on
the smaller details and especially presentation. Since
Northerns and Alberta Winter Game trials are quickly approaching we
have already begun run throughs and endurance training. There is not
alot of time between the day the girls get back from winter break
and our first competition, so I ask the parents to encourage lots of
landrill and stretching so that we do not waste time revisiting
things that are already currently expected. The girls are aware of
this, but a little reminder never hurt. Also, the girls are being
challenged with the Alberta Winter Games figures. These figures are
definately testing their abilities and will contribute to their
overall training in a very positive way. I have to say "great
job team" for pushing yourself in these figures and not giving
up even when you feel like it. I am very excited and proud to
be showing a full run through of our team at the watershow. I
hope you and your family and friends celebrate a wonderful holiday
and enjoy your break. you deserve it.
Happy Holidays, see you in the New Year.
Laura Mumme
Tier 2 Coach
