GVAS news June 23, 2009

“Dude…..Where’s my flippers?”

Summer is officially here! Many of you are now out of school and only a few have a couple more days…YAHOO!! I am excited about a great summer season of practicing, racing and having FUN! Read on about what’s new and all the great things club members have been doing.

Congratulations!!

We had a fantastic showing of Royals at the last summer meet at Commonwealth June 13th and 14th. My highlight of the meet was how well Sharon’s buddy system worked. It was great to see a senior swimmer paired with a junior or novice swimmer and to see them being so supportive and encouraging. Thanks guys!

A special congratulation to Daniel who had the fastest reaction time off the blocks. He EXPLODED out off the blocks in his 50 Backstroke in 0.63 sec.

Congratulations to Kira and Naomi who will be using the Senior Best Time kick boards this week and to Jenna and Victor who will be using the Junior boards.

Also, congratulations to Gabe Lowe for winning Sharon’s Water Safety poster contest.

Nice Work everyone!!



Upcoming events and activities:

Reminder – There is no practice at Naden Friday June 26

Swim – a – thon Tuesday June 30, 5 – 7 pm Juan de Fuca
There’s lots of awesome prizes for fundraising, so get out there and collect some pledges!!

Jets Awards night - Thursday July, 2 6:30 – 8:00 pm Royal Roads Café to celebrate a successful winter season of swimming.

T- shirt design contest
Get those creative juices flowing guys. Have your design featured on the 2009 Royals team shirts. Please submit designs to Travis by Friday July 3

Courtney meet this weekend

Open Water swim practices - Travis will be coaching open water swim practices at Thetis Lake Wednesdays from 11- noon.

These swims are open to kids who can meet a swim standard of 8:00 for 400 m freestyle


Note from Coach T “putting things in perspective”

I took part in a relay as part of the New Balance Half Ironman this weekend. I swam 2.0 km in Elk lake to help my team along. About half way through the swim…when I had probably ingested 250 percent of my daily recommendation of Coliform bacteria, my arms felt as though there were going to separate from my body and I could no longer see where I was going due to the right side of my goggles being completely filled with water, I thought to myself “why on earth am I doing this?” I mean, I could have slept in. I could have been sipping a beautifully blended cup of Organic French Roast java and reading the Sunday funnies in the comfort of my own home. No, instead I decided to put myself in something that would look like a human feeding frenzy from the air as a flailed along side over 600 other swimmers.

I truly think this is a question we all need to ask ourselves. Why do we get up at 5 am to swim our butts off? Why do we push our selves to do more when our heart feels like it will beat right out of our chest. What drives us to punish ourselves and them come back looking for more.

For me, having completed the swim Sunday morning and then taking about 2 hours to be able to fully extend my arms over my head gave me a sense of accomplishment and pride. Our team wouldn’t win. There would be no medal for us at the end of the day. I would not receive anything tangible for my efforts. My only reward was the feeling of health, happiness, friendship and self-esteem.

To me this was well worth the pain, the brutality of other swimmers stroking right into my head and the smorgasbord of goose poop and weeds.

I think this is an essential perspective us athletes must look deep into. Being driven by the extrinsic values of medals, money, and pressures placed on us by others is limiting. To be truly driven you need to find your own reasons for doing it. Something intangible that will always be there in every practice and every competition. The only person who can determine this is YOU.
Trav’s Trivia
The first person to answer the following trivia question either by e-mails or in person will receive a prize.

How many years has GVAS been a sanctioned summer club??

GVAS Newsletter Tuesday June 9, 2009

Hi Everyone,

The year’s summer season of swimming has started off with a BANG!! We have had our first meet, lots of quality practices in AND out of the water and are on track for a VERY fun and successful next few months. Read what’s made the Headlines for his addition of the Newsletter…

Congratulations!!!

Our first of many summer swim meets went very well last weekend in Duncan. Lots of best times were set and the swimmers who attended represented the club very well.

Congrats to Ashley Bingham, Josh and Julianna MacDonald, Gabe Lowe, Naomi Roth, Jess Coukell, and Sean Hunter.

Congratulations are also in order for the two Jets representing the club at the Vancouver Island Regional Championships last weekend in Nanaimo. Jessa Coukell and Josh Macdonald had fantastic swims and gained some great high level meet experience.

Best Time Kick Boards.

At every meet this summer, two swimmers (a Senior and a Junior) will be presented with the BEST TIME KICKBOARD. The kickboards are awarded to the swimmers who set the most personal best times during the meet. After signing and decorating a section of the board, the swimmers get to use them in practice until the next meet. At the end of the summer season, the simmers with the most best times will be presented with the boards to keep.
Jessa and Julianna achieved the boards from the last meet. Nice Work Ladies!!

Swim around the Island Challenge

GVAS swimmers will be attempting to follow in the Footsteps of Rob Dyke over the next few months. Rob swam 1400 km around Vancouver Island in 3 months in 2005 to raise money for the Red Cross and water safety. He had an amazing story and we were fortunate enough to hear it from him in April when he spoke to the club. We obviously won’t be out in the ocean trying this feat, but will be try to accomplish the same distance in our practices. Sharon and I have been keeping track of every length each swimmer has been swimming in each practice. We are adding up all the distance and showing each swimmer’s progress around the island. You can view the progress on the GVAS bulletin board. Prizes will be awarded to the first swimmer at several destinations including; Nanaimo, Port Hardy, Tofino and a Grand prize to the first swimmer to complete the entire journey. So far leading the way we have

Sr. Female – Ashley Bingham 34.2 km
Male – Josh Macdonald 22.1 km

Jr. Female – Jenna Stacey 17.4 km
Male – Patrick Dayton 10.3 km

Master – Lance Hurrell 18.3 km

Jr. Coaching Program

Calling all GVAS members 13 years and older interested in giving back to the club. If you would like to learn about why Coach T or Coach S give you those crazy or those killer practices come on out and learn. Swimmer interested in volunteering their time to work along side Travis or Sharon will gain valuable insight into theory behind practices and practical experience.

The goal of the Jr. Coaching program is to offer mentorship to swimmers interested in becoming a certified swim coach.

After 30 hours of deck time with Sharon and Travis and some minor assignments along the way, Jr. coaches will be eligible for the following:

· Subsidized future coaching development courses.
· Volunteer GVAS coach T-shirt
· Letter of recommendation from Head Coach Travis Chater
· Possibility of employment with the GVAS swim club

Anyone who is interested, please see Travis or Sharon on deck or e-mail Travis at tchater@telus.net

2009 GVAS Swim-A-Thon
Tuesday, June 30th, 2009 - 5:00 to 7:00 p.m.
Juan de Fuca Pool

Our Swim-A-thon is not only one of our major fundraising events throughout the year, but it is also a great opportunity for our members to showcase our team in the community.
In lieu of credit to a swimmer’s fundraising account, prizes will be awarded for this event.

The goal for the swimmers is to either complete 200 lengths of the pool (which is equal to 5000 meters) or two hours of swimming, whichever the swimmer achieves first.

The fundraising portion of the Swim-A-Thon works as follows:
1. The swimmer receives their information package from their swim coach
2. The swimmer works on collecting pledges (either by the length or as a flat rate for the event) from their friends, family members, neighbours, parents’ co-workers, or anyone else they can think of;
3. The swimmer brings their pledge form to the Swim-A-Thon on June 30th and participates in the Swim-A-Thon;
4. The coach signs off on the Pledge Form, confirming the number of lengths swum by the swimmer and the time it took to complete;
5. The swimmer collects the pledges from all of the people who sponsored them for the event within two weeks following the Swim-A-Thon;
6. The swimmer returns their completed pledge form and collected pledges within two weeks (ie. by July 13th, 2009) in order to be eligible for their prizes; and
7. The coach will hand out all of the prizes earned by the swimmers as soon as the prizes arrive to the team.

We encourage all of our members to participate in the event as it is an easy way for everyone on the team to have a lot of fun and challenge themselves, while also raising money for the club. And, as an added bonus, those members who are very ambitious in collecting pledges have the opportunity to earn a wide variety of awesome prizes that any swimmer will certainly be able to use. We also will be providing refreshments after the swimming portion of the Swim-A-Thon concludes.

Everyone in the club is more than welcome to participate, regardless of their level. Please arrive at least 15 minutes early (ie. by 4:45 p.m.) in order that we can have parent / volunteer counters arranged and have the swimmers organized into their lanes.

Please email me or call me if you have any questions.


Tammy Fraser
Vice President / Registrar
Greater Victoria Aquatics Society

Ph: (250)217-8127
email: jessasmom@shaw.ca


Upcoming Meets

Oak Bay this weekend

Courtney June 27 and 28 – Please contact Travis or Sharon for more information.


Note from Coach T

Remember, practice does not make perfect. Only PERFECT practice will make perfect. This goes for everything, but especially in our strokes and turns. Use every opportunity available to practice perfect technique. This includes streamlines off the wall, perfect turns, and focused stokes. You are all doing extremely well, lets keep it up!!!