Dual Meet with ABA

Dual Meet  
1st October 2019 at ABA Muscat
4:15-6:30 PM

Meet ENTRY FORMS available from Ms. Cori and at practice on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. 

Meet Schedule:

Tuesday, OCTOBER 1

Start time: 4:15 PM

Approximate End time: 6:15-6:30 PM 

(we'll have a better estimate of the end time when we know 

the total number of swim entries)

ORDER OF EVENTS:

100 FREESTYLE

100 BACKSTROKE

100 BREASTSTROKE

100 BUTTERFLY

AGE GROUPS:

11-12 Years Old Girls 

11-12 Years Old Boys

13-14 Years Old Girls

13-14 Years Old Boys

15 + Years Old Girls

15+ Years Old Boys

*Swimmers will be dismissed from school at 2:50 PM in order to arrive at ABA on time. All swimmers will ride the bus to ABA. Parents-if you want to take your swimmer home after the meet-please sign him/her out with the coaches before leaving the venue. There will be a bus that returns to TAISM after the meet.

MEET ENTRY DEADLINE IS 

WEDNESDAY, SEPTEMBER 25th 

at noon.

Important Swim News and Information

Dear Swim Families,

The team has been swimming strong in the pool. As you know, we have done several time trials (50s, 100s and some swimmers swam 200 IM TT) Our workouts are typically about 3,000 meters in a given practice. Swimmers have been working hard to build stamina, speed and improve stroke efficiency. 

This week on Monday, at the end of practice (September 16), we announced the SAISA team selections for each age group. We have almost 50 swimmers and can take a group of 30 athletes to SAISA. The selection process is not an easy one as we have many strong swimmers ready for competition and several very competitive age groups. We are so proud of ALL of our swimmers for showing up, honoring their teammates and themselves with their effort and for working hard to do things correctly! 

The following is the messaging shared with the team before reading the names of the swimmers selected to be a part of the SAISA team.

We as coaches are very proud of this big team of 50 swimmers. 
You have made the choice to show up and work hard. 

As a team and individuals you have demonstrated:
PERSEVERANCE, COMMITMENT, INTEGRITY, COMPETITIVE SPIRIT, JOY FOR THE SPORT and LOVE by supporting each other in and out of the pool. 

We can take a team of 30 swimmers for SAISA. 
As coaches, Ms. Grace and I have had to make hard choices. 

How do we decide? 
WE LOOK AT…. 
Who is in each age group? 
What does the data say? 
In which events could each swimmer be most competitive? 
Which swimmer's times in specific events could score points? 
What does the team need? 
Who is eligible to swim? 

In a moment, I am going to read this list. 
Let's take a couple of deep breaths. (pause & breathe) 

We will all be feeling different emotions. 
Some might be feeling excited, sad, nervous, disappointed, or relieved… 
All of those feelings are OKAY. 
Remember to be respectful and supportive of how others may be feeling. 

You will notice there are some swimmers who are ‘alternates’. 
If someone on the SAISA team is unable to swim at the meet, coaches will choose an alternate swimmer. Alternates continue to practice with the SAISA team. 

SAISA TEAM practices will be SUNDAY, TUESDAY & THURSDAY-after school. 

NON-SAISA team-practices are Monday, Wednesday & Tuesday, Thursday & Saturday mornings. Those of you who are part of SAISA team may need to adjust your practice days to be able to attend the majority of SAISA practices. If you are not part of the SAISA team, you will likely need to adjust your practice days, still come to practice---you have a new goal of at least 3 practices/week minimum. 

What questions might you have? 

Ready? Deep breath. 

READ LIST.

Please read the information below carefully. Hang in there, I know its a LOT to read!


ALL SWIMMERS

CHANGE IN PRACTICE SCHEDULE

After the SAISA team is announced, we shift into a slightly different practice schedule including 3 SAISA ONLY PRACTICES. This means that the SAISA swimmers and alternates attend these practices (plus whatever other practice they choose to meet their commitment). The SAISA only practices allow the SAISA team to work on meet specific preparations including particular event work, relay team practices, etc. Beginning next week, we will follow the new schedule.

SAISA swimmers & alternates-SAISA ONLY practices will be Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday after school. It would be best if SAISA swimmers can attend all 3 of these specially designated practices and should, at minimum, attend 2 of the 3, when meeting the 4 practice minimum commitment.

NON-SAISA swimmers will continue to have the choice of Monday and Wednesday after school in addition to Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday mornings. Understandably, this may alter your weekly plans. NON-SAISA swimmers should continue to strive for the 4 or more practice commitment, and at minimum attend 3 practices.

TEAM PHOTO
OUR MS/HS Swim Team photo is scheduled for Wednesday, September 18th, 3:45-4:00 p.m.-BE ON TIME! See previous email sent to swimmer's TAISM emailfor more information about the TEAM PHOTO.


TAISM vs ABA DUAL MEET- OCTOBER 1
Information will go out by the end of this week regarding the dual meet at ABA on October 1st and how to sign up for the meet.  We hope everyone will choose to participate. Participation in the meet does count towards swimmer's 4 practices/week commitment.


OTHER LOCAL MEETS
Remember----we also have a couple of local competitions coming up....There is a long course meet at the Sultan Qaboos stadium hosted by Nautilus on November 1-2nd and an ABA Invitational Sprint meet on November 15th. Go EAGLES!

SWIM TEAM SWEATSHIRTS
All swimmers have been emailed an interest form for this year's team sweatshirt (sent to TAISM email accounts). For those who indicated they were interested or might be interested in ordering a sweatshirt, I have forwarded the GROUP ORDER link to them. The cost of the sweatshirts is about 16 OMR including name personalization and shipping costs. IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN ORDERING A SWEATSHIRT please follow the link to add your sweatshirt to the Custom Ink TAISM SWIM TEAM ORDER. (LINK: https://www.customink.com/g/xfr0-00bz-j0hn) This way, you can be sure to enter the name exactly how you want it to appear on your sweatshirt (BE CAREFUL to double check!!!) and pay for the sweatshirt directly online.

The order deadline is Friday, September 20th at 8:00 AM. 
Please note-we cannot accept late orders.


SAISA SWIMMERS & ALTERNATES

IMPORTANT INFORMATION
Swimmers selected for the SAISA team and alternates have received an email from the athletics office (and at practice a paper copy from Ms. Cori) regarding SAISA travel itinerary, fees and other important information. Thank you for RUSH sending your swimmer's passport so we could secure our airline tickets. The flight was fully booked and we had to act quickly to keep our spots. The athletics office will collect the 100 OMR deposit this week from all SAISA swimmers, including alternates. Deposits will be returned to alternates who do not travel.

SAISA EVENTS
On Sunday next week, swimmers will be asked to fill out a swim event input for SAISA form (swimmer's "wish lists"). Please note, final event entry decisions will be determined by coaches. We use the "wish lists" to double check to make sure swimmer's are swimming some of his/her top choice events, as much as possible. Swimmers  may be entered into an event as a way to help balance the age group team's events. Each swimmers can swim up to 7 individual events across the 3 days of competition. For each age group (girls 10-12, boys 10-12, girls 13-14, boys 13-14, girls 15 + and boys 15+), in each event, teams can enter 3 swimmers. As coaches we work to balance individual swimmer's event schedule (keeping in mind the order of events) with the needs of the team.

SPEEDO TEAM BACKPACKS
SAISA swimmers have a choice to BUY OR BORROW a Speedo Team backpack we will use for travel to the SAISA meet in Nepal. The cost for a team backpack is about 24 OMR. If you would like to see one, stop by Ms. Cori's office. More information will follow regarding the backpacks.


SAISA TEAM PASTA DINNER
SAISA Swimmers (plus alternates)- SAVE THE DATE: October 14th from 5:15-6:30 PM, we will have our annual pre-SAISA team dinner. The dinner will be catered by Crafty Kitchen. After practice, we will gather together to make a "luggage tag" with our swim events for our backpacks, eat together and practice a couple team cheers. The cost should be about 2-3 OMR. I will let you know when the details are sorted.

SAISA HOSTING
Remember that TAISM will be hosting many visiting athletes this year for Boys Volleyball first season and Girls Soccer third season. As a SAISA Swim family, you will be asked to volunteer to HOST for one of these SAISA tournaments. Hosting is a great way to be a contributing member of the TAISM community, get to know a couple of fun student athletes visiting Oman and is expected of all SAISA athletes.


I know there are a lot of deadlines and important dates to remember....please do your best to get things turned in on time! 

Thank you for your support.

Swim Hard. Dream BIG!

xx Ms. Cori

PIZZA PARTY!

PIZZA PARTY ON WEDNESDAY! TIME TRIALS ON SATURDAY

Pizza Party after practice for MS/HS Swimmers!

Wednesday, 
September 11 

from 5:15-6:15 p.m.
(after practice)
in the MSLC

Please sign up

by Tuesday, Sept. 10 and 

remember to bring your 3 OMR!

 Students need to have their own transportation home after the pizza party.

REMINDER, this Saturday we have our 100 Time Trials.

If you can't attend, plan to be at practice on Sunday to swim your 100s.

TAISM TEAM SUIT ORDER DUE MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 9th

Dear Swim Families,

Here is the link for the team suit order form.
*Please remember, team suits are OPTIONAL. Swim caps are required.

The sizing/fit of the suits should be very similar to our last style suits as they are also TYR brand.
The girls Diamondfit style is the same back as our previous girls' suits.

I have emailed the link for the order form to all of the students to their TAISM email addresses.

Swim Suit Orders are Due 

Monday, September 9th at 6:00 PM.

If you are interested in purchasing a cap or suit, you may pay the business office and bring the receipt to Ms. Cori or Ms. Grace. Prices are on the order form. 

You do NOT need to place an order for a swim cap. Just pay the business office 4.400 OMR and bring your receipt to us. We have swim caps in the pool office. A NEW updated design!

If you have any questions, please let me know.

Enjoy your weekend!

Ms. Cori

Girls Diamondfit 

 Girls Trinityfit

Boys Jammers

MS/HS Swim Season Kicks Off!

Dear Swimmers and Swim Families,

We are off to a strong start in the pool. We have around 50 swimmers out for the team ranging from grade 6 to grade 12. Each practice, our swimmers train up to around 3000 meters, (can vary slightly depending on specific workout and individual swim levels). Swimmers are encouraged to arrive ON TIME and to bring their water bottles every practice. In this way, we can maximize our practice time.

During our team meeting last week, we spoke about focusing on a WIN the Day mindset (W = What's I = Important N = Now). To WIN the Day, we focus each day on the small things we can control. We can control our EFFORT, our ATTITUDE and our BEHAVIOR. It's a CHOICE. We also identified our top team core values of perseverance, commitment, competitiveness, integrity, love and joyfulness. Core values are the building blocks that can help us define who we are, what we do and why. Our team values will help keep us anchored and help to drive success in our program as we work together to create a winning team culture. We can control how we live our core values and when we do, we Win the Day. It's a CHOICE! This week, we are focusing on perseverance....what that looks like, feels like and sounds like as part of the swim team at TAISM. Each swimmer is challenged to embody these core values in and out of the pool this season.




Time Trials and SAISA Team Selection
On Wednesday, we will swim 50 M time trials in each stroke during our regular practice time, (make-ups on Thursday). We have another time trial date coming up on Saturday, September 14th. We hope as many swimmers as possible will be able to attend. We have a bit longer time frame during Saturday practices so that makes it ideal for our 100 M time trials. We hope many swimmers will choose to attend---it should be a fun and productive morning. We understand that some swimmers may have other family commitments over the weekend. If this is the case,  let Ms. Grace or me know if possible. We'll wrap up these time trials at the following Sunday practice. :-) We use time trial data to help inform our team selections for SAISA. We are allowed to have a team of 30 swimmers total (boys and girls) across the three age groups (10-12 years old, 13-14 years old and 15+ years old).

Competitions
The SAISA competition this year will be in Kathmandu, Nepal at Lincoln School. The competition will be held on October 17-19th. This means that in less than two short weeks, we will have arrived at the team selection deadline-September 16th. We will announce who is selected for the SAISA team at the end of afternoon practice on the 16th. (FYI-on the slip sent home I incorrectly stated 18th). More information about SAISA and the trip will be coming shortly. Ms. Lang and Ms. McClurkin will be in touch with SAISA swimmers regarding traveling details and host family assignments. Remember, there are other swim competitions for swimmers to participate in beyond our SAISA event. We welcome swimmers who are not selected for the traveling SAISA team to continue training and compete in these local meets. The local swim meet schedule will be set this week and I will add those dates to the sidebar of this blog. Remember, if you are viewing on a mobile device, you need to click "view web version" to see the sidebar notes.

NEW Team Suits
Soon, you will receive a google form from me that is a TAISM team swim suit order form. IF you are interested in ordering a team suit, please complete the order form by Monday, September 9th. Please note, team suits are OPTIONAL. Girls suits will be 29 OMR and Boys jammers will be 22 OMR. The suits are TYR brand and are made of durable polyester. The suits will have the TAISM Eagle logo. The girls will have a choice of two different style backs. Photos will accompany the order form. Swimmers interested in ordering a team suit need to fill out the google order form by the deadline so that we can get the suits ordered and shipped in time to get them to Oman.

To help with your budgeting and planning, please note, TAISM swim caps are required for competitions (4.400 OMR). Additionally, for SAISA swimmers, there will be travel team SPEEDO backpacks available for purchase (approx. 24 OMR). Backpacks are optional---SAISA swimmers have a choice if they want to buy or BORROW for our trip to Nepal. More information to follow about the backpacks.

Pizza Party
Next week, Wednesday, September 11 from 5:15-6:15 PM, we will have our annual Swim Team Pizza Party for MS/HS swimmers. The cost is 3 OMR for pizza and juice. If pizza isn't your thing, you are welcome to bring your own snack and still join in on the team games/social time. There will be a sign-up sheet at practice and a folder for swimmers to put pizza money. We will have practice as usual on Wednesday, ending just a few minutes early. Please note: SWIM FAMILIES are responsible for providing transportation home after the Pizza Party (no bus).


If you have any questions or concerns, please send me an email, stop by or make an appointment to come talk with me in person. 

Looking forward to working with this strong group of swimmers this season.
Thank you for supporting our team!

Swim Hard. Dream BIG!

xx Ms. Cori