Important Dates

RSA-North Age Group Thanksgiving Invitational Swim Meet

The RSA-N Thanksgiving Invitational is this weekend, Nov. 22, 23, & 24. This should be a great meet for all swimmers. Here are some things for you to know about the meet. The meet will be held at Ravenscroft School in Raleigh. You can find directions to Ravenscroft on our website. The Friday session of the meet are for BB and faster swimmers only. On Sat. and Sun, BB and faster swimmers are in the morning, while B/C swimmers are in the afternoon.
Here are the times that you must be at the meet:

Please be on deck ready to go 15 minutes prior to warm up.
BB and Faster Sessions: Fri.: Warm Up 4:30 PM (be on deck at 4:15) Meet starts: 5:30 PM
BB and Faster Sessions: Sat.and Sun.: Warm Up 7:30 AM (be on deck at 7:15) Meet starts: 8:30 AM
B/C Sessions: Sat. and Sun.: Warm Up Not Before 12:00 PM (be on deck at 11:45 AM) Meet starts: approximately 1:15 PM.

What to Bring to the Meet:

• Black RSA Swim Suit
• 2 Towels per session (They will get wet quickly)
• Water Bottle (it will get hot so you want to drink plenty of fluids)
• Red RSA Cap
• Sweat Suit- you want some type of sweat suit to keep warm when you are walking in and out of the building
• Goggles- Do not forget these

After your race please make sure to come and see Coach Brian, Coach Meghan, or Coach Larry. It is very important that you get feedback from your performance in each of your races. These are the times that you will learn the most about your swimming, so please see your coach after your competition!

Make sure that you get a good night sleep, and eat healthy this week before the meet. DO NOT STAY UP REAL LATE! If you are swimming in the morning eat a light breakfast. An individual events report for the meet will be put in each child's folder at the pool, so PLEASE MAKE SURE TO CHECK YOUR FOLDERS!

No Practice on Saturday
There will be no practice on Saturday, November 23rd, due to the Turkey meet at Ravenscroft.

Reindeer Invitational Scratch Deadline
The scratch deadline for the RSA Reindeer Invitational Swim Meet is Sunday, November 24, 2002. Please email coach Brian at bgill@swimrsa.org if you will not be attending the meet or if you will be going to one day of the weekend meet.
RSA hosts the Reindeer Invitational Swim Meet every year at the Triangle Sportsplex in Hillsborough. This year the meet will be held the weekend of Dec. 7th and 8th. There are still spaces available to help work the swim meet. If you are interested in helping in any way please sign the volunteer poster in the Candler lobby.

Technique For the Week
A week when we have a meet is always an important week of practice. We have to do a really good job of listening, this week especially when we are working on starts and turns. Here are some things to remember for each of the 4 turns;

1. Freestyle Flip Turn: A lot of swimmers tend to get to close to the wall when you flip. Do a flip so that your body position is like you are sitting in a chair. Make sure you use your arms to flip your body around faster. Plant your feet and push off the wall streamline on your back. Once your feet leave the wall then you can roll over to your stomach.

2. Backstroke Flip Turn: The most important thing about this turn is to know your stroke count. If you do not know it, you will be in trouble! Subtract 1 stroke from your normal count from the flags to the wall. After that last stroke that you subtracted that is when you are suppose to turn over to your stomach and flip. When you turn from your back to your stomach it is like you are doing one corkscrew stroke. Once you turn over you have to flip do not wait! Try your best to swim into the wall in a sprint, so your stroke count will be the same emery time. It helps to make sure that you start counting at the flags with the same arm every time . It is easiest to use the arm that your write with. After you flip you plant your feet and push off on your back.

3. Breaststroke Turn: The breaststroke turn is more difficult than it looks. First thing you must do is to touch with two hands (Make sure your hands are not uneven, you will be DQ'd). After you touch the next thing is to turn your feet and your body side ways. Once you have positioned your feet, you must drop the arm that is closest to the water followed by sinking your head under the water. Next push off the wall and "answer the telephone" with your other arm while pushing off the wall on your side. "Answering the telephone" means to bring your other arm up close to your ear and then enter in the water as you push off under the water. After you push off on your side you can roll to your stomach, do an underwater pull out (one pull and one kick underwater) and then come up swimming breaststroke.

4. Butterfly Turn: The butterfly turn is the same as the breaststroke turn, the only difference is when you push off the wall on your side and you roll over kick fast dolphin kicks under the water to get you up to the surface to swim butterfly.

See you at practice ready to listen and concentrate!

Coach Brian