Important Dates

Scratch Deadline for BLUE MOON INVITATIONAL- Tuesday, October 14
The scratch deadline for the Blue Moon Invitational Swim Meet is this Tuesday, October 14th. Please email coach Brian if you will not be attending the meet or if you are planning on going to one of the sessions of the meet.

Practice Saturday with RSA NORTH!
This Saturday, October 18th we will be practicing with our teammates at RSA North @ Ravenscroft School. This is a great opportunity to get to know the swimmers that you will see at the meets. We will get to know each other, have a good time, and have a practice together. Novas and Wahoos will practice from 10:30-11:30 AM and Dolphins will be from 10:30-noon at Ravenscroft School. Minnows will practice at there normal time of noon-12:45 at Candler. There is NO PRACTICE at PULLEN do to RSA Hosted SENIOR MEET.

RSA Kicks Off Age Group Short Course Season
The Raleigh Swimming Association kicked off its 2003-2004 short course swimming season by hosting and competing in a 12 & Under Tri-meet which included the Raleigh Swimming Association, its' sister club RSA North, and the Swim Carolina Sharks.  The meet was held on Saturday, October 11th at the Sportsplex in Hillsborough, NC.  The meet featured over 160 swimmers from the three teams competing. This was a great way to start of the season for all swimmers.

The 8 & Under swimmers started things off in a great way for the Wahoos. Natalie Hill led the way for all RSA 8 & Unders. She swam to two first place finishes and had personal best times in her four events. In her first year-round swim meet Leah Casassa achieved her first B time in the 8 & Under 50 free and placed in the top three in two other events. Eight-year-Old David DeJarnette, placed first in the 8 & Under 25 yard breaststroke event. Del Dillard had a great meet. He had best times in everything that he swam including a 5 second time drop in the 25 yard freestyle. Seven-year-old Amanda Lamb also had a great meet. She had personal best times in everything that she swam, including a impressive first swim in the 100 yard IM. Trey Lower had personal best times in both the 25 yard free and 25 yard backstroke events. Kendall Pena had a a 3rd place finish in the 25 yard butterfly, and achieved personal best times in 3 out of 4 events she swam in the meet. Sister, Torie Pena was equally impressive. She swam to personal bests in 3 events, including 4 second time drops in the 25 free and 25 butterfly events. Octavio Quezada had two best times on the day. He dropped an incredible 5 seconds in the 25 yard freestyle. Other impressive time drops include Ryan Sbaiti's swim in the 25 freestyle, and Mandy Spalding dropped an amazing 13 seconds in the 50 yard freestyle. In his first year round swim meet David Baron swam to a 3rd place finish in the 25 yard breaststroke. There were also many new swimmers who competed in their first year round swim meet. Congratulations to the following 8 & Unders: David Baron, Thomas Bell, Leah Casassa, Kait D'Antonoli, Sarah Doerrer, Hannah Gulyes, Britt Hatt, Riley Mahn, Alex Manasso, McKenna Miller, Ryley Miller, Neal Nelson, Kristen Pate, Lucas Piedrahita, Delaney Rosen, Liam Ryan, Thomas Schmedding, and Tatiana Simonova.

The 9-10 year-old swimmers were equally impressive. There were some extremely impressive swims from two swimmers competing in there first year round swim meet. Both Nicole Davis and Becca Young achieved BB times. Nicole achieved BB times in the 50 backstroke and 50 freestyle. Becca Young got BB times in 50 free, 50 back, and 50 butterfly events. Carolyn Daussin also had an outstanding swim meet. She achieved two new BB times in the 50 breast and 50 free events. She also got two new B times in the 50 fly and 50 free. Other swimmers that achieved new time standards include Patrick Daussin who achieved a BB time in the 50 breast and 100 IM events. Lauren Koepnick also got her first B time standard in a great 50 yard backstroke swim. Toby Rosen swam to two new BB times, in both the 50 back and 50 breast. He also dropped 6 seconds to a new B time in the 100 IM. Many RSA 9-10 year olds swam to personal bests. Victoria Bell had best times in the 50 back, and a 3 second time drop in the 100 IM. Savannah Currens had a stunning 8 second time drop in the 50 yard backstroke. Michael Dickey placed 3rd and dropped 4 seconds in his 50 yard butterfly. Teammate Sawyer Dove achieved a new BB time in the 50 breast, and dropped 5 seconds in the 100 IM. Rachel Minore achieved two new B times in the 100 backstroke and 100 IM events. Matt Lower was outstanding placing first in the 50 fly, and dropped 10 seconds in the 100 IM. Also in her first year round swim meet Becky Whatley swam to B times in in all four of her events. Osman Sbaiti had a 3 second time drop in the 50 yard freestyle. Maggie Holsinger swam to BB times in both the 50 back and 50 butterfly events. Takuma Kato swam to BB times in the 50 back, and 50 breaststroke events. Tiffany Flood swam to B times in all four events she swam for the meet. There were also many new swimmers who competed in their first year round swim meet. Congratulations to the following 9-10's for competing in their first year round swim meet: Mary Baron, Nicole Davis, Sarah Henry, Sarah Lincourt, Becky Whatley, Alyssa White, and Katie Williams.

The 11-12 years old swimmers definitely did not disappoint. Melissa Geiss had an outstanding meet. She dropped time in 3 out of the four events that she swam. Mona Le achieved new B times as an 11-12 year old in both the 50 back and 50 free. Ryan Spalding had best times in everything that he swam, and teammate Sage Watkins did the same with a 5 second time drop in the 50 free. Deniz Gurel turned in a good swim with a 5 second drop in the 50 breast. Congratulations to the following 11-12's for competing in their first year round swim meet: Will Lyke and Arwen Oakley.

It was a great effort from swimmers, parents, and coaches. Thanks goes out to the officials and parent volunteers for making this meet run fast and smooth. Special thanks goes to Suping Chiao for doing the heat sheet and data entry, and Cheryl Wickham who was the driving force and meet director. Thank you for your hard work.

RSA Policy Regarding Parents Watching Practice in the Bubble
Takes Effect Monday, October 13, 2003
Since we have been swimming for about a month, the RSA coaching staff thought it would be important to address and make some guidelines to watching practice.  As you all know coaching and teaching in a bubble environment can be difficult.  Sometimes there is so much talking that none of the swimmers can hear what the coaches are explaining, and sometimes it is even difficult to hear what the coaches are saying when no one is talking.  This is one of the reasons we have a substantial amount of coaches on the pool deck, and the RSA coaching staff believes that everyone one at practice deserves an extensive amount of attention (Every Swimmer is Important).  With all of this in mind we ask that parents remain out of the bubble during practice.  Parents are encouraged to may remain in the Candler lobby during practice.  The RSA coaching staff believes that this will cut down on the noise and distractions for your children so that  RSA can create a good fun and learning environment for all of our swimmers. A further explanation of this policy can be found in this months Wahoo World.

RSA T-Shirts and Caps!
The RSA team t-shirts are in please pick yours up after practice this week!
Parents and swimmers the Silicone caps are in as well as latex RSA caps. I will sell the caps immediately after practice this week. The silicone are $13.00 and latex are $3.00. They come in black and red. Please pay be check ONLY made out to RSA. Cash will not be accepted. T-shirts will be in on Friday for the meet. If you do not get your shirt on Friday we will have them for you at the swim meet.

RSA Halloween BASH
Get your Halloween costumes ready because the Minnow, Nova, Wahoo, & Dolphin practice groups are invited to participate in the annual RSA Halloween BASH on Wednesday, October 29th from 5:00-6:30 PM at the Candler Swim Club.  There will be a best costume contest, food, candy, prizes and fun.  Please wear your Halloween costume and get ready for a great time! There will be no swim practice on this day. Just come wearing your costume and have a good time.

Chick-fil-a Calendars
Judy Glover will be on hand at practices this week trying to help sell Chik-fil-a Calendars. This fundraisers helps us heat the bubble for the winter, and keeps down the cost. There are also parents from certain groups that are helping to sell these for the club. Our sales are down from last year so we need to make a big push at the end.
Practice Group Contacts
Minnows Margaret Bell  851-2138
Novas Karen Pate  851-0052
Wahoos Nicole White  552-3799
Dolphins Robin Watkins  469-3378

Starting to Get Cooler Outside- BRING WARMER CLOTHES TO PRACTICE!
Fall is upon us and it is starting to get much cooler outside. Please be sure to start bringing some warm clothes before and especially after practice. This means jacket, sweat shirt and pants. A hat or hood would be great to cover your wet head. Sometimes it can be hard getting back into shape after your are sick.

What to Bring to Practice

• Dry land clothes- this includes running shoes, t-shirt, & shorts
• swim suit
• goggles (do not forget these because I do not have extra for other borrow)
• towel
• swim caps (this is optional, although I do think that girls with long hair really need to wear one)

TECHNIQUE FOR THE WEEK
I was extremely impressed with how we swam overall at the first meet of the year. It was also the first time for many of you doing flip turns. This is a difficult skill that we will continue to work on. Now we have been swimming for a little over a month. This week we will really be working on butterfly. We will go through drills and skills for this stroke. We will also start to pick up on the yardage that we swim in practice. This will help you in your races a whole lot. Just because we swim a lot it does not mean that we do not concentrate on the skills that we have already learned. Great job at the swim meet and look forward to seeing you at practice.

Great job at the swim meet RSA! See you at practice!

Coach Brian