8-and-Under News

Coach Hilary’s email: hilarygoldschlager@yahoo.com 

Group Parent: Nancy Yamada yamadanancy@gmail.com

Practice Times: Minnows TuTh 3:30-4:00

                             Turtles MWF 3:30-4:00

                             Dolphins MTWTF 4:00-4:50

 

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 BIGGEST TIME IMPROVEMENTS:

 In a single race:

TIE! Mary Wilkinson & Ryan Kim 100 Free  23 seconds!!

TIE! Samuel Yang & Jason Liu  25 Free  8 seconds!

 Total time improvement:

This Dolphin dropped anywhere from 1 to 7 seconds in EVERY race for

100% Best Times & “Swimmer of the Meet”

WALTER LI

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BIG NEWS!!  PASA takes 1st place at Zone Champs!

 

who: swimmers with "A" times; for us, that's Anthony Xie, Riya Matta, Aaron Kuo 

what: Zone 1 North Championship Meet

where: DeAnza College in Cupertino

when: the last weekend in January 2010

why: these 3 represented the Rinconada 8+U in a variety of events, freestyle & medley relays 

 

highlights: the meet kicked off with 8+U 100IM, where Aaron Kuo dropped NINE seconds from his best time & got his first PRT! That's a big accomplishment, so BIG CONGRATS to Aaron & to all the PASA swimmers for a fantastic job!

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SWIMMERS OF THE MONTH: DECEMBER/JANUARY

 Minnows:  Jack Vort  (*stellar pool entry!)

 Turtles:  Jules (Julianna) Steil

Dolphins:  Wes Walters & Aaron Kuo

                                                             

SWIMMERS OF THE MONTH: NOVEMBER

Minnows: Samuel Yang

Turtles: Anjali Santhanam

Dolphins: Ainsley Roh & Marcus Hong

PERFECT ATTENDANCE!

Special recognition to the following swimmers who attended every practice/meet offered:

 James Burrows, Sveva Rosati, Marcus Hong & Parker Wang

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SOLO MEET RECAP   Nov. 21-22

What a great turnout!

The Rinconada 8+Unders made a strong showing at M-A High School; a total of THIRTY Dolphins, Turtles & Minnows braved the crisp, chilly early morning hours to swim…and as the sun came out, so did their smiles =) as they raced the morning away…

Now I can’t take all the credit for the great swimming they did (or any, really), but I’m willing to bet it had something to do with the pow-wow we had before the meet started!  We had close to 100% best times and most were Race Rookies—swimming events for the first time—always a learning experience. Now if we could just get over this flipturn hurdle! 

High-5’s go out to:

Meera Bharat, Leela Srivinisian, Anjali Santhanam, Mary Wilkinson,

Caitlin Fotsch, Gina Tiso, Riya Matta, Simon “off-the-blocks” Clarke, Walter Li,

James Burrows, Anthony Xie, Marcus Hong, Maurice Wang, Leyton Ho,

Ryan Kim, Ben Bender, & Aaron Kuo

BIG High-5’s to our 13 Meet Rookies:

Emma Johnson, Arianna Mao, Hannah Zhou, Sveva Rosati, Ainsley Roh,

Teddy Liang, Aaron Galper, Christopher Dong, Jared Yang, Samuel Yang,

Parker Wang, Jason Liu, & Colm Lambert 

*Ainsley Roh celebrated her birthday the 2^nd day of the meet with an “A” time in the first-ever-race-of-her-life: 50 Breast…her birthday wish was to have fellow swimmer Anjali Santhanam go off the blocks (which she did!) and do a flipturn (which she also did!) and Leela Srivinisian joined her in Ainsley’s b-day wish…nice teamwork, girls!

*Anthony Xie got himself two more “A” times: 50 Back & 50 Breast…

*Of all the time improvements, the biggest by far was Aaron Kuo: total cumulative time drop…a whopping 41 SECONDS!! And he placed first in every 8+U race—woo hoo!!

Everyone did a great job and thanks to the parents who timed, we couldn’t have done it without you! Next up: SSF meet also at Menlo-Atherton High School, Dec. 12-13^th, morning session—know that if the kids want to swim well, they need to come to practice! =)

DEC. 11TH WE'RE GOING ICE-SKATING!!! stay tuned for details~

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PENTATHALON ENDS CANDY MEET SEASON:

Big congrats to the swimmers who attended our final Candy Meet at Los Altos GCC...we had a good handful of swimmers representing the Rinconada 8+Unders & some REALLY fast races! Thanks to everyone for coming & showing your support =)

 

BAC MEET RECAP:

The only thing spooky about this meet (besides my purple hair!) was how much we improved & how well we swam! High 5's go out to these swimmers (cumulative time drop listed after name):

Riya Matta (-5), Nathan Nguyen (-4), Wyatt Simison*, Anthony Xie*, Peter*, Sabrina* & Estelle* Martin,

Ben Bender (-2), Maurice Wang (-15!), Marcus Hong (-2), Walter Li (-9), Leyton Ho (-22!), Gila Winefeld (-8), Mary Wilkinson (-8), & James Burrows (-11) 

*"Meet Rookies," those participating in their first USA Swim Meet

 

NEW "A" TIMES:

Peter Martin 25 Back, Anthony Xie 25 Breast, Riya Matta 25 Breast & 50 Free

 

SWIMMERS OF THE MONTH: October

 

minnows: Parker Wang

turtles: Nathan Nguyen & Gila Winefeld

dolphins: Maurice Wang & Riya Matta

 

 

We will be practicing at Palo Alto High School for the duration of the renovation. SAME PRACTICE TIMES for the 8+U, all other groups will practice from 7:30-8:30. Please check the calendar for important info.

 

 

It took all of three minutes during the first practice to see what a great group of kids I’d be coaching. Spunky, giggly, smart, eager & willing, these kids have, over the past several weeks, already grown into better swimmers—and I’ve got proof! Read on…

We welcomed 31 NEW swimmers to our 8+U program a month ago and so far, it seems as though everyone’s having a great time =)! Combined with the 30 returning swimmers…no wonder the 8+U group has reached capacity! Here’s the breakdown:

Group               On Roster at start:                   New Swimmers:            Total:

 Minnows            4 *(all moved up)                   11                       11

Turtles               9                                         12                        21

Dolphins           17*(inc. move-ups)                 10                        27

 

 

Hannah Zhou, Sydney & Lauren Sung, Sofia Buxton, Emily Wilkinson,

Jack Vort, Brody Simison, Parker Wang, Ethan Chun, Wesley Ho, Cameron Lambert.

 

Alli Miller, Katherine Sung, Estelle Martin, Emma Johnson,

Lou Guionnet, Sveva Rosati, Isabelle Collins, Natalie Ho, Aron Ma

 

Ainsley Roh, Tanli Su, Sabrina & Peter Martin, Ben Bender,

Wyatt Simison, Wes Walters, Teddy Liang, Chris Dong,

Hyunroo Roh, Anthony Xie

 

 

 

Minnows: Hannah Zhou & Ethan Chun

Turtles: Emma Johnson & James Burrows

Dolphins: Mary Wilkinson & Walter Li

 

*Swimmers of the Month are chosen based on criteria such as attitude, attendance, listening skills, leadership, willingness to try things, consideration for other swimmers, & demonstration of good sportsmanship. The decision wasn’t easy; luckily there are many months ahead!

 

 

Great turnout at both Candy Meets! Despite a bit of administrative chaos, the kids had heaps of fun & swam quite well. Competition is tantamount to a swimmer’s progress and it gives a unique perspective into how each of them handles competition, racing, mentality, but more importantly: they begin to develop their sense of accountability and see how powerful they are in their own pathway to achievement. Candy meets are great opportunities to practice the races they’ll swim at official meets-so please join us as much as you can!

 

DACA Oct. 4-5 DeAnza College

I couldn’t be MORE proud! We had close to 100% best times (!), RaceRookies are swimmers who are either swimming in their first meet or their first time swimming an event—both big steps that deserve High-5’s—so congrats to the following swimmers:

Walter Li, James Burrows, Nathan Nguyen, Mary Wilkinson, Tina Kushnir, Marcus Hong, Aaron Kuo, Ryan Kim, Meera Bharat, Anjali Santhanam, Simon Clarke & Ben Bender.

 

*Marcus Hong had almost all his “A” times when I came on, but achieved the final one at DACA; he’s our first 8+U to have all “A” times~a HUGE achievement…WAY TO GO MARCUS!

*MOST IMPROVED: MAURICE WANG, who dropped over 2 minutes cumulatively—what a fantastic job!

*NEW “A” time: Aaron Kuo in 50 Backstroke—High-5 to Aaron!

 

Our next meet is Burlingame (BAC) on Halloween, Oct. 31-Nov 1^st. Look for big improvements in those swims as well! Please mark your calendars for Nov. 21-22, we’ll be swimming at the SOLO meet at Menlo-Atherton High School & we would like ALL 8+U to come swim, have fun, & support our team!

 

September: Jason Liu, Katherine Sung, Ethan Chun, Jack Vort, Cameron Lambert

October: Sveva Rosati, Jared Yang, Chris Dong, Lou Guionnet, Leyton Ho, Sebastian Cai