Bear Tracker Newsletter November 2012

1. Bear Tracker Newsletter November 2012 Welcome to the Monthly Keyano Newsletter. This will be your source of updates, reminders, and news items. This forum will enable us to streamline information to you in advance. You may still see independent reminders and information, however, we hope to capture the bulk of the information you need in one convenient place. As such, we welcome any feedback that you may have as we are always striving for excellence. Should you have any items that you wish to include in the newsletter, please email Angela Contardi by the 22nd in order to meet the deadline for the next months edition at contardi@telus.net. Thank you.

2. Head Coaches Corner Welcome to our first newsletter of the 2012-2013 season. As our club grows, we are always trying our best to communicate effectively with our members. Through our website, emails, meetings, and now our newsletter, we want to make sure that everyone knows what is happening with the team. Please remember that if you ever have any questions please feel free to ask your coach, team manager, or board member. Our season up to date has been going great. Our pools are full of excited swimmers who have goals of achieving excellence. Our motto for this year on our team T-shirts of “Excellence, Day In and Day Out” is a small reminder to all of us of what we are about - excellence in swimming and in life. We are about creating the environment for our swimmers to become excellent people through the pursuit of swimming excellence – everyday. Much of the first two months of the season have been focused on technique on all 4 strokes as well as kicking. We have been teaching more than training and really working hard at getting our swimmers efficient and looking good in the water. Learning the basic fundamentals of swimming well is crucial at this point in the season for our swimmers to continue to improve throughout the season and their swimming careers. Our first swim meet of the season Oktoberfest and Vorgee #1 was a nice way to get some of those first race jitters out of the way. As I was watching Oktoberfest in one pool, I couldn’t help but be drawn over to the Vorgee side where I saw many of our youngest swimmers really getting in there and racing fast. I was impressed by their determination and competitive spirits! THANK YOU to all of the parents who volunteered and helped out at both meets. I would like to take this opportunity now to invite all of you to our 2012 Awards banquet which will be taking place on Saturday, November 24 at 10AM at the Royal Glenora Club. More information will follow. This is a great way to celebrate our successes of the 2011-2012 season and get charged up for another great year of fast swimming! I look forward to seeing you all around the pool. Derrick Schoof Edmonton Keyano Swim Club Head Coach/Director of Swimming

3. Message from the President BOARD HIGHLIGHTS • EKSC is approximately 350 members strong! • The Strategic Plan has finally made its way onto our website! • We have a new Travel Policy in place – coming soon to the website. • Bingos have been reduced (this year only)! New Northern Region Board (2012-2013): • Glennis Mossey -President • Ollie Currie-Vice President • Glenda Bacchus(PPA)- Secretary • Sandy Wishloff (OSC)-Treasurer • Jennifer Monyo-Maina (OSC) – Member at Large • Christine Binces (FMSC) – Member at Large • Brenna Maradyn (EKSC) – Member at Large • Norma Lachance – past president Congratulations to Cam McGinnis! He is serving on the Swim Alberta Board. Dates to Remember • November 7: Picture Day and Volunteer Fair • November 14: Geomeer is presenting (our community project partner)

4. Important Notesfrom Colleen • Office Hours will vary from week to week so please send me an e-mail or call, if you would like to come down to pick something up officeeksc@gmail.com , 780-432-9448 ext 223 • If you have not yet picked up your RED SHIRTS and SILICONE cap for the 2012-2013 season please do so ASAP! • Wednesday Nights the Office will be open until 6PM • Keyano Krossfit Program to begin November 14th

5. EKSC Parent Information A hearty welcome to new swimmers and parents who are just entering the world of competitive swimming. Swimming with Keyano is a wonderful opportunity to develop positive health and fitness skills and attitudes as well as providing learning experiences related to healthy competitive attitudes, work ethic values, team benefits within a very individual sport which requires self accountability, responsibility, time management, and personal discipline. Swimming provides opportunities for families to embrace a culture of volunteerism, personal and collective growth, and the development of closer personal ties through the celebration of success and achievement and the perseverance required to overcome adversity and difficult times. As new swimmers and parents there is much to learn about the sport. We hope to help guide you with a series of short articles and information pieces which we will send at various times throughout the swim season. As an introductory article, it is worth reinforcing a few principles which make competitive swimming the unique culture that it has become: VOLUNTEERISM Parent volunteers make this sport work – and make it work very well. Officiating at swim meets, serving as club board members, organizing fund raising initiatives are typically managed by parent volunteers. The amazing diversity of parent skills and interests within a club allows them to perform in the areas where they are both capable and comfortable. Clubs must see to it that volunteer recruitment is clear as to the needs of each position. Communicating these needs to new members will place the right people in the right positions. We all need to get involved and the best experiences come from selecting the jobs that we are likely to do the best. There is a job for everyone! SPORT STRUCTURE National, Provincial, and regional bodies have developed athlete development programs that give our young athletes the best opportunity to develop as swimmers. Young swimmers begin their training following very specific skill and fitness protocols combined with entry level swim meet competitions to test them appropriately for the training level they are in. As your swimmer advances, they will be assigned to new training groups and coaches and the meet schedule will continue to reflect their progress level. Minimum time standards will become part of the goal setting and coach/swimmer/parent discussions as swimmers must reach these standards to qualify for certain meets. Group movement within Keyano is partially influenced by achievement of specific time standards.

6. Cont. Parent Information Time standards begin as early as 10 and under age groups and continue all the way to international competitions like the Olympics. TEAMWORK Competitive swimming is obviously a very individual sport and encourages our athletes to set individual goals and work hard to achieve them. However, all Keyano swimmers are part of a training group and compete as a team in swim meets. Team results at Provincial and National competitions have implications beyond just team pride so learning how to be a strong individual within a team environment is critical to the progressive development of each swimmer but is also integral to Edmonton Keyano as a functional organization and leader in Canadian swimming. There are also funding benefits for the club. For example, Edmonton Keyano’s 3rd place finish at 2012 Summer Nationals has already provided revenue opportunities for us this year. A strong team creates leaders and heroes of our top achievers for our young athletes to emulate. Strong training groups with high demands and expectations within the group lift each individual to stronger and more disciplined training efforts and therefore better results. This is true from entry level groups where these principles are first introduced all the way to the National training groups. After years in the sport, parents find that some swim meets can feel slow and low energy. However, this is a very small price to pay for the excitement of seeing your child swim at a high end Provincial, National, or International competition, especially as part of a relay team in a close race. It can be incredibly exciting. So again....WELCOME TO THIS GREAT SPORT! We will send information soon, with more detail of how you participate and enjoy this experience to the max! EKSC

7. Celebration at Keyano Congratulations to our Swimmers of the Month for OCTOBER! Bonnie Doon Pool Confederation Pool Royal Glenora Pool Jasper Place Pool Terwillegar Pool Kinsmen Pool

8. Satellite Pool Updates ROYAL GLENORA CLUB POOL We are thrilled that the Keyano program has begun for a 2nd season at the RGC pool and it is off to a very strong start! We are so fortunate to have our fantastic coaching team of Tria, Glen and Suzanne! They are providing great leadership, expertise and skill development to our many, many young RG Keyano swimmers. We have full programs in the Gold, Silver and Bronze groups and look forward to a very fun and successful season! We also have a very keen Keyano Masters program at the club as well. This has been a great fitness opportunity for the adults, but lots of laughs as well. Congratulations to the many RG athletes that competed in the recent Vorgee #1 at the Kinsmen. For some of our athletes, this was their very first competition and they did a great job! The athletes were very well prepared and had a great day. Thanks to the meet organizers, as this was a very well-organized meet.

9. Satellite Pool Updates Terwilliger Pool The Kids had a great time at the Vorgee #1 Meet… both in and out of the pool. It was a great way to get the jitters out of the way and build confidence as they dive into Season 2012-2013. Thanks to the parents who helped out.

10. Satellite Pool Updates At the JP Satellite Pool, the children (and space permitting, parents, siblings, and friends) will be going to play a few games of laser tag this coming Tuesday.  Parents will also bring some food (drinks, desert, fruits, and veggies) for the kids for  a snack after the laser tag game.