Highland Vista Aquatic Club

Practice Schedule

We have a short week this week, and next. This week concludes the afternoon practice schedule. Practice will be held through Thursday, May 27. No practice on Friday, May 28 due to the holiday weekend.

Monday, May 31 is the Memorial Day holiday, so no practice Monday. On Tuesday, June 1, we start the morning practice schedule. June 1 is also the start of season for the Pre-Team swimmers. We stay on the morning practice schedule for the rest of the season. The morning practice schedule is on the HV Swim Team website.

For convenance, here is the morning practice schedule:
13-18: 7:00-8:30 AM
11-12: 8:30-9:30 AM
9-10: 9:30-10:30 AM
7-8: 10:30-11:00 AM
6-under (includes pre-team): 11:00-11:30 AM

Lost & Found

There is lots of stuff piling up in the lost and found area near the snack bar. In fact the pile was beginning to get out of control, too much, too scattered. There is now a plastic bin to keep all that stuff neatly in one place. Please do your part and make sure all lost and found items are inside the bin.

Red/Black

The results from the Red/Black meet, including individual swimmers times will soon be posted on the website. Season best times will be posted on the large board outside the snack bar.

T-shirts

Don't forget, if you want to order a t-shirt for yourself, let Audrey Campbell know by Friday, May 28th. We will be placing our final order soon.

Babysitting

Is it date night yet? Well, if you are ready for a date but need a babysitter consider Lauren Gariepy at 520-390-6711. Lauren is Becky Gariepy's big sister.

That's all for now. Have a great, and safe, Memorial Day weekend. Remember to take a moment to pause and reflect on the brave men and women who have made the ultimate sacrifice for the freedoms we all enjoy in this fine country.

Ed Murphy
HVAC, Co-Chair

Printer

We had a great response to my request for a printer donation. I am now in possession of three inkjet printers, thank you Rafael Gurrero, Maria Miller and Shelley Kahn. I received generous offers for several other printers. Thank you to everyone who offered to donate a printer. I really appreciate the generosity of the HVAC families.

T-Shirts

Just in time to kick off another great season, our t-shirts have arrived! A big thank you to Sean Johnson and Purple Rhino Screen Print and Embroidery! I think they look great and hope you all like them. Charlene Bell will be passing them out on Saturday morning at the Red and Black meet. Be sure to write your names in them, in case they get lost.

If there is a problem with your order, please email me at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .

We will be placing another order on Friday, May 28th. If you would like to purchase additional t-shirts, please email your order to me.

Go Wahoos!

Audrey Campbell

The 13-18 completed their first "50's-til-you-drop" of the season today, and boy were they thrilled!
I thought we would post these to help inspire the kids to set goals and improve. We'll do the set twice more this season with the goal of beating their season best from today and see if they can do at least one more 50 the next time they do the set.

"50's-til-you-drop" basically work like this: The swimmers do 50's of freestyle with progressively less rest between each repeat until there is so little rest that they can't continue. This challenges them to keep going, and not give up, even when they are exhausted. The goal is to complete as many 50's as possible.

Here are the results from today's test:

Dary Zwart 27
Taylor Emmerson 26 x 50's
Kristin Pearthree 26 x 50's
Megan Gillespie 24
John Hines 24
Kelly Walker 22
Hailey Walter 20
Meaghan Gould 20
Carly Cutshaw 19
Michaela Valentine 17x 50's
Rachel Done 13
Ariana Mason 13
Bryce Soelter 13
Cydney Santoyo 12
Haley Ruth 12
Lauren Krause 12
Natalie Kloster 11
Blake Denney 10
Chris McCarthy 10

Congratulations Swimmers! Now you have a starting point from which to improve.

Red/Black
Are you ready for the excitement of a swim meet?  Well, get ready because this coming Saturday, May 22, 2010 at 8 AM the annual Red/Black meet kicks off the competitive swim season.  The Red/Black is an intra-squad meet with half the team swimming for the Black Team and the other half of the kids swimming for the Red Team.  It is a lot of fund and a great way to start the racing season.  The times from the Red/Black meet will be used to determine who swims at the 9-18 Invitational and who swims at the Desert Rat.  Don't forget to bring you suit too for the parent's relay after the meet.

Volunteer Positions
The volunteer wiki is finally ready, thanks for your patience.  You can sign up for meet positions (including Red/Black) and seasonal positions by visiting our website, http://hvswimteam.org and navigating to the volunteers page.  Or you can go directly to the wiki at, http://highlandvistaswim.pbworks.com.  You should be able to create your own account and then sign-up for a position by editing the page where the position you want is listed.  If there is a name already assigned to a position that means someone has already volunteered for that position.  If you have any questions about the volunteer wiki, or the positions, feel free to contact Jennifer Gould or myself.

Officials Clinic
If you are interested in being a Stroke and Turn judge you should attend the upcoming clinic.  The clinic will be Saturday, May 22, 2010, 9:00 AM at Udall Park.  For more information see the SAAA website.

T-Shirts
The 2010 Highland Vista Aquatic Club t-shirts will be distributed at Saturday's Red/Black meet.  There will also be HVAC swim caps for sale at the Red/Black meet.

Schedule Changes
There was an error on the schedules distributed earlier.  The Saturday Invitationals (9-18, Desert Rat, Muppet Meet) were listed one week early.  The correct dates are:
9-18 - June 12, 2010
Desert Rat - June 19, 2010
Muppet Meet - June 26, 2010
The corrected dates have been posted to the team website.  Sorry, about any confusion.

Well, that's it for now.  Have a great week!  I will see you Saturday at the Red/Black meet.

Ed Murphy
HVAC, Co-Chair

Important Information from the coaches:

As everyone knows practice is in full swim and the swimmers are showing improvement in their strokes and conditioning every day.  We want to make everyone aware of a few things as we progress toward the summer season:

Parents: please monitor your children at swim practice.  We would like to keep the areas between the ramada's and the pool clear of playing children.  The swimmers in water need the attention of the coaches and do not need to be distracted by people in the grass or on the decks.

Swimmers and Parents:  Please remember to use the "Sign-Out-Book" to let the coaches know about meets you plan to miss.  Sign out as early as possible.

Swimmers and Parents:  The Red Black Meet is next Saturday, May 22.  Please mark your calendars!  We usually begin the meet by 8:00 am and wrap up by around 11:00 am.  Important Meet info:

• This is a "time-trial" meet (we compete against swimmers from our own team, and the clock)
• Warm-up begins at 7:30 am (swimmers arrive at 7:15)
• Parents will be running the meet - Plan to help!
• Parents will be encouraged to participate in the "Parent Relay"s at the conclusion of the Red-Black, so bring your suits!
• Team assignments will be made next week.  Check the bulletin board starting next Tuesday.
• More details will be included in next week's announcements

Coach Ed

Highland Vista Parents and Swimmers! Thank you for making the start of the 2010 swim season a smooth and successful beginning. It should be a great season!

Here are a few reminders for everyone as we move forward:

• All swimmers should have goggles
• Swimmers with hair that is past the collar should have a cap
• Swimmers age 9 and up will need a short blade "zoomer" style fin by the 2nd week of practice
• As much as possible parents should stay off the deck during swim practice
• Team suits are available at Patio Pools

(Please see the coaches regarding these if you have questions)

I have been getting questions about practice schedules, fees, and more so I thought I should take this opportunity to make you all aware of our the new swim team website, http://hvswimteam.org. The new site has lots of information, is easy to use and looks great too. Kudos to Peter Gariepy for building such a cool new site for our team. Thanks Peter!

It's time to start planning our team t-shirts. Anyone interested in helping design or making the shirts, please contact Audrey Campbell at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it or 795-5108.

Last year, we had a successful and fun-filled summer and look forward to another great season.

Volunteer Commitments

The $50 volunteer commitment fee will continue this year. Like last year, separate checks will be collected at registration. The process worked well last year. Parent volunteers are critical to running a successful swim team program. We couldn’t do it without you and greatly appreciate your help. Each family will be asked to fulfill 4 volunteer commitments this year. This is an increase from 3 last year. There were some positions not accounted for, including shade brigade, trophies, awards dinner, championships dinner and 2 snack bar shifts per meet.

HVNA Pool Usage Fee

This year the Highland Vista Neighborhood Association has decided to charge a pool usage fee of $10 for any swimmer who is not a member of the pool. This is on top of the normal registration fees. This fee will be collected at registration.

League Alignment

Well, it seems that our back-to-back championships got the attention of the SAAA. Our overwhelming victory last season helped convince them that we were ready for the top league in SAAA. For the 2010 season we find ourselves in the San Pedro league. Here is who is in San Pedro this year:

• Highland Vista (US!)
• Pusch Ridge
• Sabino Vista Hills
• Tucson Jewish Community Center
• Ventana Canyon

It should be a fun, and challenging, year in the new league.  Please let myself, or any Board member, know if you have any questions or concerns. We look forward to seeing you at the pool