Staying COOL at last day of AA meet

6-21-08: Sun was the last day of the 4-day AA meet in Irvine and it was a scorcher! Some families were there ALL 4 days--now those are diehard swimmers and parents!

Here are just a few shots from Sunday--I actually spent that afternoon shooting mostly video for a change, doing interviews, etc. You'll be seeing those again someday!

Congrats to all the swimmers--I heard that it was a "hot" meet for most of them...and I'm not talking temperature-wise, either!

Melissa demonstrates how to keep cool--with a swim cap full of water and ice!

Calvin (on the ladder) thinks to himself, "What a bunch of crazy girls!" Are they practicing for the first RST Synchronized Swimming Team?

One of 3 sites where RST parents had enjoyed their sauna, fully clothed.

It was so hot that even the homeless took shelter nearby...
...oh wait, that isn't a homeless family, that is the Cunan family! My bad....

First day of AA meet!

6-21-08: Some of our swimmers made it to the AA meet in Irvine, which started Thur. and goes thru tomorrow (Sun). We thought it would be cool there on the coast, but it's HOT, ave. in the high 90's. Whew! Trying to keep the kids cool and out of the sun. Check out the pictures from Friday and watch for Sunday's pictures!

Redland's Hale wins duel!

6-11-08: A great article in the Press Enterprise on the CIF-SS Division 1 at Long Beach. Joey Hale wins 50-m free in 19.95 seconds....amazing! Read more about the story at PE's website: PE Article on swim meet

Swim-a-thon 2008

6-6-08 Today was our swim-a-thon, our major fund raiser of the year. The club raises $$ to help purchase equipment, subsidize the cost of gear, pay for social events and awards, and basically everything else that our monthly dues do not cover.

You could swim whatever laps or for however long; many kids were shooting for 200 laps (lengths) or just over 3 miles (5000 yards). Parents had to count laps and time.

Since the money doesn't have to be turned in till later, we won't know how much was raised by this swimathon.

Congrats to all the swimmers who helped out with this fundraiser!

Fun at team picture

6-2-08: Photographing all these kids is a huge task, so they can't help but have some fun while they wait. Thanks to Coach Audy for sending me these pictures!

6-1-08 TCC Meet

6-1-08 Unlike last year, this weekend's meet at TCC was a perfect temp., sunny, and not crowded! Had a good group of swimmers there today. Unfortunately, some weren't feeling well--Mia Ryan didn't make it today after getting sick yesterday, and Jared had to go home early today after not having eaten the last few days for some reason.

In this post, I've started a new "segment". One is called, "Caught looking" and will feature swimmers who I happen to catch obviously looking at the other swimmers! LOL! The other segment will be "Good Sports" and will feature those who exhibit good sportsmanship--shaking hands with the other swimmers, etc.

Way to go RST swimmers, coaches, and parents!



Good Sportsmanship Highlights (I know others do this, but I see Colin do it most)



Caught Looking Highlights

RST 3 rack up 250+ splash points!

5-26-08: This Memorial Day weekend was a "free" weekend for our team, so a number of families chose to enter meets outside of our section. If you've never done that before, it's a bit "different" because you don't your whole team there, you don't have any of your coaches there...you're basically, "on your own". Here's what it looks like (lots of space!):

Fortunately, the Ryans were there at this particular meet in Thousand Oaks, so we could share their EZ-Up the Sun. and Mon. we were there to race. BTW, Justin wouldn't have been alone if we didn't go, because the guy knows more people on other teams than anyone else I know! (Parents from Palm Springs and Temec were hanging out with us and stopping by).

The 3 RST members who represented the team well: Mia Ryan, Summer Medina, and Marcia Ryan.
Even though we only had 3 RST members, they earned us over 255 "splash points" as you can see on this paper. (I know it's more than that because this was not counting Marcia's top 3 placing in the 200 free). When we left, RST was ranked 4th in the "small team" category! In most of the 6 events each girl entered, they placed high enough to earn points for the team. Way to go, girls!
Because you have to warm up under a coache's supervision, you have to approach a coach there and ask if you can warm up with their team. We had the good fortune of warming up with Coach Todd, of COTO (Coyotes from La Brea). He was really nice to the girls and even commented on their swimming during the meet. He told the girls to be sure to tell him "Hi!" at the next meet they see him at.
Hopefully, those of you who did an away meet this holiday weekend had as good a meet as we did!