Katy Aquatics

Swimmers Lane Volume 2, Issue 1 Newsletter Date: September 2011

Upcoming Dates to Remember:  Monday, Aug. 29th; Swim practice began  Sunday, Sept 11th; Katy Aquatics Picnic in the Park at George Bush Park  Tuesday, Sept. 13th; New Parent Orientation at Cinco Ranch Lbrary— 6:30pm  Saturday & Sunday, Sept. 24th & 25th; Katy Aquatics Purple & Black Swim Meet at Katy High School  Sunday, Aug. 25th; 2011 Gulf Swimming Awards Banquet

Important Information  SwimAmerica Fall Classes are here— please spread the word!!

 Sponsorship Forms are due by Sept. 6th!

 Please check the website daily for schedule changes!

 Email all swimmer recognition and pictures to: [email protected]

Welcome to the Starting Block! Every starting block represents a new chance to excel, and Katy Aquatics has been preparing for the 2011/2012 year by building a team of existing and new Coaches that are going to bring excitement, innovative training and challenge to the swimming at our club! Katy Aquatics has hired Bill Sprague, the new Head Coach for the 13-14 Elite; Clay Pruitt, the Assistant Coach for the 11-12 Elite; and Cynthia Stubbins, the new SwimAmerica Program Manager, to head the pre-competitive portion of Katy Aquatics. Coach Valerie will be coaching the 10 & Under Elite and Coach Mike will continue to work with Coach Troy and the High Performance group at Willow Fork. Coach Angela will be working with the Advanced Age Group at Cinco Ranch along with Coaches Leslie, Teri and Elizabeth. Coaches Evelyn, Amanda and Janie will be with the groups at Seven Lakes while Coaches Jessica and Peter will be working with the groups at Katy High. Coaches Blaire and Mandy are extremely happy to be at Morton Ranch working with the swimmers in Novice and Age Group I. Bill Sprague has joined the KATY Aquatics staff by bringing over 20 years of coaching experience to our program with the ability to coach swimmers of all levels while motivating them to achieve their goals. He has produced swimmers that have achieved some of the highest levels of swimming including: Olympic Trials, Senior & Junior National Championships, various USA Swimming Championships, Age Group and Zone Teams qualifiers both in SC and GA. Clay Pruitt has been coaching in the Gulf for 7 years and in that time he has served as the Head Coach of Team YES Aquatics, Northeast Houston Aquatics, and for the past 3 years as the Head Age Group Coach for Eagle Swimming Association. He has also served as the Head Coach of several Summer League Teams in the NWAL League and coached swimmers to some of the highest levels of Age Group swimming including: National Age Group Record Holders, National Top 10, TAGS Champions, All Star Team, and Zones Team Qualifiers. Clay has served on the Gulf LSC Nominating Committee as well as being selected to the All Star & Zones Coaching Staff for the Gulf. Cynthia Stubbins has been named as the new SwimAmerica Program Manager and she also brings 20 years of experience in aquatics to our program. She has been involved with Swim America since 2002 and became a Director in 2004. Cynthia has helped build and promote Swim America programs in Florida and Georgia and is a firm believer in the program. She has also been a member of the Advisory Council for the National Drowning Prevention Alliance and worked closely with the Red Cross to reach out to the community to teach water safety. Katy Aquatics is extremely proud to add these individuals to our existing talented staff, and we are looking forward to a year filled with nothing but growth and development for our club. Welcome to the Pool everyone – we’re looking to make a BIG Splash in 2011/2012!

1st Water Safety Event Makes a BIG Splash! The Katy Aquatics Staff would like to extend a ―BIG THANK YOU‖ to all of the families who volunteered at the Make a Splash event on August 6th! This was our first community event to host as a club, and it really was a true success!! With the help of the volunteers, we were able to spread the word about Katy Aquatics and Water Safety to the community. Everyone had a great time looking at the Fire Trucks, playing with the Chick-fil-A cow and splashing around in the pool! It was great to catch up with those we haven’t seen in awhile and discuss different ways on how we can make next year’s Make a Splash event even bigger and better! Thank you again to all of our volunteers and community partners for taking time out of your weekend to help!

Above: The Chick-fil-A Cow is getting ready to surf the Water with Katy Aquatics!

Above: The Katy Aquatics Swimmers show that they can do more than just swim at the Craft Table during the Make a Splash event . Look at those Origami Whales!

Right: The SwimAmerica Instructors teach water safety and play water games with the children who attended our Make a Splash event .

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Swimmers Lane

Left: Our very own Katy Aquatics Volunteers monitoring the pool entry table and raffle prizes at the Make a Splash event—Thank You for your help!

Above & Left: The Katy West I-10 Fire Department helps to educate the public on Fire Safety while displaying their equipment.

Above: The Katy West I-10 Fire Department shows patrons at the event what it’s like to wear the gear needed to fight fires.

Right: Coach Angela and Mrs. Skinner learn how to properly use a Fire Extinguisher from the Firemen of the Katy West I-10. Department. Way to be prepared Coach Angela!

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Swimmers Lane

Katy Aquatics Swims Up the Ladder of Success Katy Aquatics is proud to announce that we have 18 swimmers from our club that have been recognized by the Gulf Swimming Ladder of Success. In order to be nominated for this honor, only the swimmers with qualifying times in the following swims are considered: Individual Swims, Time Trials and Lead-off Relay Splits. The top five (5) swimmers in each event are eligible and the age group categories are as follows: 9-10, 11-12, 13-4, 15-16 and 17-18. Below are the names of each swimmer who received this mark of distinction and we are extremely proud to have these young athletes represent Katy Aquatics! All of our coaches are looking forward to each of these swimmers achieving new goals in the upcoming Short Course and Long Course seasons! Way to go Katy Aquatics!!! Kate Arceneaux Pierce Bartine Jordan Clark David Cleason Glen Cowand Hanna Huston

Cameron McHugh Dana Michaels Lindsay Morrow Kyle Nash Ben Rehfeld Christian Rossi

Lindsay Shabet William Steele Alan Tankovich Austin Vacek Haley Watters Delia Weber

New Team Records are Set — Can They be Beat? The new team records may be set, but can they be beat? The 2011/2012 year is just beginning and it is filled with new challenges for everyone—including the coaches! Stay tuned as we dive into a new pool of water! Listed are the 2010/2011 Team Records. New Long Course Team Records 13-14 Girls 800 Free – Cameron McHugh 9:32.94 50 Back – Jordan Clark 32.78 15-18 Girls 100 Free – Cameron McHugh 58.43 200 Free - Cameron McHugh 2:05.39 400 Free - Cameron McHugh 4:19.93 800 Free - Cameron McHugh 8:51.47 100 Back - Cameron McHugh 1:04.98 200 Back - Cameron McHugh 2:17.47 200 Fly – Morgan Lebsack 2:23.30 400 IM - Cameron McHugh 5:01.64 Volume 2, Issue 1

11-12 Boys 200 Back – Glen Cowand 2:32.04 13-14 Boys 1500 Free – Kyle Nash 17:12.52 15-18 Boys 400 Free – Austin Vacek 4:12.39 800 Free - Austin Vacek 8:36.25 1500 Free - Austin Vacek 16:34.54 400 IM - Austin Vacek 4:40.06 New Short Course Team Records 9-10 Boys 200 Free – David Cleason 2:06.38 100 Back – David Cleason 1:07.21 100 IM – David Cleason 1:06.3

13-14 Boys 200 Free – Gavin Erdmann 1:44.24 100 Back – Gavin Erdmann 54.07 200 Back – Gavin Erdmann 1:56.70 100 IM – Gavin Erdmann 58.98 15-18 Boys 100 IM – Austin Vacek 56.43 13-14 Girls 100 IM – Danielle Vacek 1:09.27 15-18 Girls 100 IM – Hanna Huston 1:03.37 Congratulations to these outstanding swimmers on your accomplishments in the pool!

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“Whatever the mind can conceive and believe, it can achieve.”

Team Mission:

722 Pin Oak Road Suite 205 Katy, TX 77494 Phone: 281-391-7200 Fax: 281-391-7210 E-mail: [email protected]

Providing a world class swimming. environment and resources for all swimmers to develop their full potential as athletes and as individuals. Team Vision: We are a nationally recognized swim team

Visit our Website! KatyAquatics.org

We are well known and respected in the community We are a team where families enjoy swimming & lifetime friendships are formed We develop and promote the sport of swimming

SwimAmerica Instructors Needed! Katy Aquatics is seeking learn-to-swim coaches for our SwimAmerica program. Our program has experienced significant growth and we are looking for motivated, dynamic people to assist in teaching our young swimmers at the Katy High School location. Experience is preferred, but not required. Candidates must be able to demonstrate swimming skills and pass SwimAmerica training. This is a part-time hourly position during the evening hours. Compensation is competitive and based on experience ranging from $10 – $13 per hour. To request an application or to send a resume, please email: [email protected]. We hope to see you at the Pool!