Mustang Monthly- Internet Edition
September
2007
Fall Practice Schedule
The following schedule will remain in effect
until further notice:
Loos Natatorium
Pre-competition
Arranged with Coach
Bronze
I & II
6:15 - 7:15 p.m. Monday through Friday
Silver
6:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
Gold
5:30 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. Monday through Friday
National
5:45 a.m.- 7:00 a.m. - Monday,
Wednesday & Friday
5:00 p.m. - 7:30 p.m. – Monday through Friday
Masters
6:00 a.m. - 7:00 a.m. Monday, Wednesday & Friday
Highland Park
Pre-competition
Arranged with Coach
Bronze
6:00 p.m. - 7:00 p.m. Monday through Friday
Silver
I
6:45 p.m. - 8:15 p.m. Monday through Friday
Silver
II
4:30 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. Monday through Friday
Gold
4:30 p.m. - 6:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday
4:30 p.m. – 6:00 p.m. Friday
Masters
None
CFB Natatorium
Red
and Blue
4:30
p.m. - 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday
Social News
Make plans now for the
When: Sunday, September 23, 2007,
3:30-6:00 PM
Where:
(Belt Line
& Cottonwood Dr. just east of
What: Barbeque from Sonny
Bryan’s
Who: All
Meet and mingle with your
coaches and teammates (new and old) and celebrate that your Dallas Mustangs are
the 2007 Junior National Champions!
Get ready for the annual
tug-of-war and water balloon toss challenges.
Bring your football, soccer ball, frisbee,
blanket and/or lawn chair.
Reservations must be made in
advance in order to have enough food for everyone. The cost is $8 per person (swimmer and family
members). Please fill out the form below
and enclose a check made out to the Dallas Mustangs. Mail your reservations to Barb Beckwitt,
Swimmer(s) name(s) _________________________
# attending picnic_______X $8
each________total
We Need Your Help!
The Dallas Mustangs will host the 21st annual Haunted Hat
meet at Loos the weekend of October 19-21.
Volunteers are needed for awards, hospitality, clerk of course, runners,
timing systems operators, set up, and tear down. Please help us out by
volunteering for the meet. Volunteers will be awarded Mustang Bucks to be
applied towards your swimmer's dues. Please consult your policy manual
for our Mustang Bucks policy.
Greg Robuck is our meet director and he will be posting
information at the pools regarding his volunteer needs. You can contact Greg at
greg23@swbell.net
or at 214-351-0715. Many of the swimmers in this meet will come from the Bronze
group, so if you are a parent of one of these swimmers, we are encouraging you
to please sign up and help us make this meet a success.
In addition, you can also assist by donating food,
drinks, or other items for hospitality. Donations of items are greatly
appreciated.
New Stroke and Turn Officials
Clinic
There will be Stroke & Turn Clinics for
anyone interested in becoming a USA Swimming Official on Sept 15th from 9:00am to noon. The clinics will be held at your
choice of the two locations listed below:
LISD Aquatic Center
The Colony,
Mansfield ISD Natatorium
You can contact Bill Nixon at NIXONBM@cs.com
for additional information or to let him know you are planning to attend as a
courtesy.
If anyone has questions about what is involved
or the commitment necessary before attending the clinic they are welcome to
contact Wayne Applebaum at 214-435-4655.
INTRASQUAD MEET
We will have our annual
intrasquad meet on Wednesday, October 3rd.
All swimmers and parents should plan to be there by 5:30 pm – there
will not be any workouts at any of the other pools. The meet will begin at 6:30 and will last
approximately one hour. Swimmers from
all groups are divided by our head coach, Mook Rhodenbaugh, into 8 different
teams. Each swimmer will have an
opportunity to swim a couple of sprint swims and the team displaying the best
team spirit, wins the meet. It is a
great opportunity for team building and those new to the team to get to know
swimmers from the other groups and pools.
Please make every effort to participate—it’s guaranteed to be a ton of
fun for the kids
Parent Orientation Sessions
Each
year we schedule orientation sessions for those parents who are new to the
team. It is a casual informational session, which hopefully addresses many of
the common questions and concerns that parents have. Although it is primarily
for parents new to our team, it is open to anyone who would like to attend.
The
sessions are as follows:
At
At Loos Natatorium -
Sept. 18th at 6 PM
Parents who have
swimmers practicing at the Carrollton-Farmers Branch Pool should plan to attend
the Loos session.
HP Pool Closings
There will not be practice at the
Thursday, 9/20
Thursday 10/11
Thursday 10/18
Thursday 11/1
Thursday 11/8
Tuesday 11/13
Tuesday 12/4
Gold swimmers may practice at
Loos from 5:30 – 7:30, Silver at Loos from 6:00 – 7:30 and Bronze at Loos from
6:15 – 7:15.
Meet
Entry Information
There have been many questions
regarding which meets to enter, how to enter these meets, what to expect at a
meet, etc. Unlike summer league
swimming, most
To fill out the form -
- Write the meet name and
date down on the entry form.
Your child’s birth date, your current address, and a daytime phone
number are also necessary to fill out in case something on your entry is
unclear or incorrect. Your USA
Swimming ID Number and team code are already saved in our database, so
don’t worry about putting those down unless you have to late enter on the
day of the meet. In case you need this number it is your swimmers’ birth
date in mmddyy format, followed by the first three letters of your child’s
legal first name, then the first initial of your child’s middle name and
lastly the first four letters of your last name.
- List the
events in meet event order on your sheet. Circle the distance of the
event(s) you would like to enter (i.e., 25, 50, 100, etc.) and the type of
stroke as well (FR, BR, BK, FL, or IM).
- Make sure your child is
eligible to participate in the meet you are attempting to enter. The meets usually fall into either an
“A” level meet or a “BB/B/C” level meet in the Fall, Winter, and Spring
seasons and either A, BB, or B/C levels in the summertime. “BB” swimmers may not swim in an “A”
meet until they make an “A” time standard.
Even then they must have at least three time cuts before they can
swim all events at that level meet.
13 & Over swimmers are never B/C swimmers; they are BB swimmers
until they have achieved 3 "A" times or above. Some meets might
even require that a swimmer must have an “A” time standard in each event
that they choose to enter to be eligible to swim in that event. Again, check with your child’s coach to
confirm what meet they should be swimming in if you have questions
regarding this.
Some other things to think about when entering
a meet –
- When your child obtains the minimum of three time standards in
the next highest level, they are classified as that “level” of swimmer
(i.e., a “B” swimmer who gets his or her 3rd BB time standard in their age
group becomes a “BB” Swimmer).
These times standards can be found in the time standards link of
the
- Check the meet information to see how many events per day or
session your child may swim. On the meet information there usually is a daily limit of events that your child
may enter. If they exceed this
number at the meet, they will be disqualified in the event which exceeds
the daily limit regardless of how they perform in that event.
Once everything is completed
simply turn in your entry form at the correct location. Loos has a “meet entry” bin in the supply
room.
A few days before the meet you
can review your child’s meet entries on our website at www.dmswim.com. There is
a link in the main menu on the left hand side entitled “Review Meet Entries”.
Follow that link to access your swimmer’s entries in an upcoming meet.
Finally, questions have arisen
about the “hierarchy” of swim meets. Before your child proves otherwise,
technically they are a “C” swimmer. Once
they swim in a meet they will attempt to make “B” times, then “BB” times, “A”
times, TAGS (Texas Age Group state Swimming time standards for14 & Unders, Sectional times (no age
limits but typically 14 and overs), and ultimately, some may even attain Junior
National, National or Olympic Trials cuts.
The
day of the meet:
Please arrive at the meet at least 10 minutes before the
scheduled warm-up time. All swimmers are
expected to participate in warm-ups and particularly at the BB/B/C level, this
is the time that the coaches will put relays together based on who is
there. Swimmers are required to check
in, usually 30 minutes before the meet begins, for each event that they are
entered in. Failure to do so will result
in the swimmer being scratched (removed) from the event. Check in sheets are
typically found on deck posted on a wall.
After your child swims, he or she should go directly to their coach who
will talk to them about the race.
Finally, each swimmer should wear a Dallas Mustang swim cap when
competing.
Finally, please utilize the board members and other
seasoned swim parents. We have all been there before; we have wondered about
the same issues, asked the same questions and more often than not, had other
parents help us out. You can also consult our website for a list of helpful
“Key Contacts.
