Mustang Monthly-Internet
Edition
September 2008
The Mustangs are coming off
another exciting season and we have high goals for the upcoming season. We will continue to offer a top-notch program
for the entire family. Again this year
we will have swimmers competing at every level, from the beginner to national
and even international qualifiers. We
can take our swimmers as far as they wish to go if we all work together. Our club is extremely proud of its members and their
great accomplishments. To follow are
some highlights from the championship meets from this past season but first an
article submitted by Head Coach, Mook Rhodenbaugh.
How You Can Help Your Child’s Team
The
first question really should be, "Why should I help the team?" The
answer for many people is not clear, although it seems like it should be. The
simplest reason is also the most powerful. You should help because your child
benefits greatly from the program. The second reason is that most clubs cannot
function without substantial volunteer help. The economics are not there for a
full professional staff to do all the things that need doing. Look at the
finances of youth sports for a moment. Nobody likes to pay bills. Now count up
the hours that are available for your child to participate in your program.
Divide your monthly fee by those hours, and you will come out with
substantially less than you pay your baby sitter. And the baby sitter doesn't
provide much in the way of a learning situation, values education, physical
exercise and development or role model. (Or at least, not many baby sitters
do!) Now imagine if you had to pay for all you get from your team. Teams can't
do it without your help. Add to that the fact that few clubs have full time
coaches, and even fewer have more than one full time coach, and you can begin
to recognize the need for parental involvement. Those clubs that do enjoy full
time
coaches are usually those of sufficient size that coaching duties alone take up
the whole day. The club needs your help. Now let's get along to how you can
provide that help. People have strange attitudes toward working with
organizations. In most, a very few people do a tremendous amount of work that
benefits everyone. There are parents who develop workaholic behavior towards
teams. This is a bad deal for everyone. That person sooner or later burns out,
leaving a big hole to fill. Meanwhile, that individual holds a great deal of
power in the club, according to the rule that says, "he
that does, decides."
(That
unwritten rule operates in all volunteer organizations, doesn't it?)
The
club needs a little bit of time from everyone, a little more from some, and on
occasion, a great deal from a few. Note that when you find your lawn uncut, the
dishes three days deep in the sink, your cat starving on the porch, and you
have just driven home from the team leaving forgetting half of the carpool, you
are over committed. This may also result in your children thinking that your
club job is more important than they are.
The
simple goal of most organizations should be to devise a system where the coach
is left free to do what he does best....to coach. This means that parents take
responsibility for fund raising, administration, club communication and similar
items. Over the past five years there has been a trend to look at coaches more
as a CEO (Chief Executive Officer) model, where they are involved in those
things to the extent of making sure they are successful, but essentially the
tasks are accomplished by parents. Having coach involvement in those tasks is
great, if the coach has the time. If not, the idea is to use the volunteer
talent available, in the areas where it can be most effectively deployed.
Many
clubs have a Board of Directors that helps operate the club. The best boards
are long range planning boards that leave the daily work to committees. New
parents are often asked to work on one of these committees. If you are not
asked, volunteer. Many times people simply forget to ask...they are not
slighting you, they are just so busy, they don't notice. This is also where you
will begin to make new friends in the organization.
What kinds of jobs are
available?
• Fund
raising...bring in the dollars to make up the difference between operating
budget and club fees. There has never been an organization with enough
operating funds. Most of us are experts at spending and less expert at
"raising" money, so if you have any ability here, you'll be extremely
popular at the club. (Of course, if you have that ability, you are already extremely
popular...)
•
Publicity...letting people know about the club, its goals, aims, results and
personal stories. A journalism background is helpful, but even more important
is a willingness to organize results, type, and run them around town to local
papers, TV and radio stations. It takes persistence, and the results are not
automatically on display immediately.
•
Membership...allied to publicity, helping the club attract and retain members.
This can be really rewarding for new parents, as they learn much more quickly
about the good things in the sport while working on this type of assignment.
You'll be a source of information to prospective new families.
•
Administration...a general subheading for a vast array of jobs that include
things like newsletters, competition entries, operating phone trees, etc. The
amount of work required to operate a team is amazing, and most clubs like to
have a system where one person performs a task while another learns it as an
apprentice...and then takes it over later on. So, many jobs are
"doubles".
•
Competitions…There are those who run competitions as part of fund raising, and
there are clubs who run competitions strictly as opportunities for kids to
compete, and there are some who do both. It takes a lot of volunteers to run a
quality competition. You'll be called on plenty, and your help is vital. This
is one time that money will not substitute for your physical presence.
Lastly,
remember that a parent organization is a watchdog of philosophy...that same
philosophy that attracted you to the team. Stability is what builds the
organization and your support for that stability is the key thing you can
contribute. I like the thought of "bloom where you are planted." As
your child progresses in sports, stay with your club and help it progress.
Involve yourself in helping to set goals and objectives and make it great! And
remember, it is all for FUN, and all for your youngster.
Adapted from “News for Swim Parents.” Published by
the American Swimming Coaches Association. Used with permission.
© 2006
USA Swimming and The
Meet Recaps
US Open and Junior Nationals
The Dallas Mustangs accomplished
something this past summer that no other club in the
Many of our swimmers who went to
the US Open were coming off competing at the Olympic Trials and did a great job
of refocusing their efforts in order to be competitive at the Open. The following were the members of the 2008
Dallas Mustangs US Open Team: Allison
Arnold, Candace Blackman, Jennifer Blackman, Grace Kittle, Meredith Monroe, Elzanne Werth, Nate Clark, Clint Hallum, Mitchell Johnson, Max Murphy, Matt Thompson and
Caleb Veazey.
Top Ten Combined Team Scores
(US Open):
Longhorn 650
Club Wolverine 480
Dallas
Aggie 144
Bluefish 112
Trojan 106
Our Juniors
team put together a great team effort, with 9 out of the 10 swimmers
contributing to our team scoring. The
following were the members of the 2008 Dallas Mustang Long Course Junior
National Team: Allison Arnold, Claire
Brandt, Lauren Roth, Marylyn Toledo, Jack Dwyer, Matt Roney, Andrew Tran, Caleb
Veazey, Lamar Weeks and Scott Weeks.
Top Ten Combined Team Scores
(Juniors):
Brophy East 258
Nova of
Dallas
De Anza Cupertino 96
Swim MAC
North Bay 81
The Woodlands 80
2008 Long Course Sectionals
The Dallas Mustangs were
represented by 41 swimmers at this past summer’s United States Southern Zone
Sectional Meet, which took place in
Lauren Roth, Catia
Weickgenant, Kannon
Betzen, Maddie Steiner,
Bolton Harris, Hannah Ferrin, Matt Roney, Jonathon
Berrittini, John Huddleston, Eric
Zeller, Jack Dwyer, Scott Weeks, Lamar Weeks, Malin
Kenny, Caleb Veazey, Spindrift Beck, Marylyn
Toledo, Allison Arnold, Jordan Newman, Mel Futscher, Jacey
Hodan, Keegan Watters, Jerr
Merritt, Mitchell Johnson, Andrew Tran, Daniel
Veale, Mark Faubian, Graham Smitham, Leah
Jones, Alexandra Jennings, Jack Beckwitt, Greg Hoffman,
Megan Arnold, Clint Hallum, Chris
Ginder, Jon Horak,
Fernando Lara, Nate Clark, Gaby Soza,
Colton Ingrham, Delaney Rolfe
Damon McCoy Invitational (June 6 – 8)
This was our first time back in
Rebecca Brandt (9), Megan Ernst
(15), Caroline Florence (10), Erin Florence (13), Audrey Gruber (11), Emma
Gruber (13), Bolton Harris (17), Tanner Harris (14), Avery Kesterson (10), Mika
Malouf (10), Connor Mullen (12), Sam Murphy (14), Lauren Murski (12), Courtney
Nichols (12), Adam Rathjen (10), Natalie Rathjen (12), Delaney Rolfe (16), Leon
Tjahjono (14), Liam Veazey (14), Claire Walters (12)
DM
“A” Mustang Classic (June 13 – 15)
Due to our ace meet directors
(Jan Miller, Dee Koranda) and a great group of volunteers our meet ran like
clockwork despite a large number of entrants from over twenty different
teams. We finished second in the team
race and swam great knocking down many best times in what was a great weekend
of weather. Those that scored individual
points are listed below. Go Mustangs!!!
Jack Beckwitt (17), Claire Brandt (13), Hannah Ferrin (16),
Caroline Florence (10), Erin Florence (10), Alex Fontenot (14), Eric Futscher
(13), Tiffany Futscher (10), Audrey Gruber (11), Emma Gruber (13), Greg Hoffman
(16), Leah Jones (16), Malin Kenny (15), Avery Kesterson (10), Caitlin Klemme
(12), Fernando Lara (16), Katie McClelland (31), Alex McElya (10), Logan McGill
(12), Alison Moffit (16), Sam Murphy (14), Lauren Murski (12), Jordan Newman
(16), Courtney Nichols (12), Lia Oberstar-Brown (31), Natalie Rathjen
(12), Delaney Rolfe (16), Matt Roney
(16), Graham Smitham (16), Taylor Temple
(14), Marylyn Toledo (16), Andrew Tran (17), Claire Walters (12), Jake Watters
(13), Keegan Watters (16), Lamar Weeks (18), Scott Weeks (16), Catia
Weickgenant (17), Michelle Wessman (12), William Wessman (10)
FA
Division 2 B/C Invitational (June 20 – 22)
Frisco
hosted this B/C level meet at the Colony pool and we sent 22 kids to the meet
which is a relatively low number, especially when you consider the number of
kids we have on our team. B/C meets are
for all swimmers who are twelve years old or younger and can swim any event
that they don’t have a BB or A time for their event. Go to http://www.ntswim.org/template.php?page=timestds.php
for the actual time standards. It
actually will help our USA Swimming virtual club ranking if we have more swims
from all of our swimmers in each of our meets but we are especially a bit thin
in our participation at our B/C meets.
Below
is a list of those who scored points.
Awesome job Mustangs!
Davis
Benn (11), Parker Benn (8), Lauren Breeding (12), Clare Donaldson (11), Emilee
Gant (9), Kaylan Hardin (11), Benjamin Hurst (9), Tara Lalvani (10), Sarah
Lewis (10), Cameron Malakoff (11), Natalie Morris (11), Walker Mullen (8),
Ethan Pittson (8), Christy Purnadi (12), Jena Seidemann (11), Madeline Tovar
(10), Maria Tovar (8), Elizabeth Wessman (8), Megan Yancey (11), Annalyse Zotos
(10)
Nike Summerfest
A/BB (June 27 – 29)
The
meet was put on by both ATAC and NTN and was held at the Southlake pool. We finished 4th out of 17 teams
with 63 Mustangs participating in the A/BB level meet. It was a challenging weekend for swimmers,
coaches and parents since we had another meet going on in
Christopher Alkire (14), Jack Beckwitt (17), Luke
Blaylock (13), Claire Brandt (13), Audrey Chow (15), Steven Cornish (14),
Elizabeth Crowling (13), Patrick Crowling (15), Coral Davenport (16), Jack
Dwyer (18), Megan Ernst (15), Hannah Ferrin (16), Erin Florence (13), Alex
Fontenot (14), Eric Futscher (13), Melanie Futscher (18), Sara Granger (14),
Emma Gruber (13), Bolton Harris (17), Tanner Harris (14), Kaity Hillgartner
(13), Jacey Hodan (15), Greg Hoffman (16), Jon Hoffman (14), Leah Jones (16),
Sarah Jones (13), Malin Kenny (16), Morgan Koranda (13), Simone Lalvani (15),
Fernando Lara (15), Pablo Lara (15), Krista Ludowese (13), Alyssa McElya (15),
Will McNamara (15), Geoffrey Morris (14), Jordan Newman (16), Jeffrey Nichols
(14), Steven Nichols (16), Lia Oberstar-Brown (31), Blake Osborn (15), Sydney
Patterson (13), Delaney Rolfe (16), Matt Roney (16), Lauren Roth (18), Graham
Smitham (16), Annie Smith (15), Taylor Temple (14), Leon Tjahjono (14), Marylyn
Toledo (16), Liam Veazey (15), Max Walters (16), Catherine Ward (14), Jake
Watters (13), Keegan Watters (16), Ann Weeks (13), Catia Weickgenant (17),
Jaclyn Zhou (13)
The
meet was put on by both the
Below
is a list of those who scored points in either the A or BB division. Mustangs Rock!
Rebecca
Brandt (9), Parker Capron (10), Patrick Daniels (9), Caroline Florence (10),
Amanda Fugate (10), Tiffany Futscher (10), Pauli Kerr (9), Caitlin Klemme (12),
Mika Malouf (10), Logan McGill (12), Connor Mullen (12), Courtney Nichols (12),
Annelyse Tullier (11), Claire Walters (12), Michelle Wessman (12), William
Wessman (10)
The
fast Southlake pool was the location of the A Long Course Championships this
summer. We did well as a team placing 4th
among 17 teams. We had lots of best
times and many kids were able to snare qualifying times that allowed them to
continue their competitive season some more (TAGS or Sectionals).
Many
of our kids did swim a reduced schedule if they had already made the majority
of their cuts so the need to swim their best events was evaluated on a
case-by-case basis so that they don’t lose any momentum going into their
championship meet.
Below
is a list of those who scored points at the meet. Great job to all!
Christopher
Alkire (14), Claire Brandt (13), Rebecca Brandt (9), Coral Davenport (16),
Megan Ernst (15), Caroline Florence (10), Alex Fontenot (14), Eric Futscher
(13), Tiffany Futscher (10), Paul Gerard (17), Des Godfrey (15), Audrey Gruber
(11), Tanner Harris (14), Kaity Hillgartner (14), Jon Hoffman (14), Alvin Jiang
(9), Leah Jones (16), Avery Kesterson (10), Caitlin Klemme (12), Alex McElya
(10), Alyssa McElya (15), Logan McGill (12), Connor Mullen (12), Sam Murphy
(14), Lauren Murski (12), Courtney Nichols (12), Steven Nichols (16), Lia
Oberstar-Brown (31), Blake Osborn (15), Adam Rathjen (10), Natalie Rathjen
(12), Nicholas Saliba (17), Graham Smitham (16), Taylor Temple (14), Leon
Tjahjono (14), Liam Veazey (15), Claire Walters (12), Max Walters (16),
This
summer’s edition of the BB Champs was held at the Frisco ISD Natatorium. The Mustangs finished 5th out of
18 teams with 30 swimmers participating in the meet. This number is also low when you consider
that to be eligible for this meet you have to have at least one BB time or be
thirteen or over in age. Summer
schedules can be crazy, but it is nice for someone that swims all season to
have a championship meet which gives them a goal to train for. Let’s try to get to the BB Champs meet in the
spring in force!
The
names of those who scored in BB Champs are listed below. Great job Mustangs!
Caroline
Blaylock (11), Luke Blaylock (13), Audrey Chow (15), Patrick Crowling (15),
Patrick Daniels (9), Jacob Hum (9), Sarah Jones (13), Pauli Kerr (9), Krista
Ludowese (13), Mika Malouf (10), Gordon Montgomery (9), Kenzie Murphy (11),
Sydney Patterson (13), Laura Rathjen (12), Annie Smith (15), Catherine Ward
(14), Ellie Ward (12), Elizabeth Wessman (8), Rebecca Wessman (8), Max Zotos
(12)
Twenty-nine
Mustangs participated in the B/C Champs meet held at the Mansfield ISD
Natatorium. Only one (they will remain
nameless!) out of the whole group did not get a best time and most of
everybody’s swims were best times! These
kids were ready to rock at the end of the season and it showed. We finished 4th out of 16 teams in
the team race just a few points out of 3rd.
Those
Mustangs whose names are listed scored in either the B or C division in the
meet! Keep it going Mustangs!
Jack
Arnold (10), Davis Benn (11), Parker Benn (8), Caroline Blaylock (11), Sara
Duke (10), Caroline Forbess (8), Kaylan Hardin (11), Benjamin Hurst (9), Sofia
Lara (8), Sarah Lewis (10), Boni McVey (11), Avery Mercurio (9), Natalie Morris
(11), Ellie Pfeiffer (9), Ned Pfeiffer (7), Ethan Pittson (8), Charlotte Rolfe
(11), Madeline Tovar (10), Maria Tovar (8), Jackson Yancey (8), Megan Yancey
(11), Annalyse Zotos (10), Max Zotos (12)
Texas Age Group Champs (July 23 – 27)
We
took a nice size group of 35 kids to
Austin for TAGS this Summer and finished up with one more flag than we had
hoped for with a 9th place finish overall and the 10 and under girls
first place score! It was a battle the
whole way but we had some great swims from all of our age groups. The 10 and Under Girls most notably were
first in two of the three relays in times that are easily in the top 10 in the
country. The 10 and under boys also were
strong as well with great performances on all three scoring relays. Special kudos to our 13-14 girls as well for
capturing the 13-14 200 Medley relay crown from lane one in finals.
Those
who went to the meet are listed below.
Those that scored individually are in italics and those that won
individual events are bolded. Way to go Mustangs!!!
Christopher
Alkire (14), Clare Brandt (14), Rebecca Brandt (9), Ashley Brown (10), Nolan
Daniels (11), Patrick Daniels (9), Annie Dills (14), Erin Florence (13), Alex
Fontenot (14), Tiffany Futscher (10), Audrey Gruber (11), Conor Guest
(12), Farrell
Guest (10), Tanner Harris (14), Jacob Hum (9), Alvin Jiang (9), Avery
Kesterson (10), Caitlin Klemme (12), Mika Malouf (10), Alex McElya (10), Logan
McGill(12), Kenzie Murphy (11), Sam Murphy (14), Lauren
Murski (12), Courtney Nichols (12), Adam Rathjen (10), Natalie Rathjen (12), Taylor
Temple (14), Leon Tjahjono (14), Annelyse Tullier (11), Claire Walters (13), Jake
Watters (13)
Team E-mail
Communications
As most parents and swimmers
already know, the Dallas Mustangs is one of the largest swim teams in our LSC.
We are now active in four locations! However, it does at times, make mass
communication somewhat of a challenge. The following information is geared
primarily towards new parents and swimmers but returning swimmers may find it
helpful as well. Our primary means of
communication is done via e-mail. In the next few months there is probably
going to be a lot of information coming your way—scheduling changes,
information on the annual intrasquad meet, various
social events, meet information, parent meetings, etc. It is extremely
important that you let me know if you have not been receiving e-mails or if you
have a change of e-mail address at any time during the year. I have inputted all the e-mail addresses that
I have received from the registration chairman, but many of them are being returned
to me. My contact information is Donna
Watters, 214-890-0227 (home), 214-535-3205 (cell), vp@dmswim.com
or watters7@sbcglobal.net. We also have a team telephone line, which
has general information and is also updated with pertinent scheduling
information each week. The number is 972-530-SWAM (7926). This
becomes particularly important for last minute changes when e-mails cannot be
distributed quickly enough or when there are problems with the system. Finally, you will occasionally receive handouts that have been sent home with your
swimmer which contains information about upcoming meets or team-sponsored
social events. We try to send home a
minimum amount of paper information with swimmers simply because it tends to
get lost on the way home.
We Need Your Help!
Attention
Mustang parents - we are in need of volunteers willing to help out as Meet
Directors. The Dallas Mustangs host several large meets per year that
produce the majority of our team revenue. The Meet Director
position includes preparing and distributing the meet information paperwork,
collecting and directing volunteers, and being on deck to coordinate the
operations on meet days. We currently have two Meet Directors that
work together. Having a "Meet Director Team" has
proved successful, but we need more help. There is an upcoming
training seminar for Meet Directors available to us, as well as "on the
job training" at our Haunted Hat meet next month.
Please contact Jan Miller at 214-202-6949 or email MillerRock@excite.com if you can help in this area.
In
addition, we also need trainees on the Meet Manager Computer system to
help out during meets. There is a training class being offered by the
North Texas LSC on Sept 13, and anyone interested in assisting
the Mustangs in this area should contact Dee Koranda at korandafamily@msn.com or 972-393-5354.
ATTENTION MUSTANG PARENTS
Parents of all groups, please
help the coaches by staying in the stands during practices. Loos and CFB
parents can sit anywhere upstairs and HP parents should stay on the diving
board end of the pool in the stands.
Please do not talk to the coaches during practice—the coaches are
responsible for the swimmers in the pool. If you have any concerns or
questions, you may talk to them after practice. Also, when a coach is giving a
private lesson, please do not interrupt them with questions. Thank you for your
understanding.
Add these
links to your favorite’s lists
Dallas Mustangs website: http://www.dmswim.com
North Texas LSC website:
http://www.ntswim.org
USA Swimming website:
http://www.usa-swimming.org
All three of these websites have
lots of helpful information. Our website
is updated frequently with issues that concern our team primarily and has an
archive of newsletters we’ve sent out over the years.
DM Tuition Policy Reminder
The Dallas Mustangs is a
competitive year round age-group swimming program. As such we strive to provide consistent
quality coaching and workout facilities.
To achieve this goal we establish pool rental contracts and salary
commitments with our coaching staff for a full 12-month period. The Dallas Mustangs Swim Team is not, and was
not designed to be a swim program where swimmers drop in one month and out the
next. Flexibility has always been
important to us. We try to work with
each family on the team and we will continue to do so.
Tuition
may be paid annually or monthly. Monthly
Tuition must be paid via credit card only.
NO checks will be accepted at any pools or through the mail. NO EXCEPTIONS. Annual tuition may be paid by check submitted
with your registration form.
·
Tuition is due from
September through July.
·
Leave of Absence (LOA) is available only for injury and
medical reasons.
·
There will be a
$10.00 per month discount for the second and subsequent swimmers in the same
family. The fourth swimmer is free.
·
If dues are paid
annually, there will be a $110.00 discount for the second swimmer and a $220.00
discount for the third swimmer. If there are more than 3 swimmers; the three
highest tuition rates will be billed and the 4th and subsequent
swimmers are free.
·
A swimmer
transferring from another team must be in good standing with their old team.
·
Tuition is due the
first of every month. There will be a $5.00 per family late fee after the 10th
of the month for non-zero balance accounts.
·
There is no tuition
refunds, tuition paid for the month or the year commits you for that period.
·
Written communication
to the DM Treasurer is required to change or stop automatic billing.
·
The swimmer(s) may
be barred from swimming if there is an aged account balance is excess of 60
days.
Any questions regarding billing should be
addressed to the team treasurer via e-mail:
treas@dmswim.com
Meet Entry Policy:
Meet
entry fees will be paid by credit card only.
Your credit card will be charged monthly. There will be a $1.00 surcharge per meet per
swimmer added to the fee. Meet entry
fees will be charged separate from tuition charges. All swimmers must maintain a current and up
to date meet entry account. Swimmers who do not provide valid credit card
information for meet entry fees will not be allowed to enter swim meets.
