YMCA nationals- Entries due

April 16-19 YMCA nationals.  If you are going to the meet and have not already done so please give your entry papers to Bruce by Tuesday March 3rd.  Just a reminder, you do not have to go all 4 days and we will work on carpools and room sharing for anyone who is interested. You do not need to be registered with Masters only a YMCA member to swim this one.  If you still need a swim cap please see Sean. This meet is a blast and we hope everyone can join us!!!

SUN Masters Annual Valentine's Meet

The first meet of 09 started off with great swims by our team members. Kathleen, Steve, Kirby, John Schrantz, John Jackson, Colin, Sean, Ryan, Teresa and Coach Bruce represented MOO in this past weekends swim meet. MOO placed 6th out of 37 teams at the SUN Masters Annual Valentine's Meet in Clearwater, FL. Most of our swimmers placed in the top 3 of their age groups. Ryan and Teresa took home 2nd and 3rd respectfully in the 25-30 girls. The boys in the same age group had a very tight competition, Sean took 2nd, Colin 3rd, closely followed by John Schrantz and John Jackson. Kirby took home 2nd in his 30-34 age group.

Great job MOO swimmers!

click here for complete meet results
click here for meet photos

The MOO suits were a big hit this weekend

Good Luck!

Go team MOO!  Hope you have great swims in Clearwater this weekend!!!

LMSC Newsletter

The new LMSC newsletter has a great little article about MOO!

Click here to read it.

Valentines' Day meet this Saturday and Sunday

Click here for more meet info. It is at the Long center in Clearwater

Saturday warm-up 7 AM for 1000 free, start at 8 AM; 

Warm-up at 10 AM for other events, start at 11 AM

Sunday- Warm-up at 8 AM, meet begins at 9 AM.

Relays will be deck entered and are only $5 per relay. Individual high point awards are up for grabs, you must be entered in 5 events to qualify!

If you aren't swimming, come by to clear the team on!!

MOO Spotlight Swimmers of the month-February

Congratulations to our spotlight swimmer, Kathleen Fitzgerald.  Click here to read more about her.  For those of you who haven't had a chance to talk to Kathleen, you will find her at nearly every team meet and event always greeting new members.  She is also a great friend and will always support you and do nearly anything for a laugh.  We are glad to have her on our team!  She is the kind of person who will meet you at the lake to help you meet your swimming goal even at 6:30 in the morning when the water is 65 degrees, she will also show up in the middle of the night to Kayak along side of you if you are afraid of the dark and/or the lake monster.

Team Notes

Y Nationals are taking place a month earlier than last year. That only leaves two months to get prepared. If you plan on swimming at Y Nationals, please make an effort to get enough training in so that a taper will be effective. If you do a taper after mediocre training, you'll swim poorly, and we don't want that to happen. So, come to practice and be prepared to work hard. We had 15 Thursday night in the rain and for those that were in attendance, they did an excellent job and swam a tough workout.

For those that are planning, or even thinking about, swimming at Y Nationals (April 16-19), please keep in mind that you don't have to swim in any prior Masters meets. You just have to be a Y member. Honestly, it's great to get in the water at one of the two meets coming up in Clearwater and/or St. Pete (March 27-29) to see what it's all about and get some times as a point of reference. Some meets are two days; some are three or more, but keep in mind that you don't have to attend each day. You can go for one day and pick and choose the events you want to swim. If you have any questions, please don't hesitate to ask Bruce at practice.

Valentine's meet Feb 14-15

Our first chance to show off those new MOO suits is rapidly approaching.  The meet is Saturday and Sunday at the long center in Clearwater and it is SCY.  For meet information click here. For the entry form click here. Your entry is due Friday Feb 6.  Please vote on the right so we have an idea how many people are going.  There are individual high points, you must enter 5 events.  Please see Bruce or Sean with any questions.

Arkansas swimmers

Greetings from the icy midwest!  I hope everyone is doing well.  Just wanted to say hello, and tell you I found a team.  We did the 1 hour postal swim last Saturday, and surprise, I took photos.  Click here to take a look.  The only problem with the team is they practice at 5:45 am! I miss you guys, and our evening practice time... come visit soon!

Diane and Greg's going away party

Brrr....  Hope everyone is keeping warm, and keeping swimming.

Here are some photos of MOO wishing Diane and Greg good luck in Arkansas.  It might actually be warmer today in NW Arkansas than in Orlando.

MOO Spotlight Swimmers of the month- January

Diane & Alison team captains 2006- 2008, have both moved up North where it is cold and you have to swim indoors. They are our adjunct swimmers of the month. To learn more about them click here.

New Years Updates

Team,

As the new year begins, I wanted to share with you some information about upcoming meets, what's new with the team and finally, a little housekeeping.

In spite of the holidays, a large number of you were able to attend practice, and more importantly, our Holiday Party! But, now that we're into 2009, I wanted to share some information about a couple of meets you might want to attend.

MEETS AND MASTERS REGISTRATION:
February 14-15th, there's the SUN Masters Annual Valentine's Meet in Clearwater. You can find detailed meet information at: http://www.dixiezone.org/Meets/0902clearwater.pdf
Entries must be received by Feb. 6th.
You can swim one day or both days. Do whatever works into your schedule.

March 27-29th is the St. Pete Masters 39th Annual Short Course Championships held at the North Shore Pool in St. Pete. More detailed information can be found at:
http://www.dixiezone.org/Meets/0903spm_info.pdf
Entries must be postmarked by Mar. 17th.

April 16-19th are the YMCA Short Course Nationals. This year they are again being held in Ft. Lauderdale. Detailed meet information is not yet available, so just save the date. For this particular meet, you only have to be a current Y member to participate.

To swim in meets with MOO, you need to be registered as a Masters swimmer. MOO has online registration via the Florida Masters web site. Save some time and register online at: https://www.clubassistant.com/club/USMS.cfm?l=14
If you have any questions during this registration process, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Looking forward to 2010...

USMS Short Course Nationals will be in Atlanta (May 20-23) and Long Course Nationals will be in San Juan (Aug. 9-12).

Practice during the winter is outdoors in the heated pool on Monday, Tuesday and Thursday night from 7:00pm until 8:15pm. Everyone has a busy schedule and it's understandable when you're not able to practice for weeks on end, so come out and swim when you can.

If you'd like to purchase team suits or caps, please see Sean McCormack.

Bruce