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From: Laura Matuszak
Dear New England Zone Team athletes and parents,
Congratulations on qualifying for the New England Zone Team. I hope
that you are preparing yourselves for an excellent meet and a
terrific end to your long course season. Please review this e-mail
and the attachments in detail in order to educate yourselves on the
team travel plans and expectations.
1. We will be having a team meeting and a team practice on Sunday,
August 5th from 4:30-6:00 p.m. at Springfield College. Please attend
the practice if you are able to do so. We will review the details of
the team trip and the team code of conduct. Additionally, we will
get to visit with the team members.
2. The bus will arrive at the Auburn Mall at 7:30 a.m. on Tuesday,
August 7th, 2007. Directions to the Auburn Mall are attached. The
bus will depart promptly at 8:00 a.m. Please be prepared
and arrive early to load the bus. The 11-12 athletes along with
their chaperones (to be determined later in the week) and their
coaches (Chris Woolridge and Tim Thompson) will ride on one bus.
This bus will have room for 10 and Under children and their parents
who have paid to ride the bus. These families are responsible for
securing their own hotel reservations, for meals and for their
transportation to and from the pool. 10 and Under families may ride
to and from the pool on the 11-12 bus, as long as they meet the bus
at the departure times at the Holiday Inn and at the UB Pool. The 13
and older athletes along with their chaperones (to be determined
later this week) and their coaches (Sherry Wingfield, Tami Johnson
and Alex Cronin) will ride another bus. There is room on this bus as
well for Zones families who would like to pay to ride the bus.
Again, these families are responsible for their own hotel
accommodations, meals and travel in Buffalo. They are welcome to
ride with the team to and from the pool and the hotel, provided they
meet at the team designated times and locations. Please contact me
IMMEDIATELY if you would like to ride on the bus with the team.
3. The trip itinerary is attached. Please note that athletes will
be responsible for their meal costs on the bus rides to and from
Buffalo. We will stop for lunch on the way to Buffalo and dinner on
the way back from Buffalo. Please also note that the Saturday travel
plans incorporate two options, one for swimmers who will not
competing in and individual or relay event in finals and one for
swimmers who will be competing in an individual or relay event in
finals. Non-finals competitors will return to the Auburn Mall on the
early bus, leaving Buffalo at around 2:00 p.m. Finals competitors
will return to the Auburn Mall on the late bus, leaving Buffalo at
around 8:00 p.m.
4. A packing list is provided. Please use caution when packing your
favorite electronic items. Expensive cell phones, IPods and digital
cameras are not necessary items for the trip. Athletes who have
difficulty using their cell phones and cameras appropriately will be
asked to leave their items with the chaperones until the bus returns
to Massachusetts.
5. PLEASE READ AND REVIEW the Team Code of Conduct with your
athletes. Please be aware that ANY violation of the team code of
conduct can result in a child being sent home at the expense of the
parents. The focus on the Zone Trip is to swim one's best, show New
England pride and team spirit and enjoy the experience of swimming
with other top level swimmers from our area. Swimmers are expected
to obey the code of conduct from the moment the buses leave the
Auburn Mall until they are picked up by their parents at the end of
the trip. We will read the code of conduct in its entirety at the
team meeting and we expect that each swimmer will be very familiar
with each and every point before the trip.
6. For all 10 and Under swimmers and their parents, Sherry Wingfield
has written up some guidelines and suggestions for your trip. These
are attached.
7. A copy of the team entries are attached. Some of the swimmer's
times could not be found in the USA Swimming SWIMS database and were
not used for entry times. Instead, the best time found in the SWIMS
database was used according to the meet entry rules. Some swimmers
were added into additional events according to the meet entry rules
which allows each LSC to enter up to 2 swimmers in each event
regardless of qualifying times. The criteria used to add swimmers
into events included swimmer speed (priority for swimmers who were
close to the qualifying time), swimmer total number of events and
team need. I was not able to add swimmers into every event in which
we are short on entries.
8. Chaperones, please familiarize yourself with the team code of
conduct. It will be your job to enforce the code of conduct. You
will receive your chaperone responsibilities later on the bus.
9. I have attached some quick nutrition reminders for our athletes.
Over the years, I have been intrigued by the varied knowledge that
each swimmer has regarding nutritional principles. We all know that
swimming performance is greatly impacted by nutrition, so I hope that
you will all find this short article to be helpful when thinking
about nutrition at the Zone Meet: http://www.usaswimming.org/USASWeb/ViewMiscArticle.aspx?TabId=402&Alias=Rainbow&Lang=en&mid=635&ItemId=1716
9. If you have any questions or concerns, please contact me on my
cell phone at (802) 238-9168.
10. I will not be traveling on the Zone trip this year as I will be
coaching my home team athletes at the USA Swimming Junior National
Championships. Sherry Wingfield will be in charge of the trip from
this point forward. Her cell phone number is (413) 575-8559. Please
contact her with any urgent needs or concerns.
Sincerely,
Laura Matuszak
New England Zone Team Coordinator
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