2007-09-30
USAS Convention Report - Part III
One of our own was honored at the USAS Convention. Ron Johnson was inducted into the International Masters Swimming Hall of Fame on Friday September 28. He joins a distinguished list of members in IMSHOF including Phil Whitten, Bill Specht, Laura Val, Barbara Dunbar, and Ransom Arthur. Although he could not accept this award in person, Dan Gruender accepted it on his behalf.
Way to go Ron!
Way to go Ron!
2007-09-29
USAS Convention Report - Part II
The big news from Anaheim is the locations for the 2009 National meets have been awarded. Short Course Nationals will be in Fresno, CA and Long Course Nationals will be in Indianapolis, IN. Both will be fantastic locations and should be competitive meets. There will be more information on both of these events posted shortly.
There will be more information to report tomorrow after everything gets wrapped-up. It has been a good convention and a worthwhile investment of time. Stay tuned for another report tomorrow!
There will be more information to report tomorrow after everything gets wrapped-up. It has been a good convention and a worthwhile investment of time. Stay tuned for another report tomorrow!
2007-09-27
USAS Convention Report - Part I
Your humble scribe is reporting to you from Garden Grove, CA which is the site of the USAS National Convention. USMS is a part of this event along with the other members of USAS (USA-Swimming, USA-Diving, etc.). During the course of this event I will provide updates on what has taken place during this event.
Yesterday, I was co-chair (along with Mark Gill) for a workshop on Communications. The scope of the discussion was on communication tools that LMSCs, clubs, and teams use. In the near future the document will be posted online in case you want to read it. We had a couple dozen people in attendance and got out in time for the Reception afterwards.
One bit of exciting news that happened yesterday was USMS selected a company to provide online registration starting in 2008! This is great news and will help make the registration process much easier than the paper-based systems of the past. Club Assistant was selected as the provider due to their expertise in this field. Not only that, the company founder, his wife, and his sister are masters swimmers.
There will be more news but I wanted to let everybody know about online registration. This will become a reality for us on November 1 so stay tuned for more details!
Yesterday, I was co-chair (along with Mark Gill) for a workshop on Communications. The scope of the discussion was on communication tools that LMSCs, clubs, and teams use. In the near future the document will be posted online in case you want to read it. We had a couple dozen people in attendance and got out in time for the Reception afterwards.
One bit of exciting news that happened yesterday was USMS selected a company to provide online registration starting in 2008! This is great news and will help make the registration process much easier than the paper-based systems of the past. Club Assistant was selected as the provider due to their expertise in this field. Not only that, the company founder, his wife, and his sister are masters swimmers.
There will be more news but I wanted to let everybody know about online registration. This will become a reality for us on November 1 so stay tuned for more details!
2007-09-21
SPMA Short Course Meters Meet
Recognize this photo?It's from a place not far away... Some of you have even been here before.
This is the home of a famous Champ Car race, motorcycle builder Jesse James, and "musician" Calvin Broadus, Jr. (aka Snoop Dogg) to name a few.
Gotcha stumped? We are talking about Long Beach, CA and the upcoming SPMA Short Course Meters Meet. This will be held at the Belmont Pool, which is adjacent to the ocean. Other swimmers who have participated in this meet in years past report having many good times.
The meet is a tree day affair starting on November 30 and running until December 2. More details will be posted on the SPMA website but this should be a great meet to end the year with. So start making your plans to swim at Long Beach!
2007-09-14
Construction Update
Some of you may be wondering about the status of the updated webpage for Arizona Masters.What if I told you it was done?
Click on this link and you will see for yourself...
Toni at Homepage Success Incorporated really did a great job with this new site. It contains much more information than the old site for both our members and visitors. Site navigation is also much easier too with the side bar. Overall we have a much better site with more useful information than we have ever had.
Over the next few months, additional updates will take place to make the site even more functional. Make sure you bookmark the site and visit it every now and then. Thank you for your patience as well, with this new site it will be rewarded.
2007-09-11
Arizonans Invade La Jolla for Good Times in Rough Water
The results are in from the 77th Annual La Jolla Rough Water Swim, which took place in La Jolla Cove on Sunday, September 9. The number of Arizona swimmers taking the plunge was impressive, exceeding even that of local cove swimmers. This is truly a gargantuan effort, as evidenced by the sheer number of swimmers accommodated during this all-day event: 333 juniors as young as 8 swam 250 yards; 294 amateurs aged 13-18 swam one mile; 613 Masters Men and 437 Masters Women swam the mile; and 527 swimmers finished the Gatorman 3-mile event. A cadre of brave souls competed in both the one mile and the Gatorman. They are denoted in the results by an asterisk (*).The event ran smoothly, thanks to a well-oiled machine of volunteers and committee members who work year-round to ensure this event's ongoing success. The weather was ideal, having "cooled off" from a heat wave San Diegans were complaining of last week. The water was not too cold at all. And most of us woke up to the excitement of an earthquake shaking the bed at around 6:10 a.m. A first for me.
I'm still sore from the punishment my body took out there in the swells. It was a great day for a swim. Pretty smooth out to the pier, and a little bumpy coming back. One Swim Arizona reader has promised to submit an account of her experience at La Jolla as a first-time ocean swimmer. Be sure to read the November/December issue for that.
Meanwhile, to view results, visit www.ljrws.com.
2007-09-10
Ron Johnson Invitational (aka Short Course Meters State)
We have a special treat for everybody this November. The Short Course State Championship Meet is being renamed for one of our renowned members.
Ron Johnson.
Sun Devil Masters is naming this meet in his honor to recognize his many accomplishments as a swimmer, coach, and leader within masters swimming. He has been a giant in our sport for many years and is going to be recognized for his contributions. More on that later...
The meet will be held from November 9-11 at the Mona Plummer Aquatics Center at ASU. You can download the meet flyer by going here, if you have any questions you can contact the Meet Director. During the meet, results will be posted online at the SDM website so you can check them in near real-time.
This should be a fun meet with many swimmers from other states participating. If you know of anybody from colder states who may want to swim outside this fall, you should tell them about this event. In any event, get your entry forms in asap and start training for the meet.
2007-09-09
Fall Classic Meet
With Summer coming to an end, thoughts now turn to the upcoming Short Course Meters season. We are going to have three meets this fall in Arizona, plus SPMA is going to host a large meet in Long Beach in December.
The first SCM meet of the season will be the Fall Classic, which will be held at the Wall Aquatics Center on the NAU campus in Flagstaff. This event will take place on Sunday October 21 with warmups starting at 10am and the meet scheduled to begin at 11am. Northern Arizona Masters put on a good meet at their facility and you are all invited to be a part of it.
You can download the meet flyer here for more information on the meet. Good luck and see you there!
The first SCM meet of the season will be the Fall Classic, which will be held at the Wall Aquatics Center on the NAU campus in Flagstaff. This event will take place on Sunday October 21 with warmups starting at 10am and the meet scheduled to begin at 11am. Northern Arizona Masters put on a good meet at their facility and you are all invited to be a part of it.
You can download the meet flyer here for more information on the meet. Good luck and see you there!
