Mark your calendar for the HTAC year end banquet – Awards and Fun for Swimmers and Family Members!
When: 4:30 pm, June 9th, 2013
Where: Dalhousie Student Union Building
Who: All Trojan Swimmers and Family Members
Registration and details to follow!
For those interested in fundraising by acting as a parking attendant at Centennial Pool, please see below the updated dates requiring volunteers:
Please contact Wanda Bolivar, Parking Coordinator via e-mail at parking@htac.ca
Sarah Polley and James Cormier captured first place in the women’s and men’s NIKE 200 IM Challenge at this years Spring Invitational hosted by HTAC, May 17-19th. Swimmers drew at random the order of their Individual Medley before stepping on the blocks in this un-traditional entertaining race. The top three finishers received racing gear courtesy of NIKE Swimming.
From left to right: Victoria Boyle (3rd – HTAC), Sarah Polley (1st – HTAC), and Alison Grant (2nd – HTAC)
From left to right: Sean Berrigan (3rd – DCSC), James Cormier (1st – HTAC), and Devon Slongo (2nd – HWAC)
Change to Dalplex Trojan 1 and 2 Friday Schedule
Due to the HTAC NIKE Spring Invitational this weekend, May 17th through May 19th, the Dalplex Trojan 1 and 2 groups practice has been moved to Centennial Pool from 4:30-6:00pm. The change does not effect the Trojan 1 and 2 groups at Canada Games Pool. If you have any questions, please contact our office at 425-8622.
Victoria Day Practice Cancelled
Just a reminder, there will be no practice on Monday, May 20th (Victoria Day), for any HTAC group. For other important dates and schedules, please see the HTAC schedules page under Program Information –> Schedules, or click here.
The psych sheets and session reports for this weekend’s Nike Spring Invitational Long Course Meet on May 17-19, 2013 are now online. These documents can be downloaded from the HTAC website under Meet Information > Packages or via the following link.
Good luck to all Trojans!
Aaron Maszko – HTAC Head Coach
Senior Development Meet – April 28th, 2013
A welcome and new format to the first long course competition of the season brought many of the provinces best 13 and Overs together to Dalplex Pool April 28th. HTAC swimmers had the opportunity to race five times over two sessions with their choice of events ranging from 50m distances right up to 1500m. “Long course racing has a much different feel from short course”, professed Head Coach Aaron Maszko. “Long course competitions require increase efforts. Swimmers record higher heart rates, and increased lactate levels than during short course in the same events. It requires a good sense of rhythm, maintaining consistent stroke rates and propulsive kicking. Efficiency is paramount. To be successful at long course racing, swimmers don’t necessarily need to be the fastest swimmer in the pool, rather, they need to be the swimmer who can race with the least amount of energy wasted; the one who slows down the least as the race progresses.”
The first development meet of the year is often used by the athletes to shake off the long course racing rust and race events they don’t typically participate in. With a decreased internal pressure of performance on the athletes, they can focus on employing new strategies and technical changes often resulting in some serious improvements in performance. Hannah Reid exemplified this perfectly, reducing her time in the women’s 1500m Freestyle by a whopping 177 seconds (nearly 3 minutes!!!), finishing 3rd in the event. Other major improvements in the distances came to Simon Law (73.11s – 1500 Fr), Bayley Young (27.57s – 1500 Fr), Alida Doelle (17.39s – 1500 Fr), Aileen Feschuk (13.57s – 400 Fr), and Sydney Archer (12.52s – 50 Fly???).
Often it can be more challenging to earn 100% best times in long course competitions because long course follows the short course season. Swimmers are at their fittest during long course championships, sometimes following 11 months of training and racing. There are the additional challenges of how to warm down effectively without another pool to use, and the long session lengths typically seen with long course competitions. So, when swimmers can perform to their best performances in every race they do they should feel particularly accomplished and satisfied with their progress. Six HTAC swimmers had 100% best performances at the Senior Development competition, so big congratulations to: Bayley Young, Hannah Reid, Theresa Short, Benjamin Rafales-Nordoff, Simon Law, and Geraint Berger! Honourable mention should go out to Alida Doelle, who missed the significant multi-event marker by a mere 0.03 in the 50m Freestyle (after leaving during the middle of the meet to compete and win in a regional volleyball game, then return to the meet to finish her events).
Congratulations to all HTAC swimmers for their performance at their first long course test of the season. We look forward to your results at the NIKE Spring Invitational and into the summer of 2013!=
