Newsletter, Vol. VII - March/April 2020
|
|
Welcome to the Covid -19 edition of coaches corner. In all the communications that we have had we have not reflected on the season that was. Thank you to all those families and swimmers that represented our team in the championship meets MAL, Districts, MVS Champs. This last season was one of great change, ongoing challenges and bright new horizons. Hosting a successful MVS Championship meet at the new SMSD Aquatic Center was certainly a highlight. A huge thank you to all our families that volunteered their time to making that meet a huge success. Our improvement from last year in that meet, an additional 20 swimmers qualified and a shift from 5th overall to 2nd, was great to be part of and is the start of reestablishing our foothold at the top of Missouri Valley Swimming. We had two swimmers place first and third in high points in their age groups respectively. I loved seeing the energy and excitement at the Districts meet, some swimmers experiencing their first championship meet, others finishing their season with best times.
Starting to settle into a new norm and routine we do seem to be entering into the planning phase of this pandemic, what are things going to look like on the other side, what are the contingencies from training to racing that we are going to need to be successful?
While none of this looks like I imagined it when I accepted the position as the Head Coach of the Kansas City Blazers. I am grateful to have this team, staff and community to support each other through these unprecedented times.
Coach George Adcock
|
|
Missouri Valley Short Course Championships
|
|
We placed second at this Year Missouri Valley Championships our highest place finish in at least three years. We had a high point winner in the 13-14 girls age group and a third place in the 11-12 boys age group. There were so many great swims and moments.
By stepping up and racing strong during prelims, swimmers accept the opportunity and challenge to put their best effort forward in finals to return for one more chance to go after their goals. The excitement that comes with a second chance to best their potential, to hear their name announced behind the blocks before the race and to have their team celebrate their achievement with them is an experience we hope all of our swimmers have each season.
Congratulations to all of our Blazer swimmers for a job well done this past season!
|
|
As meet host, this is a huge undertaking and we could not do this without the dedication and support from our Blazer families. Thank you to our many volunteers that have already committed to helping us run the meet.
|
|
Blazer High-point Winners & 1st Place Relays
|
Congratulations to Annika Finzen 1st place 13-14 Girls High-point Winner and Zane Laing 3rd place 11-12 Boys High-point Winner!
First Place Relays
10 & Under Girls 200 Free:
Kinley Baber, Ashlyn Bolyard, Samantha Walley and Ellie Goldblatt
10 & Under Girls 200 Medley Relay:
Sasha Weiner, Kinley Baber, Samantha Walley and Ellie Goldblatt
11-12 Boys 200 Medley Relay:
Sean Lee, Eric Dong, Bobby Guo and Zane Laing
Open Boys 800 Free Relay:
Richie Stewart, Kevin Glenn, Sam Peterson and Hunter Rey
|
|
Blazer Performance Highlights from MV Swimming Championships
|
|
Age Group I
Coach Shawn Lynn-Bequette
Age Group I had 21 best times total. Congratulations, Age Group I - you guys rock!
Preston Chang:
1 Top 10 finish placing 10th overall in the 100 Breaststroke with a best time and also gained a best time in the 100 Backstroke and helped our 10 & Under Boys place 3rd in the 200 Medley Relay.
|
|
Ellie Goldblatt:
Achieved 2 best times in the 200 Free and 100 IM and helped our 10 & Under Girls relay place 1st in both the 200 Free and 200 Medley relays.
Abigale Stidham:
5 Best Times; 4 Top 10 finishes. She placed 9th in the 50 Free, 50 Breaststroke, 100 Breaststroke and 100 Fly.
Miles Tomsic:
Achieved a best time in the 100 Backstroke.
|
|
Samantha Walley:
2 Top 10 Finshes; Represented KCB in finals in the 50 fly and placed 7th overall and placed 10th in the 100 Fly and helped our 10 & Under Girls relay place 1st in the 200 Free and 200 Medley relay.
Sasha Weiner:
Three 8 & Under records: 50 back, 50 fly, 50 free (she also has the 25 fly (MALs) and 100 back (Distrcts) records); 2 Top 10 finshes; represented KCB in Finals in the 50 Back and 50 Fly, placing 8th overall in both events and helped our 10 & Under Girls relay place 1st in both the 200 Free and 200 Medley relays.
|
|
Junior II
Coach Uldis Tazans
I am proud of JII swimmers for what they have accomplished and how much they have grown and developed as swimmers during this short course season. They have done incredible during their practices, which have reflected their performance at the meets.
Top Athlete Highlights at the short course Champs:
- 14 JII swimmers attended Short course Champs
- 80% of all swims were new personal best times for JII swimmers
|
|
Kinley Baber:
Achieved 2 Zones cuts, four top 3 finishes including two 1st place finishes, all new best times in 7 events, was part of the winning 200 free and 200 medley relays
Ashlyn Bolyard:
four A final appearances including 4th place finish in 50 breaststroke, 4 new personal best times
Eric Dong:
3 B final appearances and 4 new personal best times, was part of winning 200 medley relay team
Bobby Guo:
5 B final appearances and 5 new personal best times, was part of winning 200 medley relay team
|
|
Mayo Patric:
7 new personal best times, six top 16 finishes; 3rd place 10 & Under Boys Medley Relay
Yoobin Son:
7 new personal best times, six top 16 finishes including A final appearance in 50 breaststroke;3rd place 10 & Under Boys Medley Relay
Eric Spencer:
4 new personal best times, two top 16 finishes; 3rd place 10 & Under Boys Medley Relay
Sophia Sponseller:
3 new personal best times
Matthew Warren:
7 new personal best times, five top 16 finishes including A final appearance in 100 breast
|
|
Junior I
Coach Andrew Schmidt
- Zane Laing 3rd Place 11-12 Boys High Point finish (won 200 Back & 200 Fly)
- Sean Lee 1st Place 11-12 Boys 50 Back
- 11-12 Boys 1st Place 200 Medley Relay
- 80 Best Times
- 7 Top-8 Finishes, 7 Top-3 Finishes, 3 Event Wins
- 24/29 Kids Qualified (18 swimmers w/ at least 1 best time)
|
|
Senior I
Coach Alex Morris
The Senior I group has come a long way this year! Every Senior I swimmer made a personal best in at least 1 event, and as a group achieved 71% best times and made 11 Finals appearances. Yaseen El Demerdash set 2 new American Paralympic records in the 200 Breast and the 50 Breast! Yaseen is a member of the USA Paralympic National Team, and now holds 5 American records in his classification.
|
|
National
George Adcock, Head Coach
6 New Priority Sectional Times
14 New Bonus Sectional Times
76% of athletes achieved at least one Personal Best
1 High Point winner
An excited team, with nine first time representatives, ready to head to Speedo Sectionals coming off good meets at MVS champs and Kansas High School Boys State.
Our end of season meet that was unfortunately ended before we even arrived.
|
|
Region VIII Speedo Sectionals
|
|
An hour and a half into our trip to Mizzou for Speedo Sectionals to round out the season we got the call to turn around and head home. The meet was called off due to COVID-19!! The attitude of the swimmers who took it in their stride was amazing, obviously there was immense disappointment all around. There were some suggestions of heading to Columbia and staying in the hotel anyway, instead we turned around and headed back to Kansas City. Some quick thinking from Coach Mary-Catherine and Coach Uldis, and some great accommodation from Thai Orchard in Mission, enabled us to have a fantastic team dinner.
|
|
The energy and atmosphere of the group at dinner illuminated to the coaches what a opportunity Sectionals was going to be!! Proud of this group for handling the out of this world events that were thrown in front of them with such grace, understanding and humor.
We look forward to the next one!!
|
|
A Message from the Trailblazers Parent Association
|
|
Blazer Parents,
Thank you all so much for your continued support of our program. We do hope and your athletes are getting familiar with some of the ways our coaches and staff are coming up with to keep everyone informed, engaged and communicating. Some of these are really inventive and are fantastic to see how everyone is finding a way to stay Committed to Excellence in areas inside and outside of swimming.
As a quick note there are two Facebook pages that have been established specifically for Blazer Parents and Swimming Alumni:
Please take a look at these and if you know others that might be interested please invite them!
Lastly we want to thank all of you that donated to helping us support our coaches financially during these difficult and uncertain times. The Board will be meeting later this month to assess options for May billing. Thanks to you, and some of our proactive financial planning, we are very solid to weather the storm COVID has handed us.
Best,
The KCB Parent Board
|
|
|
Dates Announced for U.S. Olympic Team Trails
|
USA Swimming announced that it has rescheduled its 2020 U.S. Olympic Team Trials – Swimming to June 13-20, 2021 at the CHI Health Center Omaha, in Omaha, Nebraska.
|
|
|
USA Swimming:
Notes from USA Swimming discussions
- The USA Swimming Board of Directors have cancelled all meet sanctions until May 31st.
- Central Zones Open Water Championships and 14 & Under Championships have been canceled. Looks like Futures will also be cancelled, but this is not confirmed.
- Meet host and Zone Boards are working on a plan to offer a Sectional meet in the first half of August. This is a tentative plan, may not look like a traditional sectionals meet but will be a celebration of swimming.
|
|
Blazers Swimming:
KCB #AloneTogether Team Challenge
This month Team KCB began our team #alonetogether team challenge to help us stay active, connected, grounded and challenged as we continue forward through COVID-19. While health & safety are priority, we hope you will join us!
Mindful Monday
- Meditation Challenge
TikToc Tuesday
- Creative Connection Challenge
Whatever-you-want Wednesday
- What’s New to You Challenge
Team Challenge Thursday
- Challenge KCB: Challenge your Coaches to a workout
For the Team Friday
- Team Cardio Challenge; Help us get to Tokyo!
|
|
**Please note that we have included our summer meet schedule and practice information below for planning purposes only. We will be abiding by the recommendations of USA swimming, Missouri Valley swimming, Johnson County Health and Environment, JCPRD and any other relevant governing organization before resuming any Blazers Activities.**
|
|
2020 Long Course Practice Schedule
Please refer to your group site pages for the practice schedules for the appropriate group for your swimmer.
Please remember that we are renters at these facilities and as such our permits are subject to change. We will endeavor to keep our practice calendars updated and accurate and inform you of any changes. You will need to log in to access both the information and the group calendars.
|
2020 Long Course Meet Schedule
Our Meet Schedule is tentative and subject to change.
You must be logged in to your Team Unify account to view the meet schedule
.
Registration and additional information will be available on-line after we are able to return to training and competing.
|
|
Quick Links
Missouri Valley Swimming
Swimmer Spot
|
|
Upcoming Team Events & Programs
|
|
Upcoming Team Events and information about our ongoing Blazer Programs.
|
|
Evaluations
Do you have a friend interested in joining the Blazers? We ask all prospective swimmers to participate in an evaluation. This evaluation process allows our coaching staff to place swimmers in the appropriate practice group based upon their current skill and for their long-term development and success. The next schedule evaluation is Monday, October 28th at Blue Valley North High School at 6:00 pm
|
|
Pre-Blazers Program
Pre-Blazers is our pre-competitive program designed to provide an introduction to competitive swimming through skill development and having fun! For swimmers ages 6 - 14 years old, who are water safe, have had swimming lessons and are interested in learning about competitive swimming. This program is offered twice a week and provides a bridge between lessons and competitive swimming.
We will be hosting Winter Pre-Blazers from January 13- March 13, 2020.
|
|
Senior Prep
Our Senior Prep Group
offers a broad-based training approach for athletes 13 years and older. The group's emphasis is on general conditioning along with technique work. This group is appropriate for swimmers, who enjoy competitive swimming, are interested in improving their skills and increasing their fitness for high school swimming or summer league.
The next session starts: TBA
|
|
For more information on upcoming team events and programs, please visit our website!
|
|
Suggested articles, volunteer opportunities and additional team information to help support our swimmers and our club.
|
|
|
Why Become A USA Swimming Official?
|
To gain a better understanding of your child's sport,
To have the best spot on deck for watching everyone swim,
To satisfy your volunteer hour requirement,
And many other perks like free meals and heat sheet!
For more information on becoming a USA Swim Official contact
Christian Frank
, Blazers Official's Coordinator.
|
|
|
|
What is a Blazer Booster?
|
The Blazers Booster Program gives parents the ability to directly impact the overall team experience by assisting in funding coaching development and equipment to assure our program offers quality experiences to the swimmers and fans. A new sound system, starter horn, public address system, are some examples of equipment that is needed. Click the link for a list of more specific benefits for the two levels of Booster supporters.
|
|
|
|
The Minor Athlete Protection Policy (MAAPP), which was mandated by the US Center for Safe Sport, addresses one-on-one interactions, social media and electronic communications, travel: local and team, locker rooms and changing areas and massages, rubdowns and athletic training modalities.
You can learn more about USA Swimming MAAPP on the USA Swimming website and to read the full policy please click the link below.
|
|
|
|
Time Standards, meet information and general inforamtion about our LSC (Local Swimming
Committee).
|
|
|
Parents: How do I know which Meet to Attend?
|
|
Roadmap to competition: How each meet fits into my swimmers season
|
|
Age Group:
- Champs
- Districts
- MAL
- Invitational meets
- Blazer Series
|
|
Junior I and Junior II:
- Sectionals
- Zones (NASA and elite meets)
- Champs
- Districts
- Invitational meet
|
|
Senior and National:
- Olympic Trials
- Nationals and Pro AM
- Junior Nationals
- Futures
- Sectionals
- Zones
- Champs
|
|
Swim meets are selected for each group and the team due to a variety of factors:
- Level of Competition
- Training cycle
- Team cohesiveness
- Location
Best times do not always determine or define a swimmer's success; not every meet should have an expectation of best times or attaining a season goal. Given our training and/or development cycle, seeing swimmers implement technique changes in a race environment is always a success. When selecting events for swimmers, coaches will consider these factors. In developing well rounded swimmers we are always looking to balance challenging a swimmer with new events and with having them swim their favorite events.
|
|
Blazer Series
Blazer Series Intrasquad meets are designed for swimmers in our Age Group I and Age Group II competitive training groups. We developed these meets to help promote a positive and nurturing competitive experience for our young and novice swimmers new to the world of competition. This series is built into the training plan for both groups to help foster a growth mindset towards competing by hosting low-key, local swim meets held in one session.
|
|
Invitational Meets
These swim meets are an important supplement to training. At these swim meets, build their racing skills, strategy (pacing). Swimmers can learn about their bodies - how to prepare for the races and how to recover in between races. Meets are sleeted in accordance with season training plans and every meet has different objectives. Swimmers are expected to attend these meets as outlined/recommended by their primary coach.
|
|
MAL Championships
End of season meet for Age group swimmers not attending Championship meets. This meet is run as a Championship meet without time standards.
|
|
|
Missouri Valley Swimming
Championship Meets
|
|
Championship meets for our KC Blazers are listed below. Each meet has a time standard necessary to be eligible to enter. These are qualifying meets and they are the culmination of all of your training, hard work and dedication throughout the season. If eligible, Blazers swimmers are expected to attend.
|
|
MVS District Championships
District Championship meets are held twice a year; once for the Short Course season (prior to Champs) and once for the Long Course season (prior to Champs). The swimmer competes on an individual basis.
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a [MV Short Course or Long Course Districts time standard] are eligible to enter in the events for which they have qualified and are eligible for up to two Bonus events. These are Timed Final events.
|
|
MVS Championships
Champs meets are held twice a year; once for the Short Course season (end of February; 25 yard pools) and once for the Long Course season (end of July; 50 meter pools). The swimmer competes both on an individual basis and for club points. The club also organizes relay teams to compete for club points. Similar to districts, this swim meet has qualifying time standards which are harder to achieve than District Q time standards. Swimmers need to be consistent with their training and work hard to be able to achieve these time standards.
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a [MV Short Course or Long Course Championship time standard] are eligible to enter in the events for which they have qualified and are eligible for up to two Bonus events for which they qualify.
|
|
USA Swimming
Regional & National Meets
|
|
Zones
USA Swimming divides the 59 LSCs into four
zones
: Eastern, Central, Southern and Western. Like each LSC, each zone holds championship invitational meets at the end of the summer seasons for select age group and senior swimmers for LSCs within that zone. “Zones” are the zonal championship meets for age group swimmers. At Zones, each LSC compiles a team of its fastest age group swimmers to compete against other LSCs in the same zone, and these swimmers compete under the name of their LSC (not their clubs).
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a ‘AAA’ Motivational Time Standard will be eligible to be a part of an all-star team representing Missouri Valley. Swimmers compete individually in their qualifying events and on relays as determined by the MoVal Zones Head Coach.
|
|
Sectionals
USA Swimming divides the country into four Zones – Eastern, Western, Central and Southern – Like each LSC, each zone holds championship invitational meets at the end of the winter and summer seasons for select senior swimmers for LSCs within that zone. “Sectionals” are the zonal championship meets for senior swimmers and swimmers generally compete under their own club’s name. The Sectionals meets do not have age specified qualification time standards. There is only 1 time standard for all ages in every event.
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a qualifying time standard for one or more events.
|
|
Futures Championships
A stepping stone between Sectionals and Junior Nationals.
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a qualifying time standard for one or more events
.
National/Junior National Championship
This is one of the highest levels of competitive swimming. Swimmers must achieve specific time standards to attend the meet. From these meets, swimmers can be chosen for various national teams.
Who attends:
Swimmers who have achieved a qualifying time standard for one or more events.
|
|
Need new fins or a team suit?
Visit SwimQuik for all your Blazers equipment, apparel and spirit wear needs.
4876 W 135th St, Leawood, KS 66224
Call: 913.649.8456
|
|
|
Thank you to our Sponsors!
|
|
|
|
|
|
|