Yuma Heat Swim Team...makin' a splash!

End of Summer BBQ and Extreme Olympics

2008-09-01T06:22:00.000-07:00

Alright...for those that haven't figured it out, I am the coach unofficially in charge of "extra-swimicular activities". So a few weeks ago the swim board called me up and said, "We want you to organize a BBQ." I said..."Ah HA!! Here's my chance!!".

Well...actually I just said "Okay." ... but INSIDE I was very excited and had some grandiose plans!

We decided to go with hot dogs and a potluck, and all the families did a GREAT job bringing food! Those hot wings were HOT!! And that chicken pot pie was fabulous! I didn't get a chance to sample everything, but what I DID eat was really great. Thank you all for your contributions. =)

First off, you should all know that I am getting smarter in my advancing years, and instead of trying to run everything myself I have developed (out of sheer necessity) the ability to RECRUIT unwitting volunteers to help me put on large events like this.

Therefore it is likely that if you were standing near me and I needed something, I asked you to help.

Consequently there are far too many people to thank individually...so please know that we ALL appreciate the parents who come forward and help out...it makes the entire event run smoothly and all the kids have a better time for your involvement!

So...on to the games...

First we had the Kayak Course, in which participants had to complete 4 separate tasks while maneuvering the kayak around the pool. This turned out to be a pretty cool event, however only three kids from each team could participate. I'd like to see this kind of event with more than one boat in the water...hmmmm...maybe at the lake?? =) But I digress...

Next we had the High Board Jump for Distance and the 3-Man Luge. The Luge event was a big hit...those kids were flying down that slide!! Too fast for my camera...if YOU have any pics...please send them to me and I'll put them up here! The High Board jump was pretty great too...some really good jumps!

Then we did the Invisible Treasure Hunt, where teams had to locate a clear soda bottle filled with water that was in the pool...and virtually invisible.

Next we had two rounds of the Greased Watermelon event...one round for the 10 & Unders, and another round for the older kids. That is a funny thing to watch...and we have some pretty scrappy kids on our team!!

At the end of the night we did the traditional t-shirt relay to break the point ties that we had on our scoreboard. The yellow team had suffered a severe blow in numbers by that time, so they borrowed some kids from the Blue Team.

In the end, the Blue Team were the champions, followed by Yellow, Purple and then Pink.

Congratulations to all of you...it was a great evening!
I hope you enjoy the pictures!

See you next time!

Troy's Golf Tourny

2008-09-01T05:26:00.000-07:00

Troy Maryniak, the team's "Equipment Guy", "Fundraising Guy", and all-around good guy, decided to host a Golf Tournament.

So...he called up a bunch of his buddies, put out the word to the swim team parents, and set up a fine tournament with great prizes, good food...the works!!

The guys all had a great time, and as far as I know Rick only hit one house!

When I arrived on the scene for the BBQ portion of the event, Shane (Troy's nephew) took me on a rip-roaring tour of the golf course. It was my first time in a golf cart, and truthfully, Shane was merciless!! He drove entirely too fast...haha!

Unfortunately, I don't have much in the way of golf course decorum, and apparently I could be heard shrieking for miles.

In spite of this...we were able to capture a number of teams while they were finishing up the tournament, along with some (upset) wildlife and some good shots of the golf course out at Coyote Wash.

I hope you enjoy the pics! And thank you Troy for putting on a great event!

Lost Dutchman 08

2008-06-05T22:09:00.001-07:00

This year's Lost Dutchman meet was great as usual. Lots of fast swimming!

As it's been almost 4 months, I'll forego the commentary and just post my pics.

Enjoy!

OMG...it's JUNE!

2008-06-05T21:46:00.000-07:00

Ok...so I am officially a slacker.
About a billion things (and SIX MONTHS) have happened since I last posted anything.

First, on January 1 we had our SECOND ANNUAL Yuma Heat Polar Bear Swim!! (Well...the first annual was just my own family, but THIS year I convinced a few other crazies to join us. Yay!! )

We had donuts (thanks Malinda!) and hot cocoa, and my husband and I brought our dogs. It was great! We even made it into the newspaper! Thank you to Mr. Doering for that! =) We hope to see more of you out there NEXT year...

Holiday Odyssey...at long last...the recap!!

2008-02-01T06:31:00.000-08:00

The pictures are in no particular order at this point due entirely to the fact that this website does not have a terribly friendly user interface when it comes to pics....still...I hope you enjoy them.

This year I decided to try something new with the Orange Group swimmers over the holiday season. I arranged for them to experience an "Odyssey": a gruelling, challenging, epic battle of man vs. self. The idea was to see exactly how much they could handle, and to prove to THEM exactly how tough they really are.

Initially I had thought that I wouldn't have many "takers"...I tried to be very dour in my warnings about the difficulties they would face and I told them all that wimps would be sent home...I carried on and on.

Fifteen kids signed up.
We have some hardy kids on our team.

Each kid had to sign a waiver that listed explicitly all the things they couldn't do (whine, complain, stop, bring cell phones, bring ipods, bring gameboys....NONE of those things were allowed). They all understood that breaking any of the rules would result in their immediate expulsion from the event.

They all signed it.

Here we go! The Odyssey began on a Saturday morning, December 21st...which happens to be the winter solstice. They showed up at 6:45am, piled all their gear (including tents, sleeping bags, cots etc) into the baby pool area at Marcus Pool...and giggled with each other a bit about the temperature as they waited for "everything" to start.

Whistle blow..."FIVE MINUTES....BE READY!!"

WORKOUT #1 : 7a.m. 3000 yards
The first workout went smoothly, everyone had lots of energy and they all did a fine job. Each lane had a paper workout to go from for every workout, which minimized my involvement and made them responsible for their own yards. My primary role was motivator and orange provider...they ate a LOT of oranges over the course of 24 hours.

As far as I could tell...that first morning everyone was honest about how far they swam. At approximately 8am, Rick Frabasilio showed up with his video camera to record the swimmers. We organized ourselves alphabetically and then spent the next hour or so recording a 50 of each stroke, including the turn, and then a forward start and a back start. The weather was chilly...but spirits were still high.

Next on the agenda...the MINI MEET @ 9am
Yes, I made them swim a 3000 yard practice before a meet. =)
They all did a great job at the meet...some even went best times!

Before the meet, I gave them all their special "Holiday Odyssey T-Shirt", so they could stand out a bit and feel proud of what they were endeavoring to do.

After the meet they helped clean up, and then Denise Dahl and Teresa Casares served us all soup and sandwiches for lunch! It was a great meal...and afterwards everyone had about an hour to set up camp before the next workout. There was lots of hollering and laughing...and the tents eventually looked like tents.

WORKOUT #2: 1:30p.m. 7800 yards

Still very spirited, this was a good workout...and a long one, our longest in fact. It was after THIS workout that signs of "wear" began to appear...namely in the way of chaffed skin. Fortunately I had a little tub of vaseline on hand to ease the discomfort. The kids showered and dressed...had a snack and settled down for another rest.

After THIS workout, the Frabasilio Family showed up with a beautiful Spaghetti dinner, and Mr. Curtis & Ryan came bearing caesar salad and garlic bread! It was a great feast, and the kids (aside from comments about the food line feeling like they were in "jail") ate well and enjoyed themselves. Then they relaxed for a bit and just talked.

WORKOUT #3 5p.m. 4900 yards
This workout was fairly quiet...I noticed a little more "creative counting" during THIS session. However, the kids were all really great about keeping each other laughing and motivated. Still no whining...however, more chaffing. In fact, it was at this point that the chaffing became a major issue. So much so that we had to put in an emergency call to Chace's Grandma to bring us more vaseline!!

After the workout they showered and at about 9:30pm we turned on a movie (Brian Regan...stand-up comic...family friendly....VERY funny). After the movie & popcorn it was time for bed. Many of them didn't make it through the movie...but we shuffled them all off to bed. This was at approximately 11pm.

11:55 p.m. TIME TO WAKE UP!!!! MIDNIGHT PRACTICE!!!

Some kids were easier to wake than others...there were a couple that I thought we'd have to drag out of their sleeping bags...but they all eventually made it into the changing rooms.

WORKOUT #4: 12a.m. 2650 yards

This workout was completely silent. I don't think I heard anyone say much of anything. They swam by the underwater pool lights only, all other lights in the pool complex were turned off, which may have contributed to the solemn atmoshere. We made LIBERAL use of vaseline during this workout...lots of kids had very bad chaffing from wind exposure and swim suit rub...it was pretty bad.

The weather had been a factor throughout the experience, it was COLD that weekend...(actually...I think I've blocked most of the memories out...so I hope you can appreciate the detailst that I DO remember!!). At any rate, during midnight practice, it was VERY VERY COLD.

The practice went fairly quickly (as I'm sure you can imagine), and soon they were climbing out and running to the showers again.

Back to bed...and this time I was so tired I started to hallucinate. I could have SWORN I heard the girls in the tent next to me get out of their tent and go running off along the pool deck. I battled with myself about stopping them or letting them have some fun, the "fun" idea won and I fell immediately asleep.

5:20 a.m. TIME TO WAKE UP!!

WORKOUT 5: 5:30a.m. 2800 yards

This workout was tough. They were tired, cranky, physically and emotionally exhausted...most of them were wondering why the heck they had agreed to this torture. It was GREAT!! =) The chaffing was bad...it would be several days for many of them to fully heal from that aspect of this adventure.

After this workout...the Roberts Family served us a fantastic meal of pancakes, syrup and fruit! The kids were very quiet while they ate...you could tell they just wanted to go home. (Me too!).

Leigh Kaba had arranged "goodie bags" for all the kids...a Christmas / Congratulations for Surviving gift! They had a LITTLE bit of fun with the silly string!! HAHA!!

HOWEVER....we STILL had to break camp! Thank you to all who stayed to the bitter end to help clean up.

It took ME two days to recover from this Odyssey....and a month of emotional recovery time before I could get it all written down! =)

THANK YOU's:

Thank you so much to all the parents who helped to provide us with food. You did a fabulous job (Chace's grandma came through with an emergency run for oranges...she was an ANGEL!!)

Thank you to Rick for your video work. =) The movies were a big hit!

Thank you to Leigh Kaba for providing us with a giant propane heater to help us stay warm overnight! Thank you also for the wonderful gift bags you put together!

Thank you to Audra Flores for staying with me all night and assuring me that I WAS in fact hallucinating when I thought I heard the girls get out of the tent. Wow eh? =)

Thank you to Mr. (Officer) Casares who came by during midnight practice while he was on duty to see if everything was all right.

And finally, thank you to the swimmers. You are a tremendously cool group of kids, and it was a great honor to go through such an epic adventure with all of you. You all did a FANTASTIC job and you deserve to be very proud of yourselves.

You truly do have MENTAL TOUGHNESS!!

Crazy Hair Day...

2007-10-27T15:57:00.000-07:00

Well...I guess many of the area schools host a "Crazy Hair Day" and a number of kids showed up at the pool with their hair in various states of colorful disarray.

One, however, had changed her appearance prior to coming to practice, but we HEARD that it had been FANTASTIC. So, we asked for a picture! And here it is!

For your viewing pleasure...Heather and her crazy hair!!

New PICTURES!!

2007-10-19T14:22:00.000-07:00

Hello again!

In response to the overwhelming demand for new pictures on the blog (Troy kept bugging me)...HERE they are!!

Below are newly posted pictures of both the Goodyear Season Opener and the High School City Championship Meet.

Enjoy. =)

High School City Champs

2007-10-19T14:20:00.000-07:00

Hello there.
Congratulations to the Yuma High "Lady Crims" for their city win, and to the Cibola High School boys for THEIR win in the City Championships last night. Great swimming!!!

Apparently this may be the last meet of its kind, so congratulations to all the participants!

It was great to see Yuma Heat swimmers up their working hard and having fun in High School Swimming!! Nice job guys!

Enjoy the pics.
Coach Curtis

Goodyear Season Opener!

2007-10-19T13:14:00.000-07:00

Pictures from the Goodyear Season Opener meet.
Great meet, great swims, huge drops in time...what better way to spend a weekend!

Look carefully...you may be lucky enough to spot the allusive "smiling Coach Andersen" picture!!

See you on deck! =)
Coach Curtis

Middle School Invitational

2007-05-19T15:43:00.000-07:00

WOW!!! What a great morning!

Today we held the Inaugural Middle School Invitational Swim Meet and it was a BIG success!!

The Yuma Heat is becoming a finely tuned swim meet "engine"!! The meet went very smoothly, and all the kids looked like they had a GREAT time!

Castle Dome Middle School was the clear winner of the day...with over 500 points scored by all of their kids! They arrived in a school bus and we were thrilled to see their level of participation!

Yuma Heat kids were simply fantastic. It was a great opportunity for many of them to act in leadership roles with their school peers. We saw many examples of Heat kids helping their classmates with stroke and turn technique. As usual, I was very proud of all the Heat swimmers!

The Centennial Middle School team won both boys' relays and Castle Dome won both girl's relays!

Augustina Edmondson, George Gould, Emily Hieber, Ryan Keough and Katie Hodgins were all undefeated in their events and put on a GREAT show!!

We're looking forward to many more years of this event. A HUGE thank you goes out to all the Heat parents and senior swimmers for their help. I'd also like to thank the high school boys who are preparing to leave for Marine Basic Training for their help as well.

Flagstaff Trip

2007-05-19T14:29:00.001-07:00

Well...as is normal for me I have not posted in a while, and now I will post a whole LOT of things for your viewing pleasure!!

The team went to Flagstaff for a No Time Standard meet over the weekend of May 12-13. We took 19 kids with us and our team placed SECOND at the meet!!! WOOOHOOO!!!

A lot of kids swam the 800 Free for the first time ever and I was so proud of all of them. Even at an elevation of 6900 feet our kids are just fantastic!!

We all had a great time, even though we didn't get together for a team meal like we usually do. Some of us went to the Grand Canyon on Saturday afternoon and enjoyed the gorgeous views and temperate (80º) weather!!

Here are some of the pics from "da canyon".

Mini Meet & Season Wrap Up

2007-04-09T07:46:00.000-07:00

Over the break I received these pictures from Corrina Brennan, Dane's mom from the Red Group. Thank you so kindly! And what a great group of kids we have! I have to tell you that I was so impressed with all of them at the mini meet!

First we had Coach David's Red Group swimmers, some of whom were participating in their first meet ever! I hope they had fun...because they did a GREAT job! The Red 3 group is just leaving the blocks here...go Darian, Ariel and Haylee! You guys have improved so much this year!

Next up were some of our Orange and Senior group swimmers who are always fun to watch. They don't always get a chance to race each other in practice, and sometimes not at all at meets, so it's neat to see them swim against each other at mini meets!

After the meet, Coach David's kids all ganged up and pushed him in the water. Check out the Mysterious Floating Man!! Go Cyrus!! Haha!

Then we lined up for "special" relays, and this is where it really got fun. 8 teams...3 relays...fun fun.

We had wet t-shirt races, balloon-under-the-shirt races, and the ever popular "Deflated Inner Tube" relay! haha.

I was so impressed with all of our kids. The seniors and Orange group kids really helped out the younger ones, and it was SO great to see the team effort involved. Congratulations to all of you for a GREAT meet and a GREAT season!!

State Championships!!!

2007-03-22T00:09:00.000-07:00

Well...at long last...here are my pictures from the State Championship meet at Brophy Prep in Phoenix. We had a great...albeit long...weekend. The image to the right is the pool as it looked at sunset.

Seniors swam on one side and age group kids on the other...so oftentimes there were two Heat kids swimming at the same time in different pools!

A professional photographer was on hand again to take pictures. His name is Jon
Simpson and you can see the gallery of photos on his website.
These are the pages with Heat kids (and adults...Kate =): 21, 22, 53, 68,
71, and 77. There are pics of Katelyn, Anna, Ashton, Kate, Jake and Alexander.
There may be others...and if I missed you I apologize.

Alexander, Ashton, Katelyn, Jesse, Kate, Myriah, and Nick all made finals...way to go guys! Note Ashton's game face...VERY intimidating!

Our 13-14 girls relay team did a great job and took time off of every relay they swam. There was some very tough competition, but they held their own. Nice work Ally, Emily, Jessica and Myriah....well done ladies!

Congratulations to Katelyn for achieving her first ever Jr. National Time!!! What an achievement!

This picture is the result of a scheme cooked up by Barbara Hernandez (Ally's mom) and myself to get Coach to smile for the camera...she was tickling him and STILL all we get is a grimace. Sheesh Coach!

I don't have much else to say...I think my creativity is sapped!! So here are my pictures...hope you enjoy them.

(first pic, second row = Jessica swimming breast in the medley relay)

Regional Photos by Harry Allen

2007-03-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

For those at the regional swim meet, you may remember that there was a gentleman taking pictures with a very nifty camera. He approached us and gave us his website address and said there would pictures posted from the meet...including some of our kids.

His website is http://homepage.mac.com/h65allen/WSFRegional327/index.html

Have a look!

Cool pictures from the West Wetlands

2007-03-12T01:13:00.000-07:00

I thought you all might like to see these. They're pictures of a hummingbird nest with baby hummingbirds and their proud mama standing guard!

Thank you to Tina Stuart, a good friend of mine, for these pictures!
VERY COOL!

Practice makes...better

2007-03-08T14:51:00.000-08:00

Thank you Audra Flores for providing us with some pictures of a random day at 4pm practice!

Coach Andersen and I sure do look stern...I wonder why? lol

Caitlyn practicing breaststroke.

Coach David getting ready to get in the water with his Red 2 group.

Red 2 in the foreground and Red 3 in the background.
Lookin' good!

Troy the Equipment Guy.

"Pssst....you need to buy a suit?"

Regionals in Goodyear

2007-03-08T11:06:00.000-08:00

What a GREAT weekend we had in Goodyear, AZ!! 18 kids made Regional cuts and headed off to the beatiful YMCA pool in Goodyear for this year's Regional meet. We only took 10 kids last year...so our team has improved a LOT over the year! Way to go kids!

The results are finally in and we had a FANTASTIC 72% personal best times!! WOW!

To lead off the meet, our 11-12 girls put on an exciting and wonderful show with their FIRST place win in the 200 Free Relay!! That got everyone fired up and we had a TON of best times on Friday.

However, that night we were up WAY too late eating dinner at Macaroni Grill. The food was great (after a 2½ hour wait!!) but we were all exhausted and we stumbled back to our hotels to go to bed.

Saturday most of the kids were exhausted, and it showed. It also taught them how important a good night's sleep is when you're out of town at swim meets. But, there were some good swims and again, we had a great time watching the relay!

Sunday was better, and again the relay team did an outstanding job getting everyone excited for the morning's events.

A special thank you to Vicky Timms for helping to secure the cool t-shirts for this year's Championship Team!! They turned out to be FANTASTIC!

Also, a big thank you to Mrs. Kaba for putting together goodie bags for all the kids...we just LOVED the squirt guns Leigh!! /end sarcasm. Haha...at least they weren't kazoos!!

Altogether it was a fabulous meet.

Thank you to all the kids for a great job in the water, and to all the parents for your continued support of the team and your committment to your kids.

They may not say it very often...but without their parents the team wouldn't be nearly as successful. So, you have my gratitude and appreciation.

Caution:

Swimmer with 'tude.

Championships are here!!!

2007-02-28T23:31:00.000-08:00

The Arizona Regionals Championship swim meet is this weekend, March 2-4. The Yuma Heat is taking 18 swimmers to this event...8 more than last year!! Nice job everyone! Go swim FAST!!

I'll post pictures as soon as we get back!

Tate Family Update

2007-02-28T23:00:00.000-08:00

For those that weren't here, Kwan Tate, an olympic swimmer from Thailand and just a super cool lady worked with the Yuma Heat Swim Team for over a year as a volunteer age group coach.

She was well loved, both for her generosity and for her culinary skills. Coach Kwan primarily coached the Reg Group swimmers, and was known for having epic sleepovers at her home on base while her husband was away in Iraq.

Her husband, Emerson, is with the marines and as is customary he received orders to go to Okinawa in December. So, we said goodbye to the Tate family but they remain in our thoughts and we hope to see them again someday. Thalia, Lalia and Eryton...we miss you too!! Swim Fast!

Kwan sent me these pictures...I hope you all enjoy them. She would love to hear from you! You can email Coach Kwan and the kids at: kwan4_pui@yahoo.com

Lost Dutchman 2007

2007-02-22T07:30:00.000-08:00

For those that have never been to a "big" meet, the Lost Dutchman in Chandler is a great introduction to swimming at the next higher level. We witnessed some amazing swims this last weekend, several Dutchman meet records were broken and there was a World Record holder swimming in the senior pool all weekend! His name is Roland Shoeman, and WOW... he is fast!

Our own Yuma Kids did a great job too! With tons of best times and some really great swims it was an exciting weekend. Congratulations to Alexander, Jesse and Jessica for making the finals! And a BIG hug and congratulations to Alexander for earning medals in 7 out of his 8 events! Way to go kids!!

We did experience some inclement weather...our tent blew away during Monday's lunch break and then it rained on us during finals! But Audra Flores, Ryan Curtis and Leigh Kaba went to great lengths to create a cave...totally sheltered from the wind for all of us to hang out in. It was awesome!

The Lost Dutchman has become a very large event and many big swimming names attend this meet. For those of you who are ready to take your swimming to the next level, it's a fantastic meet to attend.

Coach Kwan...Alive and well in Okinawa!

2007-02-22T06:39:00.000-08:00

I had a chance to talk with Coach Kwan for a little bit yesterday. She sounded great, and she misses all of you!!

She asked that I make sure that everyone has her email...so here it is: kwan4_pui@yahoo.com.

Please send her an email and let her know how you're doing.

We sure do miss you Coach Kwan!

And congratulations to Thalia and Lalia for making the Junior Olympic team in their region!! They are headed to Tokyo soon...GO SWIM FAST girls!!! =)

Mardi Gras...in February

2007-02-14T06:15:00.000-08:00

While the rest of the country is experiencing snowfall and winter rains, we in Yuma are celebrating Mardi Gras! Go figure.

Thanks to Tammy Roberts, a great friend of the swim team, we secured a booth at this year's Mardi Gras celebration downtown. We decided to sell KABOBS, and Troy did a fantastic job, AGAIN, of getting all kinds of stuff for FREE to help us out. BIG thank you to Albertsons for donating ALL the vegies for our kabobs! Please shop there and tell them how much you appreciate their support for our great team!

The cutting and prep crews spent all day Thursday and all day Friday cutting up, pre-cooking and assembling nearly 300 beef and shrimp kabobs.

Friday night, despite some initial misshaps, the booth got underway. Ron was on grill detail with Coach David, Coach Andersen was in charge of the rice, and Jenny was checkout girl extraordinaire.

There were all kinds of colorful people out there, and we had a great time! Thank you to all that helped out, as usual our swim team is so lucky to have such a great crew of volunteers!

The Loynes family enjoying our wares...Cyrus swims in the Red 2 group with Coach David!

Building a playground...

2007-02-13T08:48:00.000-08:00

The Yuma Heat Swim Team showed up in fine form last Thursday evening for our shift at the Stewart Vincent Wolfe Memorial Playground build! We were on the news and had a GREAT time. Thank you to all who participated!!

We were all given jobs to do, some more gruelling than others, and everyone did their part.

There were hole diggers...

Shari looks like she knows how to handle that pick axe, look out RICK!!

And Tyler and Nancy doing admirable work here on their 3 foot hole.

Post lifters...

Katie, Katie, Malinda and Robin working hard getting this post OUT of the hole.

The seniors did a GREAT job, working together and hefting around a whole LOT of fake wood.

Screw soapers...

...apparently a very important and under appreciated task.

Alexander claimed his hands bled profusely throughout the ordeal.

Fortunately those in charge of applying soap to wood screws

received a refreshing meal afterwards.

And of course, and as always, there are those officially relegated to hamming it up...

Good job everyone! =)