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NE-LMSC Coach Scholarship Winners present: Flip Turn Clinic

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Join NE-LMSC Coaches Todd Whitford and Crystie McGrail for a flip turn clinic on Sunday, February 12th in Dover, NH.  

The clinic will be broken into two sections- Novice Flip Turns for those who don't consistently use flip turns in workouts and Advanced Flip Turns for those who are looking for feedback and a tune up for their flip turns. The Advanced section will also review and practice the backstroke to breaststroke cross-over flip turn.  

Registration is required for this event as spots are limited. Cost is the $7 pool drop in fee.  

Check-In for the clinic will begin at 8:30 AM and we will be in the water from 9:00 AM to 10:00 AM.  Immediately following the clinic participants are invited to join a one hour workout with Great Bay Masters Swimming Club from 10:00 AM to 11:00 AM. 

If you don't get a spot in this clinic - don't worry - we will run it again on March 5th.  

This clinic is brought to you as part of the NE-LMSC scholarship initiative to support New England coaches attending the USMS National Coaches Clinic this past fall.

Questions: necoaches@usms.org 

NE-LMSC wins USMS Early Renewal Contest & Stroke Development Clinic!!

CONGRATULATIONS and THANK YOU for helping us win the USMS LMSC Renewal Contest. Our 57% early renewal percentage between Nov 1 and Dec 31, 2016 was the highest among all Tier 1 LMSCs nationwide (1500+ members). Our reward is an additional USMS Stroke Development Clinic in New England in 2017. Kudos to the MIDDLEBURY MUFFINTOPS for early renewal of 84.8% of its members -- 4th nationwide among USMS-registered teams (clubs & workout groups) with 30-74 members.

- Douglas Sayles, NE-LMSC Chair

NE-LMSC Annual Meeting Summary

Contributed by Douglas Sayles, NE-LMSC Chair

This fall I had the honor of presiding over the NELMSC Annual Meeting in Waltham, MA. I’ve touched upon some highlights below. Full minutes will be posted on the NELMSC website.

Meeting attendees included 13 of the 15 NELMSC officers, three club reps to the board, our SCM and SCY championship meet directors, and other NELMSC members interested in governance issues. On October 16th, the NELMSC had $48,660 in total assets, over 2,500 USMS members, 23 USMS-registered clubs, 54 USMS-registered New England Masters Swim Club workouts groups and two registered Lifetime Swim New England workout groups.

During 2016, there were 16 SCY, 5 SCM and 2 LCM meets in the NELMSC. Our short-course championships continue to be two of the largest Masters meets in the country, attracting hundreds of swimmers each year. If you have not already done so, mark your calendars and book your hotel rooms for our NELMSC SCY Championships at Harvard on March 11 (distance day) and 17-19, 2017.

Despite our championship meets’ popularity and the many other meets held across New England each year, most of our mini meets are quite small (10 to 70 swimmers) and our aggregate meet attendance is slowly decreasing. Collectively we can easily reverse this trend by rallying our swim mates and entering one or two mini meets this season. These events need our support if we want them to continue.

In both USMS sanctioned meets and recognized meets, times swum by USMS members are usually official for USMS purposes. The main differences are that sanctioning provides insurance liability coverage for the swimmers, volunteers and event host and requires all of the swimmers to be USMS members.

During 2015 there were 10 sanctioned and 20 recognized meets in the NELMSC, accounting for 25 percent of all recognized meets nationwide, substantially more recognized meets than in any other LMSC and proportionally far fewer sanctioned meets than most large LMSCs.

At the USMS convention this past September, the House of Delegates voted to impose a new $100 fee on each recognized meet in 2017. This fee will be charged to the local LMSC. The primary rationale was that recognized meets were benefiting from USMS and LMSC meet promotion, creating more work for volunteer Top Ten recorders and otherwise receiving USMS benefits for free.

Consequently, at the NELMSC meeting we adjusted our subsidies and policies to incentivize sanctioning over recognition. At the same time, we want to avoid alienating meet directors who prefer recognition because if they walk away from USMS altogether USMS members’ times from those meets will not be recorded in the USMS database.

A meet host can now apply to the NELMSC for a sanction at no cost (we fully subsidize the $50 USMS fee) or else pay $50 for meet recognition (we partially subsidize the USMS $100 fee). We now also allow sanctioned meet hosts the option to offer non-USMS members a $15 one-event USMS membership, which can be applied toward a full USMS membership within 30 days of the meet. We had previously only allowed one-event memberships for open water events.

During our meeting we also reviewed several successful NELMSC-subsidized coaching initiatives from the past year, including swimmer clinics, coaching clinics and certification courses, Adult Learn to Swim instructor certification, and National Coaches Clinic scholarships. We have budgeted for similar initiatives in 2017. On a similar note, at convention we learned that USMS officials training will soon include an online certification option.

During the NELMSC meeting, we formally voted Alana Aubin onto the board as the new NELMSC communications chair. She took over this position several months ago from Christina Dwiggins, who I want to publicly thank for her contributions and able stewardship of the monthly NELMSC e-newsletter. This is a natural transition for Alana, who deserves credit for recent website improvements and for launching the NELMSC Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. In September, she and NELMSC Registrar Tim Lecrone also ran a very well-received social media workshop at the USMS convention.

Other topics covered during our meeting included bestowal of the NELMSC Coach and Contributor of the Year Awards (congrats to WAM’s Alford Green), the forthcoming introduction of a new NELMSC awards process, ideas for raising awareness and Masters Swimming opportunities for para athletes, promoting open water swimming, and other steps the NELMSC can potentially take to increase USMS member value in New England and at the national level.

In an effort to offset the $2 increase in 2017 USMS membership dues and reduce our NELMSC cash balance, we voted to reduce the NELMSC annual membership fee from $7 to $5 and approved a deficit budget for 2017. If we incur all $32,400 in budgeted expenses (which is unlikely) and realize $13,000 in forecast revenue, our cash balance will decrease by $19,400 in 2017 while still leaving a healthy reserve.

At the national level in September, the USMS board of directors and new CEO Dawson Hughes presented an updated strategic plan and infographic. Key 2017 initiatives included the aforementioned recognition fee to promote meet sanctions, allocating resources toward developing a new fitness swimmer program, upgrading the USMS website including enhancing Places to Swim and developing an open-water event results database, supporting college clubs to attract younger Masters swimmers after graduation, ongoing training of USMS coaches and Adult Learn to Swim instructors, and expanding swimmer clinics nationwide.

On behalf of the NELMSC board of directors, thank you to all of the swimmers, coaches, officials, organizers and volunteers who contribute to the vibrant Masters Swimming community that enriches all of our lives.

And if you haven’t done so already, don’t forget to renew your USMS membership before December 31st to receive special merchandise discounts from Speedo, TYR, FINIS, SwimOutlet and other USMS partners.

Happy Holidays and New Year!

Douglas Sayles

Chair, New England LMSC

Swimming for a Cause - Speedo Diplomacy

Contributed by Crystie McGrail, NE-LMSC Coaches Chair

I had the pleasure of attending the 2016 USMS National Coaches Clinic in San Francisco in November. One of the first presenters was Open Water Swimming legend Steve Munatones. Steve presented about the very interesting past, present, and future of open water swimming and one specific topic drew me in: “Speedo Diplomacy.”

What is Speedo Diplomacy?

“Speedo diplomacy is a politically-sensitive swim or actions based on an unprecedented open water swim that results in positive action by governments or leaders around the world, especially those with fundamentally different perspectives and viewpoints.” (http://openwaterpedia.com)

A Historical Example

Lynne Cox swims across the Bering Strait in 1987 (from her website)

One Speedo Diplomacy swim you might be familiar with is when Lynne Cox tackled a pioneering cold water swim in 1987 across the Bering Strait. Her goal was to open US-Soviet border for the first time in 48 years by swimming from Alaska to the Soviet Union. Lynne succeeded by completing the 2.7 mile swim in just over 2 hours, though 37 degree water. Read more from BBC 

Current Feats

A map of Pugh's five swims for Antarctica (from his website)

A map of Pugh's five swims for Antarctica (from his website)

More recently, in October 2016, Lewis Pugh successfully pushed through the creation of the largest Marine Protection Area in history, located in the Ross Sea of Antarctica. He accomplished this through 5 unprecedented solo swims and tireless lobbying. In addition to setting a new precedent for conservation, this is remarkable because, in his own words, “Russia, the US, the EU and the 22 other CCAMLR nations shook hands in a time of strained political relations”.

The Longest Swim

Ben Lecomte plans to swim across the Pacific Ocean next year (photo from NPR)

Another epic event is coming in spring 2017 when Ben Lecomte tackles swimming from Tokyo to San Francisco, a whopping 5,500 miles! This expedition is expected to take 6 months while swimming 8 hours each day and includes traversing the Great Pacific Garbage Patch. Along the way, Ben and the crew will be collecting oceanic and medical research data in 8 different fields through the support of 12 scientific institutions including Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute and NASA. “From plastic pollution to space exploration, this adventure will be a unique opportunity to collect data and learn more about the oceans and human body in extreme conditions.”  

There are many more examples - including local examples - of swimming to encourage positive actions for the environment and human health.  Maybe you even have an idea of your own swimming feat to promote the conservation of this one wild and wonderful world in which we live! 

Don't Forget to Thank Your Officials!

Contributed by Sue Jensen, NE-LMSC Officials Chair

Thank you WPI meet officials !

A huge shoutout and thank you to our amazing team of meet officials at this past weekend’s NE-LMSC & Colonies Zone SCM Championship at WPI: Priscilla Davis, Bob Fredette, Kevin Curley, Sue Hoey and Jack Kurkel. They were the ones with the white shirts, the whistles, the clipboards, and even the cowbells. Together with meet director Alford Green and their combined decades of experience running swim meets, they kept our meet running smoothly, fairly, and efficiently, and in an incredibly professional way too.  

On behalf of the entire NE-LMSC and Colonies Zone, an enormous thank you Priscilla, Bob, Kevin, Sue and Jack. We are grateful for the 25+ hours you spent on deck during this 3-day meet, and for your enthusiastic support of masters swimming. We couldn’t run our meets without you.

Douglas Sayles and Alford Green Recognized as NE-LMSC Contributor and Coach of the Year

Contributed by Tara Mack, NE-LMSC Awards and Recognition Chair

WALTHAM, MA - Douglas Sayles and Alford Green were recognized for their exceptional contributions to the New England LMSC at this year's LMSC Annual Meeting, held on October 16. Sayles was honored as the NE-LMSC Contributor of the Year, and Green was celebrated as the NE-LMSC Coach of the Year.

Sayles currently serves as the chair of the New England LMSC. He was elected in 2015 after previously serving as the vice chair, registrar, and interim open water chair. Doug is actively engaged at the local, regional and national levels. He is an organizer and coach of the 175-member SwimRI team, helps coordinate and promote events, attends the annual USMS Convention and biennial USMS Leadership Workshop, and regularly communicates with the USMS national office regarding various governance and administrative issues.

Green was the founding coach of Worcester Area Masters (WAM) in May 2011. Since that time he has welcomed swimmers of all levels to the pool, working tirelessly to building a thriving team and closeknit community that has reached 75 members. Additionally, Alford took over as meet director for the December NE-LMSC and Colonies Zone SCM Championships last year, hosting the event at Worcester Polytechnic Institute for the first time. This year's meet will be December 9-11, again at WPI, in Worcester, MA.

Inspired to tap into our New England pioneering spirit, the awards were custom designed and made to honor the recipients in a unique and original way while also showcasing and celebrating the appreciation from the recipients' teammates. More about the artist, TylerAnn Mack, can be found at the end of this article.

Below are some kind words from NE-LMSC members regarding this year's very deserving award winners. Thank you, Doug and Alford, for your dedication and service to USMS and its members in the New England LMSC. We are honored to have you and to recognize you!


Contributor of the Year - Douglas Sayles

Tara Mack, Awards and Recognitions Chair, presents the Contributor of the Year Award to Douglas Sayles

"Douglas has significantly impacted swimming in RI by organizing and promoting swim events in the greater Providence, South County, and Newport County areas and consistently communicating and recruiting. His efforts are not limited to pool swims, but open water events as well. Plus, his hair is always perfect." - George Alexandre
"Organizes and recruits new members for Newport Athletic Club and SwimRI. Serves as Chair of the LMSC and participates at the national level. Heck of a nice guy!" - Trent Theroux

Coach of the Year - Alford Green

Tara Mack, Awards and Recognitions Chair, presents the Coach of the Year Award to Alford Green

"Through Alford’s leadership as coach, WAM has seen continuous growth in the past five years and has attracted a broad range of masters swimmer profiles: from serious triathletes, to recent college graduates, to recreational swimmers, and to those joining a swim team for the very first time – Alford has made WAM accessible to every swimmer and every set of goals. The inclusive culture Alford promotes resonates amongst all members, creating more than just a workout group but a community we affectionately refer to as our "WAM-ily" (or WAM Family)."  - Courtney Beidler
"It had been many years since I'd swum competitively when I joined the team. Alford has shown me as much time and attention, sometimes more, as many of the better swimmers. He is patient and kind and has a great teaching style. I can't believe how much I've improved in the short time I've been on the team, and I attribute that to Alford's coaching. A number of other swimmers, several who have never been on a team before or even completed more than a lap or two, have joined the team this year and made great strides, too. I was a little wary of getting back into the pool, but Alford's patient style has made practicing with the group easy." - Nancy Olesin

About the Artist - TylerAnn Mack

TylerAnn Mack has been painting for over 6 years and has been working with other mediums for over 16 years.  A New Hampshire native and former swimmer herself, she channeled the flow of water and the freedom of being in water while creating these one of a kind works of art.  A graduate of the New Hampshire Institute of Art, TylerAnn currently lives in Massachusetts on the Cape where she will be able to find inspiration from her proximity to "our" beloved water.

Her artwork can be viewed and purchased by visiting:  www.tylerannmackart.com