998 Days to go…Olympics in England

Our plans

• Olympic Park
• Transport
• Sustainability
• Ceremonies
• Technology
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Featured:

Construction on the Olympic Park site started ahead of schedule.
Building work is now under way on all of the ‘big five’ venues: the Olympic Stadium, Aquatics Centre, Velodrome, Olympic Village and IBC/MPC.

The ‘big build’

Find out about the work under way  to build the venues in the Olympic Park.

Webcams

View the latest images of the Olympic Park site with our webcams.

Sustainability

Sustainability has been built into every aspect of London 2012’s plans – from recycling construction materials to inspiring a healthy lifestyle.
Read about plans to ensure that London will be the most sustainable Games to date.

Stratford Regional Station

A £100m upgrade is trebling the capacity of Stratford Regional Station.
The improvements will allow thousands of spectators to pass through the station during the Games and help the station cater for increased passenger demand in the future.

Legacy

All the venues and plans have been designed with long-term use in mind. Find out about the plans for after the Games.

Masters Swimming News

Here is a good informational clip that was sent to me by GROWINGBOULDER….thought you might enjoy it

go to:

http://growingbolder.com/media/sports/water-sports/rowdy-gaines-masters-classic-479441.html

Plainview High School Swim Team……

Plainview High School Swim Team….One the the nations best high school swim programs if it’s time, led by Coach Charlie Schlegal. Back in the 1970’s and 80’s this was the premier swim teams of high school swimming. I was fortunate to have all five of my children to be on this team and to be coached by such a great swim coach. I was also fortunate to work under Coach Schlegal as his JV Coach. Recently thanks to facebook, I was in contact with some of my old swimmers and it brought back some very fond memories….So, if any Plainview High swimmers are reading my blog….I would love to hear from you with some old stories about Charlie….Thanks Coach Pete

Good Diary for Triathlete’s

The Triathlete’s Training Diary

Endurance athletes of all ages and ability levels invest countless hours in tough rides and workouts so they can race farther and faster from year to year. Whether they work with a coach or train independently, triathletes rely on their training log to tell them when to push harder and when to back off. With all of the recent technological advancements in training, it is more important than ever to have a place to consolidate training data, track progress, reshape goals throughout the season, and, perhaps most importantly, listen to the way the body responds from day to day.

Designed with collaboration from triathletes and coaches, this next generation of training diary will make it easier than ever to record and interpret every component of multisport training. Coach Joe Friel gives athletes a thorough introduction to the essential details of training and keeping a log. For athletes who are designing their own annual training schedule, he provides a guide to planning the entire season.

With 53 undated weekly spreads, these diaries are the most comprehensive training logs available with space for:
– every training detail, from weather conditions to resting heart rate and daily nutrition charts to organize race results and fitness indicators
– physiological test results such as VO2max and lactate threshold
– two-a-day workouts and weekly summary data specific to triathlon
The Triathlete’s Training Diary takes training seriously. Athletes can be confident that they will be better prepared for competition and have insight to the progress made along the way.

Italian National Team and World Class Swimmer Renata Spagnolo training in Davie Florida.

 

Italian Champion Renata Spagnolo just moved from Italy to Davie Florida to train with the Davie Nadadores Swim Team. After an amazing year of swimming Renata became the second fastest Italian swimmer in 200 freestyle only behind the world record holder Federica Pelligrini. Renata is training for the Italian nationals in November , qualifier to the World short course championships in Dubai. We are happy and proud to have Renata with us and to continue her swimming career in Davie!. I just love her last name…!!! Coach Pete

FINA Second-Guesses Men’s Suit Restrictions

Another interesting article…the debate goes on and on and on!….Coach Pete

By Amy Shipley

The world governing body of swimming (FINA), led by executive director Cornel Marculescu, might make further changes to its swimsuit rules in January.

Just weeks after adopting new rules designed to end the controversy over high-tech, full-body suits, the world swimming governing body (FINA) is having second thoughts and considering tinkering with its swimwear regulations as early as January, several U.S and international officials said.

Since FINA decided in late July to allow only waist-to-knee textile suits for men and neck-to-knee textile suits for women, the governing body has been under pressure to make men’s and women’s swimsuits equal in size, the officials said.

“There’s an enormous amount of pressure on the FINA Bureau [the 22-member executive leadership] now to have the body coverage be the same for men as for women,” USA Swimming Executive Director Chuck Wielgus said. “We are very concerned that FINA might not stick with what was approved in Rome by the FINA Congress.”

USA Swimming had put forth the proposed rule changes that were adopted by a nearly unanimous vote of the congress — FINA’s more than 200 member nations — before this summer’s world championships in Rome, but the national governing bodies for Great Britain and Australia kicked off a re-thinking of the ban just days after the vote, officials said.

Both sent letters to the governing body proposing equal body coverage for men and women.

British Swimming Chief Executive David Sparkes said in an e-mail that the British governing body would take no action beyond the letter it sent, but added, “no doubt this matter will be given further consideration…”

Said Swimming Australia spokesman Lachlan Searle: “Swimming Australia had raised with FINA in Rome the possibility of equality for male and female in neck to knee coverage in relation to the proposed new swim suit ruling. However, at this stage we have had no advice from FINA that it has any intention of changing its proposed rule….”

Indeed, a spokesperson for FINA said no such proposal was yet on the agenda of the next FINA Bureau meeting, tentatively scheduled for Jan. 15-16 in Bangkok, Thailand. But the proposal would be added to the agenda if put forward by a FINA committee, and FINA’s technical committee plans to consider it in November, according to Carol Zaleski, the chair of the committee.

Zaleski said FINA Executive Director Cornel Marculescu instructed her in an email to add the suit issue to the technical committee’s agenda.

“I truly don’t understand where Australia and Great Britain are coming from on this,” Zaleski said by phone Tuesday. “Why anyone is having second thoughts afterward I don’t quite get. For me, it’s common sense: men’s and women’s suits have always been different for obvious reasons.”

Zaleski said she did not know where the other 14 members of the technical committee stood on the issue.

She and other officials speculated that the coverage issue was less about equality of the sexes than sponsorship concerns — and the legal ones that tend to arise when sponsors feel threatened.

Sponsor logos are readily visible on suits that extend over the chest, but they can’t be seen well – particularly when swimmers are still in the water – on the men’s waist-to-knee “jammers.”

USA Swimming officials say the rules enacted this summer were designed to minimize the impact of suits and put the focus on the swimmer. That, they said, should be sport officials’s highest priority.

Speedo’s Craig Brommers, senior vice president of marketing, said in a statement that although Speedo did not agree with the drastic change in suit profile, the company would comply with the new rules.  Brommer did not comment on the proposal to equalize men’s and women’s suits.

“Despite the decision to return to jammers for men and open back knee-skin suits for women,” Brommers said, “Speedo will continue to work with the world’s leading athletes, coaches and experts to develop the most innovative swimwear and equipment.”

Australian Coach Alan Thompson was among a handful of coaches that met before the FINA Congress to hammer out the details of USA Swimming’s proposed ban. At the time, Zaleski said, everyone was on board with the changes.

“I’m not sure what it’s about, to be honest,” Zaleski said. “Why the change in position relatively overnight?”

Searle and Sparkes offered only brief statements with no elaboration on their proposals.

Since FINA adopted the current ban, the National Collegiate Athletic Association and National Federation of State High School Associations put similar bans in place. USA Swimming, meantime, planned to formally adopt the ban at its annual meeting in two weeks, setting an immediate implementation date.

But, Wielgus said, members and officials were concerned about what might take place at the international level.

During this summer’s FINA Congress, the membership voted to put control of the suit issue in the hands of the FINA Bureau so that as technology changed, the organization would be in position to react quickly.

The intention of that change, Zaleski said, was not to have the bureau undo various aspects of the ban six months later.

“We’re actually kind of anxious about that,” Wielgus said. “What we’re saying to [FINA] is the membership was very clear. We certainly hope they are still with that.”

Motivation…..

Motivation, has always been one of my best attributes as a coach. Motivation is what makes good athletes, Great athletes….Motivation is what keeps us going when the going gets tough….If you come to a workout without being motivated, you will not get all that you can get out of the workout. The US Army has a great slogan…”BE ALL THAT YOU CAN BE”…this can only be accomplished with Motivation. We do not strive to be mediocre….we strive to be the best we can be…don’t we?…..so get MOTIVATED TODAY!

This weekend I was motivated to get my camera out and shoot some photos of sunflowers….near the end of August sunflowers are all over, fields here in Loveland, Colorado

 

Dara Torres Scheduled For Hernia Surgery, Knee Surgeries Slated for Future

 

CORAL SPRINGS, Florida, August 26. DARA Torres will go under the knife this weekend as she has surgery to correct a hernia this Friday, according to the South Florida Sun-Sentinel.
Originally, Torres knew she would need work on her knee as evidenced by several remarks regarding the injury during the 2009 World Championships held in Rome. Those surgeries are slated for September and October.
As recent as last week, Torres has been on the record as potentially shooting for the 2012 London Olympics. Currently 42 years old, Torres would continue to prove that she is ageless when it comes to the sport of swimming as she would be pushing the mid-40s by the time London comes around.

National Federation of State High School Athletic Associations…takes a stand on High-Tech Suits

High-tech Swimsuits Banned in High School Swimming

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Becky Oakes

INDIANAPOLIS, IN (August 11, 2009) – High-tech swimsuits that have been linked to record performances at all levels of competition the past couple of years have been banned for high school competition, effective immediately.

The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) Swimming and Diving Rules Committee approved changes to Rule 3-2-2 that will make the high-tech swimsuit no longer a legal suit for swimmers at the high school level. The committee’s recommendations were subsequently approved by the NFHS Board of Directors.

Effective immediately, swimmers shall be limited to one swimsuit, which shall be constructed of a woven/knit textile material, permeable to water and air, constructed so as not to aid in buoyancy, and shall not contain zippers or other fastening systems. In addition, the suit shall be constructed so that the style/shape for males shall not extend above the waist or below the top of the kneecap and for females shall not extend beyond the shoulders or below the top of the kneecap, and it shall not cover the neck.

“These high-tech suits had fundamentally altered the sport and become more similar to equipment, rather than a uniform,” said Becky Oakes, NFHS assistant director and liaison to the Swimming and Diving Rules Committee. “The rules of swimming have always prohibited the use or wearing of items that would aid in the swimmer’s speed and/or buoyancy. The technical suits and styles had evolved to a point where there was little, if any, compliance with these basic rules,” Oakes said.

The committee discussed the high-tech swimsuit issue at its meeting in March, but did not have enough factual information to take action at that time.

“With new developments in the swimming community, the committee knew that in order to preserve the integrity, tradition and heritage of the sport, as well as protect and enhance the interscholastic swimming program, these new requirements were necessary to promote fair play and the educational values of high school and could not wait for another year,” Oakes said. “The immediate implementation date, including style, will help guarantee fairness in competition throughout the high school swimming seasons and allow meet officials to fairly and consistently enforce the rule.”

The following link to the NFHS Web site contains complete information on the new swimsuit requirements, as well as the penalties for violation of the uniform rule http://www.nfhs.org/core/contentmanager/uploads/Swimming%20&%20Diving%20Rule%20Change%203-3-2.pdf .

Swimming/diving ranks eighth in popularity for girls with 147,197 participants in 6,766 schools, according to the NFHS 2007-08 High School Athletics Participation Survey. The sport ranks 10^th among boys sports with 111,896 participants in 6,428 schools.

Colorado Swim Star Missy Franklin Top Swimmer of the Junior National Championships

 Colorado Stars Missy Franklin was outstanding this past week at the Junior National Championships….Missy won the 200 IM in 2:12.73 crushing the meet record of 2:14.95…Missy went on to also win the 50 free in 25.23 and the 100 free in 54.03 (meet record) and the 200 back in 2:09.16 another meet record. The Colorado Stars Swim Team set a new meet record winning the 400 free relay in 3:48.52