[PacMasterUpdate] The Update 17 May 2009

[Update on Pacific Masters Swimming sent to members and friends.]

PACIFIC MASTERS MISSION STATEMENT:
As adopted by the Pacific Masters Committee the Mission of Pacific Masters is:

Pacific Masters Swimming welcomes anyone who would like to gain and 
maintain fitness through swimming and encourages programs to foster 
this mission.

Lake Del Valle
The Lake Del Valle1.5 mile will be a national championship meet next 
year. This year's meet will be a great time to practice for next year.
	http://www.pacificmasters.org/comp/09triow.pdf

LAKE BERRYESSA
The Lake  Berryessa swim will be held June 6th. This is one of the 
most popular swims in the United States with about 1,000 Masters 
swimmers competing in the fresh water of Lake Berryessa. There is the 
two mile swim and the one mile swim for Masters Swimmers.
	http://www.pacificmasters.org/comp/09damow.pdf

5K and 10K M POSTAL
May 15th was the opening of the 5K and 10K Meters Postal event. If 
you swim the five or ten K swim you can submit your times and be 
entered in the event.

More information can be found at:
	http://www.usms.org/longdist/ldnats09/5k10kpostalentry.pdf

JULIE PAQUE HEATHER RECEIVES RANSOM J. ARTHUR AWARD
The Ransom J. Arthur Award is the most prestigious of the U.S. 
Masters Swimming awards.  It is presented to a person who displays 
great volunteerism and enthusiasm for the sport of swimming and for 
U.S. Masters Swimming as an organization.

Last weekend, at the U.S. Masters Swimming Short Course National 
Championship Rob Copeland, President of U.S. Masters Swimming, 
presented the award. Julie was chairman of Pacific Masters ten years 
ago before she moved to Pasadena to marry Mike Heather. 
Congratulation Julie on getting US Masters Swimming top award!!
	http://www.usms.org/features.php?id=135


PACIFIC MASTERS MEETING THIS WEDNESDAY
This month the Pacific Masters Swimming Committee meeting will be at 
Heather Farms on Wednesday, 20 May at the community center of the 
Heather Farms area. All swimmers are invited to attend, all clubs are 
encouraged to send at least one delegate. The committee will be 
receiving nominations for Coach of the Year (the chair has determined 
that a nomination can be by a club member) and will be deciding on 
delegates to the US Masters Swimming Convention that will be held in 
Chicago in September.

OPEN WATER 101- Moved to Lake Del Valle
Want to learn about open water swimming, but not sure how to start? 
Concerned about cold water, crowded starts, open water culture, 
Pacific Masters is sponsoring Open Water 101 a clinic for new and 
developing open water swimmers. It will cover Breathing and sighting, 
coping with panic, pack swimming, water entry and exit and mental 
Preparation.

There will be dry land talks by Suzanne Heim-Bowen and Suzie Dods as 
well as other local, national and international open water swimmers. 
The location has been moved to Lake Del Valle. There is a limit of 50 
swimmers so register early:
	http://www.pacificmasters.org/comp/09pmsow101.pdf
Tell your triathlete friends they can take the course, but you must 
be a member of US Masters Swimming to attend the class.

SEND US MASTERS SWIMMING A STORY FOR THE USMS ARCHIVES
The USMS History and Archives Committee would like each LMSC to 
identify a few of its key people, who have been a part of USMS for a 
long time. Then someone in the LMSC can interview these valuable 
members about their swimming. Their "Creating a Story" has  several 
questions they 've put together to get you started.
	http://www.usms.org/hist/content/yourstory

BIDDING FOR NATIONAL POOL CHAMPIONSHIPS
You can create an exciting opportunity for your club by bidding to 
host either the 2011 United States Masters Swimming National Short or 
Long Course Championships. The USMS Championship Committee to 
strongly encourage you to work with facilities within your LMSC to 
consider bidding for either of these showcase events. All entries are 
now processed by USMS, which takes away much tedious work from the 
host. The short course meet (25 yards or meters) typically takes 
place mid-May, however, it may be held anytime between April 15th and 
May 31st in accordance with USMS rules. The long course meet 
typically takes place mid-August although its allowable range is 
August 1 - September 15th.

FITNESS NOT FATNESS PREDICTS A LONGER LIFE
Steven Blair of the University of South Carolina did a study of body, 
fitness and longevity in 26,03 men. What he found was that it was 
fitness not fatness that lead to a longer life and swimming was the 
best way of staying fit. The findings were published in the 5 
December 1980 of the Journal of the American Medical Association and 
was summarized by Steven Reinberg at
	http://myhealth.ucsd.edu/healthyliving/fitness/nov08fitness.htm

SWIM ACROSS AMERICA
The San Francisco Swim Across America (SAA) event is scheduled for 
Saturday October 3, 2009 and features a 0.5 mile and 1.5 mile swim 
from the south tower of the Golden Gate Bridge to Crissy Field in the 
Presidio.  Swim Across America is dedicated to raising money and 
awareness for cancer research, prevention and treatment.  To date, 
Swim Across America has raised over $20 million nationally; and last 
year the San Francisco event raised over $200,000 for the UCSF 
Children's Hospital and the Children's Hospital Oakland Research 
Institute.  If you would like more information or if you would like 
to swim, donate or volunteer please visit 
http://www.swimacrossamerica.org/Page.aspx?pid=317 or contact Gary 
Emich at gary at swimacrossamerica.org.  In addition, on Wednesday June 
17th between 6:00 p.m. and 8:00 p.m. the Presidio Sports Basement 
(610 Mason Street, San Francisco) will host a kick-off party with 
free snacks, beverages and 20% off coupons.  Save the date and come 
join the Swim Across America family to learn more about the October 
3rd swim and about how SAA is helping to find a cure for cancer 
through athleticism, community outreach and team bonding.

BIDDING FOR NATIONAL OPEN WATER CHAMPIONSHIPS
The Long Distance Open Water Committee is soliciting bids for postal 
events for 2011 and the Open Water events for 2011. The Postal events 
are the One Hour Postal, the 3,000-6,000 yard postal and the 5,000 
and 10,000 M postal Clubs are encourage to bid for those events.

For the open water events, in 2011 it is the West region's turn to 
host and organize the one mile Open water swim, the 1 Mile cable and 
the 3-6 Mile swim. The national championships would be a great way to 
get swimmers from all over the US to come to your swim.

Next year Lake Del Valle wil be the venue of the 1-3 Mile national 
championship. This year Millerton Lake was the scene of the one mile 
national championship.

UPDATING THE PACIFIC MASTERS MAIL LIST
The Pacific Masters email list has almost 20,000 subscribers on it. 
We are limited to 20,000 subscribers on the list, so it is time to do 
a little pruning. I went back to the 2007, 2008 and the current 
rosters and pulled all the email addresses from those lists. All 
members on those lists will be re-subscribed to the updated list. If 
have not registered with Pacific Masters, but wish to continue 
getting the Update, you can subscribe by going to the Pacific Masters 
web page after 11 May.

COACH OF THE YEAR
The coach of the nominations are due at the May Pacific Masters 
meeting (20 May 2008). This is the time to publicly show your coach 
how much you mean to him. Coaches are underpaid and overworked. They 
do the job for the love of the sport and Pacific Masters honors one 
coach a year as the Coach of the Year.

If you want to nominate your coach I would suggest that you write a 
one page letter telling the committee why s/he should be the coach of 
the year. Read the nomination procedures (at bottom of page), let the 
committee know what the coach has meant to you and your team mates.

After you write your letter and if you have letters from your team 
mates send it to chairman at pacificmasters.org. Unfortunately, there is 
only one person who can be coach of the year. Many times the coach of 
the year has been nominated before. Those who have been nominated 
will be listed at the long course championships  (where the coach of 
the year  presentation is made). Also since Pacific has such a 
plethora of great coaches, we have not yet awarded the Coach of  the 
Year to the same person twice.

REGINA BRITTINGHAM
Regina Brittingham had great swims at Nationals and deeply 
appreciated the support she received. In the next few weeks she will 
be pursuing treatment at Stanford for the melanoma that they have 
discovered. Please continue with e-mails as these have been very 
motivating and inspiring. Rbswimrun at sbcglobal.net
Regina is a member of Walnut Creek Masters and has been a member of 
Masters clubs in the Chico area.


BY THE NUMBERS
Number of People registered with Pacific Masters:  8,643; SPMA 3,610

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in the subject line.  i try to keep track of everyone who wants to 
get off the email list -they go on a separate list, so that when we 
add to next year, we try to keep people who want to be off the list 
off the list. Sending emails to other than pacmasterupdate will not 
keep our want to keep of the list list current.

TO REPLY OR COMMENT Or Remove
To reply or comment about anything in this email, please write to
mailto:update06 at pacificmasters.org
DO NOT use the above address to remove your address

If you hit the reply key on your computer, your email may or may not
be seen in a timely manner. Use only the update06 address please.

If you are wishing to get off the list, mail to
mailto:pacmasterupdate at six.pairlist.net, then put
Remove
in the subject line.

michael


Coach of the Year
1.The purpose of this award is to recognize the Pacific Masters 
Swimming coach who has demonstrated outstanding coaching qualities. 
2.The award criteria are as follows:
   a.The coach and Club held current PMS registration during the year 
under consideration.
   b.The criteria for the award will be considered first, since 
January 1 of the preceding year, and second, over the coach's career 
with his or her club.  Outstanding contributions to his or her club 
and its individuals are measured by the following competitive and 
non-competitive factors:
      i.Competitive factors shall include club and individual 
performance at PMS and USMS Championships in any sanctioned course, 
as well as relay and individual PMS, USMS and World records that 
reflect the coach's skill and inspiration.
       ii.Non-competitive factors shall include club vigor, size and 
growth, club participation and volunteering, and club having hosted 
well-run events.
       iii.Outstanding service to PMS, USMS and to other public or 
private community organizations.
       iv.Outstanding professional contributions, such as 
participation in clinics and published works.
3. Nominations and Selection
   a.There shall normally be one award given.
   b.  A nomination announcement shall be published in the appropriate 
PMS Newsletter.  Nominations may be made by any registered PMS club 
officer in the form of a written statement addressing both the 
criteria above and the instructional and inspirational qualities of 
the coach.  The nominating letter and a maximum of four supporting 
letters from registered PMS swimmers shall be submitted to the 
Chairman at or before the May meeting of PMS.
-- 
michael w. moore
michael at pacificmasters.org