General Comment from all Meets 2004

Lisa Conroy

Description

stTri Series Tour – Masterton/Taupo/Wanganui 25-31 January The Tri Series Tour is a unique event for the Youth and Age Programme, and we wanted a trophy that would symbolise all of what this tour and our programme are about. The eyes in the main face are the eyes and face of Trevor Nicholls who is constantly watching his Youth and Age Group swimmers progress, while mentoring them on their journey. The overall sense of presence and strength is evident in the main face. This is indicative of the “Mana” and respect that Trevor has within swimming in New Zealand. The Style or shape of the carving is from the Horowhenua-Manawatu-Palmerston North region. This is significant in that this is the area where the birth of the concept of the Tri Series began with Trevor. The name of the trophy is Ta Tama meaning “Young Generation”. There are 2 surface patterns, Una-unahi – meaning fish scale and Puhuro – meaning shaded area. The three faces represent the palisade post with Tamaki Makaurau-Manawatu-Ngati Raukawa. The palisade post or the poutokomanawa is a representation of the challenge. Every Marae has its own palisade post where the challenging off other tribes. Tamaki Makaurau goes from up above Auckland down to Taranaki and towards Manawatu. Manawatu covers this area down to Wellington. Ngati Raukawa goes right down to the bottom of South Island. The three faces also represent the three teams with the victorious one on top. The trophy is made out ...

Informations

• Publié par: Orku
• Nombre de lectures: 117
• Langue: English

Extrait

st Tri Series Tour–25-31 JanuaryMasterton/Tau o/Wanganui

The Tri Series Tour is a unique event for the Youth and Age Programme, and we wanted a trophy that would symbolise all of what this tour and our programme are about.The eyes in the main face are the eyes and face of Trevor Nicholls who is constantly watching his Youth and Age Group swimmers progress, while mentoring them on their journey. The overall sense of presence and strength is evident in the main face. This is indicative of the “Mana” andrespect that Trevor has within swimming in New Zealand. The Style or shape of the carving is from the Horowhenua-Manawatu-Palmerston North region. This is significant in that this is the area where the birth of the concept of the Tri Series began with Trevor.The name of the trophy is Ta Tama meaning “Young Generation”. There are 2 surface patterns, Una-unahi–meaning fish scale and Puhuro–meaning shaded area. The three faces represent the palisade post with Tamaki Makaurau-Manawatu-Ngati Raukawa. The palisade post or the poutokomanawa is a representation of the challenge. Every Marae has its own palisade post where the challenging off other tribes. Tamaki Makaurau goes from up above Auckland down to Taranaki and towards Manawatu. Manawatu covers this area down to Wellington. Ngati Raukawa goes right down to the bottom of South Island. The three faces also represent the three teams with the victorious one on top.The trophy is made out of a slab of kauri very kindly donated by the Kauri Museum. It is 4,000 years old and has been out of the ground, drying, for 30 years. The board that the carving is placed on is rimu. Thank you to both the Kauri Museum and the Carver of this trophy - Henare Hughes

Red Indians/Concords/Smurfs and Management

After much anticipation the Tri Series Tour hit the road at the end of January with 59 swimmers and 21 staff in tow, and what a week it was!We gathered at the IPC in Palmerston North for lunch and team selections, then our two 50 seater buses went en-route to the big smoke that is Masterton!Everyone was hungry for some competition rivalry and yet still united as one team on all levels.Swimming Wairarapa laid it on for us right from the start, with a relaxed and buzzy atmosphere, beginning tTeam photos were taken at St Matthew’s College where the group stayed,he tour on a high note. and we had the opportunity to also hold a Drug education seminar there for the swimmers, while all coaches in the Wairarapa region were invited to lunch and participate in a coaching seminar.After two days there, we headed for Taupo; however Trevor had a surprise for us along the way, which was to be the Grand Battle in Waipukarau.He had worked behind the scenes with the local community to set up a battle in the river under the railway bridge between all 3 teams. We were given supplies to construct a raft, and make a flag to go on the raft (with team name, SNZ logo and a slogan), dye eggs in team colours, and make ammunition in the form of flour bombs in team colours (some creative members added their own natural ingredients...).Each team had to have one person on the raft at all times, and the winning team has all team members at the finish line NO MATTER WHAT STATE!Was a great sight for those watching, out came the wild animal within and carnage ensued with bombs flying everywhere and bodies pushed to the max to earn the prestigious winning title. OtagoCoach Leanne Thompson was battered from all sides, taking a mighty stinky flour bomb to the face for the team, and the courageous Smurfs became the winning team!!

Everyone was buzzing after that and the local paper had seen nothing like it before.....ending with an amazing lunch including a hogget on the spit put on for us by the local swimming club and community.Onto Taupo and we arrived at the Silver Fern Lodge, then straight onto training at AC Baths where the second leg of the tour got underway.Swimming BOP came to the party with us and put on a fine meet, with fantastic facilities.We had our meals at the Taupo Golf Club next to the pool and was the highlight of the day, seeing what Daryl our amazing chef was going to bring out for us next (the roasted rolled chicken was big fav)! After two great days of swimming and activities in Taupo, we got back on the bus for our next trip to Wanganui.However there was another surprise in the waiting....we had been given a free bungy jump voucher for the leading coach after Meet 4, which just happened to be local coach Peter McCallum!So unbeknown to him and all management our buses pulled over at Taupo bungy and the announcement was made–all eyes were on Pete’s face as the penny dropped aghhhhhhhhhh!But being the sport that he is, he took it in his stride and took the plunge in front of us all–we insisted he was dunked up to his waist (all the better for the DVD later...).So with everyone on a high after that, Taupo Bungy had another bonus waiting and said they would give us a vertical bungy jump for two more people together. Trevordecided that it was only fair that some females got in on the action; therefore Coaches Anna Kitching (Masterton) and Leanne Thompson (Waves) were next left hanging by a bungy.They were a tad more vocal.........but again everyone really enjoyed seeing staff out of their comfort zone and doing something extreme for the benefit of the group! Wewere very proud of all 3 of them, and they got given a great DVD and photo album memento of the occasion.

Pete taking the plunge!!!! Back on the buses and off to Wanganui we went, staying at Wanganui Girls College.We had to eat and run to keep up with our schedule as we headed to the Splash centre for our first training session.The swimmers enjoyed the swim after being on the bus for a while on a hot day, and kept the pace up.The tension was starting to build as the last two meets were getting closer and closer, team meetings became more serious and coaches’ coffees were more frequent.

All looking very serious– “in pursuit of the dream”...the pressure is building...

After each meet we awarded the top male/female swimmer of each team with a Jay Jays voucher, certificate and swimming slate–so this created more competition amongst them.By the time we got to the last meet, it was anyone’s game –the points gap was getting closer and in the end came down to the relays and 2 points!The final relays were so exciting to watch, but in the end the Red Indians were the strongest combination and took out the Tri Series Tour trophy. The call of the Red Indians–yes they won!!!

The triumphant Indians after finding out THEY ruled the points

game........ The Red Indians were ecstatic and congratulated all team members, not before all teams lined up and shook each other’s hand which was all of their own doing and one of those poignant moments of the tour.With the final meet finishing in the morning, it was back for lunch then some well deserved R & R.Beginning with a surprise for management–a go kart race between me, Libby Peckham, Melana Bradley and Clive (aka The Godfather Wheeler) which brought out the competitive edge and tyres were burning to the max but Libby was victorious! We then headed off to Castle cliff beach to ride some waves, quick change and off to see Sherlock Holmes at Embassy 3 followed by our final awards dinner at Liffiton Castle. Here we presented the tour trophy to the Red Indians, and Melana explained the meaning behind the carving (see below for picture and story).Our top male/female FINA point swimmers (Matthew Hutchins/Sophia Batchelor) were awarded a $100 voucher from Jay Jays and pair of trainers.Trevor thanked everyone involved, and Peter McCallum said a few words on behalf of us all to Trevor for his leadership and input on the tour/programme.All teams worked incredibly hard along the way, dealing with all ages and swimming levels and pushing swimmers out of their comfort zones to try things they may not have done before.Huge credit to the swimmers/coaches/managers and staff for being open to change, and taking on the vision of the team/programme to strive for the results they wanted.There you have it–2010 Tri Series Tour over and out, and everyone is pumped and ready to take on NAGS and Opens, with the aim of seeing team selections in the near future! SNZthanks everyone that was involved in one way or another and to all parents for supporting this initiative. For all results, team newsletters and messages check out our webpage here http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz/competition/competition-calendar/2010/2010-new-zealand-tri-series-tour A big Thank you to all our tour and programme Sponsors: We were very fortunate to have some amazing sponsors come on board, who assisted us with prizes/items for this tour and programme. SNZare very grateful to the following people for their contributions which put a smile on many faces!

Trust House approved our funding application and kindly donated $4000 towards costs in the Masterton region.This meant we were able to keep costs down for those attending and showed our support to them by involving the community as much as possible.We had some children volunteer their time from the Oasis Holiday programme including local swimmers, who made banners of support for the 3 teams and cheered away on poolside.The local mayor attended and we even had the National Anthem sung by a local vocalist. Lifetime members and VIPS enjoyed seeing the competition unfold before their eyes.The Wairarapa community worked very hard to ensure their part of the tour went successfully, and it had a great feel about it.We now look forward to hosting the Trans Tasman International series there in July 2010!Thank you Craig Thomson and the team at Trust House, and all of the Wairarapa community for supporting our programme. www.trusthouse.co.nz

The Warehouse came through for us and kindly provided our Youth and Age Programme with a Wii Console and Sports resort package.–yah!! Wewere able to take this on tour where everyone had access to it in the team room, which was fantastic. We will continue to use this package at camps and future Youth and Age events, so will be well utilised.A huge thank you to Stephen Tindall, Stu Yorston and Amber Disley who together made this possible for us!Next time you’re making a purchase please keep The Warehouse in mind as they have an amazing collection of items to choose from. www.thewarehouse.co.nz

Taupo Bungy exceeded all our expectations, not only by supplying us with a free bungy jump for our leading Head coach, but surprising us with the bonus jumps on the gravity canyon as well as supplying all jumpers with a memorative DVD/photo package.We love Taupo bungy and sometime soon we will be putting a link from the DVD footage on YouTube for all to see!So tell all your friends, and next time you’re up in Taupo, why not pop on through and see what it’s all about, and you might even surprise yourself by taking the plunge too–make sure you let them know you’re part of the swimming community! www.taupobungy.comwww.gravitycanyon.co.nz

Icebreaker are awesome too, they kindly donated a really cool prize package consisting of a pure merino scarf, hat and gloves in our team black/white and grey colours.Was a tough decision as to who we gave this unique prize too, but Melana Bradley our Head Team Manager poured her heart and soul into this tour and wouldn’t have been the same without her. She deserved some pampering after looking after everyone else’s needs on tour, so she was over the moon to receive this surprise and we know she’ll be looking sharp when the winter rolls around, which going by our current weather patterns...is almost year round!We’re also in the process of working alongside Icebreaker for some team wear items this year, so please support them when you need that quality stylish gear for all weather conditions.Thanks to our amazing Icebreaker reps, Anna Jamieson and Rebecca Klee who pulled it all together for us -we think you’re fantastic! icebreaker.com TAKE YOUR MARKS AND XLR8 PROGRAMME UPDATE

Take Your Marks (www.takeyourmarks.com) has introduced three fantastic new features to the site. 1) XLR8 Individual Event Ranking where you can rank by event e.g. 200m free. You can also filter by region. 2) XLR8 Rankings by club now includes region in the drop-down list. 3) An essential new service for club coaches and administrators. The new "coach account" lets coaches quickly view all of their swimmers meet results. Data is taken directly from the NZ Meet Results Database so it is up to date and complete. The usual easy to use TYM facilities are used to analyse the swimmer's results (including splits), PBs (with XLR8 & FINA points), performance graphs, future meets qualified for, and goals can even be set. It is as simple as selecting a swimmer and all their performance data will be immediately available for analysis. For more information about the XLR8 programme click this link: http://www.swimmingnz.org.nz/uploads/files/XLR8_Programme_Information_Oct09.pdf We are also excited to announce a new design to the XLR8 bi-monthly award caps So, if you are a club coach or administrator and would like to give it a try, simply email TYM [e-mail] with the name of your club, and they'll set you up with a free trial. The coach account service costs US$30 per year.

Exam le:

Look out for the new look XLR8 caps........ These caps are awarded to the highest scoring male and female in each age category (10 & under, 11, 12, 13 and 14) every 2 months, based on their Age at Meet XLR8 rankings. So if you see a swimmer wearing a cap like this pictured below- watch out! They are red hot!