May 1 LCM at U of T and SCY at Sarasota. Members of the club participated at two meets last weekend. In a three event per swimmer long course meet at the Spadina Pool, twelve club members participated, with great results. All our women, Jen Nestor, Nancy Decaire, GG Koch, Glad Bryce and Bev Tucker, each won gold in all their three events, plus their relay. The men, Rudolfo Diaz, Trevor Baas, George Babits, Jake Nesovic, Rick Amodeo, Wes Musial and George Milne, had a somewhat tougher time. They still managed twelve golds plus won their relay. Meanwhile, Chris Smith was attending the YMCA National Masters Championship at the outdoor pool at the Sarasota Y in Florida. This is a yard meet, attended by swimmers from many U.S.YMCAs including many of their top swimmers. The competition can be tough. Chris was able to win gold and break his first YMCA National (U.S.) Record in the 1000y free. One has to be a member of a YMCA, not necessarily a U.S. swimmer to compete. This is a great meet, however it has very onerous insurance requirements which Canadian swimmers cannot comply with. Chris was able to convince the U.S. YMCA that the MSO insurance provides the coverage they want, so that he could participate. NOTE: Next years Y Nationals are at the Hall of Fame Pool in Fort Lauderdale, FL, April 15 to 18, if you are interested in attending and want to know how to deal with the insurance issue, contact Chris.
April 12 Club ranks fourth at Nepean. Seventeen swimmers competed for the Club at this years Provincial Championship at the Nepean Sportsplex in Ottawa last weekend, winning forty individual and seven relay gold medals and piling up 2084 points for fourth place in club rankings. Sue Weir, Robert Garofalo and Wally Henne had clean sweeps, winning six golds each with their six events, while Glad Bryce, Wes Musial and Chris Smith each won five. Bev Tucker, Matt Williamson, Rick Arnold and Bob Easun added to the gold total while Rachel Smith, Jen Nestor, Calvin Lau, Trevor Bass, Jake Nesovic, Blair Freeman and Harold Anfossi added to the medal and point total. Wes broke his 200m back World Record, again, and Robert broke four unofficial World Records in his events. They are unofficial because FINA does not recognize swimmers under 25. We also medaled in twelve relays, seven for gold, two silver and three bronze. Both womens 200+ 200m relays, free and medley picked up golds, as did the mens 120+ 200m medley relay. The 280+ mens relays of Harold Anfossi, Wally Henne, Bob Easun and Chris Smith in the 200m and 400m free and medley relays won gold and broke Canadian Records in all four events, plus an unofficial World Record in the 400m medley, again FINA only recognizes 200m relays. A great time was had by all.
March 31 Lots of competition this month. There was a meet every weekend, in London (LCM), Etobicoke (1500m), Milton and Buffalo (SCY). Seventeen of our club members participated, twelve swam at Milton, Wes Musial and Chris Smith swam at all four. Others were Rick Arnold, Trevor Baas, Nancy Decaire, Blair Freeman, Robert Garofalo, Wally Henne, GG Koch, George Milne, Jake Nesovic, Jennifer Nestor, Rachel Smith, Bev Tucker, Sue Weir, Matt Williamson and Louis Wint.
March 15, 2003. Talks continue with the YMCA senior staff about ways to improve the adult swim programs. Mel Goldstein of Indianapolis and Nancy Brown of Baltimore, who are considered to run the two best YMCA adult swim programs in North America suggest patience. With perseverance, the Y will see the light! We know that swimming is the best life long sport for fitness. We also know that swimming with "a group" is far more benificial than swimming independently, as in lane swim. Most of the swimmers in our programs swim for fitness, not to compete. Romanow and others say all instituitions should pay more attention to fitness as a way of improving quality of life and reducing health costs. There is overwhelming evidence that our program is the answer. Some day the Y will see that too.
March 1, 2003. The team competed in four meets in January and February at Etobicoke, Alderwood, Nepean and Burlington. Those involved included Rachel Smith, Jennifer Nestor, Sue Weir, Nancy Decaire and Bev Tucker, also Robert Garofalo, Trevor Baas, Jake Nesovic, Blair Freeman, Matt Williamson, Wes Musial, Louis Wint, Rick Arnold, Wally Henne and Chris Smith. At some meets we are now the largest team participating, we are consistently ranked among the top fifteen teams in Canada. Our members train at several YMCA campuses, it is much more fun however to swim as one team at meets.
February 11, 2003. FINA has released the World Top Ten Rankings for 2002 and we have four swimmers on the list! Wes Musial leads off with World Rankings in ten events, including ranking first in the 100m back scm and both 200m back, scm and lcm. It helps that he holds the World Records in both of these. Chris Smith has Top Ten rankings in eight individual events and two relays, his best, 2nd place in the 800m free, scm. Claus Koch has Top Ten Rankings in six events, his best, 2nd place in the 200m Fly, lcm. George Milne has two World Top Ten rankings this year, his best a fourth place in the 800m free, scm. Congratulations to all.
January 13, 2003. Cobourg YMCA Masters Swim Clinic. Rick Arnold, the masters swimmers and staff at the Cobourg YMCA organized a one day clinic on Masters Swimming on January 11, inviting Wes Musial and Chris Smith to lead it. Twenty swimmers and staff from the YMCAs at Cobourg, Oshawa, Peterborough and Lindsay attended. Wes gave a dry land and "in pool" clinic on the backstroke, Chris spoke on the fitness benifits for YMCA members of Masters swimming and how a Y team might be organized. It was felt that the YMCA Masters swimmers in southern Ontario should work together for the benifit of all, including perhaps, swimming at competitions as one team.
December 19, 2002. Party, Pentathalon and Politics. A great party on saturday night at Brent and Karen Lockridge's with over thirty of the party types in attendance. Wes Musial was the guest of honour, frequently embarrased by people saying how much they appreciated his great coaching. Sunday morning, very early, thirteen of the braver ones made it to the North York Pentathalon, swam some great swims and had a great time. Sue Weir, Robert Garofalo and Wes Musial won their age groups and took home beautiful glass tankards. The Annual General Meeting of Masters Swimming Ontario took place immediately following the meet. The major issue this year was the growing conflict between Swim Ontario and MSO. A motion to not require affiliation with Swim Ontario was defeated, notwithstanding a poll of the members which indicated 75% in favour of disaffiliation. This was partly due to concern of the possible loss of sanction and partly because representatives of Swim Ontario at the meeting assured the members that things would change. The members then unanimously instructed the Board to work to change the relationship with both Swim Ontario and Masters Swimming Canada. For more information on this see the AGM draft minutes on the MSO website. Sue Weir and Claus Koch remained on the Board of MSO. Claus also represents masters on the Board of Swim Ontario. Chris Smith represents masters on the Board of the Ontario Swimming Officials Association and is the Ontario rep on the Board of Masters Swimming Canada. He is the MSC Treasurer and on the Executive Committee.
November 20. Workouts are getting tougher as we build for the winter and spring season. If you cant make a workout, check the workout section and copy the program. The first week is the beginning of September. These programs are not only being used at several Y's in Ontario but also across the country, Vancouver Island! Also we are aware of, in Bermuda and Mexico, perhaps other places. Several members attended two meets this month. Seven went to the first Variety Village Meet, Trevor Bass went to spectate. Chris went to swim, however, they were short a Referee, so! Kingston also had their first meet in the new military pool and eleven members braved a snowstorm to get there. Sue Weir and Bev Tucker tried but didnt make it. Those who did compete for the club this month were Rick Arnold, Paul Beregi, Rodolfo Diaz, Dennis Dobrovlsky, Blair Freeman, Robert Garofalo, George Milne, Wes Musial, Jake Nesovic, Jennifer Nestor, Chris Smith, Rachel Smith and Matt Williamson.
October 28: Big turnout for Brantford. We had eleven swimmers at Brantford, the biggest turnout for a one day meet from our club in many years. We were the second largest club at the meet after Brantford itself. Those attending were Dennis Dobrovolsky, Blair Freeman, George Milne, Wes Musial, Jake Nesovic, Jen Nestor, Chris Smith, Rachel Smith, Bev Tucker, Sue Weir and Matt Williamson, a great time was had by all. It was a sprint meet, including 25m races producing some interesting times. Matt did a 13.97 in the fly, 15.03 in the breast. Wes did a 12.87 in the free, a 14.43 in the back. Sue did a 15.86 in the fly, edging out Jen who did a 15.96. Jake had a 13.90 in the free, Rachel a 14.97 in the free and an 18.34 in the back. These are all impressive times, unfortunately, unless you are 8 and under, 25m times do not count for anything. None of the above are believed to be in that age group. It was great fun anyway. There were also impressive times turned in by Bev, Blair, George, Dennis and Chris in the conventional events, like 50m! Jen, Rachel and Matt, our new imports from overseas enjoyed their first Canadian meet, might do another. Bev rewrote the 65 - 69 club records. We fielded four relay teams.
October 21: Nicle City Meet in Buffalo Jake Nesovic, Wes Musial and Chris Smith drove to Buffalo yesterday for the Buffalo scy meet. There were lots of Ontario swimmers there, always a well run meet and a lot of fun. Wes and Chris broke Ontario Records.
October 19: Top Rankings Christian Berger, the National statistician has recently updated both the short course and long course Canadian Top Twenty Rankings. Christian takes each swimmers best time for the year in each event they swim during the year and ranks them with others in the age group. If one is first in an event one gets 20 points. This reduces down at 1 point per place to 20th, where one gets 1 point. There are 18 events in short course, 17 in long course. So if you were first in every event in your age group, you would have 360 points in short course, 340 points in long course - of course, no one has ever done that! These are still preliminary as there are still several meets to go across the country which could change things. Currently ranked in short course are Wendy Babits, Sue Weir, Wes Musial, Claus Koch, Paul Beregi, Chris Smith, George Milne and Harold Anfossi. In long course, Sue Weir, Colleen Nelson, Wes Musial, Claus Koch, Paul Beregi, Chris Smith and George Milne. For details see the MSC web site.
October 14: Upcoming meets which some team members are going to are Buffalo Oct 20, Brantford Oct 26, Kingston Nov 17 and the North York Pentathalon Dec 15. Buffalo is a yard meet, the others all short course meters. If you are going, let Chris Smith know, he has offered to organize rides and relays.
October 12: Wes Musial and Chris Smith have been asked by swimmers at the Cobourg YMCA if they would come down for a Saturday program which would include stroke videos and a lecture on technique, pool work including structuring of a workout, also discussions on how Y swimmers can work together, perhaps swim together, for the benefit of all. Rick Arnold who is organizing this in Cobourg, tentatively for January 11, will be inviting adult swimmers from other area YMCAs to attend.
September 12: New season starts The new season has started at the Y. For those following Wes' workouts on our web site, last week was week # 1. As far as programs at the various campuses of the YMCA, we won some, we didn't win others. The good news is that Brent Lockridge will be starting a Tuesday and Thursday morning group at North York, 9:30 to 10:30 primarily directed at "entry level" swimmers. Unfortunately we haven't got the extra lane we wanted there for the evening program, so we are loosing swimmers from that program, Friday still has some space. Mississauga was not able to give us the times that volunteer coaches and swimmers were available. At Scarborough, due to lane restrictions, we are also chasing the slower swimmers away. The morning program at Metro Central is going well under the direction, usually of George Babits or Chris Hill, we are still looking for volunteer coaches for the evening program. We will continue to work with the YMCA staff in hope that we can do better in the new year.
September 10: St. Mary's 5 km The St. Mary's 5 km quarry swim took place this past weekend, under ideal weather conditions, with our two 70 year old going the distance. George Milne won it and set a new Ontario Record in a time of 1:31.18. Chris Smith was second with a time of 1:37.32
August 24: While in Cleveland there was further discussion on the adult swimming experience at the YMCA. How do we have the best club and best programs to serve swimmers in the Y community. Chris had a long talk there with Mel Goldstein, the head coach of Indianapolis Y, who in the past twenty years has built IndY into what many consider, the best Y program/team in the world. Bev Tucker from Collingwood Y was there and was most interested in finding ways in which we could work together to improve everyones swimming experience. She was particularly concerned about the difficulties of running a program and sustaining a team in a small Y and the possibility of sharing ideas and getting assistance from big Ys like Toronto. We now have interest expressed in this issue from swimmers in Cobourg, Sarnia, Welland and Collingwood. We will keep talking.
August 20: Five Toronto Y swimmers were in Cleveland last weekend for the USMS Long Course Nationals. With Wes Musial, Colleen Nelson, Jake Nesovic, Chris Smith and Sue Weir, we were the biggest Canadian Team! Wes broke his World Record in the 200m backstroke again, also the Canadian Record in the 400m IM. Chris broke the Canadian Record in the 1500m free, Colleen, Chris and Wes all broke Ontario Records. Great swims and a great time were had by all.
August 3: We have been having discussions with the aquatic staff at several campuses over the summer about next years programs, trying to get a better deal for "adult structured lane swimmers". We know this is a slow process and will take some time to convince the Y that this is a really good program and should be given a higher priority in their scheduling and allocation of lanes. We believe; (1) The population is aging. (2) 1$ spent on fitness saves $10 on health care costs. (3) Swimming is one of the best ways to keep fit. (4) "Structured Lane Swim" can serve more people and can achieve much more satisfactory results for most people than "Independent Lane Swim". (5) The current Y tendency to consider "Independent L. S." as sacred, essential at all or almost all hours (about 110 per week) the campus is open, never to be infringed on during the four to ten hours when "Structured L. S." is taking place, is not beneficial to the community, the members (swimmers) or the YMCA. We have lots of people interested in a program in all the campuses, we have several people willing to coach. Every campus is different, our objective is to get the best structured lane swim, at times when people are available and want it, at each one. It will take time!
July 3: The summer doldrums are upon us, lots of people gone to the cottage, swimming in their lakes. Doug Vanderby is running his usual program down at the 49.9m Summerville Pool in the Beaches, good way to get some sun and fresh air, good training too. There is still a program running at most campuses, somewhat thin as always at this time of year, see everyone in September.
June 10: Talks with the "Y" Since March there has been a discussion going on between a few "Y" people about masters swimming, aka adult swim fit, aka structured lane swim, aka interval swim at the various YMCAs about Ontario, many of which have very different issues to deal with, and how a Y Masters Club or Clubs might be structured to really serve the needs of all Ontario adult Y swimmers. The combined Ontario team at the Worlds at Christchurch, a third of which were "Y" swimmers, was a great success. This started the discussion about our issues at the Y. Most Y adult swim programs/Y masters clubs have great difficulty, for a number of reasons, surviving. Is there a better way? Perhaps! Chris Smith has agreed to put a discussion paper together from the various suggestions made. If you are interested in this issue, you can contact Chris at chrismith32@hotmail.com
May 22: Nationals were held in Saskatoon this past weekend, a LCM meet. Paul Beregi, Nancy Decaire and George Milne were there. Next year they are in Montreal, May 16 - 19, at the Robillard Pool. Its a great pool, lots of fun, we hope lots attend.
April 30: U of T meet Four swimmers, George Milne, Wes Musial, Jake Nesovic and Chris Smith took in the long course meet at U of Toronto this past weekend. Some great swims, an eclectic relay team. George, Wes and Chris broke Canadian records. Jake keeps getting faster.
April 22: Chris Smith at Trois Rivieres Chris Smith was the only team member to travel down to Trois Rivieres for the Provincial Championship in La Belle Province. He got six golds and a silver. Not bad for an old guy!
April 8: A total of thirteen Toronto Y swimmers participated in the 2002 Ontario Championship at the Etobicoke Olympium. In addition to the somewhat jet lagged Wes Musial and Chris Smith, having just returned from New Zealand, there was Rebecca Lam, Wendy Babits, Lois Adams, Nancy Decaire, George Babits, Jake Nesovic, Troy Austrins, Ian Erwood, Paul Beregi, Harold Anfossi and George Milne. Some great swims and relays, George Milne, Chris and Wes all broke Canadian records. This year again, Lois Adams, Julia Armstrong, Alison Rice and Rebecca Lam did a great job managing all the awards at the meet.
March 31: TYMS Members at WorldsSix Toronto Y Swimmers represented Ontario at the IX FINA World Masters Championships in Christchurch, New Zealand. They were Claus and Gertraude Koch, Christina Echols, Catherine VanDyke, Wes Musial and Chris Smith. They brought home twenty medals, broke fourteen Ontario records, twelve Canadian records and two World records. Yea Team! Also on the Ontario team, Rick Arnold from Cobourg YMCA and Monica Tory and Jonathan Evans from Sarnia YMCA. YMCA swimmers made up one third of the Ontario team
Mar 17: Wes sets two world records.At 27th AUSSI MASTERS NATIONAL SWIM in Sydney, Australia, Wes Musial sets two new world records: 100m (SCM) backstroke with time 1:03.04 and 200m (SCM) backstroke with time 2:15.58.
Feb 17: Wes sets new world record. Wes Musial sets the new world record 2:17.34 for 200m backstroke at the Burlington Masters Winter Splash Meet on Feb 17, 2002. (pending the ratification)
Feb 9: MSC Publishes 2001 rankings. MSC has just published the 2001 rankings for all Canadian master swimmers. Claus Koch was first in the 55-59 age group, Chris Smith was first in the 65-69 age group and Wes Musial was second in the 40-44 age group. Congratulations to all!
Feb 6: Welcome to Durham Y! The master swimmers at Durham Y, 99 Mary St N in Oshawa, have decided to join TYMS. We look forward to working and swimming with you.
Feb 5: Ontario team going to the World Championships in New Zealand. Over 25% of the Ontario Team train at the GTYMCA.
Feb 5: Mel Goldstein has been named the USMS Coach of the Year! Many may not know Mel, some of us do. He is the one who developed the Indianapolis YMCA team into a world class organization. There is an article in Swim Magazine on this, it is unfortunately not repeated on their web site.
Feb 5: Wes' "record" run. Wes Musial has competed in two meets this year, swam in six events and has broken six Ontario Records.