"Moving Through Water" Swim Clinic Jun 29, 2008
Ed Nessel's "Moving Through Water" swim clinic will be offered at Brookside Swim club in Milltown the week of August 4-8, 2008. Ed is American Swim Coaches Association certified level 5, the highest achievement in the US. He is a biochemist, pharmacist, and physiologist, as well as a masters swimmer himself, and has been studying the effects of training on the body for 38 years. He has trained several Olympians, including Cullen Jones from NJ. If you want to swim faster, this is the clinic for you! Contact Eileen Mancuso at emmancuso@optonline.net for further information.
Sheila Taormina Jun 18, 2008
Many Riptiders will remember Sheila Taormina, the speaker at our 2007 Awards banquet. She was a tremendously entertaining and motivational speaker. After having competed in the 1996 Olympics as a swimmer (winning a gold medal as a member of the 4x200 relay), and again in the 2000 and 2004 Olympics as a tri-athlete (finishing 6th and 23rd overall), Sheila was training to try and make the 2008 Beijing Olympics in the Modern Pentathalon, a sport that combines running, swimming, shooting, fencing and show-jumping on horses. Sheila has achieved her goal, and will be the first woman in history to compete in 3 different Olympic Games in 3 separate sports! Read about her amazing achievement here.
Summer Splash 2008 Jun 6, 2008
The days are getting hotter and school is almost out, so Riptide's Summer Splash can't be far behind! Summer Splash is a summer training program featuring high-intensity workouts in an effort to increase swimming endurance and speed, while still competing for your summer club.
We are planning on having two groups - Juniors and Seniors. The Junior group will meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays (same times) and will have a separate coach. This group is intended to introduce younger swimmers to summer workouts. Any swimmer age 10 and over that can demonstrate command of the four competitive strokes and can show the ability to adapt to the difficulty of the workout can sign up. Younger swimmers may sign up with permission from Laurie/Mike. WE WILL ONLY HAVE THIS GROUP IF WE HAVE STRONG INTEREST.
The senior group will remain the same as in previous years - serious and dedicated 12 and overs, including college students, meeting 4 days a week - Mondays, Tuesdays, Thursdays, and Fridays.
You do not have to be a Riptide member to participate; however you must have a current Raritan Valley YMCA membership. Riptide winter swimmers and Riptide alumni will receive first consideration, as due to the large turnout, space is limited.
Dates and pricing information are on the registration form.
Nationals Results Apr 13, 2008
Results from the 2008 SunKissed National Invitational are here.
Riptide Nationals Team Apr 8, 2008
Congratulations to the members of the Riptide Nationals Team for a phenomenal showing at the 2008 SunKissed National Invitational in Charlotte!! The team had an overall 3rd Place finish (out of 15 teams), and both the Girls Team and the Boys Team finished in 3rd place in their respective divisions. Riptide also won the "Parade of Teams" award, given to the most spirited team at the meet! The hardware total of 4 trophies is the most ever brought home by the Nats Team!
As a team, we had more individual medalists than ever before, including gold medals for Omer Hillel in the Junior Girls 100 Fly and Alex Ratajczyk in the Senior Boys 50 and 100 Free. Making Alex's win in the 50 even more exciting was Greg Bellizzi's 2nd place finish in that event, giving Riptide its first 1-2 finish ever at this meet.
As always, many new records were set, in both individual and relay events...full results will be posted soon.
NJSIAA State Meet of Champions Feb 29, 2008
Congratulations to our Riptiders who placed top 16 in the state at MOC this weekend!
- Gess Charniga - 15th 100 Breast
- Kayleigh Shangle - 5th 50 Free
- Jenny Zavoda - 15th 200 Free, 15th 100 Free
- Greg Bellizzi - 11th 50 Free
- Alex Ratajczyk - 2nd 50 Free, 3rd 100 Free
- Andy Rose - 9th 100 Breast
- Tyler Wardlow - 14th 400 Free Relay
GMC Championships Jan 28, 2008
Congratulations to all of the Riptide high school swimmers who competed at the Greater Middlesex Conference (GMC) Championships held at Princeton University on Saturday. Many, many best times were achieved and the following Riptiders won individual conference championship titles: Brigitte Malivert in the 100 breast, Kayleigh Shangle in the 50 free, Jenny Zavoda in the 100 free and the 200 free, Alex Ratajczyk in the 50 free and the 100 free and Andy Rose in the 200 IM.
Practice Reminder Sep 18, 2007
Reminder: Please do not leave valuable items (wallets, ipods, cell phones) in unlocked lockers at any of our practice facilities. If you are going to bring these items with you to practice, bring a lock for your locker.
Riptide Hotline Jan 19, 2007
The Riptide Hotline is here! 732-297-6163
Messages left on the Hotline will be checked every day and forwarded on to the appropriate person. You may call the Hotline with a question, concern, or emergency notification.
If you know in advance that you will be missing a meet, you should fill out the Meet Absence Form, but no later than the Thursday before the meet that you will miss. If an emergency situation or illness occurs after Thursday, call the Hotline to report your absence. Do not use the online form to report an absence after the Thursday before the meet that you will miss.
If you lose the number, it is always available on the Communications page.
Safety Notice
MCC has told us we cannot park in the lot across from the main entrance to the pool (that's the lot that used to have the gated entrance - by the student center). No parking, and no waiting for swimmers. In other words, don't even think about going in there.
It's OK to stop in front of the pool building to drop off and pick up swimmers, but do not sit there and wait. If your swimmer is not there, do not stop. Also, if a car is stopped in front of the building, do not pass it. Wait until the swimmer gets in or out and moves on. Passing on that road is dangerous, since you can't see people crossing the street. Please take these rules seriously. It may make life a little inconvenient for yourself, but the safety of our children is much more important.
Missing A Meet?
If you will be missing a meet, it is imperative that the coaches know about it as far ahead of time as possible. Use this online form to send a notification to your coach. For future use, I put a link to that form on the navigation bar to your left ("Meet Absence Form"). Remember, if you miss a meet without telling your coach, you will be unable to swim in the next meet.
Private Lessons
The Riptide coaching staff is now offering private swim lessons. For more information, please contact Mike Heidelberg at coachmike@rvyriptide.org.
Emergency Contact List
We have an Emergency Contact List that is used for quick notification of things such as last minute practice and meet changes and cancellations, as well as other important timely items, which may be due to inclement weather or other reasons. Notifications of such events will be sent out to all people on this list. This enables you to find out early enough (usually while you're still in the office) to plan around them. To get on the list, just send me an email, providing your name and email address, and indicate that you'd like to be put on the Emergency Contact List. And, don't forget to tell me if your email ID changes!