Silver Group Update

Posted on September 22, 2011 by Andy Scherer

Wow! I am utterly impressed with the number of swimmers that we have already on our Silver practice group! To give you an idea of why I am in awe, we started this venture that has become Typhoon Swimming a little over 3 years ago with 24 swimmers. Today, we currently have 22 swimmers enrolled just for the Silver Group!

With that said, I cannot thank you all enough for participating in our program, and it’s our goal to have as much fun with the swimmers as possible (with a little coaching along the way as well, right?)!

I have been asked, “What happens if we get over 30 swimmers on the Silver Group? How will you be able to maintain adequate attention for each individual swimmer?”

First and foremost, this is an outstanding question and one that I’ve been thinking about for the past couple of weeks. The coaches and I have worked out a plan that will break down the Silver group into 4 squads (for lack of a better term). The first 10 who registered for the Silver Group will be in “Squad 1″, from 11 to 20 will be “Squad 2″, from 21 to 30 will be “Squad 3″, and from 31 to 40 will be “Squad 4″. We will also add another practice day (Thursday at 4:30pm).

So, here’s where we get a little creative and fix the issue of “too many swimmers”. Squad 1 will practice Monday, Tuesday, and Friday (during their assigned times). Squad 2 will practice Monday, Thursday, and Friday (during their times), Squad 3 will practice Tuesday, Thursday, and Friday (during their times), and Squad 4 will practice Monday, Tuesday, and Thursday (during their times).

And, finally, if we do (in fact) have that many swimmers on the team, we will also be looking into adding an assistant age group coach to help Coach Lauren and, hopefully, save some of her sanity!

With all of that said, nothing is going into play just yet, but please make sure that you register for the season as soon as possible so that we can make the needed alterations and move forward! Again, thank you so much, and we are all looking forward to an outstanding season!

p.s. If you have any questions, comments, or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me at 203 248 6361 or AScherer@cccymca.org.

Spring/Summer Swim Team Starts Monday!

Posted on April 21, 2010 by Andy Scherer

With our pre-season swim clinic almost over, the Hamden North Haven YMCA Typhoons look to start their Spring/Summer season this upcoming Monday (April 26, 2010). However, before we move forward, let’s take a look at what we have done so far this past week and a half in our clinic:

Flip Turns

Increased the speed that they get around on the flip
Improved the efficiency of their last pull before the flip
Adjusted their hand positions prior to the push-off from the wall
Fine-tuned the smaller details of the turn to make it as efficient as possible

Freestyle

Worked on individual hand entry
Focused on improving the high catch and early vertical forearm
Improved body position and kick technique
Altered the follow through of the pull to increase torque

Backstroke

Worked the efficiency of the kick
Introduced utilizing the core during the stroke to increase velocity
Practiced proper body position and swimming downhill
Implemented a new flip turn technique to minimize time between the last stroke and the flip turn

Breaststroke

Focused on kick timing to increase stroke efficiency
Worked on when to let go of the water during the stroke
Introduced “pressing”
Practiced the proper way to pull and shoot the hands for maximum torque and minimum drag

Butterfly

Improved the efficiency and the timing of the kick
Worked two different ways to catch and pull the water, and each swimmer decided which way was better for them
Practiced the timing of the stroke
Introduced a new butterfly turn in order to minimize arm drag during the breakout

Even though we have already had a great clinic with the swimmers, we still have an IM day, and a day to review with everyone! All in all, this has been a very successful clinic, and the coaches can only look forward to what is going to be an outstanding (and fun) Spring/Summer with the Hamden North Haven Swim Team!

If you’re interested in finding out more information about the Spring and Summer season, please either visit our Registration Page or contact Coach Andy.

Happy Swimming!

Short Course Season Accomplishments – 2009/2010

Posted on March 10, 2010 by Andy Scherer

As we go into the New England Regional Championships, I want to recap our 2009/2010 Short Course season with the Hamden North Haven YMCA Typhoon swim team. So, without further ado, here is how our season played out:

We started our season with our swim clinic about 3 weeks prior to any other swim team in our Yankee Cluster, and it proved to be very successful! The swimmers learned a plethora of drills and skills that they would be then used throughout the regular season to improve their stroke and racing technique. Following the clinic, we had our first meet in early October.

The 2009 National YMCA Virtual Invitational had 220 swim teams (in total 11,605 athletes throughout the U.S.) swam locally to compete nationally against each other which was the first time that an event like this has been run by the YMCA. The Typhoon swimmers did extremely well with the following as highlight swims:

W. Munstermann placed 12th in the 50 free, and 15th in the 50 back
G. Livsey placed 19th in the 50 free, and 11th in the 100 breast
10 and under boys placed 15th overall
Typhoons finished 2nd out of all our Cluster teams (69th overall out of 220 teams – not bad for being a young swim team)

The Autumn Classic was the next stop for the Typhoon swim team, and we did excellent! Some of the highlight swims were:

A. Allen took off 9.23 seconds from her 100 free
G. Desroches dropped nearly 4 seconds on her 50 freestyle
E. Hodes dropped over 5 seconds in his 50 breaststroke, and over 3 seconds from his 50 free
N. Kern dropped 10.98 seconds in his 200 free
G. Livsey cut 5 seconds from his 200 free
M. Munstermann took down her 200 IM by 8.30, and her 100 free by 3.80

Our meet against Farmington Valley YMCA, though long, was a very fast meet for the athletes. In total, there were 18 Typhoon swimmers that dropped time for a cumulative of over 3 minutes dropped by those 18 swimmers. That equals out to an average of 17 seconds dropped per swimmer!

And the times just kept getting faster and faster throughout the year! Typically swimmers will usually flatten out (or plateau) with their times as the season progresses until it is time to taper. However, the Typhoon swimmers truly didn’t experience this – at least not at looking through everyone’s times! That not only shows that we still have room to grow, but that the swimmers have tremendous heart and dedication to get better no matter the circumstances!

So, the short course season went on and into Yankee Cluster Championships. Last year, we (as an almost brand new team) finished 11th out of 13 teams. This year, we were able to overtake significantly larger teams and place 9th overall out of 13 teams – as an aside, we were the second smallest team in attendance! Not only were we able to accomplish that, but take a look at our other achievements:

13 and 14 year old girls placed 8th overall
13 and 14 year old boys placed 5th overall (and this includes 15 – 18 as well)
9 and 10 year old boys placed 3rd overall

The Yankee Clusters wrapped up our regular season which produced 8 individual qualifiers for New England Regionals, but our swimmers wanted more! So, we ventured off to the Last Ditch meet where we entered 8 individual events. Four of those events ended up as qualifying times where we added 2 more individually qualified swimmers to our total!

Our year-end stats are still in limbo depending on how the swimmers do at the Regional meet, but here is a quick look at how we stand so far:

43 of 66 team records broken (some broken several times)
over 50% of swims were personal best times
Out of 60 swimmers, 10 individually qualified for New England’s, and a 19 swimmers competing in relays which is almost 50% of our team that will attend Regionals this year – the highest number in our team’s history!
And, most importantly, a total of 60 smiles on 60 swimmers’ faces every week throughout the year as they learned and had fun with their friends!

So, congratulations to the swimmers, the coaching staff, the parents, and the Hamden North Haven YMCA community! I will try to update all of you on our happenings in Boston as we travel this weekend so stay tuned for more Typhoon News!

Go Typhoons!!

YMCA New England Championships 2010: 3 Days Left

Posted on March 9, 2010 by Andy Scherer

The Hamden North Haven YMCA Typhoon Swim Team officially has 3 days left until they make their way to the YMCA New England Regional Championships in Boston, MA! This 2009 – 2010 Short Course season marks the first time that the Typhoons have hit double digits in individual qualifiers ranging from the Hamden, North Haven, Bethany, and surrounding communities. This also allows relay teams from each age group to attend the championship meet!

For more: New England Championship Information

Travelling to Boston!

Posted on March 5, 2010 by Andy Scherer

As the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team – The Typhoons – head into their last week of taper practice prior to New England’s, here is a quick run-down of how the 2009/2010 short course season went:

43 of 66 team records broken
10 individual swimmers qualified for New England’s
7 relay teams (a total of 28 swimmers) competing in New England’s
13 and 14 year old boys placed 5th overall in Cluster Championships
9 and 10 year old boys placed 3rd overall in Cluster Championships
13 and 14 year old girls placed 7th overall in Cluster Championships

To say the very least, it has been a great season so far with the final meet coming up in Boston, MA! For those swimmers in the meet, swim hard and fast!

For results, I will be trying to post each evening which events were swum and how each swimmer (and relay team) did with their swims! So, check back for more information, and more records broken in a week!

Go Typhoons!

Northern Middlesex YMCA Results

Posted on January 25, 2010 by Andy Scherer

The results have been posted from this past weekend’s swim meet. You can click the following link for them (NMYB Results) or find them under our swim meet results page.

As a meet recap, all of the Typhoon swimmers did an outstanding job on Saturday morning against the Northern Middlesex YMCA Barracudas! Both swim team‘s had great results with quite a few swimmers dropping time which is always hard in this part of the season! Along with the great times, we had one more swimmer qualify for New England’s and another swimmer qualify for New England’s in an alternate event! Great swimming to the both of you!

See you all on deck!

Northwestern YMCA Meet Results

Posted on January 11, 2010 by Andy Scherer

I wanted to congratulate all of the Typhoon swimmers who participated in the meet against Northwestern YMCA Lasers this past weekend. You all did an outstanding job, and we had one more swimmer qualify for New England Regional Championships! A huge congratulations to that swimmer, and let’s swim hard this week!

Northwestern YMCA Results

Waterbury YMCA and Wheeler YMCA Swim Meet Results

Posted on December 8, 2009 by Andy Scherer

The swim meet results for both the Waterbury YMCA and the Wheeler YMCA meets have been posted to the Swim Meet Results section of our website. Please take a moment to visit that page and look through your swimmer’s accomplishments over the past couple of weekends! If you’d like to quickly get to these results you can click below:

Waterbury YMCA Results

Wheeler YMCA Results

I look forward to seeing everyone at our first home meet this weekend!!

Go Typhoons!

Weekly E-Mail

Posted on November 24, 2009 by Andy Scherer

Dear Typhoons swimmers and parents:

There are no practices on Thursday and Friday this week. Juniors will have an optional practice with Seniors tomorrow (Wednesday, Nov 25).

Applebees Fundraiser (January 2, 2010):

Each family was provided with 10 tickets to sell for the Applebees pancake fundraiser. Please return the ticket money and any unsold tickets to Kathy Garner (mom to Megan & Jacob) starting December 1. Kathy will be at the 2 swim meets in December, and is usually around the Y with the Junior/Senior practice schedule. If you cannot find Kathy, you can leave an envelope with Andy, Katelyn or Nicole who will make sure that Kathy receives the package.
Each ticket is $5.00 and buys a breakfast of pancakes, bacon, your choice of juice or coffee, and outstanding Typhoons hospitality and service. If you have any questions about the fundraiser, please contact Kathy directly in person, email (kathryn.garner@ubs.com) or phone 248-1982. Please let Kathy know if you need more tickets or have not received any tickets yet. Even if you will not be in town on January 2, you are encouraged to sell the tickets. This fundraiser primarily supports the end of year banquet. Our goal is to pay for each swimmer’s banquet meal and participation award.
A Friendly’s fundraiser flyer is attached for you to post or circulate.

Swim Meets

Congratulations to Typhoon swimmers who participated in last Saturday’s (November 21) meet with the Waterbury Baracuda’s. All the swimmers did a wonderful job in their events. We now have several swimmers who qualified or came close to qualifying times for the New England’s swimming championship! Go Typhoons!
As a reminder, all of our meet results, meet schedule and directions, and practice times are online at www.typhoonswimming.com. Should you have any questions after visiting the site, please contact Coach Andy at ascherer@cccymca.org.
December 5th (Saturday) – Away meet @ Wheeler YMCA – 3:15 pm on deck time.

o Volunteers will be needed for timers and officials

o Parents must let Coach Andy know by Tuesday, December 1st if your swimmer is participating.

Date	Meet	Location
December 5, 2009 3:15 pm on deck	Away meet	Wheeler YMCA
December 12, 2009 7:45 am on deck	Home meet w/ Mystic YMCA	Albertus Magnus College pool
January 9, 2010 7:45 am on deck	Home meet w/ Northwest YMCA	Albertus Magnus College pool
January 23, 2010 7:45 am on deck	Home meet w/ Northern Middlesex Y	Albertus Magnus College pool
February 6, 2010 7:45 am on deck	Home meet w/ Meriden & Fairfield Ys	Albertus Magnus College pool
February 13, 20, 2010	Away meet	Southington YMCA
February 19, 20, & 21, 2010	Yankee Cluster Championships	Waterbury Highschool
March 19, 20 & 21, 2010	New England Championships	Harvard University, Boston, MA

Volunteer Points Tracking:

Typhoons family volunteer points tracking document is attached. The first page is the summary of your assigned family volunteer points based on the policy in the Parents Handbook (see also page 4 of the attached document) and how many points you still need to fulfill this season’s requirement. The next two pages are the breakdowns from October and November. If you feel that your data are not correct, please let me know (do not REPLY ALL please).
Starting December, Jen Fox, our parent liaison, will be the point person to track these volunteer points. The data will be sent to parents once a month.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Heidi

National YMCA Virtual Swim Meet Results

Posted on October 26, 2009 by Andy Scherer

Just quickly updating everyone that the results for this weekend’s swim meet have been posted to the Meet Results page. Just hover your mouse over the swim meets tabs and click on “Meet Results”.

The only times that were not given to me were the girls that were unattached (high school swimmers). Their times are as follows:

S. Hodes
50 free: 28.01
100 back: 1:13.45

A. Nebor
50 free: 36.81
100 back: 1:23.83

M. Munstermann
50 free: 28.75
100 back: 1:12.87

Again, I want to congratulate all of our Typhoon swimmers for a great meet this weekend! I hope you all had as much fun as us coaches did!