Wallingford YMCA Swim Meet Results Posted & Season Updates

Posted on January 10, 2011 by Andy Scherer

Congratulations to all of the Typhoons who participated this past weekend in the away meet with the Wallingford YMCA Dolphins. Both swim teams did a phenomenal job, and the Typhoons came out with several best time swims as well as a few more individual qualifying times for New England Regionals. You can find the results on the swim meet results page or in the following link: Wallingford YMCA.

As a reminder, there is an away meet this weekend at the Torrington YMCA. For those parents that still owe participation points please consider timing at this meet.

Also, as we near the end of the season, I want to take this opportunity to explain how the end of the season works as clearly as possible so there isn’t any confusion (or at least we can minimize confusion).

Yankee Cluster Championships

All swimmers participate in Yankee Clusters as this is the last regular season meet and is truly a lot of fun for the swimmers and the coaches. The coaching staff is currently brainstorming some theme ideas so that we can have a little more fun as well! Here are some more details:

February 25 – February 27 @ Kennedy High School in Waterbury
$25 flat entry fee per swimmer – must be paid on/by February 11th or the swimmer(s) will not be able to participate
Friday 25 @ 5:00pm – 11 and up distance events
Saturday 26 @ 7:30am – 8 and under swimmers (need at least 3 parent “workers”)
Saturday 26 @ 12:30pm – 9 and 10 swimmers (need at least 3 parent “workers”)
Sunday 27 @ 7:30am – 11 and 12 swimmers (need at least 3 parent “workers”)
Sunday 27 @ 12:30pm – 13 and over swimmers (need at least 2 parent “workers”)
Individual events will be selected by the coaching staff
Relays will be selected in terms of “A” and “B” relays as based off our New England Regional selection process (described below)

New England Regionals

Participants in the YMCA New England Regional Championships are either individual qualifiers (Qualifying Times) or swimmers on a relay team. Here are some more details for this meet:

March 25 – March 27 @ Harvard University (Boston, MA), Blodgett Pool
Please make accommodations at the Double Tree on Soldier’s Field Road, Cambridge, MA
$6.00 per event entry fee
Relay teams are narrowed down to top 6 swimmers by the end of this week (January 18). Four of those swimmers are then selected based on practice work ethic, overall meet performances throughout the season, and other “intangible” factors. Those four swimmers will be notified no later than the first week of February, and will be considered our “A” relay for both Yankee Clusters and New England’s.
Friday, March 25 @ 5:00pm – Swimmers 15 to 18
Saturday, March 26 @ 6:15am – Swimmers 11 and 12
Saturday, March 26 @ 3:00pm – Swimmers 8 and under
Sunday, March 27 @ 6:15am – Swimmers 9 and 10
Sunday, March 27 @ 4:00pm – Swimmers 13 and 14

As always, if you have any questions or need anything at all, please feel free to let me know!

Go Typhoons!

Branford YMCA Stingrays Results Posted

Posted on December 20, 2010 by Andy Scherer

Congratulations to all of the Typhoon swimmers who woke up bright and early this past weekend to swim at the Soundview Family YMCA (Branford YMCA). I know the Branford Stingrays appreciate the meet, and quite a few of our swimmers (though early) did very well in the meet!

With that said, I have posted the results on the results page, but you can also find them here: Branford YMCA Results.

Even though we have practice this week, I want to thank everyone for an outstanding first half of the season, a very happy holiday, and a safe new year!

Go Typhoons!

Meet Schedule Posted

Posted on August 29, 2010 by Andy Scherer

The Hamden/North Haven YMCA Typhoon swim team has posted the tentative schedule for our YMCA swim meets. As always, we will be participating in the Yankee Cluster League which currently includes 13 other teams from YMCA’s throughout Connecticut. You will notice that I also placed the Short Course Nationals date along with this past year’s qualification times; we are nearing a point with our athletes that we will have some swimmers potentially qualifying for Y Nat’s.

Without further ado, here is the tentative schedule to be confirmed next week:

10.23.2010 — National Virtual Meet — Site TBD — Gold, Juniors, and Seniors only
11.6.2010 to 11.7.2010 – Autumn Classic — Site TBD — Juniors and Seniors Only
11.13.2010 — Home Meet — Valley YMCA — All Swimmers
11.20.2010 — Away Meet — Meriden YMCA — All Swimmers — Directions
12.4.2010 — Away Meet — Fairfield YMCA — All Swimmers — Directions
12.11.2010 — Home Meet — Indian Valley YMCA — All Swimmers
1.8.2011 — Away Meet — Wallingford YMCA — All Swimmers — Directions
1.15.2011 — Away Meet — Northwestern YMCA — All Swimmers — Directions
1.29.2011 — Home Meet — Waterbury YMCA — All Swimmers
2.5.2011 — Home Meet — Mystic YMCA — All Swimmers
2.18.2011 to 2.20.2011 — Yankee Cluster Championship — Site TBD — All Swimmers — Directions
3.11.2011 to 3.13.2011 — New England Regionals — Boston, MA — Swimmers with qualifying times and relay members only — 2010 (Last Year) Qualifying Times
4.5.2011 to 4.8.2011 — YMCA National Championship — Fort Lauderdale, FL — Swimmers with qualifying times only — 2010 (Last Year) Qualifying Times

As always, if there are any questions, comments or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me via e-mail or call 203-248-6361.

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!

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!

Swim Team Suits

Posted on September 9, 2009 by Andy Scherer

It’s official, the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team has chosen their competition suits for the upcoming seasons (through 2011)! So, without further ado, I introduce to you the TYR Freeze Frame:

Please remember that you can try on and take home your Typhoon competition suit (required for all swimmers) at our Team Fitting on October 12, 2009!

Practice Preview – One Arm Swims

Posted on August 18, 2009 by Andy Scherer

Throughout the next couple of weeks and probably through our Pre-Season Clinic, I will be giving a little bit of info on the practices and practice sets that we’ll be swimming throughout the upcoming Short Course Season for the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team. A lot of these innovative practices came from experimental sets throughout the summer, and a lot of information gathered from various top-level college and club coaches.

So, let’s start out with the importance of One Arm (OA) drills and swims. OA drills are all well and good, but drills are swum for the swimmer to focus on stroke technique. I would like to talk quickly about OA swims at 85% effort or more. These swims allow the coach to see a lot of real technique and efficiency/inefficiency areas.

The first technique area that I look for in the OA swims is a quick/high catch. As soon as the swimmer enters the water and reaches full extension, I am looking for an immediate early vertical forearm (EVF) position and the fingertips pointing or progressing toward the bottom of the pool. A common mistake that swimmers make is having the hand scull out or pull in an S shape. This is wasted movement based on scientific and biomechanical studies.

The second area that I am looking at is the acceleration of the arm through the pull phase of the stroke. Following the entry and EVF, the swimmer needs to accelerate their arm through the pull phase. This acceleration will create denser water and will propel the swimmer at a greater velocity and therefore give the swimmer a greater distance per stroke. The common mistake that swimmers make with this is maintaining a constant rate of pull throughout, or slowing of the pull at the end of the stroke into the recovery.

The third and last pertinent (in my opinion) area that I am looking for is the consistency and rhythm of the kick. I am looking for the swimmer to have a great driving kick. Without that consistent and driving kick the swimmer will increase drag, reduce the efficiency of their body position, and significantly tire themselves out due to inefficiency. The common mistake that swimmers make is to stop the consistency of the kick or don’t time their kick appropriately.

So, with all of that said, we will be conducting several OA swims and drills throughout the Short Course Swim Season along with other unique practice schemes. Stay tuned for more…subscribe by clicking on the RSS button!

Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team – Year End Summary

Posted on February 25, 2009 by Andy Scherer

As the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team has officially ended our Regular Season for 2008/2009 Short Course, I would like to look back on this year’s happenings. However, before that I would just like to thank all of the swim team parents, swimmers, and everybody else that has been involved with this past season! Without your support, involvement, and commitment the we wouldn’t have been able to accomplish a majority of these achievements this year! So, thank you, and I truly hope to see you at the Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team banquet on April 5^th, and April 27^th for the Spring Swim Clinic!

And now on to the Hamden North Haven YMCA Typhoon Happenings of the 2008/2009 Short Course Season in no particular order (and please feel free to let me know if I have forgotten something):

Addition of an up and coming coach for the Silver and Gold groups – Alisse DeAngelis
Renovated swim team website with blog and networking forum for parents and swimmers
25 New Typhoon Swimmers!
Home meets hosted at Albertus Magnus College
Hosted 4 (smoothly run) home meets
Tabitha Vincent, Naomi Sakamoto and Jen Fox joined the Parents’ Board
The Typhoons swam at 10 dual/tri YMCA swim meets
Over 59% of the events we swam in 2008/2009 were Personal Best times!
Record-setting year: 51 of 66 records broken!!
Out of 13 teams, overall Boys’ ranking of 6^th in the Yankee Cluster Championship
Out of 13 teams, overall Team ranking of 9^th in the Yankee Cluster Championship
4 swimmers qualified during the regular season for New England Regional Championships
AND MOST IMPORTANTLY, Every Single One Of Us Involved In This Growing Program Had FUN!!!

I, honestly, cannot thank everyone enough for a great regular season; I am absolutely looking forward to the pre-season clinic in April, and the Summer Season!!! Let’s all wish the New England Qualifiers and their Relay Teams the best for their competition at the New England Championship swim meet in March! Go Typhoons!!

1 More Day For Yankee Clusters 2009

Posted on February 21, 2009 by Andy Scherer

With the first day of the 2009 YMCA Yankee Cluster Championship done, I have to say that we are extremely proud of every swimmer in that competed today and throughout this year in the 8 and under & 9 and 10 Age Groups! Each and every one of our Hamden North Haven Swim Team swimmers has improved significantly over the past Short Course Season, and I can only hope that they continue to get better and have fun while learning!

With that said, I do not have official times today, but I can tell everyone that we did have a few record-breaking performances, and several personal best times today! It’s great to see a swimmer’s hard work payoff with the best times! We also had several of our swimmers win their heats and win a Yankee Cluster Waterbottle!

We are looking forward to seeing the 11-12 and 13 and Over Age Group swimmers compete tomorrow, and hopefully we will have a couple of record-breaking and New England Championship qualifying times! Good luck to everyone tomorrow (I will see you on deck), and absolutely Great Job to everyone that swam today!

New Hamden North Haven Swim Team Website

Posted on February 1, 2009 by Andy Scherer

Alright, I have finally revamped our Hamden North Haven YMCA Swim Team website (www.typhoonswimming.com). Please feel free to check it out, let me know if you see anything that needs to be updated, changed, etc. Happy swimming!