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Update
September 23, 2011
by Tasha Capen
In this edition:

Mentors Needed Now for Building Futures Now

Did you know more than half of the mentors for Building Futures Now (BFN, www.buildingfuturesnow.org) are Menlo Masters swimmers? BFN has achieved success with the efforts of many teammates - we are the driving force behind launching this incredible program. Help us continue this important partnership by signing up to be a mentor this year!

We need 7 more male mentors (or married couples) and 3 more female mentors for this year's students. The students are very excited to meet their mentors in the coming weeks. As a mentor, you develop a 1:1 relationship with an East Palo Alto or East Menlo Park student and are a critical part of their success. Paired with the academic support provided by BFN, mentors help students improve their social skills, explore their interests and develop goals for their future.

Please seriously consider making the 6-hour per month commitment for at least one year. We would LOVE to have you as a mentor. Mentors need to complete an application, interview, fingerprinting, and submit DMV records and proof of car insurance. BFN supports mentors with training and one-on-one consultations as required. We particularly need individuals who can speak Spanish, but all are welcome.

To learn more or to sign up to be a mentor, please contact Alison Upton Lopez at alopez@buildingfuturesnow.org or 650-380-9038. Or ask one of our fellow teammates who have already made the commitment - Ann and Gordi Burton, Anna Lippi, Charlie and Miriam Dimmler, Greg Gaffney, Jan Brennan, Jeff Starr, Madhuri Yechuri, Michele Santilhano, Miki and Bill Armstrong, Steve LeSieur, Sue McGlennon, Eduardo Llach, Angie Weinberger, Mike Fero, Doug Vort, Jean Gillon and TK (Tim Kuenster). We look forward to having you join the BFN team!


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Upcoming Events

- Mountain View Masters Alan Liu Memorial Meet - Sept 25
Online registration is now closed, but you may sign up at the meet itself. Fourteen Menlo Masters swimmers have pre-registered, and more are planning to come that morning. It's right down the street in Mountain View, near Shoreline and El Camino... close by, easy to get to and situated in a local park with a children's playground near the pool entrance. There's a good mix of short and middle distance events and a couple of relays. Hope to see you there!
--Registration and information:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1291&smid=3266

- Pacific Masters SCM Championships - Oct 14-16, Walnut Creek
Coming up soon, the last local championship meet of the year! Held in the diving well at Clarke Swim Center in Heather Farm Park, this will be a great meet to get those last races in before settling into our winter Killer Quad pacing. While events are spread across three days, you can swim as much or as little as you'd like. Drop in for a day or so! You must sign up ahead of time for this meet: Sept 30 by mail, Oct 5 online.
--Registration and information:
https://www.clubassistant.com/club/meet_information.cfm?c=1301&smid=3267


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The 50 Year Relay (aka, 10 age groups x 100 yds)

Nine years ago, Menlo Masters followed the lightly-trodden path of several other Pacific Masters teams when we put together a men's 10x100 free relay with the fastest swimmers from each of 10 age groups - from the 25-29 age group to the 70-74 age group. This awesome team of men whose ages spanned 50 years completed the relay with a time of 9:35.94 - averaging an astonishing 57.5 seconds per swimmer in the 100 free!

Well, we're at it again with a men's AND a women's team this year. A few of our men from the 2002 relay are swimming again, and looking to crush their prior time by 30 seconds - or more! We expect to establish a challenging national mark for both the men and the women, and then invite other USMS teams to match or beat the times.

This special event will be held on Saturday, October 29, 2011 at 8:00 am, at Burgess Pool, Menlo Park. The women's relay will be first followed by the men's relay. All team members are encouraged to come and cheer our racers on in this historic race against the clock!

Our candidate racers this year are:

Men - Murray McLachlan, Dave Gildea, Bob Barnick, Dave Breen, Jeff Kline, Dirk Lueth, Mike Perkins, Mike Pyle, Aaron Burrows and Brett Bannan. Women - Ann Kay, Edith Collin, Marianne Brems, Barbara Jones, Jennifer Hinshaw, Jana Matena, Tasha Capen, Grace Limaye, Anne-Marie Napolitano and Nicole Cadman.

The 2002 Men's team members were: Dick Bennett, John Sulzbach, Murray McLachlan, Dave Gildea, Jeff Strnad, Jim Kemp, George Tidmarsh, Tony Batis, Ed Owen and Andreas Mediavilla.

Good luck swimmers!


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Juliette Applewhite Joins Masters Coaching Staff

Long time team member and Menlo Swim Pro Juliette Applewhite is increasing her commitment to the team by moving from a substitute coach into the regular coaching staff. She'll be taking on the Wednesday noon workouts and alternate Wednesday morning workouts to start. Juliette will also be channeling some of her Swim Pro offerings to draw new members into the team, helping novices move to a level of comfort where they can join in our workouts. A series of stroke clinics are part of those offerings - which are open to current Master swimmers as well. Check out the description and dates below and sign up if you would like some extra focus on one or more of your strokes. A warm welcome and congratulations to Juliette!

Adult Swim Clinics with Juliette
Do you want to improve your swimming? Are you interesting learning the four competitive strokes? Do you like personal attention and feedback during a learning progression? If so, then you are ready for a swim clinic. The clinics will cover: stroke theory and technique covered while on land, practice of the technique, video-taping of your stroke with a review, and additional practice with new technique and feedback.

Duration: 90 minutes (minimum of 4 participants, maximum of 8)

Schedule (with registration links):
Tuesdays 12 noon - 1:30pm in the Instructional Pool
9/27 - Freestyle
10/11 - Backstroke
10/18 - Freestyle
11/8 - Breastroke
11/29 - Butterfly
12/6 - Backstroke
12/13 - Breastroke

Saturdays 1:00-2:30pm in the Performance Pool
10/1 - Freestyle
10/15 - Backstroke
11/5 - Freestyle
11/19 - Freestyle
12/3 - Freestyle
12/10 - Freestyle

Cost: $45


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Menlo Mavens Water Polo - Learn to Play

Menlo Mavens Water Polo Team members have been hearing a lot of interest from masters swimmers for an intro to water polo. To accommodate, the Mavens will be hosting a clinic on Sunday November 6th from 8-10am. You can find all the details are in the attached flyer. We look forward to having you there!

For those of you that have, or will catch the water polo bug, the Mavens will also hold Sunday Scrimmages throughout the winter (Nov-Jan) at Burgess. The scrimmages will be targeted to experienced players - male and female - who are interested in low key competitive environment with a referee/coach supervising. Contact Leslie Platshon for more information at swimski44@yahoo.com.


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Menlo Fit in the Park

Looking to build strength as a complement to your swimming routine? Join other Menlo Masters swimmers at Menlo Fit-Boot Camp! There are 4 class times daily, Mon-Fri, at 6, 7, 8 or 9 am, and a Sat class 7:30-8:30 am that is FREE year-round to the community. (Tomorrow, Sat Sep 24, the class will be held outdoors, on the Burgess Park lawn near the baseball field!)

Teammate Lorie Sinnott spoke earlier this year about the benefits beyond just the strength training: "I go regularly to the Tuesday/Thursday workout with Kevin, and love his calm, good humored and supportive leadership in the class. His stretches in the beginning of each class, and for the last few minutes (sort of an athletic yoga session) are worth the class alone, and then the core/cardio exercises are always varied and nicely paced for each person's ability. It's a wonderful pairing with the swim workout and the best deal in town!"

As a Masters swimmer, you can add Boot Camp on to your membership for a modest month-to-month fee of $35 - or only $25/month if you commit for a year. Try out this great program to round out your weekly fitness regimen for healthy and balanced living. To sign up for the Menlo Masters pricing, go to https://www.menloswim.com/registration/activity.php?activity_id=266.


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They Don't Just Swim...

A couple of glimpses into lives of some of our swimmers outside the pool...

Kim Freitas recently shared a note about our teammate Donia Bijan on the team Google Group:
"Donia, a consistent 5:45a morning swimmer, will be speaking at Kepler's Books about her newly published book on Oct 11 at 7p. More information at http://www.keplers.com/event/donia-bijan. Congratulations Donia on completing a very special memoir!"

Jana Matena found this USMS article that mentions teammate Frances Reneau's father, Cal French. Cal (age 74) and his friend Tom Landis (age 69, and a USMS swimmer) hiked 530 miles from Needles, California to Morro Bay over 46 days earlier this year. Frances' mom, Letty is mentioned briefly - in past years, Letty has competed for Menlo Masters at local swim meets. Very inspiring! http://www.usms.org/features.php?id=262


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For Your Calendars...Menlo Masters Team Events

** 2011 Team Competitions and Events **
- *September 25* - Mountain View Swim Meet (Mountain View)
- *October 14-16* - Pac Masters Short Course Meters Meet (Walnut Creek)
- *October* - Killer Quad I (KQI) Hour Swim, ~Halloween (Burgess)
- *November* - KQII 50x100s, ~Thanksgiving (Burgess)
- *December* - KQIII 75x100s, ~Christmas, and KQIV 100x100s, ~New Year's (Burgess)

** 2011 Year Round Intramural Challenges **
- Year-Rounder - Swim 10,000 yards in a day once per month
- One Million Yard Club - Swim 1,000,000 yards in 2011
- Speed Club - Meet the time standard for the 100 Free at a swim meet
- Swim the Cycle - Swim each of the 18 events at meets throughout the year

Supporting links:
- Year-Rounder - record your progress: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtdguLaBiFTWdEZYQ09wNGJoUXNJcnVsWVhEVUwxNGc&hl=en_US#gid=1
- One Million Yard Club - record your monthly progress: https://spreadsheets.google.com/spreadsheet/ccc?key=0AtUOxuTLNrE0dFZJdXdFZ1dZZnF5Y0syUndLREdpcXc&hl=en_US&authkey=CMGNosMD#gid=0
- Speed Club - SCY/LCM/SCM standards: https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B9UOxuTLNrE0YWE1OGExYjgtYWY2YS00ZWMyLWEwMjUtOTc3YjU4ZjVhN2Nm&hl=en_US
- Swim the Cycle - Email Tasha Capen for a list of what you've already swum


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