November 2019

Greetings from the pool deck!

Happy Fall. The weather is cooler, kids, cats, and dogs at my house at all acting just a little bit crazy these days. I’m sure it’s the same at your house too. November starts to bring some mid-season fast meets for our older swimmers. High Schoolers have the TISCA meet, just before Thanksgiving, and all of them have the COR A meet and AESC Elite Pro-Am meet in Oklahoma before Christmas. I’m looking forward to seeing some really fast swims from these kids!

Our younger swimmers have some good meets coming up starting with our BB & Under meet on November 9-11 weekend, and then again in December with our meet on the 7-9 weekend. These meets will be well-attended and certain to be fast.

Speaking of our hosted events, it’s getting to that time of year when families start looking at their service hours for the year. We’re going to need your help to run these meets. Please mark your calendars and plan to help out in some way. We’ll need several timers each session. Any adult and all children 13&Over can be a timer. Bring the family and grab some service hours.

Our Annual Board Game donation to Mission Arlington will be coming soon. Details will be sent out mid-November. The Mission Arlington store opens Dec 8th. Consider making your donation purchases when the sales hit at Thanksgiving.

I’ve had some conversations with some of our AG2 and new Pre-Senior swimmers in recent weeks, regarding their performances at some recent meets. These teen and pre-teen swimmers were concerned that they were not getting best times in all, or many, of their events. They were visibly upset, in some cases. It is important to realize that swimmers of this age and ability are changing physically nearly weekly. Their bodies are constantly trying to figure out what to do with longer arms or legs, or wider hips, etc. These swimmers are also swimming fast, and as they get faster it becomes more difficult to drop time. They may only see a few tenths of a second improvement, instead of the 3-8s drops they saw as younger swimmers. It gets discouraging if the swimmers don’t understand the physiology of what’s happening to them, or they put themselves under tremendous pressure with unrealistic goals. Our senior groups focus on 2 championships per year, plus a mid-season meet, and perhaps a high school championship meet. The more physically mature swimmer cannot expect to always get a best time. They must instead, believe in the process and realize that all other races beyond their champs meets, are for fast training. As coaches, we’re looking for levels of effort and/or small technical changes that have been worked on in practice at these meets. The days of big time drops each meet are probably gone for this level swimmer. I told these kids that we want them exhausted now, doing things right, to prepare them to go crazy-fast in February. Parents can help by being especially supportive of the efforts and focusing on the fun.

Please take time to enjoy your family and friends, especially as the holidays approach. Happy November!

Coach Brian

Q: What is OnDeck Parent application and why do I need it?

A: OnDeck Parent is an IPhone or Android application which allows you as a swim parent to manage your MAR's account and follow your swimmer's accomplishments. See these web sites for more information about the application and download instructions. iPhone or Android

Once you download and install the application on your device you can login by filling in the following entries:

Username - Is your email address that you used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Password - Is your password used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Team alias - ntsmars

Q: Do I have to have 18 service hours if we joined MARS during the Summer?

A:

New family service hours from Summer through December

· Hours for June & July – 12 hours

· Hours for August & September – 8 hours

· Hours for October & November – 6 hours

· November & December – 2 hours

Q: My son is a novice swimmer and I am a novice swim parent. We are going to our first swim meet. How do we get ready for our first swim meet?

A: We have a wonderful document created by the original Super Parent Rebecca Dark.

Your First Swim Meet Guide.

Q: I just swam my first swim meet, where are results displayed?

A: You can get event/meet results from the following locations:

• Usually the event results are displayed on some wall at the natatorium. (not always)
  
• Events will be posted within the 10 days after the meet has completed at this web site: http://www.ntswim.org Events-->Meet Results
• Most swim meets utilize "Meet Mobile". This is a fee based smart phone application which allows the user to see live results of the swim meet and other cool options.

Q: How can I see how many service hours I owe?

A: Login to the Mars Team Web Site.

Select My Account on the right.

Select $My Invoice/Payments.

Select the Service Hours tab.

If your number shows a positive value, then that is what you owe.

Q: Why do we have to volunteer at our meets?

A: In order for us to host a successful and safe meet, we need our MARSian families to be part of every meet we host. We all lead very busy lives. However, I can promise you that your swimmer will feel even more supported seeing you as a timer, head timer, meet runner and/or working concessions or hospitality room. Everyone is good at something which means everyone has something to offer. Please be on the lookout for upcoming dates for training classes for each of our volunteer positions. ***Each person will receive volunteer points for attending the training class. ***Please Note: You will receive the points once you put that training into action at our hosted meets. In addition to the points you will receive for your volunteer work at the meet.

Q: Do the service hours start over in January?

A: Yes, service hours are per calendar year (January 1st through December 31st).

Q: How many service hours will we owe for 2019?

A: We will each owe 18 service hours for 2019 per family that have swimmers in Bronze and above groups.

Q: What is OnDeck Parent application and why do I need it?

A: OnDeck Parent is an IPhone or Android application which allows you as a swim parent to manage your MAR's account and follow your swimmer's accomplishments. See these web sites for more information about the application and download instructions. iPhone or Android

Once you download and install the application on your device you can login by filling in the following entries:

Username - Is your email address that you used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Password - Is your password used to login to the MAR's (TeamUnify) web site.

Team alias - ntsmars

Q: How do I set up the SMS messaging?

A: How to set up and receive SMS from your coach's about pool updates or quick important info.

1- log-in to your account

2- Click on My Account then under the drop down click on My account again

3- Add up to two SMS number and the Carrier and click save

4- Then go to click on Not Verified and you will receive a code via text message that then you type in and hit verify.

5- Set to start getting text from the team when a pool is closed or we need to get you fast information.

Do you have a question for the MARSian parent? Email at askmarsparent@gmail.com

Nathan Seiders, Victoria Cruz, Neel Thomas, Philippe Lavedan, Avery Berger, Sofia Barrington, Valerie Le, Brian Dangelmaier, Anisha Menezes, Wade Jo, Zachary Abraham, Ryan Powell, Alexa Crouser, Michael Chugito, Judah Gibbs, Isaac Dykstra, Lucas Yi, John Nguyen, Caleb Seitel, Averey Slater, Patrick Van Deren, Reva Joshi, Lewis Patrick, Claire Gruman, Caroline Swinarsky, Shayna Landry, Geraldine Todorov, Brice Jiang, James Cochran, Molly Seitel, Lauren Black, Miles Masker