Coaches Corner
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July 2016 Coaches Corner Coach John Payne, TAC TITANS Associate Head Coach INSIDE THIS ISSUE TITANS Swimmers and Families, Coaches Corner TLC Tidings The long course season is fun, fast and short. It always feels as if the beginning TAC TITANS Hire New Head Coach is actually the middle and championship season hits right after school is out. Fortunately for our athletes we have ample opportunity to train in 50 meter Annual TITANS Awards Banquet water and will be well prepared when called upon. Community Service News Service Credit Summary The Cinco de Mayo Meet was a great success as we swam well across the Get to know Libby Moore and Calvin breadth and depth of the program. As a staff we reviewed where we were last Sonntag year at this time and with a few exceptions, our swimmers are ahead of where they were last year at this time. Seeing good year-over-year progress is a good Short topics sign for things to come. TAC Installs New Video Board Ana Pozder provided a highlight swim on the first night qualifying for the 2016 COACHING STAFF USA Swimming Olympic Trials in the 800 free. She received a lot of • John Payne support from not only the TITANS • Dennis Davis coaches and swimmers, but also • Rob Norman the YOTA staff and athletes when • Blake Addison they realized that she was making • Ronna Reedstrom • Sandy Canfield a qualifying attempt. It was a ton • Kevin Maksinchuk of fun seeing everyone come • Graham Williams together to cheer her effort and • Lee Addison success. Ana competed on • Chris Sjogren July 1st in Omaha! • Brandy Plewniak Our Junior and Teen TITANS hosted local teams on May 22nd for a short course meet. I saw lots of enthusiastic swimmers and coaches working to perfect their CONTACT skills and racing for best times. That event was a lot of fun for everyone. • Phone: 919-459-4045 We had the NC Open Water Championships and • email: [email protected] TYR Triangle Classic in June. Open Water provides a unique opportunity for us to experience a growing area of our sport, as well as showcase some of our athletes who are already accomplished open water swimmers. The TYR Triangle Classic was competitive and offered the next chance for us to get feedback before making our run in July. Thank you for your support of our program! The Starting Block 2 Coaches Corner continued I will leave you with the following thoughts about questions A good friend of mine has an exercise he does with his clients. and answers. He asks them what question they are trying to answer with their lives. It is a very powerful exercise. I have gone through it In the movie, The Matrix, the characters Trinity and Neo have with him and a couple of other folks as a way of moving from the following conversation: idea to action. If you honestly define your question and then place the actions of your life in the context of the question, you begin to see if you are spending your time, your life, as an attempt to answer it. Rainer Maria Rilke wrote the following to a young poet, “I want to beg you as much as I can to be patient towards all that is unsolved in your heart and try to love the questions themselves. The point is to live everything—live the questions now. Perhaps you will then gradually, without noticing it, live along some distant day into the answer.” The changes your question demands of you may be difficult to Trinity: Please just listen. I know why you’re here, Neo. I know accept, but be patient and “live the questions.” what you’ve been doing. I know why you hardly sleep, why you live alone, and why night after night you sit at your computer. Ask your questions, honestly. Be open to answers as they You’re looking for him. I know, because I was once looking for present themselves. You may find yourself. If you want to. the same thing. And when he found me, he told me I wasn’t “Thus I urge you to go on to your greatness if you believe it is in really looking for him. I was looking for an answer. It’s the you. Think deeply and separate what you wish from what you question that drives us mad. It’s the question that brought are prepared to do.” Percy Wells Cerutty you here. You know the question just as I did. Coach John Payne Neo: What is the Matrix? Trinity: The answer is out there, Neo. It’s looking for you. And it will find you, if you want it to. The Starting Block 3 TLC Tidings As the end of our long course season approaches, the TITANS Leadership Council would like to thank our families for their dedication and volunteerism during all the meets and events we have hosted. This is in addition to their support of our swimmers, coaches and team! It has been great seeing so many new faces on deck helping out at meets! Our swimmers have excelled this season and we know part of their success is due to the support they feel on deck at every meet. with the Miracle League of the Triangle. The Miracle League provides children with special needs the opportunity to play baseball. Our swimmers did an outstanding job helping out at their assigned games. They had just as much fun as the players! Some of our older swimmers, were able to volunteer to help with Special Olympics. They were able to time and cheer on these amazing athletes! Thank you to all those that helped to make our Annual Awards Ceremony and our Senior Recognition such a success! As the long course season comes to an end, we are also in Swimmers from all the process of planning for our upcoming Championship TITANS groups were meets. Those qualified swimmers will enjoy a pasta dinner to treated to a great get them pumped up for their meets. As short course quickly slideshow as well as approaches, we have already begun to plan for the coming the opportunity to year. Our Team Spirit Committee is working hard on some new hear from our very designs for team shirts. Please make sure you update your own “Coach”, Dennis swimmers t-shirt size if it has changed. Our Social Committee Davis. After the is beginning to plan ceremony, the for our kick-off swimmers were event! We are also treated to refreshments. Also at the Annual looking forward to Awards Ceremony, new members were welcoming our new voted into the TITANS Leadership Council. head coach, Bruce The following new members were added: Marchionda, at Matt Hook -TLC President, Dina Goembel the beginning - Social Chair, Heather Whelehan - Co- of August. Volunteer Coordinator, and Karin Grotjohn Thank you for all - Dues Reduction Chair. you all do to make The TITANS this team a success! Let us know if you have any questions have been busy in the or concerns. community. All of our Sincerely, swimmers helped make and deliver over 200 lunches for Your TITANS Leadership Council (TLC): Matt Hook, Nicky the Brown Bag Ministry. Our Dunlap, Ann Payne, Meredith Nance, Dina Goembel, Heather older swimmers have been Whelehan, and Karin Grotjohn giving back to our community outside of the pool. They were given the chance to volunteer The Starting Block 4 TAC TITANS Hire New Head Coach The TAC TITANS are proud to announce Bruce Marchionda Both Marchionda and Payne have a great deal of experience as Head coach of the TAC TITANS swim team. Bruce will join and tremendous success developing age group swimmers Associate Head Coach John Payne (“JP”) along with five all the way through Gold Medal Olympians in the full-time and six part-time coaches to make up one of the 2012 London Olympics. most experienced and successful age-group coaching teams in the country. “Bruce is not only a great person, but a great coach Bruce was hired to lead an experienced, accomplished that developed me from being a good swimmer to team of coaches to help each of our swimmers optimize an Olympian,” said Gold Medal Olympian Claire Donahue. their performance and develop the TITANS into a perennial state, region and nationally recognized club. Bruce is currently Raleigh native and Gold Medal Olympian Charlie Houchin coaching the High-Performance post-graduate and stated that, professional swim team at South Florida Aquatic Club where he has qualified two swimmers for the 2016 Olympic Games “John Payne’s coaching style that focuses on the individual in Rio. Bruce holds the highest ASCA 5 level coaching needs of each swimmer allowed me to perform at my status and has 30 years of experience coaching at the collegiate, prep school and age group level including nine highest level.” years at Clemson University and 13 years at Western Kentucky University. Bruce’s planned starting date is Monday, August 1st. It is with full anticipation that the current coaching assignments and Western Kentucky Athletic Director, Todd Stewart stated practice schedules will remain the same for the 2016-2017 SCY season. Bruce will be leading and coaching the National/ “Bruce Marchionda is an excellent swim coach and was Sectional group along with JP & Coach Dennis, as well as always great to work with. The swimmers under his overseeing and helping with all other Challenge, Elite, and Jr tutelage consistently improved their times. He is very TITANS groups. dedicated to his profession, and I feel he will do an Bruce is very excited about his new position as Head Coach outstanding job with the TAC TITANS Swim Team.” and stated “The Triangle Aquatic Center is a place where I can put my skills and experience to work in an area directly related to student-athlete development.