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Vallejo Aquatic Club

P.O. Box 5846
Vallejo, CA 94591
(707) 553-swim
www.vallejoaquatics.org

June - July 2009

Shark Attack
The Official Newsletter of the Vallejo Aquatic Club

Presidential Proclamation

Fundraising can be Favaro swimming A BIG thank you goes

2008 - 2009 VJO Board
Debbie Rodinsky, President
Angelynne Yee, Vice President
Dove Butler, Treasurer
Jennifer Unger, Secretary
Diane Powell, Membership
Debbi Tucker, Officials
Debbie Rodinsky, Interim Meet
Director
Debbie Cameron, Newsletter
tedious but it is a
necessary event. As you
may already know, our
annual Swim-a-Thon and
the meets that we host
thoughout the year are
VJO's major fundraising
activities. Each are
important in their own
way, and help provide
the funds for team
events as well as the
scholarship that was out to Debbie Cameron
presented during our and Stephanie Castro for
May meet. So, I would all of their planning and
like to encourage you to work on the Swim-a-
get involved and Thon. Great job!
participate. If you have
any other fundraising Debbie Rodinsky
ideas and/or would like
to lead any of the
fundraising efforts
please let anyone on the
board know.

Coaches
Coach Tuffy Williams Swim-A-Thon 2009
Coach Aaron Jon Toch
Make sure to get your pledges collected and turned in!
Coach Lesley Ruszel

How to put the “Fun” in Fundraising

Do it with some friends

Our 2009 Swim-A-Thon King & Queen – Captain Max

Tiuseco (in the bikini) and Patricia Welton
Page 2
Reflections from the Deck
Coach Tuffy
NOTES FROM THE TUFFGUY
You now have been in the water
going on your 4th week. We
Coach Aaron Jon
What an awesome summer we
had! June and July were jam-
packed with meets and
activities: our WCAN dual meet,
a wedding shower for the new
Mrs. Lesley Ruszel, the Napa LC
C/B/A+ and Summer Sanders
Invitational, the A’s vs. Giants
game, our annual Pool Party,
the 4th of July Parade and
continue to increase our numbers as
more of you return. Now is the time to
get yourself organized.
Start by making a plan to get what
needs to get done on a daily basis.
•Get yourself prepared for your school
day and swim practice the night before.
Gather your homework, school supplies
and pack your swim bag so you won’t
be looking for something in the morning
•Plan a time for your homework and
stick to it, do it at the same time every
day.
•Come to practice everyday you can,
prepared to do all you can to make
yourself successful. Get in the pool
when your time comes and the Coach
says, “Get in”. Have your kickboard,
Fireworks, the Westside C/B/A+, Junior
Olympics, the Swim-a-thon, and Far
Westerns! Wow that was a lot!!
I’d like to thank each and every one of
you who made all those events possible-
-swimmers, parents, and staff. We
certainly had a fun time staying busy!
Congratulations are due to our
swimmers who set new team records in
June and July, Ares Elmore in the 13-14
Boys 50 meter Freestyle and Alyssa
Powell in the 9-10 Girls 100 meter
Butterfly. We also had 4 relay teams set
new team records: 15-18 Girls in the
400 meter Medley Relay and 800 meter
Free Relay (Camille Miguel, Tori Singley,
Laurie Tucker, Patricia Welton) & 13-14
Boys 400 meter Free Relay and 800
meter Free Relay (Evan Augst, Ares
Elmore, Brandon Miguel, Dylan Powell).
Way to go!!
Shark Attack
goggles and fins with you and at the
side of the pool…not by the fence in
your swim bag or have to have your
parent bring them to you…this is your
sport not your parent’s.
•Honor swimming, Vallejo Aquatic Club
& teammates by trying your hardest
during practice.
•Be positive! Instead of saying to your
teammate “you cheated”, try saying
something positive, “I liked the way you
tried” or “nice swim” or “wow, you went
fast that time”, etc.
•Thank your parents often for this
opportunity - it is not easy to get you to
practice every day.
•By all means “HAVE FUN!”
Finally I’d like to let everyone know
about our next home meet, on
November 13-15. We’ll need “all hands
on deck” to make it another successful
VJO operation. Not only are our meets
an excellent opportunity for our
swimmers to compete, but they are vital
fundraisers for our team.
Shark Attack Page 3

SHARK PROFILES
June - July 2009

Alex Yee Age: 10

Favorite Strokes: Butterfly and Freestyle

Favorite Meet Events: 50 Free

Role Models: My parents

Future Goal: To get a college degree.

Hobbies: Swimming, piano, singing

Favorite Songs: Can’t Take My Eyes Off of You

Favorite Movie: Twilight

Favorite Book: Twilight saga

When Alex grows up, she would like to be a singer and an

accountant.

If Alex could change one thing, she would like to have a

clean environment.

Something interesting about Alex: She likes to watch

musicals.

Rebecca Sabio Age: 10

Favorite Strokes: Breaststroke

Favorite Meet Events: 50 Breast, 50 Free

Role Models: My mommy

Future Goal: To go to Stanford

Hobbies: Sleeping

Favorite Songs: Boom Boom Pow

Favorite Movie: The Game Plan

Favorite Book: The Monster in the Closet

If Rebecca could change one thing, it would be global

warming and whaling.
Page 4 Shark Attack
SHARK PROFILES
June - July 2009

Bryce Yee Age: 8

Favorite Strokes: Freestyle

Favorite Meet Events: 25 Freestyle

Role Model: My dad

Future Goal: To get better grades

Hobbies: Drawing dragons

Favorite Songs: Sherry by Frankie Valli & the Four Seasons

Favorite Movie: Harry Potter

Favorite Book: Harry Potter

If Bryce could change one thing, he would change his grades.

When Bryce grows up, he wants to be a teacher and a jet pilot.

Napa Meet Pix Petaluma

 Shark Attack Page 5

For Swim Parents; “The Big Deal About SwimSuits”

by John Leonard, Executive Director, American Swimming Coaches Association

Over the past 18 months, the swimming world has been a frenzy of controversy over the emergence of technology in swimsuits. At the recent World
Championships in Rome, the constant and overwhelming refrain about suits, echoed the volume and intensity of the last time we were in Rome for a World
Championships, when the topic was doping....drugs distorting our sport...in 1994. Fifteen years later, the emotional topic was the new high tech suits that
have swept through the sport from the World Championship level down to the local park district championships in the summer league. The parallels were
impossible to miss.
FINA (the international governing body of swimming), in an unprecedented move at its Congress in Rome, banned the use of all “non-textile” materials
from suits beginning in 2010, and limited the coverage of the body to “knees to navel for men” and “knees to shoulder straps” for women. 168 nations
voted in favor of the restrictions, against a mere 6 in opposition (who apparently did not understand the word “textile”.) This in the face of strong
opposition to the move by the sitting President and Executive Director of the FINA organization. Amazing and never seen before. The USA delegation
initiated the restrictions and led the opposition. Why such a strong reaction in opposition to the existing plastic and rubber suits?
A parent new to the sport, from a middle class background, might well say “hey, why not? Technology marches on! Equipment gets better. Why not let
my son/daughter wear one of the fancy new suits and swim faster?”
Its a valid question that requires a thoughtful answer. Here it is.
The answer revolves around two words, with of course, a considerable amount of “side data” that adds to the intensity of the discussion and the
strength of the resolution to end the problem worldwide.
Those two words are “Maximizing” and “Enhancing”.
Quality lane lines “maximize” the opportunity of the athlete to swim fast, with minimum turbulence in the lane. (you should have seen the waves in the
pool back in the 60’s and 70’s.)
Good goggles allow the athlete to see the turns, see their competitors, and comfortably compete -- to say nothing of allowing them to train hard for
hours which was impossible in the chlorine pool without goggles and in the old days, yardage and performance was a fraction of what it is today. Goggles
Maximize the opportunity of the athlete to work hard.
Evolution in coaching techniques in training and biomechanics allow the athletes to Maximize their ability to benefit from their time in the sport.
Swimsuits, up until approximately the year 2000, and certainly until early 2008, were designed to maximize the opportunity of the athletes to go fast.
The manufacturers designed suits to “get out of the way of the water”. Less suit, less friction with the water, less drag, tighter fit, and better materials
MAXIMIZED the ability of the athlete to perform to their highest earned level.
Beginning in 2008, manufacturers took advantage (and must be applauded for doing so, within the existing rules, which were close to non-existent) of
the idea of designing suits to ENHANCE the ability of the athlete to swim faster. A line had been crossed. Designed suits incorporated plastics, rubberized
material and new design criteria, to enhance the ability of the athlete to be buoyant in the suits (riding higher makes you faster), wrapped more tightly
(compressing the “jiggly parts” makes you MUCH faster) and shed water from the plastics and rubber materials much more effectively, thereby reducing
the drag of the suits remarkably.
Since February 2008, 158 world records have been set by elite athletes. Their ability to perform has moved from being “maximized” by their swimsuits,
to being “enhanced” by their swimsuits. This rate of improvement is absolutely farcical in the historical context of over 100 years of our sport. At the world
championships, new world records were receiving polite applause akin to the “golf clap” for a good shot, rather than the historical roars of appreciation that
a swimming crowd used to provide when a human barrier went down, as it infrequently did, by great athletes at the peak of their power.
How does this translate down to the local pool?
Pretty simple. The manufacturers don’t make any money by selling suits to the elite athlete. They give the suits away to them. They count on age
group swimmers watching the “big guys” and wanting the same suits and equipment.
And lo and behold, the same miraculous benefits accrue to 12 year old Sam and Samantha when they put on the “magic suits” in their local
championships. The time drops are miraculous, the smiles are, literally, “priceless” and child, mom and dad are all happy.
“Wait a second. That suit just ripped. Wow. How did that happen? How much did it cost? Wow! You paid $500 for a suit that Sam just put his foot
through, rendering it a $500 broken garbage bag? Uh-oh., well, honey, get him another one. We can’t have Joe Jones’s son Pete beat him in the 200 free
tomorrow.” Teeth Grit. “This is a kids sport? We now have $1000 in suits so far”.
And of course, all those magic benefits only last 7-15 swims, so good for maybe 2-3 meets, unless it’s a championship and your child swims 6 events
and makes finals in all events, in which case its $500 a meet.
“Let’s see, $500 a meet, we go to 2 meets a month, 10 months of the year....Honey, it’s gonna cost us $10,000 Just for Samantha’s suits this year!”
Well, the solution is simple....just wear the suits for the championship meet and wear your regular suit the rest of the time. OK. Good.
But, Samantha’s 58.5 100 free with the magic suit on, just became a 1:02 100 free with the old suit on. Smiles gone. Gone. From Samantha, from
Mom. From Dad. Oh well.
And of course, there are some other objections as well.
First, the magic suit deal is like paying for your child to have instant improvement. Is that what you want your child to learn from the sport? Or do you
want them to learn to persevere, EARN improvement with hard work, attention to detail, paying attention to the coach and, shall we say it again...”Working
Hard?” Or do you want them to learn that you can always “pay your way” with cash to what you want?
“Earn it, or buy it.” Which do you want to teach? Answer carefully, parents.
Second, the suit does not affect everyone the same. The thin, fit swimmer will benefit marginally by it. The overweight swimmer will swim like a young
seal in it. Spending the same $500 on two children will yield radically different results. Not a fair competition at all. Is that what anyone wants?
Third, and it seems unnecessary to say this, but if you just buy 3 suits a year, that’s $1500 or MORE. (Today, purchasing one of the great European
suits online from the US will cost you $900...with no guarantee of fit, durability or return-ability, and about 30% of them RIP on the first attempt to put
them on...no refund, folks.) Do we really want age group and high school swimmers to have to spend that kind of money to BUY success rather than work
for it? It doesn’t make our sport a middle class sport, it makes it a sport for wealthy families.
Are you pooh-poohing that? Wait till your son or daughter gets beat the first time by someone whose mommie or daddie could afford a more expensive
piece of plastic and rubber than you can. The bitter taste in your mouth is not fun. Not much in the way of “sport” there.
So, in answer to the local official who asked, “Why are “they” [FINA officials] wasting time with worrying about THAT? Don’t they have better things to
do?”
The answer is “NO.” The suit debacle is the most important thing that any of us can attend to. It preserves the heart and soul of our sport....which is
reverence and appreciation for the hard work, attention to detail, courage and teamwork required to be a fine competitive swimmer and to learn to succeed
with those life-skills instead of with your Daddy’s wallet.
The Congress (not the Ruling Bureau) of FINA took the rules into their own hands after the Bureau had time and again failed to establish the rules
necessary to keep our sport vital, credible and important. Bravo for them.
Page 6 Shark Attack

VJO Shows Their True Colors at the 4th of July Parade

Some Fun in the Sun at our June Pool Party…

Shark Attack Page 7

Volunteer Central
Opportunities to help out the team!

VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES:
At home meets, consider helping Hospitality -keep the volunteer crews happy with good food
and lots of it, make and possibly deliver lunches, snacks, beverages, etc. to timers, computer room, stroke
and turns, referees, starters, coaches, etc.
At away meets, please make sure to sign up to do some timing. We typically need 3 timers at
a time and try to get enough parent volunteers to sign up so that no one has to time for more than 2 hours
at any meet. Look for a sign up sheet in the VJO “Village”. Just take a look at the picture below to see what
a tough job this is…

Welcome (Back) to the Deck

New Swimmers Returning Swimmers

June: July: June: July:

Anders Knutstad Justin Yee Connor Rutledge Helena Hamed

Jennifer Trybull Will Walters Amara Jaramillo Jacob Bautista
Taylor Wilson Guillermo Landaker Vivien Ly JP Tucker
Kingsley Kamau Juanna Falcon Shelly Wilcoxen
Sam Lloyd Tim Falcon
Aaron Brumels Chris Diaz
Rachel Brumels Ethan Adel
Jackson Radley Sebastian Fernandez
Eli Prompradit
Niki Tata
Page 8
Life in the Fast Lane
The following swimmers achieved new time standards at the following meets:
“B” TIMES:
WCAN Dual Meet (6/6)
Evan Augst: 100 Fly
John Bayotas: 100 Breast
Sarina Chang: 100 I.M.
Aaron Chau: 50 Breast
Chris Craft: 100 Back
Izzy Fouad: 50 Breast
Frankie Liang: 100 Free
Jose Martin: 100 Back
Izzy Paragas: 50 Breast
Chris Rodinsky: 200 I.M.
Rebecca Sabio: 50 Breast
Alexander Viray: 50 Breast
Sabrina Yee: 50 Breast
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Evan Augst: 100 Back, 100 Fly
Mirelle Augst: 50 Fly
John Bayotas: 100 Back
Cyril Carlos: 50 Free
Mel Chaewsky: 200 I.M.
Chris Craft: 100 Breast
Kim Goyena: 100 Breast, 200 Breast
Arnold Imperial: 100 Back
Amalia Keilholtz: 50 Back, 50 Free
Frankie Liang: 100 Fly
Ronick Putong: 100 Breast
Chris Rodinsky: 50 Free
Alex Yee: 50 Free
Braeden Yee: 50 Breast
Sabrina Yee: 50 Free, 50 Breast
Westside LC (July 11-12)
Jalen Aquino: 50 Fly
Sarina Chang: 50 Free
Jose Martin: 50 Free, 100 Free, 100
Breast
PRT Times…
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Alyssa Powell: 200 I.M.
Westside LC (July 11-12)
Alyssa Powell: 50 Back
LC Junior Olympics (July 16-19)
Andrew Butler: 100 Free
Alyssa Powell: 50 Breast, 50 Free, 100
Back
LC Far Westerns (July 29-Aug 2)
Ares Elmore: 50 Free
THE “A” TEAM:
WCAN Dual Meet (6/6)
Evan Augst: 100 Back
Mirelle Augst: 50 Fly
Alex Chan: 50 Breast
Izzy Fouad: 50 Free
Regina Horder: 50 Free
Brandon Miguel: 100 Fly, 100 Back,
100 Breast, 100 Free, 200 I.M.
Alexander Viray: 50 Fly
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Mel Chaewsky: 100 Free
Alex Chan: 50 Back
Chris Craft: 50 Free, 200 Free
Regina Horder: 50 Free, 200 I.M.
Ricki Liang: 100 Back
Brandon Miguel: 200 Free
Laurie Tucker: 100 Back
Colin VanDervoort: 100 Breast, 200
Breast
Summer Sanders LC Invitational
(June 19-21)
Milton Lau: 100 Free
Will Rodinsky: 200 I.M.
Westside LC (July 11-12)
Evan Augst: 100 Back , 400 Free
Sarina Chang: 50 Back
Kelley Henderson: 100 Fly
Arnold Imperial: 50 Free
Tim Man: 50 Back, 50 Free
Ashley Sotelo: 50 Free
Alex Yee: 50 Free
Far “Out” Western Times…
WCAN Dual Meet (6/6)
Ares Elmore: 100 Free
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Alyssa Powell: 50 Back, 100 Back, 100
Free
Woodland "Last Chance JO
Qualifier" LC (July 11-12)
Alexander Viray: 50 Free
LC Junior Olympics (July 16-19)
Alyssa Powell: 100 Breast
13-14 Boys 200 Free Relay: Evan
Augst, Ares Elmore, Brandon Miguel,
Dylan Powell
15-18 Girls 200 Free Relay & 400 Free
Relay: Camille Miguel, Tori Singley,
Laurie Tucker, Patricia Welton
LC Far Westerns (July 29-Aug 2)
Ares Elmore: 100 Free
Shark Attack
JOOOOOOOOO Times:
WCAN Dual Meet (6/6)
Dylan Powell: 100 Fly, 200 I.M.
Patricia Welton: 100 Back
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Evan Augst: 800 Free
Alex Chan: 50 Free
Dylan Powell: 200 Breast, 400 I.M.
Summer Sanders LC Invitational
(June 19-21)
Milton Lau: 100 Breast
Westside LC (July 11-12)
Ares Elmore: 100 Free
Alyssa Powell: 200 Free
LC Junior Olympics (July 16-19)
Evan Augst: 400 Free, 1500 Free
Ares Elmore: 200 Free
Kelley Henderson: 50 Free, 200 Free
Dylan Powell: 100 Fly
Max Tiuseco: 200 I.M.
Marble Welton: 800 Free
NEW TEAM RECORDS!
Napa Valley LC (6/19-21)
Alyssa Powell: 9-10 Girls 100 Fly,
LCM -- 1:20.03 [set at Napa Valley
LC C/B/A+]
LC Far Westerns (July 29-Aug 2)
Ares Elmore: 13-14 Boys 50 Free,
LCM -- 26.59
LC Junior Olympics (July 16-19)
13-14 Boys 400 Free Relay, LCM --
4:18.52 - Evan Augst, Ares Elmore,
Brandon Miguel, Dylan Powell
13-14 Boys 800 Free Relay, LCM --
9:21.40 - Evan Augst, Ares Elmore,
Brandon Miguel, Dylan Powell
15-18 Girls 400 Medley Relay, LCM --
5:16.73 - Camille Miguel, Tori
Singley, Laurie Tucker, Patricia
Welton
15-18 Girls 800 Free Relay, LCM --
10:02.64 - Camille Miguel, Tori
Singley, Laurie Tucker, Patricia
Welton