We now have the official word from the YMCA Aquatic Center regarding practice times during the Pan Am Masters Aquatics World Championships.

We will be having practice on Tuesday July 24.

There will be NO PRACTICE on Tuesday July 31

There will be practice on Tuesday August 7th

I have updated the team calendar to reflect these changes.  That’s all for now.

Our next practice is Tuesday July 24th and some of you will be attending the YMCA Aquatic center naming ceremony that morning.  We are not clear on whether we will have pool space on July 31st.  There is a very large swim meet going on and parking will be difficult.  We may be able to work out some time in the teaching pool.  I will blog if we do get time on July 31st.

NEW OPPORTUNITY FOR SPECIAL OLYMPIC ATHLETES – TRIATHLON TRAINING

PLEASE REVIEW THIS MEMO FROM THE STATE OFFICE

ALL INTERESTED ATHLETES/PARENTS MUST CONTACT HECTOR TORRES DIRECTLY  TO EXPRESS AN INTEREST IN THIS PROGRAM321-443-0073.

We are so excited that we have athletes who are interested in training and competing in this sport. It is also very encouraging to hear that some of our athletes are already training/competing outside of SOFL. We would love to grow this sport within our organization to give more athletes and unified partners the opportunity to be challenged. In an effort to grow, we have partnered with Hector Torres and Wynne McFarlin. Hector is a Central Florida triathlete and coach who holds a Masters degree in Sport and Fitness and has an incredible amount of experience training and competing in this sport. Wynne is a Special Olympics supporter and a seasoned triathlete having competed all over the world. Throughout this pilot program you will have the opportunity to learn from both Wynne and Hector. We are very fortunate to have their support on this journey!

Here is information about how this pilot program will function. Below you will find a timeline and some other important information.

Timeline:

• Throughout June and July- Athletes, UPs, coaches meet with Hector for an assessment.

o   This will allow Hector to assess the athletes’ current progress and will provide him the necessary information to build workout programs for each Unified Pair.

o   We can schedule these appointments with Hector for you. Will just need to understand the availability.

• September 8, 2018- Attend a Sprint Triathlon in Clermont.

o   The purpose of this will be for our athletes to attend a race as spectators to better understand the format, etc.

• October 20, 2018- Athletes and Unified Partners will compete in a sprint triathlon in Clermont. We will have a separate SOFL division within this race.

Important things to consider:

• We are requiring athletes to compete with Unified Partners. We have connected with several triathletes in the Central FL area who are extremely willing and excited to participate as Unified Partners if needed.
• Coaches- we are strongly encouraging County Programs to recruit coaches and Unified Partners who are knowledgeable about Triathlon.
• Commitment- Triathlon is a sport that requires a great deal of training. We want to ensure that our athletes are fully prepared to commit to this training.
• Begin training now! As the dates depicted in the timeline above approach, we are encouraging athletes and UPs to begin training now. Until more structured workouts are provided, athletes should be swimming, cycling and running to build a base.

 

Athlete Bios: In order to help Hector become familiar with our athletes, we are asking that you provide a short bio for each athletes. This should include the athlete’s name, county, age, sports competed in, and a description of any involvement in this sport.

Here are the results for the county games.  Swimmers with names in red we still need to get times for. If you change your mind and want to swim in a different event in Area Games please let the coaches know, otherwise these will be the events you swim in area games.

There is an error on the calendar (Coach Lucky’s mistake), please ignore the date for county games and photoshoot for next week. Due to a computer glitch I can’t change the posted schedule, but be aware the photoshoot and county games are tonight not next week.  If you can’t make it tonight we will get  times for you next week, but if you want to be in the team photo you must attend tonight.

Please have everyone there tonight by 7pm with racing suits.

Everyone be at the YMCA at 7 pm for the team photo.  If you are late you may not get in the picture.  County Games will start right after the photo.  Make sure you bring your racing suits and caps.

Hello Man O War team members!

Reminder movie night is tomorrow (Tuesday) the movie will start precisely at 7:30pm.  There is no swim practice.  We will decide on the movie at 7:20pm by putting it to a vote.  If you want a say in what movie you will be watching make sure to arrive before 7:20pm.  We will have popcorn and soft drinks, you must bring your own hard liquor (just kidding we will be selling it, but drinks must be preordered by mail postmarked no later than July 1st).

County games are next week (Tuesday July 10th) !  We will be taking team photos so please arrive by 7 pm! Make sure you wear your team suits or if you don’t have a team suit wear your racing suit if you don’t have a racing suit wear your birthday suit.  You must swim  in county games to be eligible for Area games.

PARENTS we will need volunteers to time for county games.

Silver Anniversary Year for the Man O War Swim Team

It’s hard to believe, but we started the Man 0 War swim team one-quarter century ago, and it went by in a blink. We are looking to have our best season yet. Coach Lucky will be retiring from coaching at the end of this season, so he is looking forward to an exceptional year.

We start the upcoming season Tuesday, June 5th at 7:15 pm – 8 pm for coach Apryle’s group and at 7:30 pm – 8:30 pm for Coach Lucky’s group. Coach Apryle will be doing assessments the first night. Coach Lucky’s group will jump right in and get to training.

Make sure you bring your swimsuits and goggles and be ready to go. Suits need to be one piece suit, no two-piece suits, please.

Special Olympics will not be providing suits this year, so if you need a new swimming suit, please purchase a one-piece solid color suit. Orange County will be providing shirts and towels this year for our swimmers.

Please note if you have already downloaded our season calendar there are two changes Movie night has been moved to July 3rd and due to a huge meet at the YMCA Aquatic Center practice on July 31st practice is canceled. Now if the pool situation changes and we can get space, this may change. Click here for the current 2018 schedule.

This is a great opportunity for new and current athletes to obtain medical screenings for sports training and competition.

FAMILY FUN DAY

Special Olympics athletes and their families are invited to join us for an afternoon of fun.  Please RSVP to Elaine at  eriavalle@gmail.com  by April 18.

 

Date:       April 21, 2018

Location: Cypress Grove Park; 290 Holden Ave. Orl. Fl 32839

Time: – 12:00pm – 3:00pm

 

•      Medical screenings for new and returning athletes

•      Games – bocce, corn hole, volleyball, Frisbee, etc.

•      Food –grilled hot dogs, hamburger

•      Free to all

•      Any question contact Elaine Valle at eriavalle@gmail.com

Yes, it is here.  Our 25 year anniversary of the Man O War swim team at the YMCA Aquatic Center.  Twenty-five years went by fast.
We will be starting our season on June 5th.  Our schedule has been updated for 2018 but may change due to events at the Aquatic Center.

You can find the schedule by clicking on the link to the right.

See you all June 5th,

Coach Lucky

Although several of you have already voted not everyone on the team knows that The World Open Water Swimming Association has nominated me for the Man of the Year. It’s an international award, and there is open voting. An American hasn’t won in six years. I hate imposing, but I would much appreciate your vote.

You must register for your vote to count (please note comments are not votes) and the task can be a bit confusing, so I have added screenshots below to take you through the process. It should take 4 minutes.

When you are done voting, please leave a comment on the site that “everyone should join Lucky for a lake swim.”

After you finished could you also click on this email link and put “voted” in the subject area, we have a committee tracking votes, and hopefully, this keeps you from being contacted again. ivoted@luckyslakeswim.com

Many, many thanks,

Coach Lucky

Step 1 Click on the Link below. (Think of this as starting down the rabbit hole)

https://www.worldopenwaterswimmingassociation.com/2017-wowsa-awards/_________________________________________________________________________________________________

 

Step 2 Click on voter registration (so far so good, the white rabbit is pleased)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 3 Fill out the form (From this point on ignore any advice from talking caterpillars)

 

________________________________________________________________________

Step 4 The screen below will appear. First click on vote here, then 2017 awards. (Halfway there, time to rehydrate and eat cake but don’t eat the mushrooms)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

_________________________________________________________________________________________________

Step 5 This is the confusing part you have to log in again. So click the login where the red arrow is pointing (Stay focused, avoid the Mad Hatter’s party)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 6   Now put in your password and login again. (I can almost see the light at the end of the tunnel or is it a weirdly glowing grin of a cat?).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 7 Click on 2017 WOWSA awards and scroll down (I know, doesn’t this feel like deja vu)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Step 8 Stop scrolling when you see the big green check mark on the screen below and then click the link next to it (this is getting crazy, I think I hear the Red Queen coming)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Final Step (vote quick before the Queen starts the jury selection)
You should see a message that says thanks for taking our Survey. (If you have the Queen’s tart you may eat it now)

Many Thanks for voting and if you don’t mind one more task, please leave a comment that “everyone should join Lucky for a lake swim”