News from Peninsula Community Center

August 2010

Anthony Mejia

Welcome Anthony Mejia, Community Center Director!

Anthony comes to us from the software industry, where he worked as a Business Management Specialist, but he is certainly no stranger to the Community Center. Many of you may have spent time with him in the pool during Master's workouts, playing basketball in the gym, getting in a set or two on the tennis court or even sweating away in the weight room. Anthony has been serving around the PCC campus for over 20 years, and has a passion for sports, fitness and people! He has served as an unpaid staff member at the church, and has been a member at the Center for many years. Anthony has followed God's calling and is excited to use his gifts of leadership, spiritual gifts, and his passion for sports and people in his new role as Director. Please welcome Anthony when you see him. He will begin his new role on August 30.

On Wednesday, August 4 from 10:30am to noon we will be celebrating Dan Cornelius and thanking him for the job he did as Interim Director. Dan stepped into the role in June 2009 to lead the Community Center during a time of transition. Dan's service allowed the Board and the Church to thoughtfully and prayerfully consider the future of leadership at the Center, and to take our time with the search process. Many of you have come to know and love Dan and we would encourage you to take the opportunity to share with him how his time at the Center touched you and your family. This will be a wonderful time of blessing Dan as he moves on to the next adventure that God has in store for him!

Rachel Holt, chair

Celebrating - Dan Cornelius

Wednesday, August 4th

10:30 till Noon

Stop by to thank Dan for serving as our Interim Director and have a snack too!

Summer Special Dates

Treasure Island - 12:30 to 6pm on: 8/14 and Labor Day, Monday 9/6

Hot Doggest Nites - 6pm on: 8/13 and 8/27

Watermelon Wednesdays - 2 pm every: Wed 6/16 to 8/25

Labor Day 9/6

Peninsula Covenant Aquatics News

PCA Dolphins Take the "Triple Crown" in West Bay Swim League Competition

The Dolphins captured Relay, Dual Meet and Championship trophies in WBSL Summer League competition. The final score of the Championship Meet was PCA Dolphins scoring 1,581.5 points with Ladera Rec. second with 1, 509.5 points. The closeness of the score shows that every PCA Dolphin swimmer helped contribute to our success. Complete results are on the PCA website.

Congratulations on a great meet!!!

2010 WBSL Champions

Timothy Gaskin              13-14 50 Free

Elizabeth Staton             13-14 50 Free, 50 Fly

Alison Yanacek               11-12 50 Free, 50 Back

Justin Mills                     7-8 25 Free, 25 Back, 25 Fly

Kaia Anderson                7-8 25 Free, 25 Fly

Jordan Tang                   15-18 50 Back

Lydia Bauer                    7-8 25 Back, 25 Breast

Sarah Beach                   15-18 50 Breast

Griffin Scheinmann         11-12 50 Breast

Caroline Barnett              9-10 50 Breast

Lukas Bauer                    9-10 50 Breast

Tiffany Mori                   15-18 50 Fly

PCA Dolphins Qualify for USA Sectional Championships
Four Dolphin swimmers attended the USA Swimming Gold Sectional Championships in Santa Clarita, CA on July 21-25. Pictured below are (l to r) Stephanie Fong, Leah Goldman, Megan Beach and Alexa Strutner. These senior swimmers competed in individual and relay events ranging from 100 to 400 meters.

Strutner First in 10K Bridge to Bridge Swim

The swim went from the Golden Gate Bridge to the San Francisco Bay Bridge. PCA's Alexa Strutner finished first in the girls wetsuit division. Ten kilometers is about 6.2 miles!! Check out the pictures and info at http://www.sfbay10k.com/SFBAY10K/Welcome.html.

PCA Dolphins Score at Pacific Swimming Junior Olympics

Racing in the 50 Meter pool at the Soda Center in Orinda, the Dolphins finished eleventh out of ninety-one teams from Northern California and Nevada. Over twelve hundred swimmers participated in the four day event.

Seventeen year old Megan Beach won four individual events on her way to claiming the meet High Point Award. Individual finalists were: Oscar Andaluz, Sarah Beach, Stephanie Fong, Leah Goldman and Carly Reed. In addition, personal best times were turned in by: Lukas Bauer, Adam Fecher, Nicole Schiel, Elizabeth Staton, Chynna Tang and Alison Yanacek. Many of these competitors will complete their season in August at the Far Western Age Group Championships, North American Challenge Cup or Western Zone All-Star meets. Congratulations to all for a job well done!!!!!

PCA Dolphin Programs

Please check the PCA Dolphin webpage for info on our August and Fall Programs.

www.pcaswimteam.com

Check out the "More Fun in the Sun" program which runs from July 28-Aug 12.

Fall (school year) swim team begins in early September. All members of the PCA programs will receive info in mid-August.

Swim Lessons

Last Summer Session

Thought you missed your chance for Summer swim lessons? Good news,      room is still available for Session 5 (August 9^th - August 19^th)

Sign up at the front desk. flyer

Fall Lessons

Keep building your child's swimming skills with weekly lessons starting after Labor Day! Details in the weeks to come.

PCA Masters News -   Trans Tahoe Relay 2010

The 34^th Annual Trans Tahoe Relay came off without a hitch, and 42 PCA Masters joined over 918 other swimmers, 160 boats, 160 boat drivers, and various other spectators and guests on July 17^th to swim across Lake Tahoe from Sand Harbor Nevada to Lake Forest CA, just above Tahoe City, a distance of 11.5 miles. Each swimmer did 30min, 15min, and 10min during the relay until the finish was achieved.

The first place team did the distance in 3hrs, 18min which is 17.2 min/mile.   Our Cinko-Sinko Men's team did the distance in 4hrs, 10min which is 21.7 min/mile, and finished 32^nd overall and 6^th in Age Group.

Our Tahoe Tessie Temptresses Women's team finished in 4hrs, 24min which is 22.9min/mile, and secured Third Place in their Age Group, the first time ever that a PCA Masters Team won a prize for their efforts in the Trans Tahoe Relay. They all will be drinking from mugs that will enhance any beverage tremendously. Congratulations Tessies!!!

The balance of our seven teams finished very well also, and the results of the entire event can be seen at the club on the Masters Bulletin Board. Nice job people!!!!

An event of this magnitude cannot occur without the help of many, many people who gave of their time, talents, and treasure to assist the swimmers in their fine efforts. A full recap of the weekend event, with numerous other pictures, may be viewed on our website, www.pcamasters.com , and will be forthcoming shortly.

Along with the Trans Tahoe, other events happened during the month, with the Catfish Open Water 1 and 2 mile swims, and the 37^th Annual Roughwater Swim around the Santa Cruz Pier. Many of our swimmers are trying their hand at these open water events, and thriving in the process.

Almost every weekend, there is another opportunity to get into the swim with other lake, bay, or ocean open water swim events. They are all fun, exciting, and very satisfying. We are also training for our annual assault on the San Francisco Bay, the Alcatraz Invitational coming up on September 18. Over 50 swimmers have committed to swim in that event, and training trips to Aquatic Park at Fisherman's Wharf have already begun.

PCA Masters is very alive and well, and adding new members weekly. Our motto is:

Stay Fit!    Have Fun!    Get Wet!

and we are doing that often!

My best to you all for the rest of the summer at one of the greatest places on earth.

Coach Mike

PCC Adult Tennis Mixer & Doubles Tennis

Friday, August 6, 7-9pm

PCC Tennis Courts

PCC Tennis Members & their guests

Women's, Men's & Mixed Doubles

$5 per person for tennis fun & snacks

(No guest fee for this event.)

Sign up by Mon., Aug. 2^nd at front desk or contact

(650)364-6272 x264 or cherylm@peninsulacovenant.com

USTA SENIOR LEAGUE SIGN-UPS

Want to play in the USTA Senior League? We have two PCC teams currently forming: a Men's 3.5 and a Women's 3.5. Sign-ups on the USTA website are going on through August 8and the season runs September 27 - February 2011. If you have questions, contact Coach Sid at sidn@peninsulacovenant.com, or see the contacts below for the specific PCC teams.

Men's Senior 3.5 - Robert Falls, robeth642@sbcglobal.net

Women's Senior 3.5 - Cynthia Hunton, cynthia.hunton@gmail.com or

Diane Rogers, dianekrogers@yahoo.com

SINGLES TENNIS LADDERS ARE BACK

Our Singles Ladders are back this fall for men and women. This is a great opportunity to keep up your singles competition while meeting other PCC Tennis Members, all on a flexible schedule. Cost is only $15, and the competition runs September 13 through November 29. See the attached flyers for more information. Sign-up at the PCC front desk, or email tennis@peninsulacovenant.com.

Men's Ladder Women's Ladder

PCC JUNIORS GO TO ENGLAND

Last month I had an opportunity to take a team of PCC juniors on a tremendous tennis adventure in England! We spent four nights in London: we attended the men's semi final day at Wimbledon, did some site seeing, and played an interclub against the Putney Lawn Tennis Club. We then traveled to the county of Somerset where we spent seven nights at "All Hallows School" - this is a huge, old boarding school that reminded all of us of Hogwarts from the Harry Potter books. This school is the site of the All Hallows Tennis Academy. Our PCC juniors joined in with players from the academy there while I ran a training camp each day for three hours. During the afternoons we traveled to different towns to play interclub matches. It was a really great experience for all of us. The tennis academy has invited me back to run the training camp for them next summer, so this may be a possibility for another team in 2011!!

Coach Sid

England

JUNIOR TENNIS SUMMER

Our Summer Camps and Pee Wee summer are still going on and the kids are having a blast! We still have room in our summer classes, which will be continuing through August 13. Click here for info about Summer Camp and Pee Wee Summer.

Coach Paco has added an additional summer camp for intermediate students, and this 4 day class will run Aug 16-19 with � day or full day options. Click here for flyer info, or contact Cheryl at cherylm@peninsulacovenant.com if you have questions.

JUNIOR TENNIS FALL

PCC Jr Tennis is starting this fall on Wednesday, September 8^th! We have recreational and competitive after-school tennis classes for kids ages 3-18, for the junior player who is a beginner through the USTA ranked player. Click below for more information:

Jr Tennis

Pre Junior Tournament Team (ages 8-11)

Junior Tournament Team (ages 12-18)

USTA ADULT LEAGUE WRAP-UP

This last spring and early summer PCC had six USTA Adult League teams who competed here and around the Peninsula. Thank you, members, for your flexibility in sharing the courts this last season. Thank you to the following captains for all your hard work! - Eric Morley (Men's 4.5), Marc Manuel (Men's 4.0), Don Rust & Perry Thorndyke (Men's 3.5), Diane Rogers & Gina Kelley (Women's 3.5 1), Karen Spini (Women's 3.5 2) and Lisa McKenna (Women's 3.0)

The Men's 4.5 team ran into some tough competition this year. There were many third sets that we just didn't pull out. All and all, we had a good time and got in lots of matches. Thanks guys for all the effort, for putting up with all my emails and we'll get them next year. Eric Morley

The Men's 3.5 team had a great season, finishing the regular season at 8-3 and fourth place in our twelve team division. We lost in a very close battle with Ladera Oaks in the first round of the playoffs but overall a successful and enjoyable campaign. Don Rust

The 3.5 2 team captains played each match with heart and hustle. Most of the ladies played with a different partner every match, some they did not even know!!! It was good experience and was fun meeting new players. Missy Rhen, Terri Mead and Sara Conneely played great singles and kept us in every match. Once June hit it was tough to field a team, but we found a way. The best part of the season was beating PAC two times. They are always tough but PCC pulled out two great wins. Karen Spini

The Ladies 3.0 Team, in its second year at PCC, finished the season 6-3 and earned a playoff berth. Playoffs were held at the Pacific Athletic Club mid July and PCC came very close to upsetting the top-ranked team. 3.0 team members are dedicated to continued improvement of their game and this along with the camaraderie among the players is the magic mix that will get us to the district championships next year!

Lisa McKenna

The PCC W3.5A team had a great season, finishing in 6^th place out of fourteen teams. The team, made up of half PCC members and half non-members was small but this allowed each player a lot of matches. Gina Kelley and Jo Ann Proudian won every match they played and Cynthia Hunton, generally a doubles player, stepped up to the plate on 2 occasions to play singles. And, unfortunately two of our singles players, Luanne Darbonne and Bev O'Rourke were unable to play most of the season due to injuries. This team was special! We had a lot of FUN; we had the DESIRE TO WIN; we were DEDICATED; and we were very SUPPORTIVE of each teammate. Gina Kelley and I want to say THANKS to each and every player. We look forward to more great fun next year! Diane Rogers

Fitness Spotlight - Kristy Irons

Kristy Irons currently teaches both Yoga and Group Power at PCC. She enjoys using her background as a certified massage therapist and personal trainer to assist people in getting the most out of their workouts. She finds it very rewarding to help her PCC family change their lives through fitness.

Kristy also works at the Jean Weingarten Peninsula Oral School for the Deaf, just down the street from PCC, helping deaf and hard of hearing children learn to listen, think, and talk! In addition, she has a great time working in the infant nursery across the bridge at the Peninsula Covenant Church, teaching children about God's great love.

When not at the school or the club, Kristy's favorite thing is spending time with her 2 children and her husband, Matt.

Download a new fitness class schedule

Edit Image

Weight Room Orientations w/ Monique

see front desk

A Seven Year Old Princess Who is Changing Lives

For those of you who do not know who I am, my name is Betsy and I am the Pool Deck Supervisor at PCC. I run the PCA Swim School, and co-manage the lifeguard team. I of course enjoy working with the teachers and lifeguards, but my real passion is working with the kids. I love and look forward to teaching the few lessons I am able to teach each day. I have always had a passion for working with kids, their smiles, their hearts, and their genuine words. However, I think something we all forget from time to time is how fragile life can be and in a second those smiles, hearts, and words can be taken away from us. I learned this all too real lesson back in April, when a seven-year-old girl named Chloe Madigan passed away from an inoperable brain tumor and went home to Jesus Christ.

Chloe was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor on October 15^th 2009. Tumor. Cancer. Inoperable. Those are scary words for anyone to hear, let alone a seven-year-old. Then to hear that your seven-year-old daughter, sister, granddaughter, great granddaughter, goddaughter, niece, cousin, student, or friend has been diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor is terrifying. However Chloe was lucky in the sense that she came from an amazingly loving family who did all that they could for their little princess in the time that they had left with her. They took her to her numerous Doctors' visits each week; they supported her emotionally, financially, physically and lovingly. They made the extra effort to make special time and memories that everyone in the Madigan family has come to cherish. Through the wonderful organization, Make A Wish Foundation, Chloe got the chance to go to Disneyland and be a real life princess. Chloe's family went above and beyond. Chloe's Aunt Susy made a website to spread Chloe's story. The purpose of this website being to introduce Chloe and her story to individuals who were interested in writing Chloe cards. On this website was a perfect description of their Angel:

"Chloe is 7 years old and is in second grade. She loves pink, princesses and her pug Brutus, oh, and sushi. Chloe loves sushi. Chloe is a beautiful rose! She has two cats named Rascal and Snowball. She is an aspiring actress and has already played a role as a mouse in her school play of Cinderella. She is enrolled in the local Players Theater and is a Candy Store kid for Charlie and the Chocolate Factory! Chloe loves Littlest Pet Shop, playing cards, dice and reading. She loves working in the garden and recently helped her dad build boxes for the winter garden. When not working the big stage Chloe is an avid swimmer, taking a Silver in the Breast Stroke!"

Since Chloe has gone to heaven, one of her very loving cousins ran a 21 mile race in her name while Chloe's eleven year old brother Colin formed Team Chloe, a team consisting of family and members from their community, and walked in the 5K "Walk For Wishes" fundraiser to raise funds for the Make A Wish Foundation in Chloe's memory.

In the words of Chloe's very loving grandma, "Our precious Chloe resides in our heart and in our minds. One small girl's plight reached out across our Nation and as far as foreign lands. Hundreds of people joined hands and hearts in support of our family. Her illness brought about a change in many people. Strangers became friends. Friends became family. We shed our tears with the missing of her but we are better people because she was once here. Give someone her smile today and she will live in your heart too." Chloe was such a bright light, and an inspiration to everyone she met. Even when she was going through the worst of her treatment she never complained. Chloe was different from most kids her age. Chloe was strong, loving, bright, courageous, and all around an amazing individual, those who knew her know they are better people for having her in their lives.

Thank you so much for your time. If you feel moved to do something for Chloe, her family, or another child like Chloe please take a moment and donate online by going to the make a wish website and donate with an e-mail memorial message at https://secure.wish.org/?ProductID=EM02-02&. These e-mail memorial messages will be going to Chloe's Aunt Pixie. This is why you will be putting pixiemadigan@att.netin the box marked "recipient's e-mail address." If you do not feel comfortable donating online please stop by PCC and drop off a donation at the front desk or in the yellow box by the coffee in the lobby. If writing a check, please make it out to Make-A-Wish Foundation of America. Again, Thank you so much, every dollar you donate will make a difference for a family like the Madigan's, and a child like Chloe!

- Betsy Fouts