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In This Issue
Really Cool Club Website
We're Tweeting
Big Stone Challenge
Tech Suits and the One-Hour Swim
Volunteer Opportunities
Unlocking the Mystery of the FLOG
Lycra, Latex or Silicone?
National Office Receives Championship Poster
We've Got Spirit
About Us
Go the Distance Swimmers of the Month
Brian Evans, Fred Baird, Kristi Kay Chenoweth, Mark Comfort and Michelle Frappier


Learn more about Go the Distance and swimmers who continue to push their limits!


Really Cool Club Website of the Month...
Coach and Webmaster Extraordinaire Nate McBride keeps this fun website current with humor and substance:
 
West Side Swim Club
Sudbury, Mass.
 
We're Tweeting!

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Kast-A-Way



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We are always looking for stories and personalities to feature on usms.org, within U.S. Masters Swimming e-newsletters and in SWIMMER. If you have story ideas, contact us!


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Greetings!
 
As the year comes to a close, we find no shortage of news to share. Adventurous swimmers will enjoy reading about some intrepid swimmer/hikers in Northern California. We also have an update from the Rules Committee on tech suits and the One-Hour Swim in January.

Volunteer opportunities are always available in our organization and we offer some suggestions on how to get started. Fitness Education Committee Chair Marcia Anziano shares the secret to unlocking your FLOG, and our friends at Kast-A-Way Swimwear can help you decide which type of swim cap you need.

In January, our newsletters will have a new look, and a new name. Look for Streamlines, Streamlines for Coaches, and the quarterly Streamlines for Volunteers to hit your inboxes. Your current preferences will be preserved, and you can always adjust your e-newsletter preferences with the Update Profile link at the end of every newsletter. Receive one, none, or all of them.

Wishing you the very best this season; may the New Year find you and yours safe and happy.

Swimming for Life!
Your Friends at U.S. Masters Swimming

Big Stone Challenge
By Cathy and Kami Larripa
 
When Masters swimmer Kami Larripa first decided to move to Humboldt County, she was sorry to be leaving her teammates and the camaraderie of the Davis Aquatic Masters, a swim team boasting hundreds of members and the use of several pools. After asking her friend and Humboldt resident Emily Evans what Humboldt had to offer aquatically, Evans replied, "The Humboldt Masters swim team has between three and twelve people, but you can always swim in the lagoons," referring to Northern California's coastal brackish lakes separated from the Pacific Ocean by sand dunes.

Evans has been a member of the self-titled "Lagoonatics" for years and, along with Stephanie Stone, is one of the original organizers of a unique annual swim-hike-swim event.
 
Read more
Tech Suits and the One-Hour Swim
 
The Rules Committee has updated its official interpretation of swimwear rule 102.14 to include a statement about the One-Hour Swim, which takes place during the entire month of January.

Since an update of FINA's interpretation on tech suits as they pertain to Masters swimming will come out halfway through January, many of you have asked about wearing tech suits in the latter half of the month.

According to the USMS Rule Committee, you will be able to wear your tech suit for the One-Hour Swim at any time during the month of January. See the Rules Committee's December 6, 2009 Update for more information.
U.S. Masters Swimming Volunteer Opportunities
 
As U.S. Masters Swimming grows, more and more volunteer opportunities are created. We have been asked, "Now that we have a national office and staff, are there still ways for me to contribute?" The answer is a resounding "YES!"
 
Volunteers are the heart and soul of U.S. Masters Swimming. We encourage anyone who wishes to volunteer to start by seeking local opportunities, at the club or LMSC level, where you can work with other volunteers and see the fruits of your efforts. If you are an organizer by nature, offer to be the registrar of your club or LMSC. If your team cannot afford to have a website professionally designed and maintained and you have computer skills, look into one of the all-in-one template-based services for an affordable and easy website solution for your team. If you have writing chops, pull together a newsletter. Our volunteers also tell us that one of the biggest areas of need is in holding local events and meets. Running an event is a huge undertaking and there are always volunteer opportunities: timing, hospitality, awards, registration, logistics, etc.
 
If you are interested in volunteering at the national level, check in with your LMSC to see if there are delegate positions open. As a delegate from your LMSC, you will travel to the annual convention and participate in the decision-making process for the entire organization. You can also attend convention as a non-voting member and get to know what goes on inside USMS. When you attend convention, you may discover you have an interest in serving on one of the fifteen volunteer committees. Committee volunteers give generously of their time so that all USMS members receive the best our organization has to offer.
 
Still, other opportunities to volunteer crop up. We shared a Web feature about the volunteer clean-up day we had at the national office in October. Recently several local members came to the office to stuff envelopes and sort products for testing. Sometimes members have a special skill that is needed. We have one member, an online marketing expert, helping with the usms.org Google keywords. Another member recently translated an important letter to a museum in Spain from English to Spanish, and then translated the reply back to English. One member has taken on the task of contacting clubs and LMSCs about updating the USMS logo on their websites.
 
Volunteer opportunities are available. More information about U.S. Masters Swimming and all of its volunteer committees can be found on the Organization page of our website.

Unlocking the Mystery of the FLOG
By Marcia Anziano; Chair, USMS Fitness Education Committee
 
What is a FLOG?

You've probably been hearing the word FLOG lately. It's a funny word, FLOG. Actually, to me it sounds a bit dangerous. But have no fear, FLOG is an acronym for Fitness Log. But what exactly is a Fitness Log? Well, it's one of the benefits our members get as part of the MyUSMS section of the U.S. Masters Swimming website. That's right, it's a benefit. This became clear to me last weekend when I asked a friend if she had set up her FLOG, and she replied, "What's a FLOG?" When I told her it was a Fitness Log that you can maintain for yourself on the USMS website, she was thrilled. She had just put Fitness Log on her Christmas wish list.

Read more
Lycra, Latex or Silicone? 
By Eric Teske, Kast-A-Way Swimwear, Inc.
 
A swim cap is any of a number of rubberized or otherwise elastic devices worn on the head during participation in aquatic activities. Over the years, the swim cap has fluctuated in popularity as a result of its function, composition, and style of the times. Nowadays, the swim cap is considered essential equipment for competitive swimming - just don't call it a "hat," or you're sure to invite some confused expressions from your teammates.

Different materials and styles offer different functional advantages. The variety of caps available today is driven by the needs of swimmers.
 
 Read more
National Office Receives Original Championships Poster

Longtime USMS members and volunteers Paul and Margie Hutinger, Florida Maverick Masters, were in Sarasota last month for a SCM meet and stopped by to visit the new national office on a sunny Saturday. Paul attended the first LCM Championship meet in 1972, held in Indiana, and went home with the poster, which he framed. Paul and Margie have generously donated this slice of USMS history to the new headquarters. Our editor-in-chief, Laura Hamel, was on hand to receive the gift. Thank you Paul and Margie!

Hutinger Donates Poster
We've Got Spirit!
by Mike Keefe

This photo was taken in the hot tub at the University of Cincinnati after the first ever "Crosstown Splashdown."  The event was the brainchild of UC varsity swim coach Monty Hopkins, who offered to include the local Southwest Ohio Masters in UC's home opener against crosstown rival, Xavier University (XU).  The UC Masters, dubbed the Bearfish (the aquatic version of the University's mythical Bearcat mascot), took on their XU Masters counterparts during breaks in the varsity meet. There were several notable races. Both the men's 200 medley and freestyle relays came down to the final legs, with the XU Masters winning both by slim margins. Also, XU Masters swimmer John Carroll posted a 100 fly time that would have won the varsity event by over a second.

GO BEARFISH!
 
Tuscon Ford


To see yourself, your coaches, or your program featured, send us a photo that displays outstanding spirit to [email protected]
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Open Water: Winter Workouts for Summer Success

About U.S. Masters Swimming

U.S. Masters Swimming, founded in 1971, is a membership-operated national governing body that promotes adult health, fitness and wellness through aquatics. It does so by partnering with more than 1,000 adult swim clubs across the country that offer swim/fitness programs, promoting information via a bi-monthly member magazine and www.usms.org, and sanctioning and promoting pool, open water and virtual competitions. Nearly 50,000 adults are registered members of U.S. Masters Swimming.

About "Member News from Behind the Blocks"
U.S. Masters Swimming encourages all U.S. Masters Swimming members to subscribe to "Member News from Behind the Blocks", however if you would rather not receive this update, please do not click the unsubscribe button, as that will remove you from all other U.S. Masters Swimming National Office mailings. Rather, please click on the "Update Profile/Email Address" link at the bottom of this email. Here you can select to discontinue your "Member News from Behind the Blocks" service or sign up for the U.S. Masters Swimming coaches' newsletter, "News from the Deck" and "Featured Articles," a weekly update.