Editor-

Emma Plank Contributors-

Natalie Carlantonio

Mikayla Fleeger Sarah Mrozek Coach Nesbit

Coach Parry Anna Plank Emma Plank

Gabby Schwartz

In this issue... Page 1– A Note Coach Nesbit Page 2-Swimmers of the

Month Page 3-Swimmers of the Month

Page 4-Coache’s Corner Page 5-Stroke Focus Page 6-Community News

Page 7–Volunteer Spotlight Page 8-Volunteer Spotlight Page 9-An Inspirational

Message Page 10-March Birthdays, Corporate Spon-

sorship Thank You, and Upcoming Events

A Note from Coach Nesbit Anyone that has ever watched me coach knows that I am

super competitive and love to win. I also hate to lose. I constantly push the kids to do their best and strive for excellence. But with the season heading into champion-

ship month, I think it is important to remind everyone that swimming is about more than winning and losing or

getting “best times.” Let’s try not to put so much pres-sure on ourselves and the team that we lose sight of hav-ing fun. If a swimmer finds him or herself worried about

failing before the big race, or letting someone down, maybe something needs to change? Sports should be about trying to succeed rather than trying not to fail.

Achieving best times is important but knowing that Mom or Dad or the coaches will be happy with our best effort means more than what it says on the stopwatch.

This month we need to focus on what each of us has learned from the season. Let’s focus on how much better

everyone’s stroke, dive or turn is. Or how much time has been dropped since the beginning of the season. Or how much better we feel with all the exercise we have done.

Part of the reason I encourage all kids to swim is that it is a life-long activity that can help with overall health and

weight control and teach the satisfaction of working hard to achieve a goal. All these results can be achieved by

the slowest swimmer in the pool. Sometimes a small drop in time means more than a big one if it took a her-culean effort to achieve it, simply being able to dive off

the block after months of trying can be just as big a tri-umph as setting a team record. (cont. on pg. 6)

Swimmers of the Month

Emma Plank

Sarah Mrozek Sarah Mrozek is an amazing swimmer, a committed contributor to the Electric Eels Newsletter, and one of this month’s “Swimmers of the Month’’. Sarah has been taking

swimming lessons since she was five years old, but this is her first year swimming for the Eels. She says she enjoys swimming because “It helps clear my mind and I feel like I’m flying through the water.” Sarah’s goals for champs include dropping time and

having fun. She said she chose to write for the Electric Eels Newsletter because she loves to write and enter writing contests.

Sarah enjoys her time outside the pool too. In her free time, she goes to voice lessons, girl scouts, participates in her school’s five star chorus, and plays video games. She has one sister named Megan and a dog named Lexi. Sarah goes to school at Moraine

Elementary and is in fourth grade. If she had a million dollars, she would “Buy lots of puppies and kittens, a mansion with a built in spa, and I would take a trip to Mexico,” Her favorite movie is Frozen. Sarah says a good coach pays attention to their swim-

mers’ needs and helps them improve their swimming. Sarah is an awesome swimmer and contributor, and we wish her the best of luck going into champs season!

Swimmers of the Month Emma Plank

Gaby Schwartz

This month’s second “Swimmers of the Month” is the talented, hard-working Gaby Schwartz. Gaby has been swimming since she was four, but this is her first year swim-

ming on a team. She says she doesn’t know much about champs, but she hopes to learn to dive. Gaby says she enjoys swimming because “ the feeling it gives me. I feels cool and refreshed,” She chose to write the For the Electric Eels Newsletter because

she loves to read and write and she always wanted to write for a newspaper. Gaby has fun outside of the water too. She has a twin brother named Sam, a little brother named Cole, and a dog named Goose. In her free time she reads, plays with

her little brother, plays on her iPad, uses the computer, and sews. If she had a million dollars, she would take her whole family to Ireland and Italy, and put the rest in her bank account for college. Gaby is in third grade, and goes to schools at Moraine Ele-

mentary School. Her favorite movie is Mrs. Doubtfire. Gaby says a good coach is “someone who isn’t mean, but isn’t afraid to push you.”

Gaby is an amazing swimmer, an awesome contributor, and we glad she’s on our team!

Coaches Corner By Natalie Carlantonio

Coach Rachel is a great coach! She is a student at SRU. She enjoys coaching for the Eels because she likes to see everyone improve. She also likes that everyone involved

enjoys swimming, and are very passionate about the sport. Her favorite stroke is backstroke, “because I can breathe the whole time”. Her favorite food is Chinese food, and her least favorite food is fish. Coach Rachel’s favorite restaurant is Chipotle.

Her favorite Disney princess is Cinderella, because it is the classic fairy tale. Rachel’s favorite TV show is Gilmore Girls. Other hobbies she has are reading, writing, draw-ing, and teaching. Her major is early childhood and special education. When I asked

her what she would do with $1,000,000, she said she would “go on a cruise, give most of it to charity, and save it”. She does not have any siblings, but she has a pet cat

named Buttons. Coach Rachel is a wonderful coach and we are very lucky to have her!

Stroke Focus-Freestyle Coach Parry

Freestyle is supposed to be the most simplistic of all the strokes and really it's the first one we all learn. That being said it isn't always the easiest to master!

First and foremost for anyone to develop their freestyle they need to establish body line and posture. What does that even have to do with swimming? Well it's CRU-

CIAL! If a swimmer is swimming with their head lifted or not able to keep their bal-ance by engaging their core and properly rotating, you will improper form all down the

kinetic chain. Common problems are sinking at the hips and wiggling. Head being kept in neutral with the spine and not looking forward during the stroke will provide an excellent base to build on.

Next one element to improving freestyle is focusing on technical aspects. Getting a good reach with a high elbow, all while keeping the fingers pointed down are compo-

nents of a good recovery phase. Properly entering, getting a good catch (placing or anchoring the hand to give you something to pull with) and maintaining a high elbow as you pull through all while rotating around the midline of the body will help you to

get everything out of your pull. I could spend years talking about those mechanics, but a big mistake I see swimmers

make is when they breathe too long during their freestyle. We can call this late breath-ing. It is a common error in all strokes (except backstroke) and if fixed can drastically improve rotation and balance. A swimmer when breathing should breath to the pulling

arm side of the body. A breath should occur early in the pull cycle and the head should be returned back into the water before the hand fully passes the head. This allows for full extension and reach, as well as being able to maintain proper rotation. I

have provided links below on drills to help improve the timing of the breath. Also a swimmer should never lift their head forward to breath but rather a quick side turn of

the head with only one goggle coming out of the water. It can be scary at first to think you will breathe water, but when done correctly there is no breathing water.

All of this also comes back to having fantastic under water fly kicks! That is what is be-coming known as the 5th Stroke and ones who master and excel in this aspect of swimming will see tremendous benefit in their freestyle.

(Cont. on page 6)

Community News By Anna Plank

Thanks to all who donated loose change to Camp Lutherlyn’s “Fill the

Pool” campaign. Are final total is……………….. $70.00 ! Thank you so much for your generosity and your willingness to participate in this com-munity service project!

Stroke Focus-Freestyle (cont. from page 5)

Coach Parry For more information on freestyle stroke technique, check out these videos on line: Quick breath kick drill

http://youtu.be/VHDd77LJxWM Quick breath 2 stroke drill http://youtu.be/Vut-sho0N6I

Underwater fly kick article/video http://swimswam.com/how-to-maximize-the-fifth-stroke/

A Note from Coach Nesbitt (Cont. from page 1)

The most important thing swimmers can do to prepare for Champs is to get ready to

try your best. Come ready to practice, ready to work hard, ready to listen to the coaches and ready focus on the little things. Make sure to get plenty or rest (go to

bed early all month) drink lots of water (every day) and eat lots of healthy food. The most important thing parents can do to prepare for Champs is to encourage. En-

courage the kids to focus, encourage the kids to put forth their best effort and encour-

age the kids to finish strong. At the end of the day when the swimmer climbs out of

the pool, make sure they receive plenty of smiles and hugs no matter the results.

They need you to be their biggest fan!

Volunteer Spotlight Coach Nicole Moraitis

Sarah Mrozek

Nicole has been a coach for 3 years, and she started swimming when she was 5. Her

favorite stroke is butterfly. Her least favorite stroke is breaststroke. She enjoys swim-ming because it feels like home, she feels like the water is where she belongs. She is training to be in the Pittsburgh Marathon Relay in May, which Coach Will is training for,

too. Coach Nicole would rather do a 75 butterfly than a 125 freestyle, but she says that she is a distance swimmer. She was born in Slippery Rock. During the summer, she is a lifeguard at Armco Park Pool. She lives with her parents and has an 8 month

old husky named Skye.

Coach Nicole's favorite food is peanut butter because you can put it on anything, she says. Her favorite animal is a monkey. Her favorite vacation spot is the Outer Banks in North Carolina. If she could go anywhere in the world, she would go to Greece and

Paris. If she had a million dollars, she would travel the world and make sure her family was always taken care of. If she could have any 5 things in the world, she would get a bright red Ferrari, a big boat, a jet ski, a BIG house with a swimming pool and a gym,

and her own airplane so she could go anywhere she wanted. I would like to thank Coach Nicole for sharing about herself and dedicating her time to

our AWESOME swim team!

Volunteer Spotlight- Coach Katie Shipton

Gabby Schwartz

Meet Coach Katie. She is from Mercer, PA. She began swimming when some of her friends and neighbors joined SRST. Coach Katie’s favorite strokes are freestyle and

backstroke. Her least favorite is butterfly. Coach Katie’s favorite thing about coaching is working with the younger kids be-cause she feels that, ’’Many of them are just learning to swim and it’s awesome to

be a part of that.’’ Coach Katie’s advice to swimmers would be, ‘’ It’s important to have fun, even though it’s hard work’’. She also prefers practices over swim meets because at swim

meets she would get really nervous. She also thought they were too long and did not like getting up early!

This is Coach Katie’s first year here as a coach. Thank you for volunteering your

time Coach Katie!

My mom cries every time I swim a race. The reason why is be-

cause when I was born I had a bad problem with my heart. When I was 14 days old, the doctors removed my pulmonary valve. When I was 6 years old, I had a surgery to repair a hole

in my heart. Someday, I may need a new heart valve but for now I get along just fine without one.

My family and I never thought I would be able to swim like this because it uses up a lot of my energy. Swimming is the perfect

sport for me because it has less risk of getting hurt than some other sports. Also, swimming is an individual sport and I am able to focus on improving my own time. Swimming is one of the best exercises for

my heart and it is important for me to keep my heart healthy. I love to be in the wa-ter so this is my kind of sport!

One reason I have enjoyed my time on the team so far is because of our amazing coaches, especially Coach Emily. She has taught me a lot of skills to improve and has encouraged me and praised me. Another reason I have enjoyed being on the swim

team is the support team members and their families give each other. I like cheering for other swimmers and hearing them cheer for me.

Everyone is special in some way but don’t ever let that hold you back. I am thankful that I took a chance and tried the swim team. Maybe someday you can take a chance and try something you are not sure you are able to do.

I am thankful for my first year as an Eel and look forward to many more years to

come! Go Eels!

An Inspirational Message from a New SRST Eel Mikalya Fleeger

Silver Level Sponsors Coffaros Pizza David Gordley, DDS East Coast Chair and Barstool Slippery Rock Veterinary Hospi-tal Bronze Level Sponsors Ainsworth Consulting Services Benbrook Gastroenterology Faull Fabricating Premiere Foot and Ankle Center-Dr. Brian Spenser Trimpey Consulting Services Friends of the Eels Mary Doran Lloyd and Carol Green Mr. and Mrs. Heinie Raupp Jr. Paul and Rosalie Plank Room to Grow Montessori S.R. Law, LLC Sculpture Studio Slippery Rock Family Medicine SRU Credit Union TMS Physical Therapy

Samantha Loutzenhiser-3rd

Madison Emekter-4th Alana Colvin-12th Tyler Karner-28th

Happy Birthday to all birthdays that don’t occur

during the winter season!

Corporate Sponsorship Thank You!

March Birthdays!

Thank You to All our Con-tributors for helping make this newsletter a success!

Keep swimming and writing!

Upcoming Events… March 6th-Fun Practice for all Eels-5-7

pm-pizza and drinks provided, please

bring a snack to share! March 13,14,15-USA A Champs at Pitt March 20th-final practice for winter

session March 21st-Eels Champs at Westmin-

ster College-Go Eels!

April 12 @ 1pm SRST Banquet-Slippery Rock Township Building

May 4th-summer session start date...more info. to come!