TWISTERS

February/March Newsletter

2010
 

Congrats on a successful Snowball Dive Meet! 

          Our team did a wonderful job with the meet this year.  Due to circumstances beyond our control the field of divers was about half of what it was a year ago.  However, I believe this year was an even better meet.  True, the financial bottom line was not as good this year, but so many great things happened.  First, our parents went way beyond the norm to prepare for this meet.  I know many of you, whom I cannot name, helped a great deal with projects.  I really only know the people who led each project.  So I hope you realize how much I appreciate your help, even if I don’t mention you by name.  Laurie Winkel did a fabulous job getting pictures for our “Wall of Fame”, decorating for our meet, making bag tags and car decals, and taking pictures at the meet.  She has also organized the development of our new website:  twistersdiveteam.org.  Please go to it soon if you haven’t seen it recently.  We hope to do a better job of keeping it current with information and pictures than we have in the past.  Rebecca Engelman did a great job designing our meet shirt, tie dying sammies, running the gift table, and making jewelry.  Her goal is to sell these items on our website!  If that wasn’t enough she and Pete have made new ½ meter platforms for us.  We should have those next week.  Brian and Tracy Wheeler did a great job finding a sponsor for our meet, getting snacks & drinks and manning the hospitality room.  Zach also has done a great job keeping our boards in good working condition by oiling and greasing them on a regular basis (he is our “wheel man”).  Brian also made our new TIVO cabinet, donated the TV, and most of all, programmed the TIVO (which took about 1 hour)!  Trish Dobnikar and her husband donated all the fruit for the meet.  Tammy Parrott took on the project of running the meet with the divemeets.com software.  This was a new venture for us and I would have been lost without her.  I tried to give it up once, but thankfully she won out!  She put in countless hours preparing for the meet and checking the results.  Also, Archie Smith & Mitch Truster each committed to run the 3-meter score table throughout the entire meet.  And of course, I can’t forget my wonderful coaches.  Mary announced and coached warm ups while Bob coached and judged the entire meet.  Thanks to everyone for donating gifts for door prizes.  I had MANY divers from the other teams thank me for a great meet.  I am so lucky to be surrounded by such wonderful people!

          Of course our divers were something else!  We had divers in their first ever dive meet:  Ali, Taylor, Emma, & Katie Beth.  We had divers in their first AAU meet with us:  Jordan & Jane.  We had divers do their “first” dive in the meet:  Emma, Katie Beth, and Hannah’s first 403c on 1-meter.  There were some spectacular dives that come to mind:  Alberta’s 303 on 1-meter, Eleanor’s 5132 on 3-meter, Zach’s 405c on 3-meter, Jane’s 403 on 1-meter, and Toby’s 103b on 1-meter.  Jane had to compete 1-meter JO and 3-meter Novice at the same time.  It was impossible to coach her because she was always diving!  That took a lot of concentration.  Payton won both the Target Diving & Novice Dive Off events!  Katie Beth and Emma both won events in their very first meet!  I can’t recall all the new dives that were done during the last two months but Ali learned enough new dives to compete in JO in her very first meet!  She learned  14 dives in one month, which I believe is a RECORD for our team.  I think she learned 101c, 201c, 302c, 402c, 103c, 104c, 5122d, 202c, & 5223.  Many of these dives were on both boards!  Toby learned 7 new dives in the past 2 months, and I think all of them had a DD of more than 2.0!  Other new dives before the meet that I can recall:  Hannah 5132 on 3meter, 403 on 1meter; Emma 001 on 3meter, 101, 102, 201, 401 on 1meter; Katie Beth 401, 201, 101 on 1meter & 001 on 3meter; Toby 304, 204b on both boards, 5134 on 3meter, 405c on 3meter, + more; Jane 403c, Taylor 401, 102, & 103, Alberta 5132 on 3meter, Zach 105b & 405c on 3meter.  If that wasn’t enough ourdivers came to practice on Tuesday after the meet with a PURPOSE.  Toby did a 305c on 1-meter, Zach a 5134 on both boards, Jordan a 304, and Eleanor a 105 on 1-meter.  I had goose bumps all night long!

 

Current Schedule

          Our next meet is the Jayhawk Heartbreak Invitational next weekend, February 13.  I believe it will be a 1 day meet only (on Sat).  I will let you know as soon as I am sure.  I will be your coach.  Please go to divemeets.com to sign up for the meet.  You will be doing the same dives you did at the Snowball meet, unless I tell you otherwise.  For our young novice divers we can do skills instead of dives.  Let me know if you have questions.  There will be a coaching fee for this meet.

          February 20 is Girls State.  There is still a good chance that Eleanor, Jordan, & Jane can qualify.  If any of our divers make it to the State meet Mary and plan on going.  Just like boys state we will be happy to take any team divers that want to go.  However, that means that we change the practice time from Sat to Sun, February 21, from 2 to 4.  We will keep you informed.

          We will have a professional photographer take our team photo February 25 (Thursday) at 6 PM.  Everyone please arrive on time at 6PM.  You can have individual photos or “buddy” photos taken as well as our team shot.  I will email the fees to you in a separate message.  I encourage everyone to bring their “bling” (medals/trophies/etc.) for the individual shot.  You are not obligated to buy the photos, but I really want everyone in the team shot.    

         Our JO divers will be going to Ames, Iowa March 6-7 for the Region 5 Championship.  The top 6 divers qualify for Spring West Nationals which are April 9-10 in Minneapolis.  You must register with USA diving as a “Competitive Gold” athlete.  The cost is $75 and is good through September 2010.  You can download the meet information from USAdiving.org or divemeets.com.  Rebecca is going to decide on a team motel for us.  Please let her know if you have a preference.  There will be a coaching fee for this meet, and all divers will share in the coach’s expenses.  I will be your coach and will try to travel with a family in order to keep my expenses to a minimum.

          Sometime in the week after the Region meet we will probably have a team night when we all reverse dye shirts with the help of Tammy Parrott.

          The MOKAN league will have meets on Wed nights for 6 weeks in June and July.  I hope everyone will participate, but particularly the HS and novice divers.  It is a great low key meet situation to try out new dives and perfect old ones; as well as a great learning experience for our new divers.

  We are now a not for profit entity!

          This has taken almost 2 years to complete but we are finally done.  If you ever donate an item to the team, such as fruit for our meet or a TV for our TIVO, you can deduct it from your taxes.  By the way, always be on the lookout for a kind hearted donor!

ETC. 

          I have sent our meet results to the Liberty Tribune paper.  I am hopeful that they will be printed in the next week or two.  Laurie will put them on our website as well.  She also took some great pictures at the meet, please check them out.  Please make sure that if you visit the Liberty HyVee tell them thanks for sponsoring our meet.  We would like them to make this an annual event.  We will get a team photo enlarged so we can sign it and give it to them.  I have updated the team roster and will send it to each of you.  Again, please check it for accuracy.

          Please send your payment ($240 for 6 hours & $120 for 2 hours a week) for February/March to my home:  1700 Richfield Rd, Liberty, MO 64068.  Thank you very much if you have already paid.    

Divingly Yours,

Mitzi

         

Mitzi Mathews
Liberty, MO 64068