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Education Director Bill Brenner answers your questions
As Masters coaches, we strive to improve the health and well-being of our athletes, priding ourselves on keeping them active in the sport of swimming for a lifetime. However, many of us have a derisory account of the health and well-being of the aquatic facilities hosting our practices.
Recently, my community in Sarasota, Fla., was shocked with the unexpected news that our YMCA was permanently closing two fitness centers, including the aquatic facilities. This closure will displace thousands of Y members, including me, who have counted on the Y as their retreat for health and social activities.
No warnings or calls for help were communicated before this abstruse decision was made to cease operations, just an email outlining the financials struggles that led to this cessation decree. While my shock turned to anger and ensuing sorrow, I contemplated how often this travesty is happening within other Masters communities.
How much do you know about the financial health of your aquatic facility? If very little, investigate now. Do you have sources within the facility to ask? Is your program represented at the highest levels within senior management or the board of directors?
Getting involved, educated, and in a position to respond accordingly will help ensure and secure the longevity of your Masters program.
Q: Id like to expand my program by including triathletes. Im not a triathlete and have limited knowledge of the sport. What can I do to gain the skills necessary to be a successful coach for this group?
A: Many of us have had Do a triathlon on our bucket list for quite some time. This item has become buried at the bottom of my bucket, covered with other items with a higher priority and many layers of excuses. Maybe my triathlon experience will be relegated to teaching my grandkids to swim, ride a bike, and chase me around the playground.
Does my lack of participating in the traditional triathlon disqualify me from being an effective swim coach for triathletes? Not if I believe that my skills as a Masters swim coach can help the triathlete get better at their sport.
My philosophy is to train all triathletes to be swimmers. This builds their confidence, swimming endurance, and stroke efficiency. Proper training should also reduce the risk of injury to the athlete.
To effectively coach a triathlete competing in open water, become more knowledgeable in the following areas:
Race strategy: start, pace, finishSkills: sighting, buoys turns, draftingStroke technique: breathing, timing, propulsion, efficiencyEnergy systemsThe purpose of interval training
You can find more information about training triathletes on usms.org.
Thankfully for Masters coaches, on race day the swim comes first, and the other disciplines dont have an impact on the outcome of their swim. While you cant win a triathlon during the swim, you certainly can lose it by expending more energy than necessary or not finishing the swim at all.
Not many of us are getting rich from the lucrative profession of being a Masters swim coach. Rewards for our efforts, in more cases than not, are smiles, not shekels, thank yous, not dinero. Ever try to pay for swim equipment or pool rental fees with a smile or a thank you? Your good looks and pleasantries will only get you so far.
So, what can you do to pay for goods and services with something other than cash? Consider using the resources and talents at your disposal to barter/trade for what you need.
Are you capable of delivering your coaching skills, organizational expertise, or technical knowledge of meet management software? What skills and resources are members in your Masters program willing to share that can be bartered for your clubs benefit?
Here are just a few things aquatic facilities need that your club can provide:
· Personnel to be lifeguards and teach lessons
· Equipment
· Volunteers to provide manpower at events
· Donations of goods and services
· Donations of food and beverages for events
· Exposure to popular media outlets, social and otherwise
· Programming for the aquatic community such as an adult learn-to-swim program or stroke, start, and turns clinics.
Cull your resources while keeping your wallet in your pocket.
Do you have Masters swimmers whose only concern is how fast they swim and fear the inevitability of getting slower? Remind them that swimming is about more than becoming faster. Medical research has shown that swimming slows the aging process, loss of muscle mass, reduction of cognitive brain function, and decreased libido as swimmers get older. Your swimmers might not be swimming as fast, but they're getting better.
The holiday season is a wonderful time of year to celebrate the joy of giving to and sharing with others. Coaches give of themselves throughout the year striving to make the experience of swimming the best it can be for those they lead.
What gift do you have that you share with your swimmers? Dont confuse giving with gifting. You give your time. You gift what you do with that time. You give a workout. You gift the promise of hope. You give the swimmers feedback on stroke technique. You gift the swimmers self-confidence and pride of accomplishment.
This holiday, realize what gift you have that you can share now and into the future. Resolve to be better tomorrow than you were today. In sharing your gifts and enriching others, both giver and receiver benefit. Wishing you and your swimmers a happy and healthy new year.
Q: Do you want to be the best at what you do? Are you waiting for an invitation?
A: Consider my invitation to you is signed, sealed and delivered. Now lets figure out how you can get started.
What does being the best even mean? Is it reaching the pinnacle of an ability, expertise or skill as compared to your peers? Careful. In most cases, pinnacles can be have very little room for growth and very limited space to go any higher once the top is reached.
Instead of being the best, think about being your best. Find time every day to get better and become excellent at what you do.
Excellence is a choice a life long strategy that requires commitment, dedication and effort. It starts with you having a positive mindset believing that every day begins with the opportunity to make it better than the day before.
Each day, write down something positive that happened. This could be something you did for a friend, family member, stranger or something someone did for you. In addition, do something positive for yourself and write it down. Build your book of positive outcomes. Think of it as your Fitbit for mental health.
Make finding positive outcomes an important goal of each day of your life. Be good at it, be great at it and you can become the best at being you.
Q: Are You a Masters Coach or a Master of Coaching?
A: Maybe youre both. Fantastic. If youre not both, why?
Most of us can stand on the pool deck and bark out a workout to our swimmers occasionally telling them what they can do to swim better.
Some of us fill our coaching tool box with teaching methods to enhance our athletes swimming experience.
However, only a few of us make the effort to become a master of our trade, coaches who look at each day as an opportunity to boost our skills, deliver a meaningful experience for our athletes, and improve the lives of others.
Do you
know your swimmers, their goals, motivations, and, most importantly, their name? Do you address each athlete every day, making it a personalized and positive encounter?just write a workout or do you deliver a workout and engage with each and every swimmer at practice in an individualized, meaningful, and purposeful way?offer stroke technique advice communicating not just the how to do it but the why you should try it method of inspiring improvement?care about your athletes on and off the pool deck? Remember this quote from Indy Aquatic Masters Mel Goldstein: No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.thank them for coming to practice and invite them to return?
At some level, we all have a passion for swimming. Channel your passion into your coaching and become the best Master of Coaching you can be.
What is the difference between Club Finder and Places to Swim on the new USMS website?
The Club Finder feature on the recently redesigned website is a tool for swimmers searching for U.S. Masters Swimmingregistered clubs and workout groups. Its a searchable database that helps potential members find Masters programs and current members looking to swim in a Masters program.
Information on Club Finder must be populated by the coach or club contact (which you can do here). This helps ensure the most accurate and up-to-date information is being presented to our visitors and members. Channeling current and potential members to registered USMS Masters programs serves the member, club, and USMS well.
In the future, all club and workout group information with be captured or edited during the registration or renewal process.
The Places to Swim database is now a USMS member benefit that can be accessed through your My USMS account. Historically, this listing has helped our members find an aquatic facility to swim at when traveling or relocating to a new area. (I use it to research aquatic facilities and potential new USMS clubs.)
However, most of these listings dont have a Masters program. Many that list a Masters program either have discontinued the program or have adult programming that is not registered with USMS. Often, the information in this database is not accurate and therefore not a very reliable resource for our members or potential members. Additions and edits are the responsibility of the facility or club contact and may now only be done by a current USMS member.
Places to Swim doesnt do enough to promote our coaches and registered clubs and workout groups. Why would USMS send potential new members to a facility without a registered USMS club or workout group? Why would USMS send a potential member to an unregistered Masters program?
USMS must support our clubs and coaches, not facilities without our programming. USMS must support the lifeblood of our organization that provides the most important element, a coached Masters program.
Its a simple but meaningful value proposition. Clubs, workout groups, and members paying a membership fee to USMS means USMS returning benefits such as a searchable Club Finder database that channels members to their programs.
If you are coaching or swimming at a facility without a registered club, please contact me for help getting your program registered and listed on Club Finder.
Updated April 19th, 2018 at 05:04 PM by Bill Brenner
Q: Why should I encourage my swimmers to swim in the SmartyPants Vitamins USMS Fitness Series? All of my swimmers can already swim for more than 30 minutes and longer than 2,000 meters or 1,650 yards.
A: As coaches, we aspire to inspire the athletes under our care. We motivate each individual to improve, reach his or her goals, and have fun every step of the way. The rewards for self-identified success are many, and we should all take pride in doing our very best to help others do their very best.
Coaches are proverbial givers and the beneficiaries of coaches efforts are the athletes. Participating in the Fitness Series should be promoted as an opportunity for the swimmers to become givers. The time spent swimming the challenges should be used as time to self-reflect upon how grateful we are to be able to swim. Give thanks for our coaches, teammates, family, and friends who support us in our passion for the water. Give thanks that we are not fearful of the water and can enjoy the sanctuary the water provides. Give thanks that we can help others not as fortunate as we are by supporting the USMS Swimming Saves Lives Foundation, which provides grants to teach adults to swim and become safer in and around the water.
My challenge to you: Inspire your swimmers to swim, celebrate what they love about swimming, and support our foundation that brings the love of swimming to others.
The challenge is not: Can you swim a time or distance faster or farther than others. Its what can you do with the time while youre swimming.
(If you have any questions, check out our FAQs page for coaches. You can also sign up your club or workout group to host the Winter Fitness Challenge from Feb. 15-28.)
Updated February 14th, 2018 at 10:55 AM by Bill Brenner
Q: My Masters swim club wants to get more involved with the local community and host an event. What types of community events should our Masters program consider?
A: Being a good citizen in the community can be rewarding for your members and can build goodwill with your swimming facility. Hosting community outreach events at your pool will require varying degrees of logistical planning, depending on the size and scope of the event. It's important to assemble a support team that shares in the planning and execution of the events. Don't try to do everything yourself. Have a goal of giving ownership to many volunteers. It will add to the overall success of the event when many hands are working as one.
Examples of community outreach events requiring pools:
Adult learn-to-swim lessons
Stroke development clinics
Special Olympics
Senior Games
Police and Fire Games
Wounded Warrior Project, Warrior Games
Consider adding the USMS Fitness Series to your schedule of events. These events may be swum in your own pool during a regular practice session and may serve as a team bonding opportunity with the added benefit of fundraising for the USMS Swimming Saves Lives Foundation and the local charity of your choice.
Q: How can I avoid problems with social media? What not to do with social media.
A: As much as we would like to believe that we are entitled to coach at, swim at, or be a member of our preferred swimming venue, in most cases we are not. Participation is a privilege, not a right, and losing that privilege can be devastating. No Masters coach or swimmer wants to receive the news that theyre no longer welcome at their aquatics facility.
While inappropriate behavior should never be tolerated at the pool, neither should it be tolerated away from the pool. This includes all forms of negativity on social media. While coaches and program leaders can't monitor every post every day, they can establish written standards that all members should agree and adhere to when interacting with other program members and stakeholders. Remedies should also be included in the swim program's standards and guidelines for program participation.
The two most common misuses of social media are cyberbullying and negative messaging.
Bullying may seem like nothing more than sophomoric banter but it's not. It's hurtful and has no place in a Masters program. If you're a coach who needs to tear down people to build your own ego or self-esteem, find another profession.
If you become aware of others in your program who engage in bullying at or away from the pool, insist that they cease and desist immediately. No coach wants to have a member removed from the program. However, you as the coach, and leader of the program, must protect the integrity of the program and ensure the enjoyment and safety of all.
Negative messaging and pejorative behavior on social media can lead to a multitude of potential problems.
Here is an example of an email no coach wants to receive:
"Coach Upacreek,
I regret to inform you that your Masters program is no longer welcome at the aquatics center. It has come to my attention that members in your program have disparaged our facility and staff by communicating negative, false and misleading statements in various media within the community. I've attached a copy of recent social media posts that have been brought to my attention.
The aquatics facilities' reputation within the community is of the utmost importance and I can no longer tolerate your member's inappropriate activities. Good luck finding another facility."
Please don't have your members wage war with or air complaints about your pool or program on social media. Yes, we have First Amendment rights. No, one of our inalienable rights is not to swim where we please. If there are issues that need to be addressed, schedule a time to meet with the aquatics facility decision makers and resolve the issues. Your program's relationship with the pool, whether you rent pool space or youre a program of the facility, should be a partnership. If you need help strengthening your partnership or need help resolving issues, contact the USMS national office and Club and Coach Services and resources will be provided.
Keep the use of social media positive and uplifting. Use it to share program updates, information, and upcoming events. And, whenever possible, celebrate the accomplishments of your members in and away from the pool.
Q: Why should I attend the USMS Clinic Course for Coaches?
A: Frankly, the demand from adults seeking stroke development clinics far outweighs the supply of clinics provided by well-trained coaches with stroke technique skills. USMS developed the Clinic Course for Coaches (CCC) to increase the supply of Masters coaches who desire the pathway and skills necessary to host a successful clinic. This course provides coaches with a proven method to build a more efficient stroke through a series of progressive drills isolating specific body mechanics.
Many Masters coaches have strong stroke correction skills which serve them well during swim practice or a private lesson. However, the objective of a stroke development clinic is to provide a group of swimmers, of all ability levels, stroke improvement that is measurable both subjectively and objectively and is sustainable.
Masters coaches attending the CCC receive:
A classroom presentation that includes:
Instructions to conceptualize, plan and implement a successful clinic.A detailed timeline for the clinic delivery leading up to and during the clinicA proven instructional method delivered through a specific series of drills and skills that isolate specific body mechanics and progressively builds a more efficient stroke.Narrated drill videos (available to the coach after the course.)
On deck experience during a stroke development clinic including:
Watching a mentor coach deliver the clinic as instructed in the classroom and course textbookFeedback from mentor coachesPractical experience with actual Masters swimmers
So, if you want to learn how to put on a clinic and what to do during a clinic, you should consider attending one of the CCC listed here.
Q: Why should my aquatics facility host a registered swim program with USMS?
A: U.S. Masters Swimming values partnerships with aquatics facilities, programs, and the swim coaches who are bringing the sport and joy of swimming to adults across America. Together we encourage adultsdiverse in age, background, and abilityto swim for health, wellness, fitness, and, optionally, competition.
Together, we service our missions in an effort to make aquatics available as a meaningful, valuable, and fun experience for our customers, members, stakeholders, and communities. Swimming is a lifesaving skill that lasts a lifetime. Together, we can inspire adults to swim and live a safer, happier, and healthier lifestyle.
Hosting USMS Masters Swimming and USMS Adult Learn-to-Swim Programs brings exciting adult aquatic activities to your facility and will enhance current programming. Professionally trained and certified USMS coaches and instructors provide the passion, leadership, and technical skills needed for a successful campaign. They have the knowledge to work with a diverse cross section of adults across all ability levels. They understand the adult learner and how to motivate, encourage, and bring fun to the sport and skill of swimming.
The first step to developing a successful program is to register a club with USMS. Once youre registered, youll begin receiving all the benefits of membership from our organization. These benefits include:
Your program and aquatics facility listed in the searchable database on usms.orgswimmers looking for pools, Masters programs, and adult swim lesson providers use this site to locate valuable information about aquatics facilities and programs.Expert advice from the USMS professional staff. The Club and Coach Services staff provides phone, email, and on-site support at no additional charge. CCS provides marketing materials and club development guides and resources to help foster successful programs with our partners. CCS will help recruit, train, and certify your Masters coach through the USMS Masters Coach Certification Program.
The USMS Adult Learn-to-Swim Program staff will help you launch or enhance your swimming lesson program for adults. The USMS ALTS certification course teaches adults the skills needed to teach other adults how to swim and become safer in and around the water. This adult-specific training will enhance any certified swimming lesson program your instructors currently teach.
Access to post job listings and recruit coaches and swim instructors
These and many more benefits are part of the commitment USMS makes to ensure that our program partners have the resources necessary to establish, develop, grow, and maintain vibrant Masters Swimming programming.
Please contact any staff member at the USMS National Office for help. Together, we can share our love of the water with others.
Updated April 12th, 2017 at 10:11 AM by Bill Brenner
Q: What suggestions can you give me to convince the non-competitive members in my program to join or renew their membership with USMS?
A: Are you a believer? Seriously. Take a moment to reflect and ask yourself if you believe in U.S. Masters Swimmings mission to promote health, wellness, fitness, and competition for adults through swimming? The answer may come from your beliefs, love of what you do as a Masters coach, passion for swimming, and commitment to being an advocate who encourages adults to swim. This same answer may help you formulate your own response to your original question regarding membership in USMS.
Masters coaches have the unique ability to provide more than an on-deck transaction. We have the opportunity to create a transformationmotivating each of our swimmers to set goals, feel positive, and have a meaningful swimming experience. In many cases, this transformation is a life-altering event; your swimmers may finally become who they always wanted to be or who they never thought they could be. Were helping them transform their lives to a healthier, happier lifestyle.
The enthusiasm we as Masters coaches display on the pool deck, day in and out, transfers to the swimmers in the water. Many swimmers carry this positive and enthusiastic attitude with them beyond the pool to their daily lives and are genuinely grateful for their improved self-esteem. Knowing this, use your enthusiasm, and the gratefulness your swimmers feel towards you, to promote membership in USMS.
Swimming Masters is a journey, not a destination, and membership is a valuable component to enrich the journey. USMS membership gives swimmers valuable tangible benefits and, more importantly, gives swimmers the feeling of being part of something bigger than just a swimmer on a swim team. It gives them the chance to contribute their time, talent and resources to an organization that gives the gift of swimming to adults across America.
Pledgeand ask your swimmers to pledgeto support our organization, which is working to:
Provide more opportunities for adults to learn to swim and swim for a lifetimeEducate Masters coaches and instructors, creating a better swimming experience for those they coach and teachExpand the number of aquatics facilities with programs for adults to swim and exercise
The success of USMS depends on everyone who contributes to the organizations wellbeing. Each of usmembers, coaches, swimmers, volunteers and staffhas a role to play as ambassadors for USMS. Together, we control our destiny. Together, we pave the path for our journey.
Be a believer in USMS and those you lead will follow.
Q: How do I overcome or deal with Coachs Fatigue?
A: The first step to finding a successful solution to any problem is to identify the cause. For example, when youre trying to make a correction to a swimmers stroke, you may need to look at the root cause before affecting a solution. If a swimmer has a wicked scissors kick, do you concentrate on her leg movement or do you look at body rotation, head movement during the breath, and the arm path of the stroke? Correcting these movements may eliminate the improper kick.
Root causes of coaching fatigue may be:
Lack of sleepBoredomFeeling unappreciatedFeeling overwhelmedNeeding more time for self, family, or friends
Most, if not all, of these causes can be overcome. Remember, as a swimmer and a Masters coach, you have great power. Summon up your competitive juices, your will to win, and your ambitious drive for success to take on these challenges. Lou Holtz, an accomplished football coach, stated, Life is 10 percent what happens to you and 90 percent how you respond to it.
Coaching Masters swimming should be a challenging, rewarding, and fun endeavor. Make coaching fun. Like Masters swimming, coaching Masters shouldnt feel like your parents are forcing you to the pool. Its your choice and you should react accordingly.
Try some of these solutions:
Change your sleeping routine or practice timesSet a new goal for yourself and your programUnderstand your swimmers goals, and become an active partner in their achieving those goalsBe more engaged during practicesif you want to feel more appreciated, make sure your swimmers know how much you appreciate themTake splits during practice and share the information with the swimmersVideo your swimmers and give them feedbackTake your program in a different directionAdd a new component to your practice routine such as open water, USRPT, or dryland trainingFind a cause and rally the troopshost a fundraiser for a local charity or the Swimming Saves Lives FoundationContinue your educationthis can include reading, attending a class, or taking an online courseVisit other clubsFind a mentor coach, someone with whom to share ideas and solutionsIf youre not swimming or exercising, get back in the water or find another form of physical activity you enjoy doingIdentify and mentor a volunteer assistant coachthis may allow you to take a break or take a sabbaticalChallenge yourself and the members of your program to recruit new memberscoaching new athletes can be invigoratingTravel to away meetsFind a new challenge either inside or outside of swimmingAdd a different dimension to your coachingperhaps adult swim lessonsHost a social eventEliminate or reduce the club administrative functions you dislike the mosthire a third-party company, such as Club Assistant, to help manage the day-to-day operations of your program.
My advice to every Masters coach, no matter the size of your program, is dont do it all yourself. Find people in your program or their family and friends who will share responsibilities and ownership. Shared ownership creates a stronger organization and the likelihood of a successful program. Will they do it as well as you? Maybe yes, maybe no. However, getting help from others could be the solution to coachs fatigue.
Q: I coach a Masters program with 55 active members. Should I send out a monthly newsletter and, if so, what should I include in it?
A: Im a news junkie. Albeit old fashioned, nothing is more routine or satisfying than reading a print copy of the newspaper with a cup or two of coffee each morning. Reading the news inaugurates my daily connection to the outside worldits my history, civics, and current events lesson du jour. Sure, I read plenty of news articles online throughout the day, and many are attached to my social media habitsFacebook, Twitter, and my family chat threads. Websites such as USMS.org, Swimming World Magazine and SwimSwam help keep me connected to our sport and issues that surround it.
The articles I readwhether in print or onlineare by choice. Information that is important and relevant to me should not be left to chance. It should be sent to me directly, preferably via email.
A club newsletter can be a wonderful resource to keep your athletes engaged, educated, and excited about your Masters program. Many coaches outsource the newsletter responsibilities to a volunteer within the program who may have the time, talent, and resources to craft and publish the newsletter with routine frequency. Typical publication schedules are weekly, monthly, or quarterly.
The key to a successful newsletter is to include and mention as many of your athletes as possible in every edition. People like to see their names, pictures, and details about their favorite topicthemselves!
Once youve established a working template for your newsletter, its relatively easy to fill in the blanks. Your newsletter could include:
· A welcome to new members (list their names and a brief biography including a fun fact).
· A listing of any upcoming changes to the practice schedule and venues.
· Upcoming events with an emphasis on the programs focus events (explain where you are in your seasonal plan) such as:
1. Fitness events
2. Meets and open water competitions
3. Social activities
· Accomplishments of the program and individuals (be sure to include photos) such as:
1. Event results
2. Goals achieved
· A drill of the week with an explanation of its purpose (videos are available for USMS certified-designated coaches online).
· A swimmer profile. Choose an athlete in your program to showcase in each newsletter and include a picture.
Email the newsletter to your swimmers for free, and print a copy of your newsletter and post it on your Masters Swimming dedicated bulletin board at the pool. The newsletter should complement the other information available on the board, all of which should be designed to encourage other swimmers at the pool to join your program.
Updated August 11th, 2016 at 05:53 PM by Bill Brenner
Q: What information about my Masters program should I have available at my aquatic facility?
A: Frequently, I visit aquatic facilities searching for Masters swimming or any form of adult aquatic programming of a horizontal nature. At each location, I picture myself as a swimmer with little or no knowledge of Masters swimming walking into a facility to swim laps or begin an aquatic exercise routine. I ask myself, What information is available that would identify this location as one hosting a USMS program? Furthermore, I assess the ease of finding and assimilating this information.
In many cases, I know the facility has a USMS program and when the practices are scheduled based on the information I receive from the coach or the USMS Places to Swim database. But the availability of accurate information at the facility can vary widely.
At most pools, my first stop is the front desk. As I approach the receptionist, I scan the area for any printed information about the programs and services of the facility, looking for clues that will assist my search. I introduce myself, present my USMS business card, and ask, Do you have a Masters swimming program at your facility? The replies, often accompanied by looks of bewilderment, vary as much as the accuracy of the responses and are too numerous to list here. Lets just say Im astonished that so many gatekeepers of our Masters programs dont have a clue what the program is or whether the facility has one.
As I pass the gatekeeper, I continue to scan for Masters swimming information looking to see if the information is prominently displayed. And if not, where and how would I advertise the program.
Entering the pool area, I look to see what activity is taking place. If a Masters program is practicing, I envision a new or prospective swimmers first impression. In many cases, the first question to pop in their mind will be, Will I fit in?
As I get closer to the practice, I start to zero in on the coach and how he or she is interacting with the athletes. I try to make eye contact with the coach to gauge their interest in a potential new swimmer to their program. Nothing is more welcoming than eye contact that produces a smile projecting an invitation to get closer to say hello. Coaches that initiate this welcoming approach make even the seasoned Masters swimmer feel at ease.
In the event no Masters practice is taking place, I look to have a conversation with the aquatic director, head lifeguard, or any other aquatic employee with information about the adult programming at the pool. In most cases, the accuracy of the information is an improvement from what I found at the front desk. If lap swimmers are present, I look at their caps for clues about their swimming involvement. Amazingly, its easy to approach a lap swimmer, strike up a conversation, and gain valuable information when you can identify something about them. I look to see whether these swimmers are wearing a USMS cap, a cap with a Masters or age group swimming team logo, or a cap signifying their participation in a pool, open water, or triathlon event.
I walk the pool deck looking for anything that gives me information about a Masters program at the pool. Many Masters coaches write the daily workout on a board and leave it out for swimmers who missed practice and may swim later in the day. If I see this, I read it and make sure I understand the workout. As with other foreign languages, swim workouts come in a rainbow of local dialects.
If Im lucky, Ill locate a USMS banner or a bulletin board with Masters swimming information. Remember, if a new or potential swimmer passively wants to learn more about the Masters program, information on a bulletin board may pique their interest. The best bulletin boards Ive seen include:
Welcome brochureProgram mission statementInclusiveness of the program, i.e.: "We welcome new swimmers of all ability levels, or try us for free.Coachs picture and profile, pictures of swimmers, and pictures from events such as meets, open water swims, clinics, and socialsPractice schedule including the days best suited for beginners, triathletes, and stroke technique refinementWebsite addressTeam logoPractice terminologyPractice and lane etiquette standardsUpcoming eventsUSMS mission statement and membership informationSponsorsContact information
If you have a bulletin board, make sure all the information is current. Keep the appearance looking fresh by replacing faded pictures and printed materials.
Take the time to keep the aquatic staff well versed in your program and the benefits it provides. Show the staff the USMS promotional videos. These videos provide an overview of what Masters swimming is and how important it can be to adults whove chosen aquatics as a form of exercise. Go out of your way to make the gatekeepers at your facility your programs strongest advocates.
And lastly, the next time you see someone new walk onto your pool deck, make eye contact and give your best come on over and say hello smile. I know Ill certainly appreciate it.
Updated July 15th, 2016 at 03:51 PM by Bill Brenner
Q: I coach a diverse group of adults in my Masters program. At most practices, I have swimmers of all ability levels with different reasons for swimming. Not everyone is motivated to compete or even get faster. What are some safe challenges I can give my swimmers?
A: Understanding your swimmers goals and the factors that motivate them to swim is the first step of incorporating safe, new, and exciting challenges to your program. If you havent asked each of your swimmers what those goals and motivations are, take the time to do so. Next, ask each swimmer, What would you like to change about your swimming? Some may say they want to get faster, feel more comfortable in the water, improve stroke technique, or even fit into smaller clothes or impress their physician with improved physical metrics during their next appointment. If your program is as diverse as you say it is, you will get a wide spectrum of responses. These responses will help you integrate new and exciting challenges because they match the needs of your swimmers.
Whether youre a competitive swimmer or not, challenges help keep us engaged with the process of being in the pool. Lets not confuse competition with challenge. To many, conquering the challenge builds confidence, is more important than measuring time and distance, and is more important than comparing results to others.
The list of safe challenges is endless, but Ive collected some ideas below:
Set attendance goals. Some swimmers may want to be challenged to attend a certain number of swim practices during a week, month, or yearLearn a new stroke. This could include learning the new stroke, swimming the new stroke in practice, and swimming the stroke in a meet.Reduce stroke count. Counting the number of strokes to swim each length of the pool often results in more focus on better technique and less wasted energy.Improve streamlines. All swimmers benefit from a better streamline off the blocks and walls. Even open water swimmers can practice streamlining.Incorporate underwater dolphin kicks. Many swimmers with a strong small amplitude kick will benefit from adding this to their freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly starts and turns.Speed up the turns. The purpose of the turn is to change direction. An optimal turn accomplishes this faster while using less energy.Learn to dive. Many new and seasoned swimmers have difficulty diving. Its something that should be taught and practiced in a supervised safe setting. Once theyve mastered this skill, swimmers may be more willing to participate in a swim meet.Practice bilateral breathing. If your swimmers dont naturally breathe to both sides, teach them the proper breathing technique and have them practice breathing bilaterally.Use ePostal challenges. A USMS ePostal event and the training leading up to the swim can benefit all swimmers in your program. Encourage your swimmers to pick the 1-hour swim or a long distance swim based on their ability and desire.Try a swim meet. Find a swim meet, or host one yourself, that is welcoming to the novice swimmer or swimmers returning to competition after a long time away.Go open water swimming. Introduce the freedom of open water (OW) swimming by organizing group swimswith proper supervision and safetyfor swimmers new to the open water environment. Begin by teaching the skills necessary to swim open water in the pool.Use test sets. Regularly scheduled test sets can help you measure your swimmers improvement. And rather than just having them swim a 500 for time, get creative and mix up the distances.Encourage less reliance on equipment. Weaning swimmers off pull-buoys, paddles, kickboards, and fins might be more of a coaching challenge. Encourage the swimmers to use equipment only when the workout specifies its use.
USMS promotes the Check-off Challenge, an ePostal event designed to motivate swimmers to complete 18 pool events and an open water swim during the calendar year. The pool events may be swum in a meet or practice in any combination of SCY, SCM or LCM.
Some LMSCs promote challenges like the Florida LMSC Leather Lung Award. This award is given to swimmers who complete all 18 pool events in SCY or SCM, all 17 pool events in LCM, and/or all five USMS ePostal championships during a single season.
As a Masters coach, you should celebrate the accomplishments of your swimmers. This celebration can take place during practice, on a website, in a newsletter, or at a team gathering. Theres a good chance that once swimmers have mastered the demands of one challenge, they will gain the confidence to take on another, thereby staying engaged with your program and swimming for a lifetime.
Updated June 17th, 2016 at 02:07 PM by Editor
Q: I have a swimmer who has expressed interest in coming on board my Masters squad; she is 18 years old and still in high school. I am not sure how I feel about having a high schoolaged swimmer on my squad. While she meets the age requirement, she is in high school. This is an adult team; we talk about adult themes and such that might not be appropriate for a high school student. In addition, Im not sure how my crew would feel. Your thoughts?
A: First, as the leader of your program, ask yourself: What is the mission of my program? What values do I want my program to represent? Do you have these written and published on your website or program communications? Once youve established these objectives, it will be much easier to determine the direction of your program and make decisions regarding membership.
If you need to establish new objectives, ask the group for their thoughts. Getting buy-in and support from your members is important. Sharing ownership strengthens programs. However, at the conclusion of these discussions, Im a firm believer that if youre the definitive leader of the program, the final decision rests with you. If, after your final decision, some of your members have concerns, address the issues.
U.S. Masters Swimming strives to be an all-inclusive organization, encouraging adults of any age, gender, and ability level to swim. If you choose to add young swimmers to your program composed of mature swimmers, then ask them to act, well, mature. Find somewhere else, other than the pool, for the adult-themed conversations. Your task will be to make sure that everyone, including the new swimmer, is comfortable.
Mentoring young swimmers has always been a passion of mine because I feed off the energy and excitement a new and different (young) swimmer brings to the program. Diversity should be embraced and viewed as a positive attribute of every Masters program.
Good luck!
Updated May 13th, 2016 at 02:35 PM by Bill Brenner
Q: As a Masters coach, how can I improve my customer service skills?
A: In order to provide high-quality customer service, first determine what the customer wants. Your customers may be your athletes, coaches, facility staff, sponsors, community partners, or volunteers. When thinking about serving your athletes, remember that most Masters swimmers want:
Convenience and a respect of their timeAccess to coaching knowledge and wisdomLack of obstaclesImmediate fulfillment of needsMeaningful experienceConsistency
Learning to qualify your customers needs will be helpful before developing your customer service philosophy. Dont be afraid to ask for feedback. Develop an evaluation form for your swimmers to complete annually to evaluate your performance and to make suggestions.
I recently attended a conference in Colorado Springs, Colo., sponsored by USA- Swimming. One of the speakers was John Cashion, the Corporate Director for the Ritz-Carlton Leadership Center. John has been with the Ritz-Carlton for 20 years, rising through the ranks from an entry-level position to general manager of a property, to his current role today in charge of customer service and cultural transformation training.
As a frequent traveler, I was especially interested in learning how the hospitality industry trains its employees to give exceptional customer service. All too often, I'm astonished at the poor customer service I receive or that Im willing to accept mediocre service service that only meets my expectations and rate it as good customer service. With that in mind, what's missing from your customer service approach in a Masters coaching context?
Let's assume that there are three levels of customer service:
The expectedThe requestedThe memorable
The Expected
When I check into my hotel, I expect my room to be clean and unoccupied. Recently, I checked into my hotel room, received my key card, and proceeded to my room. I noticed a large number of law enforcement officials occupying the hotel lobby. As I approached my assigned room I found a Do Not Disturb sign hanging from the door handle. Certainly, the maid must have forgotten to remove the sign after cleaning the room earlier in the day. As I began to insert my key into the door lock, I thought, "what if...?" I turned around, headed back to the front desk, and sure enough the room was occupied. Needless to say, my expectations were not met.
Now take that example and angle it towards swimming. What are your swimmers expecting from you? Knowing your swimmers and their expectations is the first step in giving quality customer service. Write these expectations down, review them regularly, and edit and update when necessary.
The Requested
In addition to the expected, you may have certain additional requests that require a response. Im a light sleeper and prefer a quiet room on the top floorwith no one above meaway from the elevators and ice machines. Too often, other guests treat the halls and areas around the elevator landing as common areas for social gatherings, creating an environment that is not conducive to me getting a good nights sleep. If I make my requests known to the hotel staff and they do not meet the requests, I view this as poor customer service.
So, again, think about what your swimmers requests might be. Are they asking you to teach them a new skill, modify their stroke technique, or organize a social gathering?
Masters coaches wear many hats; educator, motivator, entertainer, social director, friend, family member, and in many cases a psychologistand sometimes youre called upon to be all of these people in a single workout! How you choose to react to your swimmers requests determines the level of customer service youll be able to provide. Maintaining a positive attitude, along with a smile, when fulfilling requests ensures the most success.
The Memorable
Can you create an experience that wont be forgotten? Over time, most of us wont remember anything about our expected and requested experiences, but well always remember something that was a delightful experience. Some time ago, my wife and I checked into a resort hotel for a short vacation. May, the front desk attendant, greeted us by name and asked us what special occasion brought us to the hotel. Having just become grandparents for the first time, I told May we were celebrating grandparenthood! Now, Im not sure if the resort had this type of celebration listed in an employee handbook or not, but what happened next surprised me. Upon returning to our room after an afternoon at the pool, we found a tray with a delicious dessert and heartfelt handwritten note from May waiting on the desk. Next to the tray was a wrapped gifta baby blanket for our new grandson. Quite a delightful and memorable experience that Im sure May and the management of the Aruba Marriott Resort had no expectation that I would be sharing with the 65,000 members of USMS and the thousands of visitors to our website.
As you can see, theres clearly a spectrum of customer service experiences available out there, and it takes a little bit of thought and consideration of your swimmers needs to become great at customer service. But its definitely something you can achieve. Go create memorable experiences for your swimmers. Greet your swimmers by name, celebrate their daily accomplishments, and be sure to invite them back. And above all else, practice kindness, exercise empathy, and most importantly, share a smile.
Updated April 18th, 2016 at 03:36 PM by Bill Brenner


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Wanderful & Womentum Join Forces for International Women's Day/
Wanderful, part of the WIN Lab Boston cohort, is an organization that connects women all over the globe. With a global membership base, their online community allows you to build relationships no matter if you're in a hammock in Nicaragua or an ashram in India. In addition, membership at Wanderful involves creating real, face-to-face connections with other women through international local chapters and events.Read More

subset: commoncrawl


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Article Editor
Lafayette's newest Veterinary Hospital!!
At WEA Animal Hospital, our team will provide your pets with GREAT care at affordable prices!
We may be Lafayette's newest hospital, but our staff has 50 years of veterinary practice experience combined!!
Preventive care is our goal to help your pet live a long and happy life!


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Backpacking is definitely in! Not just as a popular mode of traveling, but also as a way of life.
Backpacking was often considered for hiking and camping but in many ways, it is now slowly transforming into an independent and low-cost international travel options for individuals or a group of people.
This trend started as an economical solution for the aspiring travelers who have major budget constraints and now became the most preferred option by many. No matter how well their budget is, the experience of backpacking is truly different.
Since backpacking is now considered as one of the trendiest travel options by many people from different countries, DLC Backpackers: Your Travel Expert brings the trend in the Philippines! Your travel expert will help you get the best travel packages that will give the worth of your money and an adventure like never before.
"DLC Backpackers: Your Travel Expert will make you experience a life changing travel – an adventure that will touch people's lives. Our travel packages are way more different than the other agencies could offer as we are focused on having a travel adventure with an impact: connecting people, learning other country's culture and letting you appreciate life in a deeper manner. We are DLC Backpackers: Your Travel Expert." Says the CEO, Trishie dela Cruz
DLC Backpackers is under the Dream Lead Create or simply DLC Enterprise a company that DREAM about a better society, LEAD a team of highly-motivated young individuals and CREATE innovative and sustainable products and services. DLC promises to deliver state-of-the-art merchandise while restoring humanity through #WeTouchPeople Charity that will receive 5% of the total income to feed hundreds of kids. Know more about their company at dlc-enterprise.com.
Why choose this newest and trendiest travel option, DLC Backpackers?
Because not only that you can help the society by contributing on the "We Touch People Charity", you will also be able to save as much as Php10,000 compared with regular travel options!
No minimum travel persons required. Solo Backpackers are very much welcome!
Travel Asia for as low as Php6,300/person and experience the adventure of backpacking! Save money while traveling, explore and learn more instead of having a travel agency that will double your travel expenses.
Countries/Cities Available:
Batam Indonesia, Hongkong, Macau China, Shenzen China, Kota Kinabalu Malaysia, Genting Highlands Malaysia, Johor Bahru Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur Malaysia, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Siem Reap Cambodia, Vietnam.
Here are some of the sample packages that they offer:
They offer FLEXIBLE INSTALLMENT PAYMENT OPTIONS starting for as low as Php2500/month is also available just to help you make your dream travel come true!
You will also get a chance to make new friends from all over the world because DLC Backpackers offers hostel accommodations where you could meet like-minded people – The "Travelers at Heart" kind of people.
Traveling alone? No need to be afraid!
Because you will be able to sleep safely on an 8 to 12-bed dorm-type of room together with other solo travelers!
Hotels are so last year! Hostel is the new in!
Want your privacy?
Private Rooms are also available upon request!
And wait! There's more! DLC Backpackers also offers LOCAL DESTINATIONS!
DLC Backpackers offers UNIQUE TRAVEL EXPERIENCE and so they want you to reach places that are a lot of people haven't been yet! Indeed Secret Places and Hidden Paradises!
The destinations on the photos below are just some of their offers starting for as low as Php2,500 per head!
Check out one of their local packages below:
Still confused about the difference of their offer than a regular tour?
Check out this article here: Are you a Tourist or a Traveler?
Take note that what they offer you is to become a TRAVELER.
So, what more could you ask for?
DLC Backpackers even include freebies from their product brands such as the Terrestrimin First Aid Travel Essential and the Terrestrimin ALL-IN-ONE organic spray to protect you during your travel adventure! A perfect travel companion!
What are you waiting for? BOOK NOW!
DLC Backpackers will make traveling easier! And will also help you make your dream travel come true!
Use the discount code AURIKAMATIAS that is specially made for my readers to get 10% OFF when you book a travel deal with them!
No budget yet? Don't worry!
1.) Like Gumala with Aurika Facebook page.
2.) Like the DLC Backapckers Facebook page, the DLC Enterprise Facebook page and their partner brand Terrestrimin.
3.) Share this blog post on your Facebook wall with the caption "TRAVEL AROUND ASIA FOR FREE! DLC Backpackers will give you an adventure that touch people's lives" to be followed with your answer on why you deserve to win this giveaway. Don't forget to use the hashtags #WeTouchPeople and #DLCbackpackers to make your entry eligible.
4.) Tag 7 of your friends on the comments section of your post.
We will closely monitor your participation so best of luck!
Winners will be drawn randomly on April 24, 2016.


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Recognize this guy? Thats right! Its Mr Sim and it look like a photo taken when he was 20 years ago before or during the time when the famous Sound Blaster was born.
Check out http://twitter.com/creativefansite. Under the following section, you will find that we have been following Mr Sim for a while now and he has protected tweets. Which means that you can't see his tweets without his approval :)
So do follow us on Twitter for all the latest updates!


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Kendrick's Harris signs with Chattahoochee Valley
Kendrick Lady Cherokee point guard Bonita Harris has signed a letter of intent to play college basketball at Chattachoochee Valley Community College.
Harris played on four Lady Cherokee teams that played in three Georgia High School Association Elite Eights, three Final Fours and won the 2008 GHSA Class AAA girls basketball championship.
Hicks said Harris was one of the most dependable basketball players he's had in his 10 years at Kendrick. The 5-foot-5 guard is part of a CVCC signing class that includes Smiths Station guard Dejah Heard.


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Highly professional surveying service
- www.qaqs.co.uk
- 24 October 2013
- Small Business, Brochure
QAQS Limited is a small company dedicated to delivering Professional Quantity Surveying, Construction Cost Consultancy and related Surveying Support services Regulated by the RICS
Established in 2005, we are a highly professional firm committed to delivering 'best value' on all construction, maintenance and refurbishment projects.
Core expertise in Quantity Surveying and Cost Consultancy is augmented by add on or stand alone additional CDM Co-ordination services.
The Website Design
An elegant design with a focus on clear and clear.
What we did
- Website Design
- Website Hosting


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Innovation. Genova has partnered with the TMC Innovation Institute to improve the way health is managed in the home.
As recognized by:
As recognized by:
Genova manages a portfolio of integrated solutions that leverage the best people and practices our industry has to offer. Together, we drive significantly better health outcomes for the individuals and organizations we serve.
Services for Families
Home Care & Skilled Nursing
Get a personalized home care plan managed by a dedicated nurse, an expert care coordinator and a trained, bonded, insured and W-2 employed caregiver.
Care Management
Receive customized services to coordinate care, accompany you to medical appointments/procedures and advocate for your health care needs.
Genova partners with healthcare institutions to stratify risk and empower front line home care workers to triage health concerns that lead to unnecessary hospitalizations, high healthcare costs, and threaten quality of patient life
Services for Institutions
Health Management
We partner with hospitals, senior living communities, primary care practices and other healthcare institutions to promote a patient's quality of life and help manage their care in the "blind spots" between doctor visits.
Corporate Employee Benefits
As part of an employee benefit program, we partner with employers of all sizes to provide consultation and education for employees who work while also caring for an aging loved one (approximately 29% of the U.S. workforce).
A few of our partners:
Better Care, Better Outcomes
Home care is a highly fragmented industry that has not yet benefitted from a consolidation of best practices that would ensure a better standard of care and better health outcomes. Genova is changing that.
Lowest Rate of Medical Failures
Causing a Patient to be Sent Back to a Hospital*
*As reported by the American Hospital Association. Hospital Readmission Rates measure the percentage of patients that, upon discharge from a hospital, are readmitted to a hospital within 30 days.
Industry Leading Percentage of Clients
Who Recommend Our Services**
Industry Average
**Net Promoter Score, closely tracked by hospitals, is an index ranging from -100 to 100 that measures the willingness of patients and their families to recommend a company's services to others.
*** As reported by Home Care Pulse
By the Numbers
life-changing visits provided
clients safely avoided a hospital readmission
clients recommend our services
hours of exceptional care delivered


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Brain Change, Brain Damage, Brain Drain or just Things Click
Kyle Gann wrote on his blog Post Classic about his Summer Projects, three new pieces. It seems he's finished with two and nearly with the third. The amazing thing to him is he was writing all three at the same time. You Go Gann!!!
Mozart wrote his final three symphonies while working on an opera. We don't know why he wrote these symphonies, but we do know he finished all of them within approximately a month of initially putting pen to paper. Bach wrote so much music it is impossible to image he wasn't writing multiple pieces pretty much constantly. So, writing multiple pieces of music simultaneously is not new. What is new -for Gann and composers like me - is the ability to think clearly about multiple pieces and keeping them straight.
I have successfully composed multiple pieces at the same time in the past, but not with any regularity or consistent success. It is something I continually strive to do, work on consciously, because I feel the process itself does something to the brain --I think differently about music when multiple pieces are swimming (successfully) in my head. And all the pieces end up as better pieces.
What happens when it works is a fermenting of ideas from one to another, without confusing issues or themes. When it isn't successful, good ideas tend to migrate to one composition while the other(s) suffer. It is rather like absorbing good ideas from studying Mahler, Mendelssohn and Machaut at the same time (again, not an easy task, nor one I recommend for those wishing to remain sane). The end result is a collection of richer ideas (richer compositions).
I'm attempting to do the same thing as Gann this Summer. I've completed a 10 minute orchestral work Exchanging Glances, an Oboe Concerto, a Piano Sonata, a string quartet and an opera (well, I'm re-working the opera so perhaps it doesn't really fit in the "new composition category"). The ideas have remained separate - thanks to a composition book that lives with me. When new thoughts come to me (whether in my dreams, on the road or when I'm working on something else), I jot them down into the book. If something rings vaguely familiar the other compositions are also in the book for easy reference. Sometimes these means new ideas can be scratched out when duplicated, or morphed into better ideas when met with previous concepts from other compositional ideas.
It isn't a perfect system. If it was I'd be successful at continually writing multiple pieces at one time. It is helping...
So, here's Gann. Congrats on your success. May it continue to bear fruit (and I can't wait to hear the results)! And to the rest of you composing music - keep the ideas flowing. The world needs more music!


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Parent Resources
Supply List
Please download the 2017-2018 school year supply list below. Any questions, please contact the school office.
Parent-Teacher League
The Parent-Teacher League (PTL) of Emmanuel is an organization, auxiliary to the school. It is designed to provide a means of contact between parents and teachers for consideration of mutual concerns through the school year. All parents are expected to participate in the PTL program. This organization meets six times a school year: In September, October, November, February, March, and May.
Emmanuel Lutheran School has adopted a school uniform policy. The required uniforms are available from:
DENNIS School Uniform Company
1110-C N. Rolling Road
Baltimore. Maryland 21228
BOYS – Kindergarten through Grade 8:
Khaki and navy pants, khaki and navy shorts, white and navy polos, white and light blue oxfords, white and navy turtlenecks, navy sweaters.
GIRLS – Kindergarten through Grade 8:
(All Girls) White and light blue oxfords, white and navy turtlenecks, khaki and navy slacks, navy sweaters, khaki and navy shorts, white and navy polos.
(Kindergarten – Grade 5) Plaid kilt or khaki skort.
(Grades 6-8) Plaid kilt or khaki skort.
General guidelines for ALL students:
Dress for non-uniform days should be appropriate for a Christian school.
Additional guidelines for grades 5-8:
- On designated Chapel days, girls should wear jumper or skirts (grade 5), or plaid kilt (grades 6-8). Boys should wear a tie.
- Any slacks, skirts. etc. designed to be worn with a belt MUST be worn with a belt. Suspenders worn in their intended fashion may take the place of a belt.
GradeBook Wizard
Emmanuel Lutheran School uses GradeBook Wizard, a powerful online grade book that allows parents to check homework and assignment instructions, view grades, view class schedules, provide online approval for field trips and other events, view links to external websites to learn more about the study topic, send private messages to the teacher, and more.
Student Handbook
The Emmanuel Lutheran School handbook describes the expectations for behavior and conduct in the Emmanuel Lutheran School community and outlines the procedures to be followed when these expectations are not met. It is your road map, containing the policies and procedures that will guide you as a student while you live and grow in this community of scholars at Emmanuel Lutheran School.
Download Student Handbook Grades K-5
Download Student Handbook Middle School
Weather Related Announcements
In case of inclement weather (with the exception of excessive heat), Emmanuel Lutheran School follows Baltimore County Schools' announcements concerning late starts, early dismissals, and cancellations. Please check WBAL.com, WBAL radio (AM 1090), or WBAL TV (Channel 11).
Full Year Calendar for 2019-2020
Click on the link below to check out all the events and happenings at the School for the 2016-2017 school year. Please know that we reserve the right to add days to this calendar to offset any days when school is closed due to circumstances beyond our control.
Smart Tuition Payment
Emmanuel Lutheran School has partnered with Smart Tuition to service your child's tuition account. To register or pay your tuition online, please click on the link below.


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Loafing Locales/
After last week's article about General Stores one Facebook friend pointed out that the Peter's Store in Clarkrange was a longtime home of the post office and it got me to thinking about the places people hang out.
A couple of years ago I found a list of the post office location in Tennessee and shared them here. That article mentioned only in passing that the post office was often part of some other business, generally the country store. How convenient to be able to make one stop and do all of your business – oh wait, our mega-stores these days keep trying to do that, don't they? But unlike the stores we bustle through today, yesterday's country store and post office were leisurely businesses. I guess if you had to walk, ride a mule or drive a wagon to get there you weren't in too big of a hurry to rush off.
We all know (and we often mention) that folks used to visit a whole lot more than we do these days. Stores had front porches – or barrels sitting around a pot-bellied stove – so you could 'sit a spell' and greet your neighbor, catch up on the local news and generally be a part of the a community.
My Daddy tells about going to Wash Livesay's store in Campground in his Grandpa Stepp's wagon. The story is about the team of horses but it's set on the front porch. While Grandma went in to do her business at the store, grandpa and grandson passed the time with their neighbors. He also tells about that same grandpa having business to attend to in Jamestown – he'd really hurry to get the business out of the way so he could head to the courthouse steps and join the loafers there. Daddy laments – and I completely agree – how he'd love to sit among those old men and just listen. Can you even imagine what we might learn? Talk about history!


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A walk is always a good option to clear the cobwebs and get some fresh air, even better in Franz Josef you get alpine fresh air! There are a range of walks starting from 30 minutes to 8 hours through native bush. Your Driver Guide will be able to help you pick!
Franz Josef
From 30 minutes to 8 hours (choose your track)
Depends on Driver
You're almost there! Simply click on the link we sent you to confirm your email address. Then your e-book will be on its way.


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Packed with flash restaurants, posh bars and designer boutiques, Cannes may seem out of reach to those on a modest budget, but by making a few savvy savings you can live it up without being loaded. Oh, and posing and people-watching cost nada. Grab your passports, ladies! Our friends at Jetsetter.com give us the inside scoop on taking in the south of France on a budget.
HIT THE BEACH: The stretch of sand that hugs the glitzy palm tree-lined boulevard, La Croisette is mostly given over to pricey private beach clubs. Soaking up the rays here will set you back around $35 per day. Two public beaches bookend the seafront but they get packed out in the summer months. Head to the sleek rooftop terrace at the Radisson Blu Hotel and you'll find chunky shaded loungers, an alfresco bar and killer views of the coastline, the old harbor and the 16th-century clock tower. There's no cover charge so you can laze in the sun all day for the price of a couple of ice-cold brews.
SAIL: If you can't snag an invite onto a super yacht, board one of the small ferries that depart from the old port and sail across to Île Saint-Honorat ($18 round-trip), a gorgeous island inhabited by 25 Cistercian monks; the monastery has been making wine from the island's grapes since the Middle Ages. There's one restaurant right by the water's edge that serves typically French dishes from an open kitchen (a three-course set menu costs around $35) or stock up on picnic produce from the Carrefour supermarket before you set off and have a spot of lunch in a secluded cove.


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One of my favourite bookish activities last year was helping to organize a Jean Rhys reading week in September. Together with other readers we read and discussed most of Rhys' literary output. 2016 marked the 50th anniversary of her most well-known novel "Wide Sargasso Sea" and to commemorate this event the British Library created a small exhibit in their Treasures Gallery displaying some of Rhys' original manuscripts and other texts and articles related to her writing. I nearly missed out on this exhibit which will close on January 8th but luckily I ran into the writer Catherine Hall who lives around the corner from where I work and she mentioned it to me. So I popped into the British Library to have a look at the display.
It gives an introduction to the context in which Rhys wrote "Wide Sargasso Sea" discussing how she was inspired by Charlotte Brontë's "Jane Eyre" and the character of Bertha Mason (who Rhys referred to as a "poor Creole lunatic"). Rhys sought to reignite the material of Brontë's novel and give it new life by writing a prequel to it. In doing so, she created an incredibly daring book which draws upon her childhood in the West Indies and has become a great classic. The British Library possesses several manuscript versions of this novel and has some on display in the cases. Whoever edited and transcribed Rhys' manuscripts must have had a lot of patience as her handwriting is artful but rather difficult to decipher – especially when she makes copious corrections. However, seeing this reinforced for me what Diana Athill discussed in her introduction to Rhys' unfinished autobiography "Smile Please" where she commented on Rhys' perfectionism.
The exhibit also includes information and some manuscripts of Rhys' earlier novels and stories. Included is a draft of "Voyage in the Dark" which contains more graphic scenes than what appeared in the published novel. It also gives a context to the public's reception to Jean Rhys – who enjoyed relative success in the 1930s with a string of novels but then stopped publishing and fell into obscurity for nearly two decades until her writing was rediscovered. It also interestingly notes how Rhys become something of a fashion icon in the 1970s as was chronicled in several magazine articles which discuss the rejuvenation of old trends in clothes and feature photos of Rhys modeling. There's an emphasis on clothes in much of Rhys' writing as she creatively explored concepts of self consciousness and social appearance in her fiction. It makes me smile to think how Rhys must have enjoyed posing for these photos.
It was a pleasure getting a look at these fascinating documents pertaining to Jean Rhys' writing process and the reception surround her output. The British Library possesses an incredible amount of literary treasures and I should really pay more attention to special events and exhibits they have.


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Vermont Law Review Alumni
Here are some ways for Vermont Law Review alumni to get involved:
- Join the Vermont Law Review Advisory Board. New for 2017, this alumni group will guide the student-led Senior Editorial Board by developing our long-term vision. The Advisory Board will meet for the first time during Homecoming Weekend (Friday, June 23, 2017). Please contact us below if you are interested in joining the Advisory Board.
- Sign up for the Vermont Law Review Affinity Group on LinkedIn.
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We welcome teachers to participate in the ongoing discussion and sharing of strategies to enhance learning in every social studies classroom. The following blog posts are from teacher practitioners from each region across the state.
You may have heard of Pinterest. It is big in social media sites at the moment. It is an electronic bulletin board to "pin" websites and images of interest. Not only is it great for personal use, but there are creative ways to use it in your classroom.
If you are like me, you are constantly coming across things that stand out and you want to remember to use in your classroom at a later point. Pinterest is a great place to put these items. For example, you could create boards for your different units and "pin" items that you want to use later on. A quick search of a particular history subject or topic can bring up many items. If you find a teacher or board you like, you can follow them and gain more potential items to use in your classroom…a great way to develop you personal learning network.
Another idea is to use it with your students. You would need to create boards with multiple users. Pinterest tells you how to set up a multiple user board in their help page and there is a You Tube tutorial video. Here are some possible ways to use it in class:
Reference Materials: You may want to create a board with different sites for students to use for research projects categorized by topic or a variety for them to brainstorm. You may also want to set it up for students to post sites that they find useful.
Group Collaboration: You may want to organize end of the year review into chunks. Why not have small groups find helpful review material for collaboration with other students. It may be that they find informative sites and/or sites with review material such as Quizlet, Study Blue, Capzles, or others.
Student Presentations: If you assign group presentations, why not make them accessible to all students by pinning them. Student Glogsters, Weeblys, Prazis, or other electronic presentations can be "pinned." Mine just asked me to do this today after our Gilded Age presentations for review.
Decades Project: Students can create a board for an assigned decade and curate information pertinent to the time for a visual collection. You expand it to websites or other relevant info to meet your instructional needs.
Music DBQ: Students love music. Why not have them find music of a given era and "pin" samples? Or if you play in music in class while students enter or work in class, they could "pin" possible selections to be played in class.
Image/Political Cartoon Gallery: Images are powerful. Why not create a board for students to "pin" powerful images of a given time frame or from history. Political cartons would be great to be included. Students could contribute and you could rank them in order at the end of a unit or semester and have a great discussion/Socratic seminar. They could also be used for a random warm-up discussion/analysis activity or end of the year review.


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The Buzz
Dent County, Mo., votes to lower flags in protest of Supreme Court's gay marriage ruling
Let's answer this question first:
Where is Dent County, Mo.?
Answer: Southern Missouri. Population: About 16,000.
We're telling you this because you'll be asking that question once you hear Monday's news out of Dent County, courtesy of the Salem News that covers the county.
Turns out that the commission there voted unanimously Monday to observe one year of "mourning" over the Supreme Court's decision last month that gay couples have the constitutional right to marriage.
What'll happen? Flags at the county Courthouse and Judicial Building will be lowered to below half-staff on July 26. They'll stay that way until June 2016.
The Salem News reported that the vote came after Presiding Commissioner Darrell Skiles filed a letter protesting, "the U.S. high court's stamp of approval of what God speaks of as an abomination."
Skiles said he wanted the flag lowered so "all who see these flags at this lowered position be reminded of this despicable Supreme Court travesty," he wrote.
Joining Skiles in the unanimous vote were commissioners Gary Larson and Dennis Purcell.
FYI: This is already making national news.


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Delhi Gang-Rape Trial: Where It Stands
The trial of four men suspected of the gang rape and murder of a young student last year is in its final phase. Closing arguments in the widely-publicized trial are expected to begin on Thursday, according to A.P. Singh, a lawyer for two suspects.
"A judgment is likely in the first week of September. The trial is 95% complete," Mr. Singh said.
Four men, who have all pleaded not guilty, are accused of raping and murdering a 23-year-old physiotherapy student on a moving bus in New Delhi last year. A fifth suspect was found dead in his jail cell in March.
Police investigators allege the men assaulted the young woman with an iron rod and later dumped her and a male friend along a highway, naked and bleeding. Her injuries were so severe that she died two weeks after the attack. The woman's male friend – who accompanied her aboard the bus – was also severely beaten, investigators say.
The assault repulsed India with its brutality and led to nationwide protests calling for better policing and harsher punishments for violent crimes against women. India's Parliament – in response to calls for reforms -- passed legislation raising punishments for rape in the most extreme cases from life imprisonment to the death penalty, as well as widened the definition of sexual assaults to include offenses like stalking and voyeurism.
Legal experts closely following the trial – which is being held in one of the five "fast-track" courts set up in the wake of the assault -- say the next few weeks will prove critical for prosecutors.
"It's the closing arguments' phase of the trial when prosecutors need to connect all the dots together to make a fool-proof case," said Mrinal Satish, an associate professor at New Delhi-based National Law University. "They will need to establish how various witness testimonies and scattered pieces of evidence separately implicate each of the men accused."
The prosecution received a rare boost in recent weeks, after one of the suspects – Mukesh Singh – claimed to be driving the bus at the time of the attack and identified his co-defendants, as well as the young woman and her male companion, as his passengers that night. Previously, he had claimed he wasn't on the bus.
Court documents reviewed by The Wall Street Journal showed the other suspects maintained they were not on the bus. Two suspects – Vinay Sharma and Pawan Gupta – said they were at a "musical party" at the time of the attack, according to their statements in court. Suspect Akshay Kumar, in his statement, said he was in his native village in the eastern state of Bihar on the night of the assault.
Mukesh Singh's testimony, which served as a major blow to his co-defendants, stated that he couldn't hear or see anything at the back of the bus as he was separated by a driver's cabin. Lawyers for the other suspects said he had been promised a lighter sentence in exchange for his new statement, allegations Mukesh Singh's lawyer denied.
The trial was also punctured by the death of a fifth suspect – Ram Singh – in jail. Ram Singh, the older brother of Mukesh Singh, killed himself by hanging in a high-security prison in March this year, according to jail authorities at New Delhi's Tihar Jail, where he was being held. His lawyer and family, however, say he was murdered. An inquiry into his death is ongoing. The case of a sixth suspect -- 17 years old at the time of the attack -- is being heard separately by a juvenile justice board.
Additional Sessions Judge Yogesh Khanna, who has presided over the trial since it began in February, has heard from over 100 witnesses so far: 85 presented by the prosecution and 17 by the defense. Closing arguments in the trial, legal experts estimate, are likely to wrap up in a couple of weeks. Mr. Khanna will reserve a date for his judgment once the arguments conclude.
The men face the death penalty if found guilty.
Click here to read more posts by Preetika. Follow her on Twitter @Preetika_Rana.


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Bloodlust at Red Bull: The Revenger's Tragedy
For director Jesse Berger, four hundred years go by awfully quickly. Berger sees the turn of the century bringing troubled times: a corrupt government that purports to be infallible; rulers who surround themselves with sycophantic yes-men; high level positions filled according to loyalty and personal favors, while the populace resign themselves to cynicism in the face of an increasingly violent world. For an artist whose latest project is a play published in 1607, Berger spends a lot of time musing on contemporary headlines.
The Revenger's Tragedy, running through December 18th at NoHo's The Culture Project, traffics in all of the social ills catalogued above, and many more. Tragedy is the sophomore effort of Berger's Red Bull Theater, a company devoted exclusively to Jacobean plays—that is, heightened language plays written under the reign of England's James I. Founded in 2002 by Berger, a former Directing Fellow at Shakespeare's Globe, Red Bull won critical kudos for its inaugural crowd-pleasing production of Shakespeare's Pericles in 2003. That play, selected in the wake of 9/11, was a tribute to "the healing power of storytelling." Tragedy, a repudiation of Pericles' fairy tale optimism, seems to argue that it's more fun to rub salt in the wounds.
Both a thriller and a black comedy, Tragedy is an acerbic cocktail of courtly intrigue, backstabbing politicos, misogyny, seduction and murder among the Italian aristocracy. Silver-tongued Vindice (Matthew Rauch), obsessed with avenging the murder of his fiancé, makes some friends in high places, and ingratiates himself at the court of the lecherous Duke. With pathological determination, he methodically orchestrates the downfall of the ruling family. Tragedy belongs to a genre popular in the 1600s: an anti-hero avenges a loved one, rises up against authority, triggers bloody mayhem, and leaves a hefty body count in his wake. If it's not clear who we should be rooting for in all this, the original audience didn't necessarily know, either: these "revenge tragedies" tested the limits of vengeance as a salve for injustice and tyranny.
Tragedy reflects the anxieties of its age, when the British middle class began questioning the "divine mandate" of authority to rule, and playwrights depicted the highest echelons of government as rife with self-interest and incompetence, at their own personal risk. Small wonder that Tragedy was published anonymously. Smaller wonder why Berger felt Tragedy would strike a chord among the politically jaded in a city where FEMA uniforms were a popular Halloween costume. Berger admits that the play was originally chosen with Osama Bid Laden in mind, over two years ago. "I was wondering, what are we really going to gain by getting this guy's head on a pole?" Even though that iconic figure has slipped off the headlines, "the relevancies have shifted over time to fit the dynamic of what's happening politically now."
Instead of easy answers, Tragedy provides catharsis and entertainment, featuring an assortment of half-baked, narcissistic aristocrats, whose bloated up sense of entitlement tips us off early on that come-uppance –and gallons of stage blood – won't be too far around the corner. With names like Supervacuo and Ambitioso, one need not be a Latin scholar to figure out that we're not going to be dealing with well-balanced personalities here. Red Bull's production also doesn't shy away from the play's gender wars. Men accuse destitute women of abandoning their morals for a bit of cash; however, men with more than enough material comforts risk all forms of bodily harm to get some action: one character dies from making out with a poisoned skull, in a scene that illustrates why using protection during intimate encounters was probably not such a bad idea back then, either.
In general, however, Tragedy cannot be easily collapsed into a public service announcement. It is entirely absent of the moralizing that would otherwise rob the story of its uncomfortable ambiguities, and –more importantly – its gleeful maliciousness. Vindice immures himself with a feverish bloodlust that borders on sexual excitement. This may not be a coincidence: Audience members can trace back the links in the play's cyclical daisy chain of sex and death (e.g. rape, vow of revenge, illicit affair, gruesome end…ad nauseam). Red Bull, piggy-backing on the uneasy contradictions of the narrative, aims to provoke while simultaneously offering what Berger calls "a roller coaster ride."
In contrast to the elegant simplicity of Pericles, Berger went for what he terms "Off-Off Opera" in the production values, to capture the decadence of the setting. Emily deCola's masks add a suitable otherworldliness to the show's opening pantomime. Looking for a downtown answer to "Fellini, Versace and Jean Paul Gaultier," Berger and costume designer Clint Ramos seem to have settled upon a Renaissance costume ball-meets-Eurotrash look – bare skin, fake fur, gold chains, and the occasional neck ruffle – that would make the bohemians in Rent look a Gap ad by comparison.
This over-the-top aesthetic, combined with ominous percussion and thunderous chords, occasionally threatens to render the production heavy handed, but then again, Tragedy, with its stylized violence, doesn't exactly lend itself to a light touch. (Red Bull has chosen to ante-up the bloodshed to a level on par with Shakespeare's gore-fest Titus Andronicus.) As with any roller coaster, it helps to loosen up the passengers with macabre wit before plunging them into the ice water bath of nihilism. Red Bull performs this balancing act particularly well in the second act, when the delightfully unctuous Rauch and Mark Vietor, as the Duke's son, a vein bundle of neuroses, see-saw between breezy repartee and melodramatic excess, assisted by an excellent supporting cast as their doomed siblings.
While Tragedy is intended to resonate with contemporary political issues, Red Bull's broader purpose is the cultivation of an appetite for a brand of storytelling Berger sees as being endangered. At a time when theatrical entertainment faces such unbalanced competition from the Hollywood machine, he says, "we have so many artists who are writing for television, and that seeps into our theatrical writing." In contrast, for Red Bull, Berger wants to off an alternative to dramatic realism. "The places that I'm interested in are those that stretch the theatrical landscape towards a classical theatre for the twenty-first Century."
To that end, Berger created a reading series, "Revelation Readings," introducing audiences not only to rarely performed gems like Christopher Marlowe's Dido, but also new work from playwrights tackling heightened language or classical themes, such as Anne Washburn's Orestes and April De Angelis' Playhouse Creatures. The recently initiated "In the Raw" workshop series is a strategic choice, another way to nurture "writers that are not just writing about what happens in the living room." Berger, driven by his own passion for the works of John Marston, Christopher Marlowe, and Thomas Middleton, began the reading series not knowing whether New York had a built-in audience for verse theater, with its florid dialogue and stylized melodrama, not to mention the usual suspension of disbelief required when characters don't recognize their own kin in silly disguises.
Fortunately, the readings grew from an initial "audience of two." In November, a sold-out reading of The Maid's Tragedy required herding audience members to The Culture Project's upstairs theater, as the basement space couldn't accommodate all those who wanted to attend. Red Bull has discovered they can rely on buzz to fill seats, providing a novel— and inexpensive— means for theatergoers to see such luminaries as James Urbaniak, Dana Ivey and Kate Burton (Pricier "benefit readings" have featured Mary Stuart Masterson, Anthony Rapp and Paul Rudd). How to explain the acquisition of such a star-studded roster? Berger's militant chutzpah in seeking out talent has played no small role (Actress Dana Ivey, who began coming to the readings as a curious audience member, was subsequently enlisted as a participant). The rare opportunity for actors to tackle heightened language outside of the Shakespeare canon is another. "These kinds of plays aren't produced often, so when you get the chance to work on them, you jump at it," remarks actor Michael Stuhlbarg. "They challenge every part of your skills— balancing melodrama and humanity, theatricality with pathos."
The appeal of engaging thorny, centuries-old dialogue does not prevent Berger, also an adjunct professor of theater at Bard College, from adapting these texts as needed. Indeed, his zeal for making verse come alive for modern ears has informed Red Bull's practice of altering dialogue and making substitutions. "I am not a purist about these works," he exclaims, citing the fact that most Renaissance plays had multiple authors. An early scene in Revenger's Tragedy alone features snippets taken from Marston, Francis Bacon, and Thomas Kyd, in order to ensure the content will resonate with his audiences.
Another Red Bull regular, actor Sam Tsoutsouvas, has his own prognosis as to whether this populist approach will grow an audience for lesser-performed works like Tragedy. "You can only do Hamlet so many times!" he exclaims. "Shakespeare did not write in a vacuum. Taking the work of his contemporaries off the shelf and onto the stage enriches the whole experience." As to what will happen to Red Bull after Tragedy, Tsoutsouvas predicts that, in no time, "Jesse will corner the market on this particular repertoire."
The Revenger's Tragedy, adapted and directed by Jesse Berger, runs November 27 – December 18 at The Culture Project @45 Bleecker (Bleecker/Lafayette). Tickets: $15, available at www.theatermania.com or 212-352-3101. Following the Sunday, 12/11 3pm performance, there will be a free discussion with Elizabethan scholar James Shapiro (author, A Year in the Life of William Shakespeare and Shakespeare and the Jews).
For more information on Red Bull Theater and their regular REVELATION READINGS series, visit them at www.redbulltheater.com
ContributorWendy Weisman
Weisman is a voracious writer who will yack about her opinions to anyone willing to listen/read.
Ta-Nehisi Coates's
By Matt Grant
We Were Eight Years in Power: An American Tragedy
DEC 17-JAN 18 | Books
The day after Ta-Nehisi Coates's new essay collection We Were Eight Years In Power: An American Tragedy was released, Coates appeared on CBS This Morning to promote it. Towards the end of the segment, Gayle King addresses him. Youre being called one of Americas best writers on race, she says. I heard you gagged when you heard that.
Daria Martin: Tonight the WorldBy tamara suarez porras
SEPT 2019 | ArtSeen
Daria Martins exhibition at The Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco, Tonight the World, presents a journey through the dreams of her maternal grandmother, Susi Stiassni (19232005). Stiassni ventured into Jungian psychoanalysis in the 1970s, recounting and transcribing over 40,000 dreams in a daily writing practice. Amounting to over 20,000 pages of writing over the course of 37 years, these dream diaries became Martins source material for the exhibition.
Looking Backward: A Photographic Portrait of the World at the Beginning of the Twentieth CenturyBy Andrew Holter
JUNE 2017 | Art Books
When Pantheon published Michael Lesy's Wisconsin Death Trip in 1973 (and in sordid paperback, as well as hardcover), critics offered their amused attention and the kind of gatekeeperish admonitions that rock writers dole out to the debut albums of upstart groups.
Ruth Prawer Jhabvala's At the End of the CenturyBy Rachel Aydt
FEB 2019 | Books
The writer Ruth Prawer Jhabvala (1927 – 2013) lived a life that spanned numerous wars and traversed the globe. She wrote novels and screenplays; Heat and Dust, her eighth, garnered the Man Booker Prize in 1975, and her E.M. Forster-adapted screenplays, A Room with a View and Howards End, both won Oscars. This month brings her posthumous collection of stories into the world, At the End of the Century (Counterpoint Press, 2018).