SAIL - Craig Report - Week Two

I want to thank the teams that I have visited in the last two weeks, the hospitality is unbelievable! Every where I have been the people treat me like family. The thing about it is they do it for the visiting teams as well.
This is one of the things that makes SAIL so special!

First meet, NF at HTCC

I arrived to find a SPECIAL parking place with my name on it! Right beside the one for the G'ville News! Thanks to the SAIL Rep for HTCC for doing this, I really didn't expect one, especially one under the trees.

Met with Mary Hiller, we go way back, she swam at Mauldin High for years. I also graduated from J.L. Mann with her Father! Man I'm getting old! Mary really enjoys her job, she has told me over and over how nice the people are at HTCC. She's dead on!
Mary has a swimmer that is in the same age group that the swimmer was in last year that broke about every record for the age group at C & C. She's BACK!
Also talked with Filip Szymanski of NF about his swimmers. He has some very fast swimmers this year. We will be seeing some of them at Westside!
HTCC also had a very good Starter, clear, not demeaning, good cadence and understandable.

Second Meet, Traveled down to DEV vs SH

Guess what, I had a special parking place again! Yahoo!
Their meet was progressing very well. Talked to Chris Gibbs as well as Alex Gibbs. Alex is the screamer for SH, he couldn't really spend a lot of time talking to me since was busy cheering his swimmers on. That's ok, I don't want to interrupt any of the meets with my questions. The Dev Coach, Kevin Treu is also a dominate voice at the meets. Kevin has each swimmer come to him after the heat and give him their times. Great idea, not just to get the time, but an opportunity to offer encouragement to the swimmers.
SH did have one problem with the Easy Meet Software program. Katelyn Oats had asked me to see if anyone could possibly help her with a Relay entry snafu. I promised her an answer, so folks please call her and see if you can help. I don't know squat about that program! By the way, they also had an excellent Starter!

Third Meet, RME at WGBF

I had another special parking area!
Wellington Green pool has been in SAIL forever! Did you know that SAIL held Championships and Classics at this pool? Most people don't know that they also use ground water for the pool! It comes from a well at the pool!
The Wellington Green/ Brookfield Coaches were very nice, they were a bit busy screaming their heads off. RME coaches as well! I am lucky that all the Coaches take time out from the meet to answer my questions!
Everything was running very well at this meet, as usual. Elsa Neubauer is the computer person for WGBF, if you have questions and can not get in touch with anyone, give her a call, she will be glad to help you with any problems.
WGBF also had a very good Starter, he is trained as a Ref but since he does such a good job they won't let him do anything else. That's what you get for doing a good job!
For those of you that have never been to Wellington Green pool, they have an area that they do concessions in that is at the entrance to the pool. They cook hamburgers and the like. I think they plan it this way, the smoke from the grill flows right over the pool! MAN THAT SMELLED GOOD!

Fourth Meet, WCR at SLF

I have many good friends here! This is the home pool for Paul Jamieson. This is Paul's last year with SAIL, and he will be missed. He has a good replacement in Chris "No Tub Returned" Hotz!
At Silverleaf, they have one of the many adult coaches that other teams have as a head Coach. Gretchen Lentz is a special lady! She is one of those "in the water" Coaches. She did mention one thing to me that I feel symbolizes what SAIL is, She ask's her swimmers the day after the meet how many new friends they made from the visiting team! She also makes it a point to get to know the visiting team's coaches. She told me that she tells her swimmers that the other team is not the enemy, they are friends that they just haven't met yet! She has Paul's Daughter, Erin as an assistant; Erin has a very good teacher!
Woody Creek got a second visit from me this week. Again, Daniel Clemmons and Beth Hershey were on top of their game. They are also blessed with the ability to scream very loud. Both of these Coaches do Woody Creek proud!
They had a friend of mine as a Starter, he was awful!
Just kidding Terry!
I asked a bunch of folks from Woody Creek if they walked to the meet. Seems that they all drove and had to park out in the neighborhood.
I didn't! I had a very special place; Emily Hotz actually used driveway chalk to customize a parking place for me! Hugs and kisses to Emily!

Well that's it!
I sure do love doing this, getting to see all the Parents, Friends, Future Friends and especially all the Coaches.
It sure beats being a SAIL Rep. and having to put up with all that they do!!!

Till next week!

Craig