Update -- January 3, 2009

Dear Divers, Parents, and Supporters,  

Happy New Year! 

I hope the Holidays have been good to you all.  I have enjoyed a great season of fun, family, and diving :)  Thank you all for being a part of that!

And thank you for your continued patience as Siew and I expand our family through foster parenting -- I know we've had to do some last-minute changes in workouts recently -- the foster care system is not as proactive, communicative, responsive, or accommodating as we had expected -- both our soon-to-be foster son and we are still unclear as to why he hasn't been placed or when the actual placement will happen...but we are assured it should be soon *sigh*

OK, on to team stuffs:

KALANI HIGH SCHOOL INVITE 

Five team members, Kai, Beau, Cristin, Madison, and Maria took part in this "eye-opener" sneak preview of States (almost all the major players show up to this meet every year, so it shows us where we stand) and each did an OUTSTANDING job!  All five qualified for the state meet, and four of five earned personal bests :)

Kai dominated the event by 50+ points en route to a PB of 390.50 (which is about 55 points higher than his last season's highest score and so close to that elite benchmark of 400).  He opened with 7s on his 401B and 103B, did a surprisingly good 5132D for 5-6s (thank you, three meter!), nailed his 203B for 6-6.5s, and maintained solid control on his 5223D, which had been plaguing him.  Throughout, his hurdles were amazing and his jumps incredibly high. He was "in the zone" and demonstrated great confidence every time he stepped on the board.

Beau came in 3rd, despite having the lowest difficulty of any of the boys in the contest.  He opened with a 101B for 7s, recovered from a bizarre hurdle on his 104C for 5-5.5s, performed an amazing 403C for 7s, continued his re-mastering of his 5122D for 5-5.5s, made good use of his correction on 301C, and generally showed himself to be a COMPETITOR, earning a PB of 321.40.  It was a great event to watch (and to see him enjoying himself as he hit dive after dive was also fun).

Maria was in the running for silver until her final two dives, which lacked difficulty (1.6 and 1.7 compared to her main competitors, who all had 2.2 or higher for both of their final two dives).  Sooo, let's be looking to add that 5124D and 303C :)  She dazzled on her 301C and 103B which each received a handful of 7s.  She made great use of her visual spotting that we worked on all week and earned 6-6.5s on her 203C (definitely MY proudest moment of her event).  She also got a PB of 330.95.

Madison threw three new dives this meet -- 201B, 301B, and 203C -- and earned 5-5.5s on all of them!  She had consistently nice dives that tended to lack in the JUMP department until her 5221D, which showed she does have some spring in dem gams.  She broke the magic 300 barrier in her first-ever high school meet, earning 303.40.

Cristin struggled in the early part of her list, then came on strong in the middle, then lost ground again before finishing strong...and eking out a state qualifying score by 1.25 points.  Considering she took all season to get such a score last year, it's awesome that she did it out of the starting gate this year, and with two new dives on her list -- 5121D and 403C.  She showed her best stuff on her inwards, with her 401B earning 7s, her 402C earning 5.5-6s, and her first-ever competed 403C earning 5s!  

I could not have been more pleased with the performance of this crew -- be sure to give them individual and collective pats on the back when you see them.

After the "serious" competition, we held a synchro event, which ended up as a battle of the sexes between Maria & Cristin and Kai & Beau.  Former (and maybe future) diver BJ helped judge, and the XXs and XYs duked it out.  The XXs failed their 2nd-round inward dive (I'll let you ask them about it), and then the XYs had a technical fail in the 5th round because they did not cover three different groups with their optionals.  An even playing field that had one XY crying foul and being bitter, bitter, bitter (until the results were announced and the XYs won).  Best synchro went to the XXs for their 103Cs, which earned 8s :)

GET WELL WISHES FOR ACCIDENT-PRONE ASHLEY

The "Queen of Reverses" tapped her hand on the board on a 301B and broke two fingers just before Christmas...she sees the doc on Monday and will hopefully be back in action soon.  Ashley, and everyone else...remember that reverses are safely done by swinging the arms through and pushing the legs hard while keeping your torso and midsection in line and firm! :)

KOKO CRATER HIKE

We had a really fun, and demanding, dryland on December 26 -- we hiked up to the top of Koko Crater.  Luckily for us, our previous two months of dryland got our legs in such good shape that no one complained of soreness in the subsequent days.  If anyone has ideas for other team outings/functions, send them along!  It was a great bonding experience, and a chance to see Oahu (and Molokai, and Maui) from seldom-seen vantage points!

ACCOMPLISHMENTS

Congrats to Alena on her 201C 5M and her 5223D 1M; to Madison on her 201B 1M, 301B 1M, 203C 1M, 301C 3M, and 5231D 3M; to Linnet on her 5122D, her improving 104C 1M and 200 actions, and her forward entry improvements; to Tate on her 201A actions that are really jumping and her 102C that is almost ready for independence :) to Maria for her "spotting" on her 203C and her soon-to-be competed 5124D; to Emily on her 201C; to Angelica on her 100A 3M and her 002D 1M; to Ashley for her 5223D 1M and her big-time improved 400 actions; to Joanna on her new hurdle action and her improved spin on 400 actions; to Cristin for her 201C, 301C, and 403C 3M and her 403C 1M; to Beau for his newly re-learned list (especially the oprtionals that he just got back within the last week); to Kai for his amazing improvement on 300 actions and 5132Ds; to Coach Jeff for finally getting back into the swing of things after his month off nursing his bumped noggin and bruised ego (you can guess which one hurt more ;)

JANUARY WORKOUT SCHEDULE

Sunday, Jan 4 -- no workout, as per responses from team

Monday, Jan 5, Schofield 11 AM -1 PM and 3:30-6 PM (Kaiser is down for a "shock" treatment of chlorine)

Tuesday, Jan 6, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Wednesday, Jan 7, Schofield 11 AM - 1 PM  and Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Thursday, Jan 8, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Friday, Jan 9, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM (Includes OIA Relays)

Saturday, Jan 10, Schofield 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; ILH Meet at Kamehameha (Practice at Noon, Meet at 1 PM)

Sunday, Jan 11, Schofield 1-3 PM (let's call this a "soft" time and I can adjust to families' Sunday Schedules -- not many folks seem to come on Sundays :(  )

Monday, Jan 12, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Tuesday, Jan 13, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Wednesday, Jan 14, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Thursday, Jan 15, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Friday, Jan 16, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM (Includes OIA Champs Tune-Up)

Saturday, Jan 17, Schofield 9:30 AM - 11:30 AM; ILH Meet at Punahou (Practice at Noon, Meet at 1 PM)

Sunday, Jan 18 -- NO PRACTICE --  Coach Jeff at all-day Foster Parent Training Classes

Monday, Jan 19, Schofield, 11 AM - 1 PM

Tuesday, Jan 20, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Wednesday, Jan 21, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Thursday, Jan 22, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Friday, Jan 23, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM (Includes OIA East and West Champs)

Saturday, Jan. 24, Schofield  10 AM - noon; ILH Meet at Punahou (Practice at 1:30 PM, Meet at 2:30 PM)

Sunday, Jan. 25, NO PRACTICE --  Coach Jeff at all-day Foster Parent Training Classes

Monday, Jan 26, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Tuesday, Jan 27, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Wednesday, Jan 28, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Thursday, Jan 29, Kaiser 3:30-5:30 PM

Friday, Jan 30, ILH CHAMPIONSHIPS, Iolani School (Warmups at 3:30 PM, Meet at 5 PM)

Saturday, Jan. 30, Schofield  tentatively 10 AM - noon; OIA Championships at VMAC (during swimming break -- time not yet set)

ASL CORNER

Recently reinstated, as Coach Jeff's soon-to-be foster son and former and possibly future diver is deaf, this reference is here so you all can learn to communicate with our deaf diver/s: check out the ASL Corner,  do the lessons as you want to, ask me for help as you need.

Okies, That's all for now! 

Jeff